Tavis Smiley felt the wrath of Team Obama
Equal opportunity bullies
Tavis Smiley felt the wrath of Team Obama for criticizing Obama’s failure to help the black community.
Via Huffington Post (h/t Gateway Pundit)(emphasis mine):
Tavis Smiley has stood out in 20 years in broadcasting, and he has no intention of changing his style or substance.
He’s the rare black host with national TV and radio platforms, one who sees his job as challenging Americans to examine their assumptions on such thorny issues as poverty, education, and racial and gender equality….
Smiley, 48, also doesn’t shrink from the repercussions that occur when his opinions, delivered on radio and in interviews in his distinctively punchy cadence, strike a nerve. He has drawn the ire of conservatives and, because of his insistent criticism of President Barack Obama’s policies, that of some liberals and African-Americans.
Smiley contends that members of the Obama administration, whom he didn’t identify, have pressured sponsors to drop their support of his projects, including his anti-poverty initiatives. The White House had no comment, said a spokesman, Kevin Lewis.
Smiley declined to identify the companies, saying he wasn’t authorized to disclose their names.
While he said he understands the desire of blacks to stand protectively by the first African-American president, he’s adamant about his right to take Obama to task on rising black unemployment, the use of military drones and other issues.
It doesn’t take much to set the petulant bullies in motion. While Tea Party and conservatives have been the main targets, almost any dissent is treated dismissively and opens one up to retaliation.
Such is the change some people were waiting for.
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During the 2008 Democratic primary Tavis and his family received threats because he criticized Obama for not showing up to a forum on race that he hosted.
Hillary showed up.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/23/obama.sobu/index.html
I guess he’s a raaaaaaaaaaaaaacist.
(The devil made me write that…)
You had to go there…. but then again, it’s their own play book. After all, according to the all-knowing Chris Matthews, disagreement = racism.
It doesn’t take much to set the petulant bullies in motion.
No, it doesn’t. It can’t.
They have to silence opposition whenever and wherever, and as quickly as possible. They especially have to silence those who can’t be immediately labeled as ‘The Other’ (to use one of their own labels). Mr. Smiley is a black man who speaks his mind: he’s not supposed to do that, he’s supposed to agree with the leadership.
Let opposition like Mr. Smiley get away with it and soon others will oppose. And then more. Finally average people will oppose Champ, his minions, his supporters and his ideology.
So they’re going to nip it in the bud, as it were. They have to try.
Not just any opposition, but certain opposition.
Way I see it, it’s easy to dismiss certain critics as either “racist” or “homophobic” or “islamophobic”, or “1%”, “birther”, or “fringe extremist”.
Point is – the left defines certain labels as “negatives”, then the media,Hollywood and other Progress intellectuals do their part to reinforce the definitions, so the labels become a way of muzzling opposition, or even better – being an acceptable reason for dismissing the criticism by means of dismissing the critic.
The problem for the left, is when the critic doesn’t fit the mold. Hard to say a black man is racist because he criticizes Obama….so, he needs to be silenced. Either he gets back in place and toes the party rhetoric, or face consequences. Because a crack in the wall will soon become a gap, and if not fixed soon, the wall comes down.
And this is why Mr. Smiley is such a threat to the Left.
Smiley declined to identify the companies, saying he wasn’t authorized to disclose their names.
I hope that means legal action is underway.
He doesn’t specify which advertisers have been pressured to drop their sponsorship of his program. On the other hand, given the events of the last few weeks, it’s not exactly implausible.
Plausible, shmausible, Smiley is not known for lying. OTOH you have his protagonist’s record for veracity – which is pretty teensie weensie.
‘Bullies?’ Isn’t that a dangerous understatement?
“Git back behind that fence, Smiley. Do ya feel me?”