Gwen Ifill smacking down Imus enablers on Meet the Press

[Eurobabe]

Go Gwen Go!

She basically called out David Brooks and John Harwood, shame on you for not making your voice heard earlier (that they knew Imus made racist remarks), if I heard her correctly

(on edit, I thought she said David Gregory, but I think she looked at these two guests and addressed them directly).

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. thanks! just started here. nt

[EST]

2. While I am appreciative of her stance on this issue, her history of

republican hypoclisy is long and sullied. Today's MTP, with its nearly zero liberal voices was sickening.

[Captain Hilts]

5. I agree about Ifill, but that's a different issue. nt

[Kahuna]

13. Ditto here. She's been a bush apologist.. but she is giving the

smackdown to this panel

[Eurobabe]

6. yeah I am just noticing this

everyone on there is a RepubliCON enabler. I don't know where Eugene Robinson and Gwen Ifill stand politically.

[Captain Hilts]

7. Robinson's a good liberal. nt

[EST]

22. Yes, he is.

But he acts like an uncle Tom, always laughing and snickering, trying not to offend anyone, massaging his own comments so that everybody just luuuves his company.
He is a good man and I like him but his efforts to be inoffensive to the nth degree sometimes make me a little ill.

He is not someone whom I would like to have represent me in a debate or anything with an important outcome.

[booley]

9. yeah but now...

..it's Imus insulting her. Not directly but his nappy haired whore comment could just as easily have been applied to her or any Black Woman.

Of course, Imus has been saying this sort of thing and far worse for the last 40 years. His comments on gay people was even worse. Still plenty of silence about that.

[Spiffarino]

32. Imus has insulted her directly and persistently

Back when Ifill was working her ass off bashing Bill Clinton's presidency, she received requests from his staff to be a guest on his show, but she never called them back. As a result, Imus started making all kinds of insulting comments about her. She never listened to his show and had no idea it was going on until somebody she worked with finally got his fill of it and told her.

So yeah, it's personal for Gwen. Even though she's a tool, she's dead on about Imus. He's a loathsome prick.

[Arkansas Granny]

14. I must be missing something here. I watch Gwen Ifill on a regular

basis on Washington Week and see her on the News Hour and have never noticed a Republican bias in her reporting, interviews or her panel moderations. I am aware of her friendship with Condi Rice, but I have not seen anything, myself, that would give me any opinion of her political leanings.

[hellbound-liberal]

23. Check media matters.org for a listing of Ifill's biased coverage

and lack of journalistic integrity. I am no more excited about her stance on this one issue than I am by Chris "Madspews" seeing the light once a month and actually acting like a journalist.

[EST]

24. I've watched her since she started on pbs.

I really do believe she makes an effort, mostly-though not always effective- to at least appear to be objective. Unfortunately, her bias bleeds through.
She will pose a question to a democrat and that question is so blatantly obviously republican talking point based that it becomes shrill. Her choice of guests follows the common plan of picking virulent repukes and Brazille types to represent dems. She certainly does not come on like a Hannity or Blitzer but she is a misguided republicker shill.

This makes her even more insidious because she could sometimes be mistaken for an objective reporter and interviewer.

I imagine my experience of the elaborate con game has me running on the too sensitive side a bit but having observed her for many years, now, even when she does everything right, her accumulated history activates my own biases.

[MADem]

3. That cleaning lady remark is coming home to roost. NT

[Captain Hilts]

4. I hope someone mentioned the really rude things he says about Hillary Clinton.

Yet Carville and Begala go on the show regularly. I guess being a member of the boys' club is more important than loyalty, or decency.

[babylonsister]

8. My attention went to the fact that Gonzo wasn't discussed, the war wasn't

discussed, it's still all about Imus, who has been fired.
Nice distraction, after 2 weeks of it. Are other topics too difficult for Russert?

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[babylonsister]

16. Pathetic hypocrite?

Nice. No, I'm just 'over' Imus after two weeks of non-stop 'news' to the exclusion of practically all else, especially when there are Americans who are being maimed and we are NOT taking care of them properly, and we have a government that is into distraction and has been for 6 years. Is that okay by you? :eyes:

And PS, 40 service members died this week in Iraq. Is that not worthy of some discussion?

[EST]

26. Your patience and presence of mind deserve a big kiss.

You are awesome.:loveya:

[derby378]

29. Anyone who messes with babylonsister also messes with me

She stood up for our troops and for the Iraqi people at Camp Casey. She knows the score, and I'm damn proud to have met her.

