"If you're interviewing President Obama and you ask him whether Osama bin Laden is his brother or whether he's conspiring with Iran to destroy America, that's not just a question. Why not ask an African-American congressman if he's held up any 7-Elevens recently? People are going to say, rightly, WTF is your problem? It's not a question, at least not phrased anything like that. You're dignifying, laundering hate speech. And when you get a flat denial you're not helping put the rumor to rest. That's CYA after the fact."
He's addressing the controversy we're already talking about in the first post of the morning "Did NPR host Diane Rehm just make an honest mistake when she said to Bernie Sanders 'Senator, you have dual citizenship with Israel...'?"
June 11, 2015
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In Diane Rehm's defense, she is dumb as a bag of rocks and could easily make a stupid mistake with no bad intent.
Marshall is right about this.
In modern day journalism, there is a lack of focus on the issues. (See NYT article on Rubio's wife's traffic violations).
Bernie Sanders, God Bless him, has a lot of opinions and policy proposals about redistributing wealth that has long been rejected by mainstream politicians. But, he ran on those issues and won a Senate seat in Vermont. And, now, he's running on those issues for President.
Why Diane Rehm would jump ugly into Bernie's citizenship, as opposed to his ideas, arguments, opinions, proposals is a bit mystifying -- unless, perish the thought, she views herself as a Hillary fan, and, perish the thought, reflexively viewed Bernie as a threat to Hillary.
It does make you wonder what kind of wacko sources Rehm uses to inform herself. But I would stay away from pointing out her ethnicity. And I doubt she was trying to take down Sanders. I think she was probably triggered by the earlier Cruz kerfuffle and thought she was about to get a great scoop.
The fact that Sanders is a Socialist just might have a tiny bit to do with the pushback by leftists like Marshall.
i think this unsurprising, if you listen to Rehm regularly. She interjects her personal views in a quite demonstrable way, on a variety of issues, and is not above taking cheap shots at anyone who violates her viewpoint. She frequently comes across as a particularly gullible drama queen who gets her background from the internet.
Rehn seems to be onto something after all. Did Obama admit to it?
To paraphrase JCC above, Josh Marshall is just now noticing that Diane Rehm has major comprehension issues?
This is what happens to a media organization when
1) Its personnel roster is incredibly stagnant
2) Its ideological spectrum goes all the way from liberal Democrat to liberal Democrat.
The link doesn't seem to be working.
So why aren't the wingnuts on the left calling for NPR to boot Rehm out the door the way they dismissed Juan Williams a few years back?
Rehm's display of journalistic incompetence here was far worse than Juan Williams merely having the nerve to say what anyone else with at least half a brain flying on commericial airlines in the US also thinks (i.e., that he worries when he gets on an airplane and sees people dressed in garb that identifies them first and foremost as Muslims)
wingnuts on the left
Wingnuts are rightwingers. Lefties are called moonbats.
One wants to ask Josh Marshall if he has always been a douchebag, but that would be inappropriate.
Diane Rehm, on the morning of one of the Clinton impeachment votes, said, 'Call your congressman to oppose it.' There was no implication of 'if you are of the opinion;' it was flat 'Do it.' NPR is a liberal propaganda network that hides behind 'Don't hurt the children and take away Sesame Street' when its government funding is threatened. In a similar vein, whenever there is negative news about Hilary, CNN will be talking about a storm in Nebraska.
Sorry I don't get all the outrage. Sanders is a Jew and is quite proud it. Plenty of American Jews are dual citizens. So she asked him if he was a Israeli-American dual citizen and he said no.
So what. Why shouldn't Sanders be asked?
Its not like its uncommon. Geraldo has dual citizenship and so does Rab Emanuel. Obama and George Bush would love to be Israeli citizens. Obama calls himself the first Jewish President while George Bush loved to put on the Yamaha (sic) and go to the wailing wall.
Maybe the SPLC or the AJC can put out a pamphlet called "How not to be called an anti-Semite. Rules and Tips for Gentiles".
"Josh Marshall wants to know WTF is Diane Rehm's problem."
