I always suspected that Paul Solman, the economist contributor of PBS News Hour, was sympathetic to Republicans, but I never thought that he would drift into Obama hate territory until today.
In Solman's "Making Sense of Business," in preparation for the GOP convention, he interviewed Romney adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakins, as well as two local Tampa small business owners. So far, so good. The three men spewed tired old lies about the President's alleged over-regulation and so forth, without a protest from Mr. Solman. Still, I am used to journalists NOT doing their jobs.
What I was not prepared for was Solman's entrance into Obama derangement territory. One of the small businessmen he interviewed was named Ken Wright, owner of Thundershirt, a t-shirt manufacturer. Wright made t-shirts for Republicans. Most were the bland Romney Ryan variety. Then Wright displayed with pride a best-selling t-shirt showing Obama as Chairman Mao. Underneath the caption read "ObaMao." (Yuck, yuck, yuck). This section should have been edited out of the report.
The video for this News Hour segment is not up on the News Hour website, but Mr. Solman alludes to his interview with Ken Wright in this blog post http://www.pbs.org/...
I was appalled at this feckless display of gratuitous Obama hatred. I consequently wrote this firm letter to Solman's website:
Mr. Solman: The interview with Ken Wright of Thundershirts was highly inflammatory and inappropriate for PBS. Specifically, you showed Mr. Wright displaying one of his t-shirts, which showed the President as Chairman Mao. The t-shirt stated "Obamao." In allowing this segment to be shown, you aided in buttressing the myth that our President is a Communist, which is hateful, hate-inspiring and downright wrong. It is true that I am a supporter of the President, but I do not view him uncritically. I, however, find that your display of the "Obamao" t-shirt only serves to further the myth that the President is a Communist and also helps divide our country more. Nice work, Mr. Solman.