Let’s Play “Spot The Difference!”: Sally Kern Edition
[Guest post by Lee Stranahan]
I’ll have more to say about the issue of Sally Kern, the Republican from Oklahoma who is being called on by NAACP and others to step down after her racist remarks…
What remarks? Here’s a quote….
We have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that’s tragic, but are they in prison just because they are black or because they don’t want to study as hard in school? I’ve taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn’t study hard because they said the government would take care of them.
Got it? That’s the quote. That same quote is repeated, word for word, by The Root and the Huffington Post and — well, everywhere. Google it – the quote is EVERYWHERE, word for word.
So – here’s the game!
This is video of the entire debate on affirmative action. Sally Kern starts speaking at about 1:16 – her quote starts at about 1:20.
Question : how good a job did they do getting Rep. Kern’s words correct? Did they selectively edit anything out?
I’m NOT INTERESTED in debating affirmative action, pro or con, on this post. Not interested in debating Rep. Kern’s speech either – just focus on this simple question…is the quote accurate?
– Lee Stranahan
UPDATE BY PATTERICO: I had problems installing the plug-in required to watch the video, so I have been unable to watch it. However, commenter melanerpes offers the following transcription, the accuracy of which was vouched for by longtime and trusted reader AMac:
We have heard tonight already that in prison there’s more black people. Yes, there are, and that’s tragic. Its tragic that our prisons here in Oklahoma, what are they, 99% occupancy? But the other side of the story perhaps we need to consider is, is this just because they’re black, that they’re in prison? Or could it be because they didn’t want to work hard in school? And white people often times don’t want to work hard in school, or Asians often times, but a lot of times that’s what happens — I taught school for twenty years and I saw a lot of people of color who didn’t want to work as hard; they wanted it given to them. As a matter of fact I had one student who said “I don’t need to study. You know why? The government’s gonna take care of me.” That’s kind of revealing there. Equal opportunity, not equal results.
That quote is quite different in many ways, as should be obvious.
However, the representative has already apologized for her remarks, as commenter happyfeet notes.
It’s hard to defend people who apologize when they have been misquoted.
that is most certainly not an accurate quote I think the NAACP is trashy whores what like to opportunistically and viciously attack white people they disagree with politically and they will lie and lie and lie to do it
and the National Soros Radio media will help for free
happyfeet (760ba3) — 5/1/2011 @ 12:58 pmAgain I agree with happyfeet.
DohBiden (15aa57) — 5/1/2011 @ 1:02 pmShe got Breitbarted with heavily edited deceptive footage and she is a racist.
JD (109425) — 5/1/2011 @ 1:10 pmhere is Sally’s statement on the matter
they made her eat it. Her groveling makes it a bit harder to defend her. She really hadn’t said anything for which an apology was required.
It’s kinda funny though that this blew up in Oklahoma Team R’s faces. I bet they thought they were being all politically smoov with the affirmative actions.
For reals for this cycle Team R is better off focusing on the spendings I think.
happyfeet (760ba3) — 5/1/2011 @ 1:47 pmShe said nothing like the quote that is being attributed to her.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 5/1/2011 @ 1:50 pmLee,
I believe you meant “same quote” rather than “sane quote.”
Nathan Wagner (13431f) — 5/1/2011 @ 1:53 pmhow much suck could a
ColonelHaiku (cdd0f9) — 5/1/2011 @ 1:53 pmfeet suck suck if a feet suck
could suck suck suck suck
that is difficult to quantify Mr. Colonel
happyfeet (760ba3) — 5/1/2011 @ 1:54 pm___________________________________
is the quote accurate?
The transcript (redacted or not) compared with what’s said in the video?
The link to tulsaworld goes to a page that notifies “slow to load and requires Microsoft Silverlight to be installed.” So I’m going to slough off and not make an effort to watch it. However, I’d want to see it if the quote taken from it were suspicious, meaning ludicrous and outrageous along the lines of “I saw a lot of Negroes at the school I worked at who spent all day eating fried chicken and watermelon. They were all lazy and smelled bad too.”
BTW, America’s “first black president” (aka Bill Clinton) was described by a former high school girlfriend as muttering something obnoxious when she visited him on one occasion during his term as attorney general of Arkansas. She was driving with him in a car in Little Rock when he spotted a black activist walking down the street. The former GF said he sputtered something like “that’s a troublemaking n—er!”
Mark (411533) — 5/1/2011 @ 1:56 pmnot at all happy
ColonelHaiku (cdd0f9) — 5/1/2011 @ 2:00 pmwould be akin to sucking
of a large black hole
oh. at that link in #4 if you scroll down Sally has a helpful verbatim transcript
happyfeet (760ba3) — 5/1/2011 @ 2:07 pmWhy do people even bother posting videos that require you to abandon your computer to Microsoft’s ever-changing editions of Silverlight?
