Jon Stewart challenges Newt Gingrich on Wright double standard
By SilentPatriot Tuesday Apr 29, 2008 2:45pm
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich appeared on the Daily Show Tuesday and was grilled by Jon Stewart about the media double standard when it comes to left-wing and right-wing religious figures, and the free pass given to McCain.
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Stewart: "John McCain approached Hagee for his endorsement...Falwell and Robertson said 9/11 was because we secularized our culture, yet they're still allowed to play the game. Don't you find that surprising?"
PERRspectives looks at the double standard in the media between Hagee and Wright.
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how do these disgraced shitheels continue to get their fat faces on tv?
Disassosiate yourself from the cults! Religion is dogma and our freedom is bound to it's dogma through our leaders. Sure you can believe whatever you want but it would be best if you believed it yourself and weren't told what to believe... Preacher culture is scary.
Only two groups benefited by replaying Rev. Wright over and over again: extreme conservatives and the msm. Oh, wait. Make that one group.
Why is anyone asking questions of a hypocritical, lying
adulterer who cheated on his wife with his 20 something
aide while she was battling cancer and then left her
for his young whore? As if this waste of lard has anything
of value to add to anything. Newt Gingrich is a disgusting
vile pig.
Hagee is repulsive (I had to watch a few of his taped sermons several years ago for a religion course). In this case, though, John McCain asked for his endorsement which really isn't comparable to attending his church for 20 years.
fiirst????
As usual, Jon Stewart is more of a journalist than all of the people on the broadcast networks and cable channels combined. Of course, talking to Newt Gingrich at all shows that even Stewart has to deal with the anointed talking heads with which he is presented, but at least he asked the question.
Imagine the kind of journalism we could see if Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann teamed up!!
I was very surprised and disappointed that Jon let the bastard get away with repeating the Willliam Ayres crap. All in all, a thorough BS presentation by Gingrich. Remember, this guy teaches HISTORY!
Obama a politician????? No, really?
I thought Stewart let Newt off easy.
He might have asked him,
"So Newt, are you doing any CAMPAIGN WORK FOR JOHN MCCAIN while you have been masquerading as a journalist?"
Treating corrupt, lying Republicans like Gingrich as "serious fellows" makes my stomach hurt.
The marginalization of Obam is nearly complete. Once the establishment Dems convince the minions that Obama is "unelectable", that will leave them with Hillay. Fresh meat for Rove for the fall. Add that to the disenfranchized voter rolls, due to prolonged waits for ID checks in poorer districts and Republican intimidation (papers please) at the polls, and McCain is a shoe in.
Never trust a politican named after an amphibian...or shrubbery.
Jon Stewart is such a gentleman. I would have asked if it were hypocritical and manipulative instead of surprising.
As the inner corruption is more and more mirrored by the outer being, Gringritch looks progressively more like Jabba the Hut with every passing year. What a slimey character.
number 11 if it's between bilary and Mc crazy I'll stay home and have a wake for this country voting for either one of those two is like either getting hit by a bus or hit by a car they'll both kill you. Obama was my third candiate ( edwards dropped out) and kuccinch had some good ideas about health care not the tripe hilary is pulling
Che's Lounge @ 11:
You are so right... and I'm sorry your coworkers don't (or can't) get what you say..
(Referring to your post from a few days ago.)
To us, its a double standard but to people like Gingrich it makes perfect sense. The way the right wing sees it, when someone uses the name "America" in any context they are actually referencing the Bush Administration. So, the right wing takes great offense to Rev. Wright's comments because he was talking about the Bush Administration's actions. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson on the hand were not talking about "America". They were talking about those that many on the right wing see as undesireable in society and therefore placed 9/11 on them. Funny, but the Nazi Germany operated in the same way. Any questioning of Germany was questioning Hitler and his Nazi party while the German society's ills were always blamed on those in their society that they viewed as undesirable as well.
ken martin @ 14:
And let this clown happen...
http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/12958-tpmtv-john-mccain-vs-the-video-tape
Grilled?? Please. Come on now, is this what passes for a 'grilling'? I love Jon, but he comes off as a timid suck-up with many neo-cons.
