Juan Williams booed at Fox News debate for challenging Newt Gingrich on minorities, the poor

[bigtree]

Fox News correspondent Juan Williams drew sustained boos during Monday night's Republican presidential debate in South Carolina, following a question to Newt Gingrich about his characterization of the nation's poor.

Williams was targeting comments the former House speaker has repeatedly made, saying poor children lack role models for work, and calling President Barack Obama a "food stamp president":

Williams asked:

Speaker Gingrich, the suggestion that you made was about a lack of work ethic and I've gotta tell you my email account and my Twitter account has been inundated by people of all races who are asking if your comment was not intended to belittle the poor and racial minorities ... you saw some of this reaction during your visit to a black church in South Carolina by a woman who asked why you refer to Barack Obama as a "food stamp president." it sounds like you're trying to belittle people.

Gingrich took issue with the question -- not unusual for him during debates -- and responded to Williams' question with a particularly sarcastic and personal opening, beginning with "now first of all, Juan ... he then went on to stand behind his comments, saying "more Americans have been placed on food stamps under President Obama than any previous president, and insisting that he's going to "continue to find ways to help poor people learn how to get a job, learn how to get a better job, and learn someday to own the job."

Watch:

[gateley]

1. Boy, we've become such a hateful country. Tragic. nt

[GoCubsGo]

27. No.

Only a certain portion of it is hateful, and you saw them here. As nasty as the 2008 Democratic primary was at times, we never saw this kind of vile crap, save for a handful of people. Most of them, like that Lady Rothschild clown, aren't even real Democrats. With the republicans, these blatant displays of hatred come on a regular basis. We've seen them in pretty much every "debate" other type of forum these cretins hold.

[99th_Monkey]

2. Good Lord! What country is this again? nt

[still_one]

3. Comes with the fox territory he works for. /nt

[JohnnyRingo]

4. The audience smelled racism in the room and frenzied like sharks over the scent of blood.

Juan Williams was the chum.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. I wonder if Juan Williams is now having second thoughts

about having sold out to the crudbags at Faux News who tolerate and encourage that sort of raw racism.

[CTyankee]

15. Karma is a bitch for sure. Now he reaps what he himself has sown.

Serves the bastid right. Let him squirm...and that audience can go rot in hell for all I care...

[COLGATE4]

18. + 1000

[MellowDem]

32. He belongs with them...

he's as bigoted as they are. If they turn their bigotry on him, all the better for karma.

[Zalatix]

6. That's like the Anti-Defamation League getting booed in Mecca's Grand Mosque

I wouldn't take any boos seriously at a GOP debate.

[itsrobert]

7. I really thought Juan Williams was going to keep his dignity

By getting up, say, "Fuck this racist shit", take his mike off, hold his head up high and walk out of the room.

Then remembered he was Juan Williams.

[la la]

8. just watching juan on hannity's dreck show....

...he told hannity he learned how to cause trouble from him ( i'm paraphrasing...)

[Grassy Knoll]

9. SC has only 8 Electoral Votes....

They hated Obama then, they will vote against him this year, no surprise how they
reacted on Juan's question, that's cross burning country and it will never change.

[joshcryer]

10. American Exceptionalism.

This is what caused me to start that OP that I did.

[FarLeftFist]

11. BUT THEY NEVER SAY HOW! All they do is complain and state BS rhetoric but ZERO SOLUTIONS.

[Lint Head]

12. Benito Mussolini would love to be a part of this.

[xfundy]

13. You'd think Juan, having been at FAUX for so long --

-- would "know his place."

Certainly, he knows cancervatives are mostly racists, but he loves the money too much to stand up and assert himself.

in other words, he's an asshole.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

14. And why have more Americans been placed on food stamps under Obama?

Eight years of Bush ripoffs and Republican inaction since, have left us where were at today.

[msanthrope]

16. Well, Juan, lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas. nt

[pampango]

17. "a black journalist being booed by an overwhelmingly white audience in a deep South state..."

"It was a moment that will likely be dissected, debated and discussed for some time: a black journalist being booed by an overwhelmingly white audience in a deep South state on Martin Luther King Day, as a white candidate for president talked about the work ethic in low-income, majority black neighborhoods. It's hard to imagine a more charged few minutes in public life in recent memory."

Williams came back at Gingrich, asking the former speaker if his comments had been "intended to belittle the poor and racial minorities." The crowd, most of it white, booed Williams loudly.

Gingrich channeled resentment felt by some whites about political correctness with a salvo aimed at President Obama, followed by a high-minded summary of his own ideals.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/17/newt-gingrich-juan-williams_n_1209657.html

With Mitt (among others) alienating Hispanics and Newt (among others) alienating African Americans, the GOP might as well hang a "Whites Only" sign out in front of their party.

[mfcorey1]

19. The dems should not take their convention anywhere near Carolina, fueling money into that economy.

[bigtree]

20. I can't personally vouch for this

. . . but I've heard (several times) that there's a lot of difference between North Carolina and South Carolina. We do need NC and it's within reach.