What does silverlight do to make it at all helpful to tie your presentations to it?
Do people specifically NOT want people to be able to see what they are trying to get us to watch?
Charles (90b880) — 5/1/2011 @ 2:08 pmB-but
/Libturds
DohBiden (15aa57) — 5/1/2011 @ 2:11 pmDon’t want to install the Microsoft Silverlight to view the video? Don’t blame you. So I transcribed Kern’s relevant passage as a community service.
melanerpes (5c0dda) — 5/1/2011 @ 2:14 pm____________________________________________
Sally has a helpful verbatim transcript
The quoteline posted by Lee lacks the nuance and sophistication of the actual comment. The supposed transcript was dumbed down, undoubtedly to fit the agenda of people of the left (Hi, NAACP, Huffington Post, etc!). After all, so many “progressives” are notorious for dumbing down things, reality included. So, no, the quote is not accurate.
Mark (411533) — 5/1/2011 @ 2:18 pmWhat is needed to bust the whole racial racket open is somebody who is not afraid to tell African Americans that that they are being treated by Democrats as their ancestors were treated by the Plantation Owners. Hold it in front of their eyes; “So, Masa government gonna take care of all good little field hands? Is that how you want to live?”
The key is going to be offering a hand up, while saying this. WE do not owe reparations for Slavery. On the other hand, I think we should consider offering reparations for allowing Liberal Intellectual Radical Progressive racists to gut the inner city schools that could have offered African Americans a way out of dependency. It isn’t enough to campaign for government backed Vouchers, we should be offering charitable scholarship vouchers (not tied to any one school) to give African Americans control over their children’s schooling. I can’t do this, I lack the money to give it a start, but if anyone knows of such a charity in the Philly area, I would contribute.
The Democrats have always held Blacks in contempt; from before the Civil War to the present day. They are despicable for how they use Blacks to hold power, and hold the Blacks down.
C. S. P. Schofield (8b1968) — 5/1/2011 @ 2:25 pmRacists. Denounced and condemned.
JD (d48c3b) — 5/1/2011 @ 2:30 pmI just watched the video, starting at ~1 hr 20 min. Just so it’s clear — the transcript that melanerpes posted in #14 above (5/1/2011 @ 2:14 pm) is accurate.
That means that the quote in the body of this post isn’t a quote at all. It’s somebody else’s paraphrase.
And in my opinion, it’s a sharpen-the-knives, agenda-driven paraphrase that’s masquerading as a quote. Dirty politics.
AMac (4826b2) — 5/1/2011 @ 2:33 pmWhat is a far-right progressive?
DohBiden (15aa57) — 5/1/2011 @ 2:34 pmDishonesty like this is outrageous.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/1/2011 @ 2:42 pmI just posted a discussion about this subject, including a link to your piece. Since I am an Oklahoman, I have been following this story for the past few days as well.
http://wizbangblog.com/content/2011/05/01/i-might-be-a-racist.php#comments
Michael Laprarie (25dd37) — 5/1/2011 @ 2:59 pmShe shouldn’t have apologized.
Forget it, Jake, it’s Tulsa.
Mek (d63e61) — 5/1/2011 @ 3:00 pmObama should go suck Soros’s cock.
DohBiden (15aa57) — 5/1/2011 @ 3:19 pm“…just focus on this simple question…is the quote accurate?”
Why?
I’ve toldja and toldja and toldja, lefties are pathological liars.
Dave Surls (9fcad1) — 5/1/2011 @ 3:31 pmHas anyone seen Brietbart?
Arizona Bob (aa856e) — 5/1/2011 @ 3:54 pmI guess this is the ‘journalist’ to blame and contact if you are unhappy with this misquote: http://twitter.com/#!/rkrehbiel
Of course, the damage is already done.
breitbartfan77 (e71ad9) — 5/1/2011 @ 3:54 pmI hung around for the vote: 56 to 14 with one future president voting present.
Arizona Bob (aa856e) — 5/1/2011 @ 4:00 pmI didnt see it as an apology, just an observation that people are stupid. She didnt redact her words
In so many words, also Kern is like Perry, she doesnt apologize or care what people call her
She scares the crap out of the democrats
EricPWJohnson (f7bf67) — 5/1/2011 @ 5:19 pmWe have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that’s tragic, but are they in prison just because they are black or because they don’t want to study as hard in school? I’ve taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn’t study hard because they said the government would take care of them.
What’s wrong with what she said? She is spot on. Truth hurts.
