Morgan Freeman tells Piers Morgan that the Tea Party is racist
By Jeff MillsSeptember 23rd, 2011, 2:15 pmComments (116)
During an interview that will air on CNN Friday night, Morgan Freeman, the actor who's had the distinction of playing both God and a pimp (George Burns as Superfly? I don't think so), told Piers Morgan (who's still on the air) that President Obama has not only not helped in the process of eradicating racism, but has actually made it worse. Freeman said that the Tea Partiers who are controlling the Republican Party are saying, "Screw the country, we're going to do whatever we can to get this black man out of here." Morgan replied, "But it's not necessarily a racist thing," to which Freeman countered, "It is a racist thing."
The seventy-four-year-old actor, who has memorably portrayed Nelson Mandela, said he understood the president's reluctance to fight back against his political enemies, wishing to maintain his principles, but hopes Obama will get more aggressive, and believes he will. What do you think? Is Freeman engaging in hyperbole, or is race really that much of a factor in wanting Obama to join George H. W. Bush and Jimmy Carter in the One Termer's Club? I propose that everyone get together for a catfish summit at Freeman's Mississippi restaurant, Madidi, and let bygones be bygones.
Commentarium (116 Comments)
You lot have got god angry.
You KNOW what happened last time.....
Mr. Freeman is correct.
Morgan Freeman knows of what he speaks.We're all afraid to say anything for fear of "playing the race card". I believe that Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham and others are completely stunned that a black man can inhabit the White House in some capacity other than butler and it is absolutely critical in their minds that he be gone in 2012. There is NOTHING more important to them. They will bury the country before they will do anything that might support Mr. Obama's presidency.
+1
YUP
Exactly. Well said.
It's about time someone said this
The Tea Party is racist. It's pretty overt, especially if you look back at their rallies. It's absurd to pretend the Tea Party is not racist.
Yet media outlets like CNN continue to do so. As an African-American man, it's been maddening to hear Tea Partiers and Republicans say and do overtly racist things - but CNN routinely overlooks that stuff and tries to pretend that they are sensible, reasonable people; and the fact that are racists and white supremacist elements in their ranks (why do you think they feel comfortable at Tea Party rallies?) is irrelevant and not newsworthy. I think CNN is trying to attract more of Fox News viewership, and part of that strategy involves promoting the Tea Party as a sane, rational political movement (despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary). Piers Morgan reaction is not at all surprising. At the same time, there were hundreds of thousands of African-Americans watching that exchange, doing a facepalm and saying aloud: "Of course they are. How much more obvious could it be?!!" LOL
Sorry, one last thing...I have a friend that grew up in Soviet-era Russia and came to the States as a teenager. Recently we were having lunch and the subject of Fox News came up. Her eyes lit up, she started grinning and said "..and it's propaganda...it's so OBVIOUSLY propaganda...it's like the old Pravda...it's amazing that Americans don't see that."
There are a number of Republican policies that are driven by racism, unadulterated greed, homophobia and stupidity (or some combo thereof) and it's amazing to me that as a culture people can't (or refuse to) see that. Ok, I'm going to grab some dinner, and Piers Morgan can go back into his bubble.
I actually am shocked that the Tea Partiers have any sway whatsoever. To me, as an outsider to the US politics, they just seem like a bunch of loonies.
I read CNN occasionally, I might add, and I started thinking maybe their journalistic standards weren't as high when they wrote an article spiced up with opinions from users in the comment section of another article. Everyone knows the comments are the worst.
Nice smear. I have a friend from Russia who thinks Fox News is great and that nothing like it would have ever been allowed in the Soviet Union.
He doesn't think that Democrats are all racist - only anti-semitic - and thinks that CNN is too vapid to watch.
Now that we've compared stories about friends, where has it gotten us?
@"@warrenbishop": It always helps to have imaginary friends backing you up, eh?
I'm so tired of hearing this drivel. Just because people disagree with Obama's policies, and want to do everything they can to vote him out in 2012, doesn't make them racists. Just because there's a half-black man in the Oval Office doesn't mean we suddenly have to lockstep with him just because of his race. That's not the America I want to live in, and you shouldn't either.
You're right of course, "just because" he has faced a unified, absolutely 100% all -issues -all -the- time, utterly relentless, unprecedented refuse to bend, negotiate, compromise, reason, deal in good faith army of "we want you to fail" say (or scream) absolutely anything refuseniks..... doesn't mean they're racists.
