Last week, in a fit of anger at the injustice of the Trayvon Martin case, director Spike Lee stupidly tweeted the address of a George Zimmerman of Sanford, Florida. The only problem was that it was NOT the George Zimmerman who shot Trayvon Martin. It was instead the address of an elderly couple whose son shared the same name. At universal condemning, Lee apologized to the couple and today, agreed to a settlement for their distress. I agree with Balloon Juice's John Cole's initial reaction: Spike Lee is an idiot and should not be encouraging vigilante "justice". Unfortunately, Lee also gave the likes of Sean Hannity all the ammunition he needed to run a segment like the one this Thursday.
That said, I do agree with Ellen over at Newshounds who pointed out Hannity's hypocrisy. If he wants appoint himself the campaign donor police for President Obama (as they've done and failed already with Bill Maher), he probably should avoid playing the "both sides are equally terrible" game with his statements, considering his own connections to a charity run by a slavery-justifying, misogynistic Jesse Peterson:
A few quotes from Peterson, via the above links:
“I’ve often said that, ‘Thank God for slavery,’ because, you know, had not, then the blacks over here would have been stuck in Africa… The ride over (in a slave ship) was pretty tough but you know, it’s like riding on a crowded airplane when you’re not in First Class. It’s a tough ride. But you’re happy when you get to your destination.”
“Women’s rights are “a trick from Satan.”
“One of the greatest mistakes that America made was to allow women the opportunity to vote.”
"N)ot all, but most (women) turned into little whores.”
Or the hours upon hours of hate and misogyny that Rush Limbaugh spews on his show daily and that he was still doing this week despite hemorrhaging sponsors, as Media Matters documented here -- Limbaugh: If Health Care Reform Law Is Overturned "College Co-Eds" Might Have To Pay "To Have Protected Sex".
Hannity never seems to be concerned about crazy things anyone says that donate to political campaigns unless those donors happen to be supportive of President Obama's campaign or a Democrat, so it's pretty obvious what the source of his feigned indignation is here.
He was also completely dismissive of the new video obtained by ABC News where it seems pretty obvious to me that Zimmerman had not been in some life or death struggle with his head being beaten into the concrete and his nose broken shortly before . I've heard people on a number of outlets trying to claim he was "cleaned up" by paramedics before this was recorded. Did he change his clothes as well? It's absolutely ridiculous to believe the claims by Zimmerman's father that he was beaten as badly as he was and somehow reconcile that with how he looks in the video released.
And back to the video above, Hannity's guest was also allowed to get away with the whopper that Media Matters noted here -- Fox's Tamara Holder: Black People Are Making Trayvon Martin Case "More Of A Racial Issue Than It Should Be".
Sorry, Tamara, but no. This is a racial issue because the type of racial profiling that happened to Trayvon Martin happens way too often and this is not an isolated incident. If this was a one-off, you would not be seeing the outrage from Civil Rights leaders and from all different community, irrespective of their skin color.
The right's answers to problems with poverty and race relations have been to escalate them rather than do anything to solve their root causes. Their answer to crime has been to just incarcerate as many black men as possible and make sure they can't vote for anyone that might actually care about solving the problems within their communities when they come out of jail.
The right's reaction to a black man finally being elected president has been to do nothing but inflame racial hatred and bigotry in America. They prey on the lizard brains to make every racist out there scared to death of our centrist, educated and even-tempered black president and turn him into something foreign, radical and out to take advantage of white people. They claim he wants to turn us into a "welfare state" that coddles lazy black people that don't want to work while those "hard working" white people have to foot the bill for them sitting at home, living high off the hog on their welfare checks and laughing at the rest of us. And if they're not doing that, they're up to no good and are going to rob, or rape or attack you.
Or maybe they're some kid walking home in the wrong neighborhood, armed with some Skittles and iced tea, with the wrong idiot whose father is a judge with friends in the right places stalking him. Sean Hannity thinks it's absolutely fine for that idiot to confront and shoot the kid because he was supposedly "defending himself" during an altercation he instigated. And now he's going to turn it into a race baiting game after someone on the left acted irresponsibly. He'll make it about President Obama--because everything is this president's fault--instead of the fact that the only reason this child was killed is because George Zimmerman decided to confront him while he was armed, when the only thing that kid was doing wrong, is trying to walk home while black.
