Patterico's Pontifications

3/12/2012

CNN Plays Heavily Edited and Deceptive Video in Pathetic Effort to Discredit Breitbart Editor

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:44 pm



No matter what you think about the Critical Race Theory debate, it has ripped away whatever shreds of credibility Soledad O’Brien might have ever had.

Also taking a large hit: the reputation of anyone who touted her pathetic attempt to rehabilitate herself on the definition of Critical Race Theory. I’m looking at you, Tommy Christopher.

Airing this morning was one of the more remarkable episodes of media dishonesty you will see this election season. Let’s show you the clip:

This video clip is remarkable on several levels, but let’s start with the blatant, jaw-dropping dishonesty on the issue of whether the discussion of white supremacy is a central part of Critical Race Theory.

Recall that, the other day, Joel Pollak said that Critical Race Theory

holds that the civil rights movement was a sham, and that white supremacy is the order, and it must be overthrown.

Here is what Professor Dorothy Brown says in the above clip:

Critical Race Theory seeks to explain judicial decisions by asking the question what does race have to do with it … it looks at race in America … It’s nothing about white supremacy. When I hear “white supremacy” I think of the Ku Klux Klan. Critical Race Theory is the opposite of that. So honestly, I have no idea what he was talking about.

Actually, we have previously shown that this definition is accurate, according to Obama appointee Elena Kagan. We can further demonstrate its accuracy by looking at the New York Times.

But — and here’s the kicker! — guess who else has previously written that Critical Race Theory holds that “white supremacy” is the order of the day? Why, one Dorothy A. Brown — the very expert who appeared in the above clip on Soledad O’Brien’s show:

Although CRT does not employ a single methodology, it seeks to highlight the ways in which the law is not neutral and objective, but designed to support White supremacy and the subordination of people of color.

So why is it that an expert who agrees with Pollak’s position was led to claim that Pollak had it exactly backwards?

Because the video was — say it with me! — heavily and selectively edited!

You want to know why Brown said she had no idea what Pollak was talking about? Because of the way CNN edited the clip of Pollak’s previous interview. Note how that portion starts with Soledad O’Brien’s denunciation of Pollak’s views as a distortion. What had Pollak just said? That part is not played for the Professor. I’ll give the microphone to Allahpundit to describe what happens instead:

She restates his position here for her guest, Professor Dorothy Brown, as “he said Critical Race Theory is all about white supremacy.” Brown seems taken aback by that, understandably — the way O’Brien phrases it, it sounds as if Pollak was claiming that CRT was itself white supremacist in nature, which is insane. So, good job to everyone involved here in debunking something that no one is claiming.

Indeed. Here’s the problem: if CNN had played Pollak’s entire quote, it would have been clear that Pollak was arguing that, indeed, Critical Race Theorists are arguing that white supremacy needs to be fought. Here is the original video, with Pollak’s original characterization preserved:

Here is the relevant quote:

POLLAK: Derrick Bell is the Jeremiah Wright of academia. He passed away last year, but during his lifetime, he developed a theory called Critical Race Theory, which holds that the civil rights movement was a sham, and that white supremacy is the order, and it must be overthrown.

SOLEDAD O’BRIEN: That is a complete misreading. I’ll stop you there for a second, and then I’m going to let you continue, but that is a complete misreading of Critical Race Theory.

CNN chopped up Pollak’s quote to make it sound like he was claiming the complete opposite of what he was actually saying . . . and then brought on an expert who declared herself baffled. Soledad dusted off her hands and declared victory.

Most of you know this by now, but it never hurts to have a reminder:

These people in the media will lie to you. They will blatantly lie to you. And it takes people like bloggers to dig up the facts — to “fact check their asses” — and expose the actual truth.

By the way, Soledad O’Brien implores people to stop tweeting her about this. You should check her mentions on Twitter for grins. I’d say she is getting tweeted several times a minute about this lie of hers. I contributed a dozen or so retweets at lunchtime, and plan to do a few more before bedtime.

I’ll probably do a few more daily until she retracts her lies and apologizes to Joel Pollak. Or, failing that, when the election is over.