Except they are.
Sorry if you're tired.
Gazbo, ftw. Tea Partiers are fucking loony tunes. And tpn, save me the diatribe - nothing you say will convince me otherwise. Just remember that I am some idiot liberal or something, so my opinion doesn't, like, count or anything.
Understand that most of the comments by these conservative clones are actually PR media hack drones sitting in cubicles behind "comment bot" software packages with multiple identities (like dozens), pulling talking points off the fax (thats why they all sound amazingly alike).
Your opinion counts because you are an actual human being.
BTW Thanks.
+1.
Good point, Gazbo. It's probably the same group of people who successfully framed Islmanic terrorists for toppling the WTC when, in fact, they did it themselves with some help from the Masons.
Hello, "@" troll.
A half-black man? Fuck you tpn.
Yeah, like THATS not racist.
How the fuck is that racist? A quick biology lesson for you: Obama's mother is white, his father is black. Therefore, he is half black. The math is quite simple...
Oh, right. So that means that under Jim Crow, he would have been allowed to drink from "whites only" drinking fountains half of the time. Got it.
I'm not a conservative at all, but when I see shit like this it drives me nuts. Are there racist tea partiers? Sure. Are there racist "regular" conservatives? Sure. Are there racist liberals? Sure. Are there racist independents? Sure. There are racists all over, but that doesn't mean you can just stereotype an entire group as such.
As for the "all issues all the time" thing, you're absolutely right, and the left does this just as much as the right. It's the very unfortunate reality of our current political climate, where the other guys are 100% wrong and my guys are 100% right and there is no middle ground at all. Both sides are guilty, and it's a terrible horrible no-good very bad way to think and it's only dragging us down further. Our future right now is so very dim, and our so-called leaders in Washington -- ALL of them -- need to be run out of town. The time to re-do the whole thing is long overdue.
tpn, you're either a troll, a liar, or a moron for this: "As for the 'all issues all the time' thing, you're absolutely right, and the left does this just as much as the right." Really? The left opposed everything George W. Bush wanted to do all the time?
No: that's a lie.
And in fact, even during the Obama Administration, the Dems have FAR too many times compromised with the Republicans: e.g., the public option on healthcare, which - while Obama probably did not want it, many Dems did - is that the left saying that the right is 100% wrong all the time? No.
"Both sides do it" is bullshit and lies.
Really? You don't remember the years of the Bush presidency when people ran around New York at anti-war protests carrying "Bush = Hitler" signs? I was there. And there are pictures. I hate Bush as much as the next liberal, but the left absolutely opposed everything George Bush tried to do, especially in his second term, including a healthcare "reform" plan that looked a lot like PPACA. Can you actually think of some kind of compromise that Democrats made with Bush, or do you just like to call people liars and then make unrelated comments about a totally different time period?
And brought congress to a grinding halt on every single issue without exception? Hardly. And Bush never gave congress a chance what with all his (hundreds) of executive orders and recess appointments. There is simply and absolutely NO COMPARISON.
While repubs DEMANDED that the dems gave a "straight up or down vote" on the issues, nobody is even suggesting that - for example - the largest budget cuts in 100 years should be voted on; necessary bills are held hostage "OR ELSE".
Better check your fax AJ.
It's the Senate Democrats grinding everything to a halt now. They have tabled the House bill with nothing of their own. I'm tired of the claim that Republicans have stopped progress on every item; it's simply not true and speaks to the intellectual dishonesty that is ruining this country.
Time for a Republican presidency, House and Senate. Amateur hour is over, no matter how "brilliant" the amateurs.
Republicans have stopped progress on EVERY issue. Republicans have exactly one idea; cut taxes.THATS IT.
It won't work because it can't work. It's not even an idea - it's a religion. They talk about Christianity but that's a hoax; the one and only religion of conservatives is avarice.
Better check your fax.
""Both sides do it" is bullshit and lies."
OK, you can continue to be naive and oblivious and think that your side can do no wrong, but that's not going to get anyone anywhere. BOTH sides are complicit in the fucked up state of affairs that we're in right now; Hooksexup loves to point out all the BS the Republicans do (which is rampant), but never the BS the Democrats engage in (which is also rampant). So you guys go on deluding yourselves into thinking that your side is somehow the saviors of the world and the other are the devil incarnate or whathaveyou, and in the meantime the policies that get enacted by either side will continue us on this path to nowhere.