She's an Arab Prog. Nuff said.
Arabs eat up anti-Semitic BS. Progs eat up anti-Semitic BS. Arab Progs gag on anti-Semitic BS.
Only when the conspiracy mongering hits a fellow lefty will some Progs protest.
JM can spare the rest of us his selective indignation.
As for Diane Rehm, I like her as a radio interviewer. Yes, she's not too bright and she's 100& DNC approved but so is everyone else on PBS/NPR. She has a pleasant voice, & she knows how to ask questions and let the interviewee talk as opposed to conducting a "cross-fire" debate or interrupting every 5 seconds with another question like Charlie Rose.
Is dual citizenship a disqualification for Chief Executive? I'm asking sincerely.
Dual Citizenship is not a disqualification for the presidency. You just have to be native born.
To be honest, I assumed Liebermann was a dual-citizen. Didn't affect my vote at all.
"She has a pleasant voice"
Now I'm fairly convinced you're having us on.
"Now I'm fairly convinced you're having us on."
Its all relative. Compare her to Terry Gross or Barbara Walters.
Why would Bush wear a perfomance motorcycle on his head?
So does Josh Marshall think dual US-Israeli citizenship is the equivalent of being a Muslin terrorist or holding up a 7-11?
rocean wrote: "So she asked him if he was a Israeli-American dual citizen and he said no." Actually, that's not what happened. Based on a list she found on the internet of all the dual-citizen Jews subverting the American government, see, e.g., http://educate-yourself.org/cn/dualcitizensobamaadmin23aug12.shtml, she said to Bernie, "Senator, you have dual citizenship with Israel." http://www.jewishjournal.com/mostthingsconsidered/item/did_npr_host_diane_rehm_just_accuse_bernie_sanders_of_being_an_israeli_citi. One wonders what her question would have been had had confessed that her dark suspicions were true. Actually, one wonders how she could possibly have thought that there was any possibility that Sanders, or anyone else on her "list," has dual citizenship. One wonders what other dark conspiracy thoughts she harbors about America's Jewish citizens. One wonders whether rocoean shares those dark conspiracy thoughts.
Quaestor said...
Is dual citizenship a disqualification for Chief Executive? I'm asking sincerely.
That is a good question, Quaestar. I wondered the same obliquely in these pages, years ago, only to be put in my place by he-man Seven Machos: link.
The short answer is that most people don't give a shit about de jure divided loyalties. Especially those who aspire to be world citizens."
NPR and its progeny are mental chewing gum for the liberal arts faculty of your local university. It gives them something to do instead of looking at the world as it is. No liberal platitude is ever challenged. The answer to every problem is to devote more taxpayer resources to it by fiat from above, ideally from our betters in Washington, D.C. Diane Rehm shows just how much thought, analysis, and preparation goes into each interview. It is ironic that the subject of her inattentions is Bernie Sanders, who probably shares her worldview on everything, including Israel. Sigh.
"One wonders whether rocoean shares those dark conspiracy thoughts."
Really? I wonder if you're a child molester. I've heard you share those thoughts.
They will reconcile diametrically opposed positions for the sake of capital, control, and, of course, wealth, pleasure, and leisure; and a stable environment to enjoy their good fortune.
It's a bad link. Much as I would like this to work, it doesn't.
http://Sorry, Diane, That's BS
It should be:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/sorry-diane-thats-bs
Surprised we could have so many comments with a broken link.
Rehm is a long standing and very public anti-semite, but progressive enough that all the good progressive jews at NPR look the other way. I'm sure she only hates "those kind" of jews.
NPR? Honest? No.
I'm sure it was an honest mistake.
Like, that time when the guy accidentally reached into my backpack and grabbed my wallet because it looked so much like his. We laughed about that one.
Compare her to Terry Gross or Barbara Walters.
Compare her to Hillary!!
"She has a pleasant voice"
Actually, she has had a medical condition that affected her voice. Not in a good way.
Diane Rehm is an ethnic Arab. Kinda like Helen "Go Back to Poland and Germany" Thomas was an Arab.
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