Melissa Harris-Perry, America’s, ahem, foremost public intellectual
Saturday Night Card Game
Melissa Harris-Perry of MSNBC presided over an appalling segment in which panelists mocked Mitt Romney’s family because of his adopted black grandchild. She later apologized profusely.
Yet for unknown reasons, Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Atlantic rushed to Perry’s defense not by defending her conduct, but by attacking her critics as racist.
On Saturday, Melissa Harris-Perry apologized on air for segment that made light of the Romney clan’s adoption of a young black boy. On Sunday, Mitt Romney accepted Harris-Perry’s “heartfelt” apology, noting, “I’ve made plenty of mistakes myself.” I’ve watched the offending segment several times now. I can see how a white parent who’d adopted a black child (or vice versa) would find the segment flip and offensive. It would not have surprised me if those concerned about adoption, equality, and racism voiced some protest about the segment. Instead what we got was week of invective driven mostly by a conservative movement with less lofty concerns.
“Harris-Perry has been a public laughingstock for some time now,” wrote John Nolte. “P.S. The Duck Dynasty family has an adopted black child. Maybe this is why the media hate them so much.” Nolte was writing for the site named for the man who engineered the “Shirley Sherrod is a racist” hoax. There has never been an apology for that and there won’t be one.
Stop. Right. There. And repeat after me, “The Shirley Sherrod tape was not misleading.” Ya see, I’ve analyzed that Breitbart tape frame by framed anyone who says the tape was misleading or racist doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
More Coates:
That is because the conservative movement does not believe that racism is an actual issue to be grappled with, but sees it instead as a hand grenade to be lobbed into an enemy camp. One week we find Sarah Palin defending a man who thought my father was better off living under state-sponsored terrorism. The next we find her arguing that history’s greatest monster is one Melissa Harris-Perry.
When not attempting to shame their enemies on trumped-up charges of racism, the conservative movement busies itself appealing to actual racists. We are into the sixth year of the era of a black president. In that time the conservative movement has gorged on a steady diet of watermelon jokes, waffle jokes, affirmative-action jokes, monkey jokes, barbecue jokes, terrorist machinations, secret Muslim plots, and dastardly Kenyan conspiracies. Three months ago, the movement reached a new low, waving the flag of slavery in front of the Obama’s home. It is tempting to call this the climax of a long campaign. That would exhibit an unearned optimism at odds with history.
What does any of that have to do with Harris-Perry’s conduct as to Romney’s family, or justify anointing her “America’s foremost public intellectual”?
Nothing.
In fact, whatever her private intellectual life is, her public performances on MSNBC have been a total embarrassment — even to MSNBC. No, Melissa Harris-Perry, “Obamacare” was not conceived by rich white men
Here’s a partial list from Fire Andrea Mitchell blog:
- MSNBC Melissa Harris-Perry equates Obamacare with N-word
- NBC nut Melissa Harris-Perry GITMO terrorists are like slaves or something
- Melissa Harris-Perry – Boston Bombers are literally Caucasian VIDEO
- Crazy Melissa Harris-Perry triples down on her ‘All your children are belong to government’ (Video)
- Half white MSNBC hack Melissa Harris-Perry declares Clarence Thomas Doesn’t Represent Blacks (Video)
- NBC-MSNBC Melissa Harris-Perry – ‘break through the idea that Kids belong to their parents’ they belong to the ‘community’ (Video)
- BC-MSNBC loony toons Melissa Harris-Perry looses it – has a temper tantrum (Video)
- NBC-MSNBC hack Melissa Harris-Perry who is 39 years old claims her grandmother was a lifelong slave, says God is pretty pitiful (Video)
There are some fights not worth fighting. And defending Perry’s conduct with regard to the Romney family is not one of them. Certainly not by throwing around accusations that her critics are racist.
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Comments
In that time the conservative movement has gorged on a steady diet of watermelon jokes, waffle jokes, affirmative-action jokes, monkey jokes, barbecue jokes, terrorist machinations, secret Muslim plots, and dastardly Kenyan conspiracies.
