This will be a short Diary.
There was a disturbing moment for me over the weekend as I listened to the Sunday yak shows as they were rebroadcast on C-Span.
The moment that haunts me was on Fox News Sunday. It is always a bit like listening to an audio version of Pravda to hear this show. This Sunday was particularly egregious. The mutant son of Mike Wallace was interviewing the redneck of the moment, Congressman Joe Wilson. It was, according to the transcript a typical Chris Wallace fellatio of a Republican guest—a combination of boring and the expected. And then Wallace asked Wilson about race.
Let’s Jump...
Now, it has been reported since Wilson’s rude behavior elevated him into the news cycle that he has a long record as a defender of the "old South" and the historically recognized racism of that era. When he was a Representative in the South Carolina State House, Wilson defended the flag of the KKK and Rebels of the Civil War. When some suggested it should not fly over the State Capital, Wilson saw it as a battle to protect White heritage. To protect this symbol tainted with almost 150 years of racism Wilson made common cause with known racists in South Carolina.
I lived in Georgia for a long time. I have conflicted views of the South. I love many things about it and yet I can not give racism cloaked in a patina of historical pride a free pass. Joe Wilson’s record is one of pumping up and riding to office a myth about the South. He is a example of the worst type of character that the modern South has produced: an angry White dude with a chip on his shoulder, a deep sense of entitlement and a firm belief that he is somehow always the victim. WATB racists like Wilson are a dime a dozen. They are the dregs and the deadweights of America.
And they are—not surprisingly—heroes on Fox News.
So in the Chris Wallace puff piece on Fox, the non-journalist Wallace decides to ask Wilson about race (emphasis added):
WALLACE: Question: Is Mr. Obama's race an issue for you?
WILSON: No, no. Hey, I respect the president. Actually, there's a relationship, in a way. His wife — her family's from Georgetown. My family's from next door in McClellanville. So I have a great respect for the Obama family.
I was in the South long enough to get the reference. Wilson and the Obama’s have history because "My people used to own your people".
In the neo-Confederate mind of Joe Wilson, every former slave and former slave family has a familiar relationship with the white folks who use to own them and even the other white slave owners in the neighborhood. It is always Uncle Remus crossed with Birth of a Nation in the simple worldview of Joe Wilson.
So here is Wilson on Fox News explaining that he has no problem with President Obama because his wife’s people were neighbors of his people. Of course as the Washington Post reported it was because they were slaves.
It was fitting that this scumbag would go there in the wake of so many racists wingnuts marching in DC last Saturday (the spectacle reminded me of the populist KKK rallies in DC held in the 1920s).
As a white male of a certain age (53 years), I am disgusted by our conversation of race in America. This is not a black problem, or a Latino problem, or an Asian problem—this is a White problem.
We (and I mean white guys like myself) need to confront other white guys about their racism. This is a problem about white males who fear that they are losing an unearned advantage. We are losing this advantage and it is a thing to celebrate—not a thing to fear, but we should talk about it.
Wilson’s appearance on Fox News filled me with shame. He actually suggested that there was a bond between the Obama’s and himself because his people lived in the county next to the county where Michelle Obama’s ancestors used to be slaves.
Shorter version of Wilson of Fox: "I respect the President. My people used to own his wife’s people."
This guy is an embarrassment to America.
You can support Rob Miller here. As I wrote this Diary he was at $917,377 from Act Blue. Let’s put him over $1 million from the netroots.
Cheers