You've got to be kidding - who's talking about cutting taxes? The Republicans would also like to cut spending. Mortgaging our children's future to China is not a sound plan.
More accurately, the Demos only plan is to increase spending.
@Gazbo: Welcome to reversoland! It's full of wonderfully insane ideas like haveing a zero percent tax rate for corporations!! Woot!!
I think corporate taxes should be increased until they start hiring workers. When they do so, we can discuss leveling taxes off. Better yet, a 100% tax on corporations would show them we mean business. We can give them back funds we consider appropriate to conduct activities we consider justified.
How will raising corporate taxes encourage them to hire workers?
IMO everyone's taxes are too high, but the much bigger issue is how we allow so many to avoid paying some or all of their taxes who have no legitimate reason (poverty, etc.) to avoid anything. Eliminate all the loopholes, deductions, shelters and exclusions, simplify the tax code and get everyone to pay their fair share.
It won't, Huh, but jr doesn't understand how lowering corporate taxes could help reduce unemployment. To him, it's a zero sum game.
On TV this morning, David Plouffe said there are 22000 people who pay less than what he considers a fair marginal tax rate. Making the ridiculous assumption that we could increase the taxes on those people by $1,000,000, we would see tax revenues of about $22B or less than a quarter of a percent of the 2011 deficit. As Ron Suskind put it in his book, Obama is a brilliant amateur. Most of those who surround him are simply amateurs.
You're right, "@whatever"...I don't "understand" why historically low tax rates for corporations and the wealthy haven't created a zillion jobs. We should lower it even further! Duh.
At the risk of contradicting my earlier comments, I suppose there is also the possibility that Piers Morgan, CNN et al. are just completely oblivious. I'm reminded of the time that Fox hired Rush Limbaugh to cover the NFL. This is a man who's built a career out of race-baiting, to cover a sport where most of the professional athletes are African-American; THEN they were actually surprised when he said something racist and had to be fired. Who did they think they'd hired?
Perhaps these guys are just profoundly clueless. Either way, it's pretty amazing to watch.
TPN: Your false equivalency: "Both sides do it" is crap. Your assertion that the racism is all over the political spectrum, and not concentrated with Republicans is also complete horseshit. The racist and white supremacists across the country frequently ally themselves with Republicans because they understand they share similar beliefs. Start paying attention to the things that are staring you right in the face.
As a culture we've stop challenging people that refuse to face facts, accept empirical data, or completely fabricate things and when someone starts spewing crap like that - we need start to speaking out. When someone says "Oh climate change is a hoax, the earth is flat, evolution isn't real etc." We need to start calling 'bullshit'.
Thank you.
You're right. And it's not only in politics. We support stupidity in our entertainment by letting morons like the Kardashians and the Hilton sisters become celebrities and even role models to young people. We need to stop coddling stupid people as if it were ok.
There's a difference between accepting global warming as a fact vs. accepting human behaviour being the main (or even a significant) driver for said global warming.
Oops, did I write global wamring? I meant climate change. I wonder why I made that mistake.
You know the 'climate change' phrase came from Republicans trying to make global warming seem less serious, right?
There is a difference between those two things, but there is also a similarity--a refusal to accept a truth that the vast majority of the scientific community has accepted, at least at the level of "significant." There is also a tremendous ignorance in pretending that global warming is the only environmental cause that Republicans are ignoring, when they frequently support initiatives that endanger fragile ecosystems, relax farming regulations, and deride all initiatives to get off those deadliest drugs, fossil fuels and coal as tree-hugging hippie bullshit. Yeah, it's all tree-hugging hippie bullshit until you can light your water on fire and your son dies because there was too much e. coli in his burger.
"climate change" came into use b/c people seemed to have trouble understanding that "global warming" didn't necessarily mean that it was getting warmer everywhere. Both are accurate, but with "climate change" you're less likely to run into people saying "look how cold it is this month - guess that 'global warming' thing is b.s.".
Liberals are so stupid. Do EVERYBODY A FAVOR AND DON'T VOTE.
God (aka: MF) is right.
I'm guessing anyone who doesn't agree watches Fox News on a regular basis...
