This from a posting by Moulitsas on dailykos late on caucus night, January 3, 2008, quoting CNN "analyst" Bill Bennett from a rushed transcript:


COOPER: Let's go check in with our political contributors. Bill Bennett, does this change the game a lot?

BENNETT: Well, I think it's, again, a wonder of America here. A remarkable breakthrough this year.

As the other group said, 97 percent, in fact, Iowa rural, white, farming -- farming state. Barack Hussein Obama, a black man, wins this for the Democrats.

I have been watching him. I watched him on "Meet the Press," I've watched him on your show, watched him on all the CNN shows -- he never brings race into it. He never plays the race card.

Talk about the black community -- he has taught the black community you don't have to act like Jesse Jackson, you don't have to act like Al Sharpton.

You can talk about the issues. Great dignity. And this is a breakthrough.Did the right-wing talk show host Bill Bennett actually say of Obama "he has taught the black community you don't have to act like Jesse Jackson, you don't have to act like Al Sharpton."


There are so many things wrong with this: 1)Is the "black community" a monolith? Do all blacks act, think, or even approach a political candidate in the same manner? 2)Why would the black community act like Jackson or Sharpton? Don't they more typically act like Americans? Do most black people look at black activists to determine how they will act (seems a little odd to me)?; 3)What does it mean "to act like Jesse Jackson (and) Al Sharpton? We can assume the Repub flak Bennett is not a big fan of the aforementioned gentlemen, which suggests Bennett is not a big fan of how "the black community" acts; 4)Is it necessary to "teach" the black community something, as Obama allegedly has? Does the "black community" resemble children in their simplistic unawareness? 5)Why does Bennett believe Jesse Jackson (who, for all his faults, seems committed to many progressive causes) and Al Sharpton (who, for all his faults.... well, he has many faults) are identical? Are "they" all the same?

But not to worry. Just as many NBC employees rose up to denounce to management the offensive remarks of Don Imus which resulted in him (temporarily) getting thrown off radio and television, surely, members of the "liberal media" at CNN will demand termination of its contract with Bill Bennett. Sure.