The Emperor (eb7dd2) — 5/1/2011 @ 5:31 pmThe Emperor,
That wqs actually brought up by State Senator Mike Shelton, and he’s a black Democrat
EricPWJohnson (f7bf67) — 5/1/2011 @ 5:43 pmThey wanted me to install something called Microsoft Silverlight. I tried, twice. Nothing worked.
If you find a version that’s actually watchable, I’ll give it a shot.
Patterico (c218bd) — 5/1/2011 @ 5:50 pmNo, it is not accurate.
It is not even a good paraphrasing.
ajacksonian (87eccd) — 5/1/2011 @ 5:57 pmI think the issue is that one of her
students tells her that the government will
take care of him/her where the quote makes
it look like her opinion. However, she
does stereotype blacks as being not interested
in learning. Even if that’s her experience
it’s wrong of her to extrapolate her experience
to the black community.
She could probably make similar statements
East Bay Jay (19f566) — 5/1/2011 @ 5:57 pmif she had come loaded with references but
she didn’t. She used her personal experience
alone.
She quoted a student that wound up in prison or one she expected to do so.
It’s hard to defend people who apologize when they have been misquoted.
She may not have realized it was a misquote. I don’t alway remember exactly what I said in a public setting and might accept such a quote as accurate.
Mike K (187f3b) — 5/1/2011 @ 6:06 pmWhy is palin racist in your eyes?
DohBiden (15aa57) — 5/1/2011 @ 6:16 pmShe shouldn’t have apologized. This nonsense has to stop.
The Emperor (026671) — 5/1/2011 @ 6:16 pmWe have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that’s tragic, but are they in prison just because they are black or because they don’t want to study as hard in school? I’ve taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn’t study hard because they said the government would take care of them
Well, I would imagine, and correct me if I’m wrong, that they are in prison because they were convicted of a crime and sentenced to prison. Argue amongst yourselves as to why more blacks are in prison. If you are white it’s probably your fault.
kansas (313837) — 5/1/2011 @ 6:17 pmIt’s hard to defend people who apologize when they have been misquoted.
But Patterico, you know as well as I do, that once the media accepts a meme, the truth is unimportant. The target must be destroyed. Hence, immediate apology.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/1/2011 @ 6:34 pmI don’t understand why this woman didn’t fight back against the “colorful” and selective hack-like editing job.
It’s disturbing.
Bob Reed (5f2db5) — 5/1/2011 @ 6:46 pmI invite our trolls to go suck on Obama’s big hairy congressional hearing.
DohBiden (15aa57) — 5/1/2011 @ 6:56 pmSo what is this about?
President Obama will address the nation at 10:30 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, the White House said.
The announcement was abrupt, coming after the White House had declared a so-called lid, meaning no other news would be coming for the remainder of the day.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (6f14fc) — 5/1/2011 @ 7:25 pm______________________________________
Even if that’s her experience it’s wrong of her to extrapolate her experience to the black community.
Limousine-liberal* woman/man (in public): “I despise racism and think conservatives are horribly unkind, intolerant people, or prone to being that way!”
Limousine-liberal woman/man (in private): “You want me to send my child to THAT school?! Uh, um, er, I’d rather not. The fact that school has a predominantly black student body is purely coincidental!!”
Limousine-liberal woman/man (in public): “Sally Kern should retract her statements! They’re unkind, far too generalized and rather RACIST!!! And she’s a Republican to boot!!”
Limousine-liberal woman/man (in private): “I told my real-estate agent to keep searching through the listings. She wanted me look at a house in a neighborhood over THERE. The fact it’s in a predominantly African-American area is purely coincidental. And it has nothing to do with THAT! It has to do purely with my concerns about crime rates and the quality of local schools!”
Limousine-liberal woman/man (in public): “I prefer liberals/Democrats to narrow-minded reactionary Republicans. They’re so mean and selfish! Progressives, by contrast, are so wonderful about civil rights, helping minority America, and stamping out the plague of racism!! We need to keep the spirit of progressivism alive and well!!”
Mark (411533) — 5/1/2011 @ 7:41 pmAce of Spades is saying Bin Laden is dead and we have the body.
kaf (4a1752) — 5/1/2011 @ 7:42 pmHe is going to pre-empt Trump?
JD (318f81) — 5/1/2011 @ 7:43 pmObarcky shot a hole in one, or under 120 this afternoon.
JD (318f81) — 5/1/2011 @ 7:44 pm_________________________________
Bin Laden is dead
I notice the drudgereport has just inserted a new top headline saying that, but without the usual red siren flashing above that.
Mark (411533) — 5/1/2011 @ 7:47 pm