Chris Matthews’ Panel Thinks Haley Barbour Can Overcome His Racist Past
You’ve got to love this one. Chris Matthews on his weekend show put it to his “Matthews Meter” and asked his regulars if “serious candidate” Haley Barbour “can run as a Southern alternative [to Barack Obama] without appearing racially insensitive?”
And what was their overwhelming response? By 11 to 1 they said yes he can. Howard Fineman took the first turn out of the box defending Barbour.
MATTHEWS: Howard, you said he can get away with that sort of geographic appeal and Southern boy appeal without raising the old American problem.
FINEMAN: Well, he can’t just get away with it, he can do it, but he’s got to be careful. There is no margin for error. And he’s made a couple of pre-season errors here in some of his comments about how the controversy in Virginia over black history month didn’t mean diddly…
MATTHEWS: Confederate month…
FINEMAN: Confederate month didn’t mean diddly, etc., etc.
MATTHEWS: The Citizens Councils were pretty cool…
FINEMAN: But well, I think he is playing to the Southern old boy vote, there’s no question about the good old boy vote, there’s no question. But I think he can do it in still try to sell himself to the rest of the country if he’s careful. I’ve covered him for years. I’ve known him for a long time. He’s a very smart guy and he’s doing what you advised in your book, Hardball, which is if you have a problem…
MATTHEWS: Hang a lantern on it…
FINEMAN: Hang a lantern on it… I was a lobbyist, and I was a darn good lobbyist.
Yeah, who cares that he was a lobbyist, or that he's paling around with the KKK CCC, or that he's tried to rewrite the Civil Rights movement in the South. Why would anyone care about any of that? This just reeks of the same treatment they gave George W. Bush as just some regular guy everybody "would like to have a beer with" when that was about the furthest thing from the truth.
Major Garrett apparently thinks that if someone who worked for Jeb Bush supports Barbour now, that somehow means Barbour can’t possibly be a racist. Well thanks Major. I'm glad you cleared that up for us.
Matthews wrapped things up by asking whether this “charmer” (And, yes, they were talking about Haley Barbour) from the South has what it takes to win over the public to which Howard Fineman responded with this fawning praise of Barbour.
MATTHEWS: Howard, I think he has something, and you touched on it. He has a personality. And some of these and what most people are looking for in this election, with whatever their party politics are, they want a personality, a recognizable human being. And Pawlenty and Romney and these guys and Newt don’t seem to be at least a kind of human being you want to hang out with.
FINEMAN: Here’s the funny thing about it Haley having known him for a long time. When he was Republican Part chair, he’s one of the shrewdest political operators we’ve ever seen. But yet he doesn’t come off like somebody manufactured by politics.
In fact he’s lived his whole life in politics…
MATTHEWS: You don’t see the seams.
FINEMAN: You don’t see the seams. It’s all effortless to him. It doesn’t look mechanical to him and that’s very appealing.
MATTHEWS: Howard, you’re the best…. He really is that shrewd a pol.
Well, he’s only that shrewd a pol if you let him get away with it, and after watching this segment it's pretty obvious that's exactly what our beltway Villagers are planning to do.
Don't want to offend your BFF Pat Buchanon.
Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
(R)acist (R) pe(R)sons too ... !
Snerd
must be smoking crack again.
which means he won't, can't, will not.
me-oww!
Because Chris Matthews and these goons will be the exact people who help Haley Barbour hide from his racist past.
The media and the politicians and the corporations are all in this game together. It's like a Harlem Globetrotters game or a WWF match. Fake.
They don't hold those in power accountable.
I'd say stealing elections with secret privately-owned software is a bigger problem to focus on.
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
And tell this neo-Confederate Foghorn Leghorn to jam it. But naaah, it's just easier to appease your fellow Beltway buffoons living in your fantasy world.
