MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer thought she was commenting on a controversy involving a town hall protester in Arizona who brought a fire arm with him to a rally outside a town hall meeting, while the President spoke to an audience inside to attendees. However, while Ms. Brewer criticized the circumstances of the protester who was legally carrying his weapon, she made the following statement: (H/T Newsbusters)
“A man at a pro-health care reform rally…wore a semiautomatic assault rifle on his shoulder and a pistol on his hip….there are questions about whether this has racial overtones….white people showing up with guns.”
Here is the catch, though. The man Ms. Brewer was describing happens to be black. In fact, the camera shot is so tight (video above), viewers at first were not able to see the race of the gun toting individual. MSNBC seems so determined to to smear town hall protesters as racists, their anchors, producers, editors, and camera crew are willing to hide the the truth of a news segment.
This is nothing new for the cable news network. This blog reported on MSNBC’s Chris Matthews’s proclamation that the 911 caller involved in the recent Henry Gates arrest in Cambridge had racially profiled the Harvard professor. This charge from Mr. Matthews turned out to be untrue. In fact, the 911 caller, Lucia Whalen, later described the racist accusations she received over Dr. Gates’s arrest. Mr. Matthews’s broadcast was likely no help to her circumstances at the time.
MSNBC anchor Carlos Watson suggested last week that the word “socialism” is code for the “n” word (video below).
Such accusations are nothing short of an intimidation campaign by a network who needs as many viewers as possible given its current ratings. Accusing at least half of potential viewers as racists is not exactly a wise method to boost a networks numbers.
The Washington Times Editorial page has contacted MSNBC for a response regarding racial charges towards average Americans coming from MSNBC anchors. We are waiting on a response.
