May 20, 2008

If anyone wonders why Hillary supporters are upset over the coverage on TV and in the media just check out Alex.

CASTELLANOS: "Her problem is she's Hillary Clinton. And some women, by the way, are named that [bitches] and it's accurate."

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During CNN's primary coverage last night, a segment was about Sen. Clinton discussing the media's acceptance of misogyny into their coverage. Wolf called her words "provocative" as the panel begins to debate it. Later he says it's a little more difficult to discern than racism. Jeffrey Toobin makes some valid points about a NY Times article which referred to her as a "white bitch," (hello Wolf) saying that you can't say something like that about an African American. Not so for Republican Alex Castellanos, who not only disagrees, but thinks she is a "bitch" and says so with smile in his heart. Why does he have a seat with "the best political team" in America? Because he makes disgusting Republican attack ads. Being a distributor of slime in American politics really pays off. I'm sorry, he should be fired on the spot by CNN. What can I call John McCain now? Is it OK to call him pr*&k on TV? Is that OK? "Hi, I'm Wolf Blitzer and John McCain is a pr*&k. We'll have that scoop and much, much more as the best political team in America continues right after the break."

And to see Borger and Brazile---sitting there trying to have a rational discussion after he says the things that he does is just as ludicrous. Borger's retort is to say that a lot of voters don't feel that way and Donna mildly says Alex has a problem with her. I mean, really. What does he have to do to offend them?

Full transcript below the fold:

TOOBIN: I think Hillary Clinton is dead right. There was a column in "The New York Times" not too long ago where it talked about some of the humor in the campaign. And the punch line was a line that was -- that Hillary Clinton was a white bitch. You couldn't say that. I mean that is acceptable about a woman. You couldn't say the equivalent thing about a man. And I -- I mean about a black person. And I think appalling, but I think she's absolutely right that there has been a level of sexism...

CASTELLANOS: If I can disagree, I think you're dead wrong. She's dead wrong. And I think she thinks her problem is she's a woman. Her problem is she's Hillary Clinton. And some women, by the way, are named that and it's accurate. So it's...

TOOBIN: Well...

CASTELLANOS: ...she can -- she is a tough -- that tough, lady tough in politics, that's been her great strength. But let's face it, she can be a very abrasive, aggressive, irritating person and a lot of voters, I think, see her that way.

Digby also responds.

Earlier this year, MSNBC featured "expert" commentary by Roger Stone, the GOP dirty trickster, who bragged in the Weekly Standard about creating a group called C.U.N.T, to oppose Clinton's candidacy....

Unfortunately, at this point I think the media is actually hurting the Obama campaign with their continued sexist coverage. He is trying to reach out to her supporters and the press is making it much harder for him by keeping this hostile, demeaning discussion --- particularly this endless call for her to drop out --- roiling in the ether. The party will work this out, but the media, as usual, is making things worse...read on

Wikipedia: Castellanos produced an ad for the Republican National Committee attempting to discredit the prescription drug plan policy offered by U.S. Democratic Party presidential nominee and then-Vice President Al Gore.[7] Alongside images of Gore, the ad showed the word "RATS" for a split second, before the complete word "bureaucrats" appeared on-screen.[7] During the ensuing uproar, Castellanos claimed that the inclusion was "purely accidental.

Near the end of the 1990 U.S. Senate race in North Carolina, Castellanos produced an advertisement for incumbent Republican Senator Jesse Helms, who was then trailing Democratic challenger and Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt.[10] The ad depicts a middle-aged, working class married white man receiving and crumpling a job application rejection notice sent because the job had been "given to a minority."[10] The ad then references Gantt's supposed support for racial quotas and Helms's opposition.[10]

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, an expert on political communications,[11] has written on the subliminal messages of racial fear encoded into this advertisement.[10] She believes that the signals may include a screen transition showing the hand's crumpling of the image of Gantt's head and a black mark on the rejection notice in the shape of an African-American hand holding a handgun.[10]

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