You worthless sellout.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
Utter nonsense! This cracker has been a prominent force in a state that is comparable in virtually every sociometric measure to a third world nation still in the throes of a form of neo-colonialism and has done NOTHING to improve the lot of it's citizens; but has been faithful and true to the neo-liberal, free market, trickle down economic crap purveyed by his white supremacist cronies still living in the good 'ol reactionary days of the plantation "massas"! Does anyone really think this red necked buffoon won't do the same to the country as a whole should the people of this nation finally lose their minds and elect him? Sure, put 'ol W.C. Fields in as POTUS and you can bet sure as hell that the confederacy will rise again in all of it's Jim Crow glory!
Robert Byrd could clean up his act and become a respected Senator I see no reason Barber couldn't do it in a presidential campaign. He has more than a few problems but none are insurmountable with the right spin.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
You give this closet Klansman mother fucker a chance Peter, to me Barbour can go dig up and suck his hero George Wallace's dead petrified dick.
a Klan chapter.Whether or not he sincerely repented is a matter between him and the god I don't believe exists. I didn't say I agree with this clown Barbour. I don't think he's qualified to be president of the hair club for men. But from a strictly operational point of view he could mitigate the damage done by his previous career by putting the right spin on it..
Hasa Diga Eebowai
To even entertain this nasty lifelong racist slob to be the President of our Nation is further indication of the cesspool we Americans willfully swim in.
and this fat fucker is to busy stuffing food in his piehole to have the kind of epiphany it takes to realise all the righteous hate he has been breathing his entire life is wrong. He might try to fake it, but these creeps always get caught on a hot mike, or don't even understand racism when they speak it. Think of all the arseholes who have claimed some of their best friends are...
me-oww!
His previous attempts at soft pedaling segregation didn't turn out so well. He is, by all accounts, a wily bugger and I expect he will avoid a Macacan Moment. But, as you say, it would only take one and I seriously doubt the Republican establishment is willing to take a chance on this dude. I think he is in it for the money. I did not realize until recently how remunerative simply running for president can be. It seems to be a license to print money for all but the fringe candidates.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Please.. HELL NO!!! He CAN'T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have racist Americans in this Nation who would vote for Charles Manson over Obama.
Btw, the Black woman on the panel was so typical of today's MSM. Phony, soft with weak safe harmless(to white viewers) opinions.
Look at that picture. There is no way someone that looks like that is ever going to be the President of the United States. In that way, yes Americans are that petty.
I don't know. I think a mustache and spectacles might help: click for picture
Do not besmirch Uncle Teddy. TR would be tarred and feathered by todays Repugnantklans.
Deterrence is the art of placing in the mind of the enemy the "fear" to attack!
Dr. Strangelove
It wouldn't surprise me if Gov. Barbour was nominated but being elected ... can't imagine it.
As mentioned above, too many visual and mussy southern speaking negatives. Don't forget the demographics. Can you envision the black and Hispanic vote going his way. He is the Southern, good old boy candidate. The thought of him debating Pres Obama ..... just close your eyes or pretend
you're listening to the debate over the radio. But then again he could pull a Palin and Angle and
refuse to debate .... probably his best chance.
2D
But no one asks if he can overcome his racist future?
Curious that.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
Nicely played sir!!
Though I believe what we witnessed in this clip is a perfect demonstration of the RWA/SDO Authoritarian embrace, we witnessed a sociopath(Fineman) defend an Authoritarian SDO racist(Barbour),while his sycophantic RWA followers(Mathews, et al) condoned the
atrocity.behavior.Fineman shows his true sociopathic self, smiles and is actually congratulated for his macbre demonstration.
A perfect example of Authoritarian group-think.
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/
There's a fairly simple procedure that'll fix Haley right up and put him on an even keel with the rest of the Republican Hopefuls.
A lobotomy.
I'll gladly supply an ice pick.
The beltway people are out of touch. They are not helping one bit. Chris, if you think you are helping, well you're not. Your guests are obsolete.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
Kinda hard to overcome something when you have not stopped practicing what these bobbleheads hope to help you overcome.
The only way a politician can redeem a racist past is to promote legislation that advances racial equality. Talk is cheap.