Jon Stewart folded up like a cheap suitcase.
pussy !
My problem with the Wright issue isn't the media's refusal to condemn the Hagee endorsement, because I don't think that's comparable. The real issue to me is that after all this time, I still don't even know the names of Hillary Clinton's or John McCain's "spiritual advisors". As Stewart said last night, his rabbi has said some crazy stuff, and I'm sure if the media were to focus the attention towards any religious figures in Clinton or McCain's past, we'd find that they've said some crazy stuff, too. But they aren't interested in doing that because it doesn't serve the purpose, which is to damage Obama enough to continue the Democratic horse race.
The cable news networks are dying to have a coup by superdelegates to drive their ratings through the summer, and they are going to do everything they can to make it happen.
Che's Lounge @ 11:
The more I see, the more I believe that Obama is in fact unelectable. This is not a statment about his character, ability, talent, or anything else about him personally. This country is what it is, and the voters are who they are. As much as we'd like to believe it is better than it is, the GOP will destroy him with this stuff. It isn't right, good, fair, whatever, but it is the reality of modern American politics. I'd like it to change, I hate it, I wish Obama the best of luck, and I don't really care for Mrs. Clinton (McCain, is, obviously, a monster who must be stopped). All that said, people who have neither the time nor incliantion to think these things through will be swayed by the Wright non-issue. And, Clinton is "hardly fresh" meat, which is part of the problem. Her "issues" are already out there, whereas Obama is an unknown to people. I think we'll see another election won by the GOP using disgusting tactics, and I think Obama is the more vulnerable of the two. Plus, do you really beleie in your heart of hearts that when it comes time to vote McCain or Obama, people in this country (that is, the thin slice in the middle that swing elections) are ready to select the black man? Really?
Double standard? I think the real problem is much bigger. Blaming secularists will strengthen the god fearing religious war crowd. This means more money for defense contractors, the owners of our goverment and therefore us. Blaming military operations, a.k.a. the real cause, will lead to reduced military operations and less money for our owners. The media is doing what is best for our owners. See, no double standard.
Morally fucked up fat ass hypocrite helped lead this nation to the outhouse we are presently in. I would only use his book for toilet paper.
Stewart: “John McCain approached Hagee for his endorsement…Falwell and Robertson said 9/11 was because we secularized our culture, yet they’re still allowed to play the game. Don’t you find that surprising?”
********************************************************
Surprising?? Why on earth would Gingrich perceive this as surprising?!? Double standards are practically stock-in-trade for him and others like him -- and I suspect this is because they know (or at least greatly worry) that they might not win if they were to fight fairly.
Dana @ 4:
Who has plans for future political office. Watch this "rising star" of the repug party!
SEEKING Hagee's endorsement is much worse than Obama's 20-year relationship with Rev Wright simply because Wright just happened to be the preacher at the church that Obama chose to attend. It's not like Obama went to taht church BECAUSE Wright was the preacher, while McCain sucked up to Hagee like a good little loyal right winger.
Stewart should have wiped the floor with Gangrene-ich's ass !
Chico Hussein @ 26:
the most repulsive argument newt makes is to try and do this thing of "if you switched 'black' with 'white' in what wright was saying..." even pretending the words are interchangeable erases america's long history of racism and the fact that so many conservatives find it so easy to switch the races like that shows that they somehow either think racism doesn't exist or don't care.
newt is such a turd. he just has his
tongue out salivating for cheney's ass.
I have to agree with Jesse Ventura (never thought I'd say that), when he said organized religion is simply a crutch for the weak.
Think of how many wars have been fought, and how many native cultures have been destroyed, in the name of religion.
I couldn't bear to watch Newt Gingrich. I turned the channel after a minute or so. Right when he was starting to equivocate on the question of why white preachers could equate 9/11 with punishment for 'sin' [as in judging people on their life condition] it's A-OK; when the black preacher brings it up and speaks as if it's a reaction to this country's behaviour outside its own borders it's a scandal and something for which a guy [running for a leadership position] has to become an apologist.