Morgan Freeman (the voice of God) has just confirmed what we already knew about the TBaggers
You're offensive.
Yum, bath water. I love surrounding myself with people who tell the same lies I do.
Yes, tbaggers are racists. Democrats are the heirs to George Washington.
Yum.
What is Ron Paul's connection with the Tea Party?
Why does the Tea Party, a fairly small number of disorganized chronic complainers who do not have
either the understanding or the skill to solve complex problems, get so much attention? I want knowledgeable, competent, patient people in charge of our federal and state governments, not a bunch of loud-mouthed no-nothings who have the attention spans of spoiled children!
Could be that we're tired of the brilliant, smartest-of-their-generation people like Obama, Geithner and Summers ruining the economy and driving us off a cliff.
I am so tired of the tbaggers telling the democrats to sit in the back of the bus!! Hold on, that was Obama...
It was Bush ll and Company who drove us over cliff. Clinton left a surplus!
What Libby said! If Bush had done nothing whatsoever, the defecit would be paid in full by now.
Grown ups indeed - venal, hypocritical, cynical; doddering thieves and liars with no loyalty to anything but their bank accounts.
That surplus is gone now, isn't it? The largest Bush deficit is less than half of the smallest Obama deficit. Amazing.
Oh, "@" whatever...lying only works with low information voters. Troll all you like, but you're not fooling anyone in here.
I'm sorry that lying works on you. Ignorance is curable.
No, it doesn't work on me. I'm not a Republican.
Zing! You got your ass handed to you, jr.
Sure, if getting my ass handed to me = showing the world how moronic Republicans are while you hang the "Mission Accomplished!" banner.
Hmm. More of missed point/logical fallacy on this one.
*Yawn* I'm glad that your troll days are numbered. Just imagine all the free time you'll have when a the sign-up policy starts!
I would just like to point out that Morgan Freeman married his adopted GRANDDAUGHTER.
And that totally proves that Tea Partiers aren't racists.
Well done, SSS. Your powers of logic are truly breath-taking.
Yes, MF is a mental case. His latest comments on the Tea Party prove it.
Why is the left so enamoured with actors who have zero expertise? Morgan, meet Sean. Sean, Morgan.
It totally proves Freeman is a wingnut. Let's ask him to go to the NIH and work on a cure for AIDS. He's so smart, he'd have no problem fixing that little problem up, would he?
I remember other famous actors in politics; Ronny Reagun, Rush Limbaugh,that ridiculous high-pitched little girl from SNL.
What just got proved?
That you like to change the subject when you're losing an argument?
Gazbo: Getting tired of "@" troll yet?
Nice way to change the subject, jr. And you committed several logical fallacies.
*Yawn* I'm glad that your troll days are numbered. Just imagine all the free time you'll have when a the sign-up policy starts!
Talk about false equivalencies. Racists are predominantly conservative, no argument there, but that doesn't mean that conservatives are predominantly racist.
This is a stupid and irrelevant comment masquerading as statistical insight. Freeman did not discuss "conservatives" - Freeman was talking about the Tea Party, which is a minority of conservatives.
Bullshit -- let me rephrase: even if racists self-identify specifically with the Tea Party, that doesn't mean that the Tea Party are automatically racist as a group. If a similar stereotype were applied to liberals as a group you'd be howling.
And besides, this is what I was replying to: "The racist and white supremacists across the country frequently ally themselves with Republicans because they understand they share similar beliefs. Start paying attention to the things that are staring you right in the face."
So, MRI: YOU are stupid and irrelevant. Fuck off.
I don't know MRI - he's half right.
Racists are predominantly conservative? I don't think so.
Harry Reid: "without a Negro dialect when he wants to..."
Plugs Biden: "clean"
The 21st century racists are liberals.
@"@MRAGH": You have obviously not been to the South...
And you obviously haven't been to the USA.
Oh! Ha! Zing! You got me there! Ohhhhhh.... ZzzZZzzZ.
Yup. I assume lots of things, but they're always wrong.
As usual, jr, you entirely miss the point. Also, logical fallacy!!
I, for one, appreciate that you - and only you - are smart enough to point this out. Now sit down and shut up, jackass.
Not to mention the missed points and compound logical fallacies.
*Yawn* I'm glad that your troll days are numbered. Just imagine all the free time you'll have when a the sign-up policy starts!