He's not going to OVERCOME his racist attitude...
He's gonna CAPITALIZE on it!
Republicans will say "Welcome HOME!"
True!
Haley Barbour got into politics to get rich and NOT to serve the public good. He became a super lobbyist that handled foreign interest along with questionable domestic interest. He still gets a check from the firm that he created.
Barbour is a slick character and could very well take the Repug nomination, but in a general election his lobbying career should be more scrutinized than racism. Any association with Jack Abramoff and associates would be sweet!
Haley Barbour became a Bush Pioneer by bundling money for BushCo LLC.
'Talk to the hand'
"Well, he’s only that shrewd a pol if you let him get away with it, and after watching this segment it's pretty obvious that's exactly what our beltway Villagers are planning to do".
No kidding, Heather.
American journalism sold itself down the river decades ago. It is not a profession for those possessing self-respect.
And given that "our beltway Villagers" include a significant percentage of democratic party officials, this country is well and truly fucked.
For the time being, at least.
Charmer?!
Seriously?
Must've thought the character of Boss Hogg was downright cuddly, too...
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
-mush mouth- Barbour will be attending the reopening of The Jefferson Davis Presidential Library reopening this fall.
If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.
- Adolf Hitler (R)
That's because the panel knows the public are idiots and can't remember what happened last week.
I remember thinking how unbelievable it would be if this country elected Reagan in 1980 and Bush II in 2000.
But then each time it happened.
And for 8 years after each election I felt as though I had fallen down a rabbit hole.
I won't be surprised any longer that America is capable of electing any fool with the right song and dance.
When Bush got enough votes to steal a second term I was shocked , just dumbfounded , for the first time I realized that about half of the electorate in this country are terminally stupid , ignorant and dumb beyond words and that the rest of us were in big trouble .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
i felt the same way, too!
Alan Simpson says we are all on the government teat, 300 million he says. Mr Simpson is wrong, there are 538 teats and they are the prick scum on Capitol hill, fed by corporate lobbyists and billioniare special interests
Shove it where the sun doesn't shine Simpson ! It's not the average American but it's the multimillionaires , the billionaires , the Military Industry , Wall Street , corporations like GE , the Chamber of Commerce and the politicians in DC who are on the government teat .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
Hey Chris you might want to get some people on you panel who live outside the bubble. Get some people in the media who actually live in the south or elsewhere and write about it; they might give you the real take on Haley, someone like Mike Luckovich, granted he is a political cartoonist but people like him do have thier finger on the pulse of what is really going on
democrats will let him get away with it
Check this out , http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworl... . As long as people are so ignorant and stupid as to keep voting these corrupt slobs back into office we are SOL . The electorate in this country , thee # 1 problem .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
RCSD - Republican Chronic Stupidity Disorder.
At epidemic proportions, and no known cure. Stay inside and lock the doors lest ye' be infected too!
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
First off, I do not like the use of the word racist. Let's be accurate, they are white supremacists.
Now on to dumb ass haley..."Panel Thinks Haley Barbour Can Overcome His Racist Past", Why sure he can, with other white supremacists.
I knew it was going to be a total B.S. video within 5 seconds, when Mathews starts with, "..one of the four serious candidates for the Republican nomination..."
Here's some background on Barbour and his patriotism,
Google the following words: Barbour, Selective Service, Draft
The is really no way Barbour can win. He is to much of a redneck. The north will not vote for him. They just wont I don't think. Iowa? Even that shithole would rather vote for Michele Bachmann than Haley Barbour. Hahahahahahaha
The people need leaders, not "personality".
The people who believe that little abomination are just plain stupid.
Fuck you Chris Mathews, is that personable enough?!
I totally AGREE with you!
This just seems like proof that the Republican Party is just another name for the Anti-N*gger Party. The southern strategy lives.
Just the mention of race usually brings out the racists who want to accuse the so-called libs and liberal media of using the race card. I quess they haven't woke up yet.
xvet
The light at the end of the tunnel is a locomotive.
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