Idiot Reporter Asks David Duke to Weigh In on Concept of a Black President

[marmar]

from AlterNet's PEEK:



Idiot Reporter Asks David Duke to Weigh In on Concept of a Black President

Posted by Steven Reynolds, The All Spin Zone at 7:24 AM on February 27, 2008.

The New Republic's Michael Crawley evidently couldn't even figure out who David Duke was.



Michael Crawley of the New Republic called up David Duke to ask him his opinion on a Presidential race that just might bring us an African-American President. Yeah, he called David Duke, who claimed to be somewhere in Europe at the time, and was using secret email addresses. This is supposed to be of some import?

The content of this interview with David Duke on the prospects of Barack Obama, a potential Obama Presidency and its effect on America. . . the contents of the interview are pretty luke warm. I'm thinking those contents are so luke warm as to be a waste of bandwidth on the innertube. Well, it would be a complete waste, since there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of animus against Mr. Obama in the fringe white supremacist groups surveyed by Mr. Crawley. Here's how Crawley describes Duke's reaction to the Obama candidacy in the New Republic:

Yet, far from railing at Obama's rise, Duke seems almost nonchalant about it. Self-described white nationalists like himself, he explained cordially, "don't see much difference in Barack Obama than Hillary Clinton-or, for that matter, John McCain." Sure, Duke considers Obama "a racist individual," citing his Afrocentric Chicago church. But soon the founder of the National Association for the Advancement of White People was critiquing Obama as overhyped and insubstantial in terms you might hear from, say, Clinton strategist Mark Penn. "They say he's for change. What change? He's become almost a cult figure. I don't see any shining light around Obama's head. I don't see any halos," Duke said.

Crawley couldn't get a story out of Duke that was incendiary enough when he asked about Obama. No frothing and no death threats. The story just wasn't scary enough, eh? Dig a little deeper and he got another nice angle, I suppose, that racists of the David Duke ilk are noting the supposed significance of Jewish advisors of Barack Obama. But let's be clear. That is not news. The twisted rhetorical strategy of the DAvid Duke types have always ended their winding road by blaming Jews for everything. NOT NEWS! So why give the guy print space in a major publication? ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/77971/#more

[Parche]

1. Too Funny

Thats like asking John Wilkes Booth to be in charge of security at Fords Theater....:rofl: :rofl:

:hi:

[Recursion]

2. So basically, Clinton agrees with David Duke about Obama's candidacy?

Will she reject him or just denounce him?

[PerpetuallyDazed]

3. Blows my mind...

That Duke can claim Obama is racist. Does Duke even recognize this about himself?? This is just way too warped for me to wrap my head around... :crazy:

[global1]

4. Get Used To This Sort Of Reporting - The Repugs Can't Openly Come Out With......

a racist oriented campaign against Obama - it would really hurt their party. So they will use the media and wacko surrogates to do the work for them. They'll be interviewing these people and doing stories that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. The message that they want to come across to invoke the 'closet racists' will be made - and the Repug party will be able to sit back and point fingers elsewhere. They will use the Right Wing Radio and TV shills to do the same. Casually dropping soundbites that seem innocuous - but will subliminally plant the right seed in the minds of those easily swayed.

Case in point - look what has happened during these primaries. The 'Muslim' suggestive e-mails. The picture of Obama with the native garb on. Trying to tie him to the Farrahkan endorsement. We might think its not working - and for many - it isn't. But a certain portion of the electorate is impressionable and it gets through. Primarily - the older - less educated - that grew up in families that were very prejudiced.

I'm only hoping that this portion of the voters isn't enough to tilt the election.

[UncleSepp]

5. Duke changed focus with My Awakening. He's staying on topic.

With "My Awakening", Duke switched his focus from a diffuse American racism to anti-Jewish themes that sell equally well abroad. He did very well in Russia, for example, predicting and taking advantage of rising anti-Jewish sentiment there. Anti-black rhetoric would not have sold any copies. He's remained on message since then, developing an international market for his product.

David Duke is not stupid, and he's not going to waste an opportunity with the press by giving the journalist the story the journalist wants - he'll use the moment with the mike to get out the story he wants to tell and the product he wants to sell.

If you can't tell, my opinion of him is that he's a performer. He's in this to sell books and speaking engagements, as well as to puff up his ego and "be somebody". I don't think he believes anything he says, or even cares whether what he says is true or not true. He will sell ideological poison to a poor white family, and doesn't give a damn that his well-lined pockets are stuffed with cash many of his most devoted followers can't afford to give up. He'll sell out his own supporters to turn a profit, given the chance.

If people worldwide become more receptive to racist propaganda, he'll keep doing what he's doing. If enough people are open to "blame the Jews", he'll keep selling that. Right now, he and others are ready to take advantage of opposition to the war to sell their poison; he doesn't care if he sells to the left or to the right, as long as he's selling; this is why he had to include McCain and Clinton along with Obama. When a stab in the back theory becomes necessary, he'll have a book ready to neatly explain how America went wrong and how to put it right again.

If his market dries up instead and doesn't respond to attempts to revive it, I wouldn't put it past him to pull out the last stop and "go clean", for a tearful tour of the TV talk show circuit. Again, I do not think for one moment that he actually gives a crap what he's selling, so long as it still sells.