How desperate are Obama’s media supporters to fling the charge of racism to prop his support? As Noel Sheppard writes at Newsbusters, this desperate: “New MSNBC Anchor Likens Obama-Brewer Face Off to 1957 Integration Confrontation in Little Rock:”
MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY: The fact is, when I see that still, I cannot help but to be reminded of the still photograph that was captured in 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas, of the young woman Hazel screaming at a young Elizabeth Eckford on her way trying to get into Little Rock High School, Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. And the reason I bring up that image is because what we’ve come to know about Hazel in the years later is that as a young woman, Hazel, the young woman who was screaming at Elizabeth Eckford, was not herself sort of particularly, you know, full of racial animus or anything like that. But she was, she was caught up in this moment of racial anxiety, of making this point against these people who were coming in and trying to force their way into the school, and she sort of enjoyed the show or being able to yell at Elizabeth Eckford in this moment. But that image captured all of the ugliness, all of the nastiness of the larger political milieu, and I feel that this picture does as well.
It’s fascinating watching a half-century of civil rights progress tossed out the window by an overzealous newsreader employed by General Electric to defend the president. I love the “I cannot help but to be reminded” throat-clearing at the beginning of her stemwinder. If that’s the first metaphor that pops into your mind, you probably should have scrolled through the Rolodex a little longer before reducing the most powerful man in the world — who can nuke billions and has spent trillions — to an oppressed black teenage schoolgirl living 65 years ago in the racist south.
And just a reminder — it’s still January. The “fun” is just getting started.
Related: “Real Time Guest KOs Maher and Bashir: If Brewer Were Dem Pointing Finger at GOP Prez, You’d Praise Her.”
Oh sure, that’s different, and female empowering and stuff.
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