So many allegations. So devoid of video documentation. I was unaware that intellectual was now synonymous with fabulist.
“[T]he conservative movement has gorged on a steady diet of watermelon jokes, waffle jokes, affirmative-action jokes, monkey jokes, barbecue jokes, terrorist machinations, secret Muslim plots, and dastardly Kenyan conspiracies.”
His first name has gone to his head cuz he’s just making stuff up.
If MHP is indeed America’s “foremost public intellectual”, then, heaven help us, we’re a bloody stupid nation.
What’s racist about waffles?
Beats me. I can’t figure that one out either … unless somehow there is a tied implication to Aunt Jemima? If that’s the case, let’s add Cream of Wheat to the list of verboten foods.
That’s quite a bizarre interpretation of the meaning of the word intellectual.
In their Bizarro World “intellectual” means they were the 1st to shut-up, lay down, and to be shredded by the Democrat Party Machine.
Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb they are!
Ta Da!
YIKES! Is it Halloween time already again?????
Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Atlantic is just Racist Racist Racist – and her false words will not make her and her crumby cronies non-racist.
Coates is a man.
Coates sickens me, given that Harris-Perry’s OWN motives were incredibly racist.
After all, Harris-Perry’s entire purpose in mocking the Romneys was to SHAME conservative, white families out of adopting black babies.
Think about that. Next time a conservative, white family considers adopting a black baby, they’ll inevitably consider the hatred and mockery that will come their way courtesy of leftist racists. Many of them will end up deciding, “It’s not worth it.”
So I think it takes a SPECIAL kind of “public intellectual” to do what Harris-Perry did: namely, a monster.
Her defenders are monsters too.
Given Coates’ proud afrocentric background and his entire career being owed to Affirmative Action (how many other college drop-outs with one book to their credit are awarded writing chairs at Harvard?) forces him to fight hard for the better-educated Harris-Perry.
If a black woman holding a Ph.D. can be exposed as intellectually deficient, his own carefully constructed myth of intellectual adequacy might swiftly burst.
Ta-Nehisi stands for nothing besides hatred of white “racism” – which he seems to define as synonymous with white “people” if they fail to denounce their own “white privilege” and kow-tow to favored black leftists. He has to stick up for the validity of hating white people to defend his own world view, not to mention career.
So much to cover in your post. But to me, quite frankly, the one that is the most sickening is the allegation about
(emphasis mine)
The White House is NOT “the Obama’s home.” As they (the Obamas AND the MSM) pounded into us over and over in 2008/2009, the White House is the PEOPLE’S house!! No president owns it, although they act as if they do.
They do indeed believe they are royal; it is an imperial presidency. And faux “intellectual” tools like MHP and Ms. Coates are what make it possible.
I don’t recall anyone ever waving the flag of Mauritania in front of any place the Obamas were “Occupying”.
Two points:
When Kieran Romney grows up he will, almost certainly, ego-surf. How can you explain this taunting to an eight year old, or so. How sad for him, an for his parents.
At one point the excuse was that it wasn’t a prepared segment, and sprung upon them panel. Therefore, we should excuse them. Au contraire. The segment seems to prove what conservatives imagined a get-together of liberals is like: mocking whomever disagrees with them, not worrying if what they say might sound racist in another context, self-congratulatory, smug. It wasn’t racist, it was a window into their minds.
Aw, c’mon.
Harris-Parry is so smart, she menstruates brains out her ears, fer cryin’ out loud!
Liberalism requires the victory of credential over merit.
Melissa Harris Perry intelligent? This is a woman who sticks tampons in her ears instead of in her hoohaa.
“Public Intellectual”??????!!!!!!!
A white chick with a pricey tanning salon doo. And, about as “Intellectual”, public or private, as a chunk of sandstone.
That is because the conservative movement does not believe that racism is an actual issue to be grappled with, but sees it instead as a hand grenade to be lobbed into an enemy camp.
That’s some serious projection right there.