Channing Kennedy
Jesse Lee Peterson “shocks” Hannity [VIDEO]
It’s common knowledge that if a Black commentator is on Fox News, he or she is there to, oh let’s say “raise an issue” about the Black community. And by “raise an issue,” we of course mean “say something that would so endanger one’s credibility as a rational person that even a Fox News anchor dare not speak it.”
And yet, even with those expectations in place, the masters of the Fox News Black Pundit game manage to surprise. Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, whose previous hits include the assertion that Black slavery was a gift from God and that slave ships were comparable to “riding on a crowded airplane”, brings the heat today.
This clip, from the February 3 episode of Hannity, starts with Sean Hannity and Alicia Menendez having what nearly passes for a debate about whether the tax snafus of Obama's cabinet picks definitively prove that Obama is a socialist, or, conversely, if they merely strongly imply that he is. Peterson patiently waits to be called on, at which point he "expands the issue" with:
“I think we all agree that Barack Obama was elected by, mostly by black racists and white guilty people. Most black Americans, 96 percent of them, are racist toward white Americans. And white folks feel guilty and they are afraid of being called racists."
And it's another home run for Peterson! Hannity expresses surprise as readily as a veteran informercial actor, giving Peterson the opening to assert his authority on the matter, and to tie the Black community to both socialism and petty crime in the same breath. (A note: News Hounds credits Hannity for straying from his usual schtick of tacitly approving Peterson's statements, but I don't.)
Again, there's nothing terribly novel here. And with Peterson and his ilk continuing to be presented by Fox News as figures of authority on their communities, we can expect to keep hearing their voices in the MSM conversation on race. Let's make sure we call them out and drown them out in turn.
Clip found on News Hounds, which gets more detailed on Peterson's history with Hannity.
Posted at 2:02 PM, Feb 04, 2009 in Video & Multimedia | Permalink | View Comments
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Comments
Yes, I was glad Hannity finally distanced himself from Peterson and rebutted the horribly racist remarks because that is an improvement from sitting there and tacitly accepting them. But I found Hannity's behavior suspect given his long chumminess with Peterson. Hannity has always been very sly about the way he evidences his bigotry and I personally believe that he was putting on a show with Peterson, specifically designed to counter some of the many, many accusations of racism against him (Hannity), many of which came from me. Coincidentally, this week he's also having a two-part interview with Whoopi Goldberg who, I'm sorry to say seemed clueless about him.
But even if it was 100% schtick, I still think it was a good thing that Hannity did not allow Peterson to rant on unfettered.
Posted by: Ellen | February 5, 2009 11:18 PM
Hi Ellen, thanks for bringing the video to our attention in the first place!
You have a higher opinion of Hannity than I do. For starters, his objections rang less sir-I-must-object than wow-really-tell-me-more to me. Plus, Peterson's a known quantity, and anyone giving him air time on a serious news show is giving credence to his messages, period, well-rehearsed objections notwithstanding. The medium is the message, so to speak.
Posted by: Channing Kennedy | February 6, 2009 5:13 PM
Why does someone always have to be labeled a racist or a bigot just because they do not agree with the what is popularly accepted in society. Jesse Lee Peterson is a good man, because his views are not that of mainstream black America does not make him a racist.
Posted by: Ryan | February 25, 2009 11:44 PM
Republicans had 8 years to get it right. Now Someone is at least trying to get it right. someone is cleaning up the mess put forth by Republican Policy. Reps cry and complain and offer no solution. Simply put, Reps do not want the problem to get fix. These are people who say they are, "Real Americans, and love America." Republians preach lies and then get made when no one wants to listen to their lies. It is time to shut the hell up. Presidant Obama won the election when REAL AMERICANS voted for him to be their AMERICAN PERSIDENT.
Posted by: Michael Grant Jr | February 27, 2009 4:38 PM
Jesse Lee Peterson is a clown. He is a token for southern conservatives, he views are very extreme at the least. I am glad that even the most extreme conservatives, like Hannity can see that he does not know what he is talking about.
Posted by: ken | February 28, 2009 6:28 AM
I am laughing at the idea that people in this country cannot fathom the fact that BOTH of there two representatives of the state destroyed the economy (rather all of us) as each person is an individual of equal worth in an economy. The Federal Reserve and their money printing has mad health care unaffordable, school unaffordable, economic moral hazards ect.
Try reading Murray Rothbard, Lew Rockwell, Peter Schiff, or any other Austrian economist for true liberalism, not the petty neo-fascist theft we know today. Wake up, they are both a different side of the same tyranny.
Posted by: Joseph F. Weber | June 11, 2009 11:02 AM