[appal_jack]

23. I can: there is hope for NC

Not saying that the state is free of problems or rw nutbaggery (alas, we have plenty), but NC also a great education infrastructure, lots of progressive groups, and plenty of citizens who want to move forward.

-app

[bigtree]

25. thanks, jack

Lot of stuff planned for our convention. Looks like a nice state to celebrate our democracy. I think we're going to borrow the Panther's football stadium for the acceptance address. Looking forward to it all.

[GoCubsGo]

28. In both states it varies by region.

In both states, the cities tend to be less conservative. While Charleston, Columbia and Greenville aren't as liberal as Asheville, I'd say they are on par with Charlotte and Raliegh-Durham. The rural areas of North Carolina, especially in the eastern part of the state, are just as racist and right-wing as rural South Carolina.

[JoePhilly]

24. North Carolina is not South Carolina.

[GoCubsGo]

29. Actually, in many ways it is.

See my post above.

[JoePhilly]

39. Actually ... I live in NC, and visit SC regularly ... and no, its really not.

As a simple example, one of the two was BLUE in 2008, one was not.

NC is a BATTLEGROUND STATE ...SC is not. The GOP is now struggling to hold NC, not so in SC.

And THAT is the key indicator of the critical difference between the two states. Not only is NC willing to vote for a Dem, its willing to vote for a BLACK dem ...

SC won't be doing either for a very long time.

[GoCubsGo]

40. The only reason NC is a battleground state...

...is because they have larger cities with more people living in them. That's where the majority of Obama voters reside. The rural areas of NC are no different than those in SC, which has more of them.

[JoePhilly]

42. And your point is???

You just described a rather large DIFFERENCE between the two states as a way to claim that they are basically the same ...did you miss that?

Also ... Charlotte is no just a larger city ... its more like cities in the north. Much more diverse that anything you will find in SC. Raleigh, not large, but diverse ... Asheville, not large, but liberal ... I could go on. Lots of areas that lean LEFT.

And then ... we could compare University systems ... UNC (including Chapel Hill, Greensboro, Charlotte, Asheville, Willmigton .... ), Duke, Wake Forrest .... versus what in SC?? ... Bob Jones University? (ok, maybe Clemson, but after that???)

What about education levels ??? Raleigh was #5 in the entire US ...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/16/the-most-educated-cities_n_649305.html#s115253&title=Washington_DC_Metro

Again ... NC and SC are worlds apart.

[GoCubsGo]

43. My point is...

Outside of the urban areas, they are NOT worlds apart. Their rural areas, of which there are many, are as racist and ignorant as those in South Carolina, if not worse. Eastern North Carolina is not Raliegh-Durham or Charlotte.

[JoePhilly]

44. Sure, and rural PA is basically Alabama.

You might think I'm joking. Most of my family still lives there.

PA continues to be Philly to the East, Pitt to the west, and Alabama in the middle.

But that does not make PA = SC.

[Shankapotomus]

21. Leave it to Fox to conduct a debate

with the audience behaving like a bunch of animals. I suppose the Jerry Springer atmosphere gets more ratings.

[Prism]

22. A debate playing to South Carolina Republicans

The only good that could come of that is an endless array of advertisements for Democrats to run in the general. And I think we got them.

[JoePhilly]

26. Juan was clearly guilty of asking questions while black ... that's a felony in SC.

[Scurrilous]

30. Thanks.

[Fumesucker]

33. Welcome to DU..

I hope you enjoy your stay.



And if you had read more here before you posted you would have realized that your last paragraph is a huge bone of contention on DU still.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

37. His stay was short - only about 15 minutes.

[Fumesucker]

38. ..and leave a good looking corpse..

[Irishonly]

41. That was fast

I don't think the jury has had time to decide on whether or not to hide the post. I am a bad person. I laughed at the post.

[MellowDem]

34. Welcome...

I don't think anyone on here was defending Juan. He's a bigot himself. See why he was fired from NPR.

Also, calling Obama the "food stamp president" is simply a dog whistle to bigots everywhere. Just like the old "welfare queen" bullcrap.

Considering we are in the worst recession since the Great Depression, none of which is due to Obama's or liberal policies, attributing the fact that food stamps have increased to Obama, or even focusing on "food stamps" of all things, which aren't even called that anymore, is just pure red bigoted meat slung to an audience of ignorant and hateful people that are fed paranoia and hate on a daily basis. It has been part of Republican strategy for a while, very clearly laid out in the Southern Strategy, to reach out to bigots in the south for electoral gains.

As for why this is called "Democratic" underground, it's because it is the proper way to say it, and has nothing to do with the small "d" democratic. "Democrat" is not proper grammer and is a popular way of slurring Democrats by those on the right if you didn't know. You don't seem to know a lot. Hopefully you have an open mind and can see from another perspective, which you seem to have little knowledge of.

[bigtree]

35. you seem lost

I think you meant to take a right turn . . . ended up here at Democratic Underground, instead.

[treestar]

36. What BS

Keeping people poor so they keep voting for them? Don't think that would work except in upside-down universe. One of the top ten stupid right wing talking points.

People might saw what race they are in the emails.