Fuck him. He's as gross and disgusting as he ever was.
Un-fucking-believable. Please wake me up. People can't be this self-involved and stupid.
you could call it a 'double standard', or you could call it racism. both are accurate.
Jon let him off WAAAYYY too easy.
Disappointing.....
I'm curious, which is worse?
Seeking an endorsement from somebody, who one probably doesn't even like, for political expediency.
Or belonging to a church for 20 years with a preacher who has a propencity for inflammatory remarks and conspiracy theories that even Dale Dribble couldn't believe?
That's why I want gubmint and church as far apart as possible.
30 miss_kitty
Part of the problem is the public seems bored with what led from 9-11 to now, or at least that's how the MSM leaves them.
Letters to the editor are still being written connected Saddam Hussein to 9-11 after all this time.
Jon should have asked Newty why he expanded GOP pork barrel (no pun intended) spending to astronomical and record breaking levels under the Contract on America.
I'm getting the feeling that Obama and his supporters (me among them) will look back on all this in 2009 and wonder, "Did we really think we were going to beat the Clinton Machine? We never really saw it coming. Jesus, we were naive."
Maybe I'm a bitter elitist but nothing that Newt says about anything matters one bit to me.
This is our opening lest go after NEWT about leaving his dying wife for a 20 year old and how can the so call moral right condem anyone,we need to send this qiestions to all the news paper and we should start sending e-mail to all the news papers asking questions that the MSM are afraid to ask, beleive me if the newspapers get enough e-mails then it will become front papge news.
ysbaddaden @ 33:
a more accurate question would be:
I'm curious, which is worse?
Seeking an endorsement from somebody, who one probably doesn't even like, for political expediency with a preacher who has a propencity for inflammatory remarks and conspiracy theories that even Dale Dribble couldn't believe?
Or belonging to a church for 20 years with a preacher who has a propencity for inflammatory remarks and conspiracy theories that even Dale Dribble couldn't believe?
also, to make the comparison more accurate, you would then have to follow it up by saying that obama has denounced his ex-rev's statements, but mccain has not denounced his crazy-preacher's BS. in fact he is supportive of hagee.
Who cares what this fat toad thinks to start with,he is one of the dip-shits that started this whole mess. I did not hear Wright say anything that was so far out their, in fact their are more than a few odd facts surrounding the hiv bug and the speed with which it spread. Hell Iam not a follower of the magical being,but I might vote for Wright just for having the guts to speak his mind. The right is claiming he is nuts because they fear people who speak truth to power.
Before Dumyuh came along Newt Gingrich was the most successful sociopath in Washington. Even so, his manipulations are pretty clear, calling Obama a "performer" rather than a politician, etc. His final assault on Obama appeared to intimidate Jon Stewart, who recoiled and sputtered some mealy mouthed nonsense about "complexity."
Too bad Stewart missed the easy riposte to Gingrich's assertion that Obama would have a hard time distancing himself from Wright. What then about McCain's solicitations of Hagee and Falwell? Was Newt trying to say that McCain simply was unaware of their racist, bigoted views? Easy meat, Jon. But then, you're trying to be funny, rather than win a debate.
miss_kitty @ 30:
Can't be that stupid???? Have you ever walked around this country?
Good comments regarding this pathetic, responsible for the decay of American politic butt-hole. The newt is such a pathetic, pompous, piece of neocon feces...and I agree, I "might" be inclined to use his book as ass-wipe...only if it were hanging close to the crapper and nothing else was available.
His thoughts aren't worth wiping my ass with. Plain and simple. A disgraceful man of no conscience.
Stewart did "giggle" his way through this interview. We let these butt holes get away with continuing their disease on America.
While I can agree that Jon didn't go full-throttle on Newt, let's put it into perspective. He's the host of a talk show. He's not responsible for taking politicians to task.
That's OUR job.
No one - not any one - does hypocrisy as well as the re-PIG-lic party.
*
The contortions required to find no problem with Hagee While decrying Wright must be tough for such a chubby man. I hope he doesn't get stuck like a cat with no whiskers.
