Mediaite's Noah Rothman pointed out Wednesday that Bashir took the supposedly offensive quote from a 1981 interview that Atwater did with Alexander Lamis, an associate professor at Case Western University.Posted on 06/06/2013 1:30:35 PM PDT by Kaslin
NewsBusters reported Wednesday that MSNBC's Martin Bashir disgracefully accused Republicans of using the acronym "IRS" as the latest racist dog whistle in their "war against the black man in the White House."
It turns out that Bashir used a selectively edited quote of former Reagan aide Lee Atwater to make his pathetic case.
Mediaite's Noah Rothman pointed out Wednesday that Bashir took the supposedly offensive quote from a 1981 interview that Atwater did with Alexander Lamis, an associate professor at Case Western University.
Lamis later included the full text of this interview in his book "The Two-Party South."
Here's what Bashir cited Wednesday:
“You start out in 1954 by saying n*****, n*****, n*****. By 1968 you can’t say n*****. That hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like ‘forced busing,’ ‘states rights’ and all that stuff and you’re getting so abstract. Now you’re talking about cutting taxes. ‘We want to cut this’ is much more abstract than even the busing thing and a-hell of a lot more abstract than n*****, n*****.”
In bold is what Bashir edited out:
"You start out in 1954 by saying n*****, n*****, n*****. By 1968 you can’t say n*****. That hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like 'forced busing,' 'states rights' and all that stuff and you’re getting so abstract. Now you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that. But I’m saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, 'We want to cut this,' is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than n*****, n*****. So any way you look at it, race is coming on the backburner."
Big difference, isn't it?
As Rothman noted - and readers are encouraged to review his entire analysis of the 40 minute interview - Atwater was talking about how Reagan didn't need to use race to get elected in 1980.
"Reagan goes out and campaigns on economics and national defense. The whole campaign was devoid of any kind of racism. Any kind of reference," Atwater said.
Sadly, Bashir on Wednesday - in the middle of a totally nonsensical rant about "IRS" being a new racist dog whistle employed by Republicans to attack Obama because he's black! - opted to present a highly edited version of this section of a 32-year-old 40 minute interview.
Sadder still, selective editing has become commonplace at NBC and MSNBC.
And they wonder why their ratings continue to plummet.
Anything is fair at MSNBC.
That’s what happens when you hire a Commie Muslim pig to do your news.
To be a democrat you have to know how to lie shamelessly.
Someone needs to give the foreigner an American history lesson. The real racists were the democrats.
What a strange man. Did America not elect a semi African American TWICE recently? Where is all this howwible wacism we are supposedly seeing everywhere?
George Wallace was a democrat - and Bull Conner. And Sen. Robert Byrd - the only modern KKK member in the Senate... Maybe we should go back and bring up of few of their past comments about race...
The same place we are seeing the sexism coming from, 1600 Pennys ave.
I think it was the definition of racist to elect an unqualified person solely based on his skin color.
whose name to fame is interviewing Princess Diana and Michael Jackson and editing both interviews to what he wanted the end product to say.
Real upstanding ‘journalist’.
But since that is the only type of person MSNBC hires what do you expect; eg: Al Sharpton - bigot.
What a tool! These people are just unscrupulous. They poison the atmosphere with their lies. He has the right to free speech, but he should be called on intentional lies.
Ha ha true El Cid. Exactly.
So he looked for a real quote before distorting it?
That is step up for MSDNC, usually they just make up the whole thing.
Got that?
Even relying 100% on cheating these FRAUDS CAN’T WIN. That is the DEFINITION OF A LOSER.
I heard this on the radio this morning. And I was SCREAMING at the radio so loud that the the man in the car next to me at the traffic light looked over and laughed - my windows were UP!
If you listen to the WAY Bashir made his statement, you will understand WHY I was so PISSED!
The Democraps and liberals (I repeat myself) talk about all the “dog whistle” words and phrases and the “underlying meaning” of statements made by Conservatives which really mean racism.
All the while BLOWING LOUD, OBVIOUS, INDUSTRIAL racist whistles like Bashir when he says “...the blllaaaccckkk MAN in the White House.”
I am so effing tired of this old, BS! Bashir and the rest of the racist, liberals at MSNBC can kiss my ASS!
Journalism practiced according to NBC policy.
Blow up cars, edit tapes, put an extra G in Niger Innis’s first name, deny doing any of it — whatever is necessary in pursuit of their racist, sexist, narrow-minded, mean-spirited little ideology.
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