:hug:

[Arkansas Granny]

10. She made a very good statement at the end of the Washington

Week broadcast this week, also. The transcript isn't up yet, but you can view the segment here:

http://vvi.onstreammedia.com/cgi-bin/visearch?user=pbs-ww&template=template.html&squery=VideoAsset:pbswwr041307&page=2

Under the title "Ifill Responds to the Don Imus Controversy".

[Massive]

11. Didn't see this thread...

But I truly think her words on this subject was extremely powerful. Her opinion on this was probably the only one where I felt represented my thoughts on this subject.

For me, its quite rare to agree 100% with a person on a subject being that my peers isn't always the target audience on this show...my peers being people like me...( 23 y/o black male, live in Detroit (the actual city), heterosexual, liberal and proud, extremely vocal being for Gay rights and women rights and civil rights. Oh, and i'm an avid hip hop listener (although the rap artists i listen to are nowhere to be found on the radio or mtv).

Ok, maybe that description was quite pointless...lol
Geez, now I forgot my point....

[Longhorn]

17. Welcome to DU!

Nice to "meet" you! :hi:

[I Have A Dream]

19. Welcome, Massive!

:hi:

(On edit: I see that you've actually been here a while. Regardless of that, hello!)

[Kahuna]

12. Boy, is she..

:applause:

[Marie26]

18. She was great!

It was the first time I've really seen someone call out the "media elite" for supporting & enabling Imus.

[cal04]

20. Gwen Ifill Calls Out Russert, Brooks For Their Silence On Imus

This morning on NBC’s Meet the Press, PBS anchor Gwen Ifill directly called out host Tim Russert and fellow guest David Brooks for failing to speak out against Don Imus’ offensive remarks.

“There has been radio silence from a lot of people who have done this program who could have spoken up and said, I find this offensive or I didn’t know,” Ifill said. “These people didn’t speak up.” She then turned Russert and Brooks, frequest guests on Imus’s show. “Tim, we didn’t hear from you. David, we didn’t hear from you.”

Ifill added, “A lot of people did know and a lot of people were listening and they just decided it was okay. They decided this culture of meanness was fine — until they got caught. My concern about Mr. Imus and a lot of people and a lot of the debate in this society is not that people are sorry that they say these things, they are sorry that someone catches them.”

Watch it:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/15/imus-ifill/

[Eurobabe]

30. Yes, it wasn't John Harwood after all, and I was TiVOing it

so I couldn't pause and rewind, plus I was half paying attention. Russert, you know :boring:

[omega minimo]

21. And look at how the Imus mess has opened eyes to the fact that

"smacking down" is better usage than "bitch-slap" :think: :hi:

[stevedeshazer]

25. I've never been much of a fan, but she was truly great today on MTP.

If Imus had referred to me as the 'cleaning lady' I guess I'd be pissed off, too.

[ellacott]

27. She was great on the program

They keep trying to deflect it to the rappers but these "media elite" were complicit by their silence.

On this issue I don't care that she may have a bias in her other reporting. This issue is bigger than partisanship. Even Condi said the remarks were disgusting and that he should have been fired. CNN has had a black female republican strategist on that has been very vocal against Imus. She has even taken some of the Reps. to task on CNN who try to take up for him.

Even though Chuck Hagel is a Rep. there are people here who were ready to vote for him because he speaks out against Bush's policy on Iraq.

[derby378]

28. "Does comedy have to be funny?"

This question of Gwen's made me wince. If she doesn't know by now...

:rofl:

[YvonneCa]

31. Send your comments to MTP...

[email protected]

My letter:



As a public school teacher, I commend you for today's discussion on Imus. I DO hope that this incident leads to changes in how our country views the (often unwanted) influence of television and other media on young people.

For too long, pundits...of all stripes...have repeated the mantra, "If you don't like what's on, change the channel," to defend programming that is offensive or inappropriate for children. What they have failed to acknowledge is that we have a community responsibility to protect our children, and that some children lack family support to protect them (or in other words, turn off the TV).

Gwen Ifill needs to be heard on this issue by an even larger audience. She is articulating the responsibility we have as parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, neighbors, teachers, and community members to think of the children. As a teacher, I work with students with and without such family protection. There is a difference in these kids. Students with the freedom to see/hear whatever they choose...who have no one protecting them...are hardened. It is so sad to see. When Gwen Ifill said her colleague had to 'check out' what his kids were listening to, she is right.

Unfortunately, not all kids have someone in their life to care for them that way. That means the rest of us have to do it. We can't just make up excuses anymore and look the other way. What Ms. Ifill said about hoping her goddaughter would experience ten years from now should be the goal for us all.