Remember the Daily Show is on Comedy Central and Jon Stewart is a comedian so one shouldnt really expect from him to grill people like Gingrich. A comedian shouldnt have to do the work of the actual journalists
JON ,THE OBAMA MOUTH PIECE ,TRIED TO MAKE A SEPARATION OF WRIGHT FOR OBAMA. THIS IS ABOUT CHARACTER AND 20 YEARS IN THIS CHURCH. THIS IS THE RADICAL OBAMA. THE YOUNG MAN WHO SOUGHT OUT THIS CHURCH, WHO SOUGHT OUT AYERS ,WHO SOUGHT OUT REZKO AND AUCHI. THIS IS ABOUT A COKE SNORTING RADICAL THAT NOW WANTS US TO BELIEVE HE WASN'T. PLAIN AND SIMPLY THIS IS A FRAUD.
galmud @ 47:
Yes we should!
Wheres the video?
I listened to Rev. Wright's speech at the National Press Club and have also listened to his media selected most onerous sermons. I found no falsehood in any of them. If Obama becomes unelectable, it will be for pandering to the media narrative that Wright is a loose cannon from whom he must publicly distance himself. By doing that he will have accepted his characterization as a weak, opportunistic and disloyal antagonist in this contemporary "Birth of a Nation" media saga, a creation of narrative propaganda that is scripted to destroy him and the Democratic Party. Hillary Clinton has already cloven it along race and gender lines and has defected to the Republicans in all but name. Now Obama is about to splinter the black vote. This story ends with John McCain taking the oath of office while the missiles warm up in their silos.
Special thanks to CNN (especially Wolf & Campbell Brown), Fox News, especially Hannity the media king of race baiting, Joe (keep her in so we can win)Scarborough, Pat 'hate anyone of color'Buchanan, Laura Ingraham, Flush Limbaugh, and the whole GOP media gang (Medved, Prager, Hewitt, etc.) for running the Rev. Wright story totally in the ground. Now that the whole Wright issue has been settled, all superdelegates can now come to Obama's side without fear that the Wright ordeal will be an issue in the GE. When the GOP brings it up in the general....it will be old news. THANKS MEDIA ! (can you say.....back-fired!)
FIRED UP....READY TO GO !!!!!!!!!!
Greg Jones
www.Blacks4Barack.org
(A Multi-Racial, Grassroots Org...Dedicated To Truth)
This is what the media will do to anyone who shows a little bit that they're open to ideas outside the status quo (which Obama is just a little). They don't attack them on the ideas that they oppose but are currently or potentially popular, because they would reveal what should be their obvious bias, they pick what they know is controversial and pick them apart there. The problem isn't even the media or who owns them, it is but it's indirect, it’s us, the people who are in the same ideological boat as Wright (who has fought for the poor, the victims of imperialism, the voiceless, for decades). There will never be a candidate who stands for things like universal healthcare if every time someone like Wright is attacked the left runs for cover like they are. Wright, despite his faults, is FORCING certain issues onto the national dialogue that the media never would cover (but is discussed on left wing blogs like this consistently) and what is the left doing? They're running quicker than the Democrats did when they could have challenged the media and the right wing before the war (not surprising because they’re controlled by the same interests as the media and the other party). The left in the US are for the most part are cowards, when it comes time to begin the fight they allow the media to do this time and time again, go with the choice the elites have forced on them and say that they'll live to fight another day. Universal healthcare, just one of the issues that is out of reach with these candidates, has been on the dock for decades and will never arrive until the left stands up and truly fights back. Wright, despite whatever faults you think he has, has more guts than any of these chicken$hit liberals who are running from the comments he's making (the same comments many people make here in on this site) because there's push back by entrenched interests who are desperate to avoid any debate on these issues. The left in Latin America faces the same situation (with a small elite, who own the media and control their societies) and they don't run, they organize, fight back and stand up for people like Wright. Not here, not with the left in the US. The media and the elites who own the media push back against people like Wright because they know the left isn't up to the challenge and will back down. Like usual, they're right. Democracy is a dream here, it's a reality more and more in Latin America. I say this all as a leftist, I’m sick and tired of the “live to fight another day crowd”, you’re all cowards.
baylaw73 @ 21:
I think the democratic nominee has been selected by the MSM and the right. Whether Hillary wins or loses, the right wins. The next president will have such a mess that he/she will be blamed for not solving it. If Hillary is the President, no woman will be elected again for a very, very long time, if ever. Any fault will reflect on women in general.