Herman Cain wins Florida straw pool in landslide ----- racist tea baggers lol
It will be interesting to see the bloggers twist this one.
Herman Cain won the Florida Straw Poll with strong Tea Party support. How does that square with Freeman's contention that the TP is racist?
Are you implying that a bunch of hicks voting for a Teabagger candidate who is also a racist somehow cancels out racism?
Yeah, that's what I was implying, jr. The surest sign of racism is treating someone based on the content of their character instead of doing the honest thing and treating them based on the color of their skin.
When do you start work at the US Apartheid Commission?
@ "@ whatever": I can always rely upon you to miss the point completely. I also think it's hilarious that you would "imply" the teabaggers are anything but a bunch of backwards, undereducated, hillbilly, racist dumb-asses.
And I can count on you to make ridiculous, unsubstantiated statements in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
So, how is it that the racist Tea Party supported Herman Cain? Don't worry, I expect to hear crickets or, more likely, a charge (with no support, of course) of either committing a "logical fallacy" or "completely missing the point."
Actually, you can't count on me to make unsubstantiated claims. Go ahead and ask me to back up anything I say and I will give you evidence. The same cannot be said for you. How is it that the Teabaggers could support Herman Cain? Because he appeals to their rabid, xenophobic discrimination towards Muslims and immigrants. I suppose you'll make the case that they all just like pizza? By the way, I never stated that it was "racist" of the Teabaggers to support Cain. My point is that they are all racists, so their goals are aligned. Thus, you missing the point.
You're right, I shouldn't count on you to do anything other than to be hateful and, no disrepect intended, dense in your reasoning. And thanks for changing the subject! The question was how can the Tea Party be racist if it supported Cain in the FL straw poll? Answer - he's a xenophobe who hates Muslims!
It's good that I can count on your for the logical-fallacy-of-the-day and to entirely miss the point.
I didn't change the subject. I told you why they support him, which is because they have a united, xenophobic, racist goal. You can't counter that, so you think that distracting with your trolling that you've somehow won an argument, which of course, you haven't.
You're right. I have nothing better to do than to be a Hooksexup troll with no name.
Logical fallacy/missed point.
*yawn*
Once again, missing the point.
As if you ever had one.
the puppet on my right hand shares my beliefs, but the puppet on my left hand is more to my liking, wait both puppets are controled by the same guy! politics in America - Bill Hicks
"You lie" by Joe Wilson said it all for me. They have just learned to hide what truely think and say better. "Crafted" I think is the term for current racism which is still expressed but hidden in the message.
Well, Obama was lying when Wilson said as much. Were the Democrats being racist when they show "Paul Ryan" rolling the old lady off the cliff in a wheelchair? Or was it an honest difference of policy?
"@troll", can you prove Obama was "lying"? Does that justify Wilson being a disrespectful jackass by yelling during a Presidential address? Can you find a example of a Democratic member of Congress doing the same? I bet not. Paul Ryan wants to end social security and medicare, so an analogy of him rolling seniors off a cliff is quite accurate.
Jr,
Politifact even says you and Joe Biden are lying about Ryan's budget plan. Quit listening to the lies coming out of the administration and do some homework.
https://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/sep/07/joe-biden/vic...
Tell him it's a logical fallacy and that he's entirely missed the point. That will show him!
I love agreeing with myself! "@" troll is so happy with his imaginary buddies!
As usual you missed the logical fallacy and committed an entirely missed point.
First, Paul Ryan himself is lying about Obama's universal health care: "Obamacare ends Medicare as we know it” Second, I am not "lying": Paul Ryan's "Premium Support" replaces Medicare as we know it with useless vouchers. Seniors would only get a predetermined amount - regardless of the actual growth of costs. So yes, this is akin to shoving granny off a cliff because both can result in death. Maybe you should stop masturbating to "Atlas Shrugged" and do a little homework yourself?
I can count on you to entirely miss the point with your logical fallacies. If you want to debate a point, feel free to do so. I'll wait until you figure out how.
Oh, "@" troll, I did just debate the point. You failed to have a rebuttal, troll.
So you admit you entirely missed the point and are the master of logical fallacy? The first step is admitting you have a problem!
Hello, "@" troll.
Hello, "@" troll.
Going to put this arctile to good use now.
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Now you say something