For most of America, the shooting of yet another unarmed, young black man laid bare the way that racism and inequality play out in our streets. For wingnuts, it was another chance to appeal to the basest of the GOP base.
This week, the worst of wingnuttia is all about the killing of yet another unarmed young black man – 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo.
- In a column posted on Breitbart.com, Fox News and Washington Times contributor Charles Hurt blamed government anti-poverty programs for the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., by making the poor “slaves of the Dependency State,” and called President Obama and Attorney General Eric Older “Wall Street version[s] of race pimps.”
- In his WorldNet Daily column, right-wing rocker Ted Nugent blamed liberals for “Michael Brown’s death and the deaths of thousands of other young black guys who have been encouraged to become thugs.”
- Fox News’ Resident shrink Keith Ablow suggested that “something is deeply wrong with the psyche” Ferguson residents for presuming “the moral depravity of whites.”
- Missouri Republican Party executive director Matt Wills accused activists of “Injecting race into this conversation and into this tragedy” by starting a voter registration drive in Ferguson. No word on whether Wills had the criticism for the Ku Klux Klan, which has come to Ferguson to “protect white businesses”
- Pat Robertson told his “700 Club” audience that Michael Brown may have been using PCP, which turned him into a menacing “giant” who assaulted a “little cop.”
- CNN Host Chris Cuomo called out Ferguson’s Republican mayor James Knowles for referring to Michael Brown’s body as an “it.”
- Sean Hannity was pulled up short in his attempt to educate Ferguson Democrat Patricia Bynes about “the legal system in America.”
- Fox News host Bill O’Reilly defending killings by police, saying “many of them are justified.”
- O’Reilly wasn’t alone. Fox and Friends host Juliette Huddy mused that Brown’s shooting may have been justified based on a Ferguson police video of Brown allegedly engaged in “strong-arm robbery” at local store. Never mind that the store employees did not call 911 to report a robbery, the store owner disputes the police use of his video, and the rest of the video shows Brown paying for purchases.
- Fox News Correspondent Steve Harrigan dismissed late-night protests in Ferguson as “child’s play,” only to be told off by a Ferguson resident.
- Fox News commentator Todd Starnes “orchestrated” the tragedy in Ferguson, and made it “a national issue.”
But perhaps nothing sums up the problem better than the comments from supporters of Darren Wilson, the police officer who pumped six bullets into Michael Brown. Wilson, whose name was only released days after he killed Michael Brown, has a growing number of supporters and defenders in Ferguson and across the country. Wilson’s supporters have raised over $150,000 – out-raising Brown’s supporters by nearly $20,000.
Along with their donations, Wilson’s reporters have included comments that speak for themselves. Mother Jones Magazine captured some of them.
No wonder conservatives wish the media would just stop covering Ferguson. The spotlight on Ferguson sheds too much light on worst of wingnuttia.