Hm. OK, so there's an old racial angle to it, that I did not know about until just now. Berman is without doubt the same way -- it was a fitting comment, and funny in context.
There's absolutely no way Berman thought he was making a racial comment, and the only racial sentiment involved belongs to ... Mark Finklestein, who decided we needed to make a racial issue out of it -- and for laughable reasons, at that.
The whole premise of Finklestein's article is preposterously stupid.
I believe the preposterously stupid angle on this is "I've just heard of it, so it can't be a big deal."
I think his point is: had a conservative said it - all hell would have broken loose...
Berman is 50, plenty old enough to be well aware of the racist overtone of the phrase.
I'm not saying Berman is racist, but I am saying that if Rush had said the same thing he would have been excoriated by the MSM.
Do you disagree? Do you really think Rush Limbaugh could use the phrase "feets don't fail me now" and the liberal media would look the other way?