The fact is that if you can get elected, maybe you shouldn't be the person that governs. You've already sold all your integrity and your soul.
Newt is the author of the current bitter politics in this country. He values party and power over country and should be made to answer for his part in ruining our democratic discourse.
sulphurdunn Says:
That is true. It isn't his intention to split the 'black vote', of course, but that is what happens when political expediency trumps the unvarnished truth.
The truth is that Dale Dribble wouldn't know about the Tuskegee experiments or the fenfluramine experiments (done in the 90s by a hospital under Columbia University in NY) that would make the idea of AIDS being a man-made government sanctioned or sponsored disease seem not-so-unbelievable.
The truth is that people who just need a reason to dismiss BO's candidacy, other than their own unacknowledged discomfort with people who are not white, will latch onto to anything and BO will try with all his might to keep them hanging on.
Kucinich is out... Edwards is out...
Everybody loses, yet the American people will once again get the government they deserve.
.::Cheers::.
The Wright issue isn't an issue at all. The man is entitled to his opinion. How many soldiers died as a result of his speaking his mind? How many people were denied health care? Equal opportunity? Education? Etc. Etc. Etc.
The sad part is the double standard among the Hopium addicts that scream about the religious right, but ignore that their new messiah belonged to an extremist church that would automatically exempt them from liberal support if it had been a Republican candidate. It's really sad to see how blind and what hypocrites the Obama supporters have become. So much for all of that 'change'. From where I sit, the Obama supporters are just as crazy and 'divorced from reality' as the 28%er Bush supporters...
Jusker @ 54:
Excellent insight. Sad but true. It's like "I wouldn't belong to any club that would have a guy like me as a member." Perhaps it's time to stop looking to politicians for the answers, and start investing more time and energy into OUR government. Or not.
Let's play a little game...
Imagine that Sen. Obama had belonged to an "acceptable" church in Chicago for the past 20 years, and then sought out the political endorsement of Rev. Wright, just as McCain courted Rev. Hagee.
Do you think the resulting uproar and double standard would have been any different?
Dream on.
remember...
It wasn't so long ago that NOOT tried to spread the meme about
his being AMERICA's choice for autocratic Premiere in case of a "disaster".
REMEMBER?
People seem to forget that white religious leaders are telling us we're all going to hell if we don't change our ways, all the time. I don't see how Wright's comments are any more or less offensive.
The double standard at work here is not the media's treatment of left and right, but of black and white.
Did Newt just say Obama is a terrorist? Sure sounded like it to me.
the video isn't working ... the link comes up but there's no buffering, just sits there declaring it's "ready."
so sad.
ken martin @ 14:
ken martin @ 14:
dadams @ 28:
Lost opportunity: I flew into Atlanta once in the late 1990's, and Newt was walking off the same plane. I was trying to piss on his shoes but he was walking too fast.
video linky no worky
"Jon Stewart challenges Newt Gingrich on Wright double standard"
Kinda misleading title. Sure, Jon challenged him, but then he let him spew right wing talking points to back-up his ridiculous opinions. Lies to back up lies. Way to stick to the man, Jon.
He should have pulled an O'Reilly, cut his mic, and called security.
Hussein in a Handbasket @ 68:
Allowing NOOT to spew his BS on TDS just reinforces what an historical ASSHOLE he really is.
Really.
The Republicans have spent the last twenty years condemning America for EVERYTHING. Change this, repeal that, transform this.
I'm surprised that they can call anyone un-American.
ricksramblings @ 48:
You seem kind of nuts. No, really.
Hussein in a Handbasket @ 68:
Just because you challenge someone doesn't mean you win. The sad fact though is that merely to have challenged him is noteworthy in today's journalistically challenged MSM
I'm no Newt fan, but that was the liveliest, most intelligent exchange I've seen in yonks.
Widespread @ 73:
Yeah, Newt's an intelligent guy, it lends him a lot of credibility when he lies out his cornhole.
It's cold comfort knowing he's smart enough not to believe his own garbage. Glad he could sell some more books, thanks Jon.
Well, if Jon didn't tear his head off and serve it to the stagehands, I'm glad I couldn't get the thing to play, and gave up trying to play it straight from the Daily Show site after two car commercials (one for every click!).
ricksramblings @ 48:
do you really think that using all caps makes you right?
bet you have friends who smoke pot, cheat on their wives, cheat on their taxes, and watch kiddy porn
does that make you an adulterous, pedofile, pot smoking perv?
wait...dont answer that
its too bad that jon didnt get more into tuskeegee
im sorry, but if i am a part of a group of people, and i discovered that the government allowed my group to be experimented on, i might indeed believe the conspiracy theory that a specific disease had been created to wipe my people out.
are jews paranoid when they look at their own history and believe that many in the world would like to see them wiped out?
I'm just glad someone who actually gets seen by a lot of people said something about this. Bush has certainly been much more in bed with Falwell and Robertson over the years than Obama is with Wright, and I've never heard him denounce anything they've said, no matter how insane.
Dana @ 4:
Thank you.
Accusing former Pres. Clinton of being inmoral! Only from a dirty Republican.
ricksramblings @ 48:
Must your sick ramblings be in all caps, sick ramblings?
Yeah, Stewart's an Obama mouthpiece. That's how the game is played these days. Are you for McCain? Then everything said against him in the media must be biased and rigged against him. You for Obama? Then everything said against him in the media must be biased and rigged against him. You for Clinton? Then everything said against her in the media must be biased and rigged against her.
Heh, this country and its political process. We've ended up with Clinton, Obama and McCain running about even in a race that should have been a shoe-in for even a left-wing Democrat.
Is this country really worth saving?
This Wright issue is a blessing in disguise for Obama. True the gop will continue to take his words out of context, but the more this plays now the less it will play later. This will be a non-issue by the time gas hits $4.50.
But the best thing this does for Obama is it crushes the "ACK! He's a muslim!" debate. No question the "muslim" factor kept voters more fearful than his "blackness". Check that off the list.
Gingrich is a sharp cookie, a Fascist, authoritarian, traitor to the Constitution cookie, but still a sharp one.
Hussein in a Handbasket @ 74:
You're wrong to blame Stewart for that, methinks.
The best way to take on any opposing opinion is to take it on full-frontal, then stand your ground.
switchgrass @ 81:
Possibly. I don't think we've heard the last of it. The Republicans know that this is a great issue for them. It resonates so well with their ignorant base, and can even swing many silly independents.
But it could indeed be a blessing in disguise.
I think Obama should do something like this:
1. Decry the treatment he's receiving. Come out forcefully, and say, "ENOUGH!" Say, look, do any of you in the media even remember that our kids are dying in Iraq? Have any of you even noticed that gas prices are skyrocketing? Do you even care?
2. Act saddened, but resolute. Say, "Ok, you've hammered this home enough, and you've caused a rift between myself and my pastor. It breaks my heart to have this happen. You know why? Because even though I see that he says stupid and offensive things, he has been a close, personal and wonderful friend to me. I have seen the good he's done as a man of god. But you did it. You kept hammering at this, just to see if you could break me from him, from even all the good and wonderful things he has done, that you don't care about. Well, I've told you, once and for all, I don't agree with him politically, and he never would have had any influence on me politically. And I'm going to keep hammering that into you guys until you focus on the real issues hurting America. Got it?"
3. Strike at McCain/Hagee by using the "20-year relationship" argument against the Republicans: "Now, I have trouble telling you guys I disown my close personal friend, and whether you in the media say so or not, you understand that. Everyone in the world understands that. But McCain has gone SOUGHT OUT the endorsement of hate mongers WITHOUT HAVING ANY PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM! What's worse? Forming a friendship with someone and then discovering you don't agree with him on everything? Or seeking the friendship of someone you don't agree with