BUT WAIT! I’M NOT DONE WITH HER YET! We have not yet finished exploring the depravity of the above video clip! Lee Stranahan notesthe extraordinary exchange that seems to support “separate but equal”:

O’Brien: Would he have said that the civil rights movement was a sham? Or that Brown v. Board of Ed[ucation] was a sham?

Brown: He wouldn’t say it was a sham but he has been very critical of civil rights cases like Brown v. Board of Education. And his argument, Professor Bell’s argument was the solution did not get the children what the children needed, so perhaps the lawyers in the cases didn’t spend enough time talking to the parents. So Professor Bell’s argument is, “You know, maybe if we had gotten fully funded separate but equal that might’ve been a better alternative to what we have today.”

Stranahan says:

You read that correctly — on national television, Prof. Dorothy Brown put forward Bell’s idea that America would be better off with “separate but equal”, as long as it was “fully funded.”

. . . .

Do Soledad O’Brien and CNN favor a society where blacks and whites are “separate but equal?” There was certainly no indication in the broadcast that they oppose this profoundly segregationist idea, the polar opposite of e pluribus unum.

It pains me to state the obvious once again about the ideas of Derrick Bell: if a white person had written a book suggesting that perhaps white people would be better off if we still had “separate but equal,” he or she would be universally abhorred as racist.

Open your hearts and your minds to the words of Derrick Bell!

Now gimme a hug!

40 Responses to “CNN Plays Heavily Edited and Deceptive Video in Pathetic Effort to Discredit Breitbart Editor”

  1. Racists

    JD (d246fe)

  2. Also taking a large hit: the reputation of anyone who touted her pathetic attempt to rehabilitate herself on the definition of Critical Race Theory. I’m looking at you, Tommy Christopher.

    You’re just figuring this out now? I thought this was firmy established during the Weiner ‘thing’.

    Random (5b7dde)

  3. hmmm… what I’m taking from this is that The View doesn’t have a monopoly on the silly twat franchise

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  4. Excellent post. It’s been great seeing the new media’s proxy war with the old media. This is one hell of a battle for the good guys.

    Soledad was so angry in that first interview, and she’s quite offputting in the new one. You can actually see the lie on her face.

    Has she ever come across as a well mannered person?

    Dustin (401f3a)

  5. So CNN played Professor Dorothy Brown for a fool. I would imagine she didn’t appreciate that.

    Dana (4eca6e)

  6. This operation is already a success and the word on the street is this really is just the beginning.

    Noodles (3681c4)

  7. Dodo Brown was in it to win it I think she walked into this with both eyes open, full of righteous piss and vinegar

    her just not as clever as her think her is

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  8. You may be right, happy. At the end of the day, she looks rather foolish. I guess the necessary cynicism is getting a bit wearying these days.

    Dana (4eca6e)

  9. The irony is Soledad (not to mention Tommy Christopher) have no respect for the subject, we understand it, that’s the reason for our area of concern,

    narciso (87e966)

  10. foolish like a jibbering idiot

    here is from Dodo’s pdf Mr. P linked

    Professor Langevoort finds three qualities in those who succeed: (1) overconfidence; (2) propensity to take risks; and (3) ethical plasticity. His article discusses the racial and gender implications of those qualities and suggests, unsurprisingly, that White males are most likely to have those three qualities.

    Kooky. Our friend Soledad has these three traits in spades, no? It’s very confuzzling. Can a mult-ethnic hoochie be a White Male given certain values of multi-ethnic hoochie? I think definitely the issue needs more study.

    Let’s put some grant monies together.

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  11. *multi*

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  12. Soledad O’Brien guest and CRT legal scholar, Dorothy Brown, wrote:

    “Although CRT does not employ a single methodology, it seeks to highlight the ways in which the law is not neutral and objective, but designed to support White supremacy and the subordination of people of color.”


    See page 2 of Brown’s article here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/46655218/Fighting-Racism

    Except today on Soledad O’Brien’s show Brown denied CRT has anything to do with White Supremacy.

    koam @wittier (b5f54f)

  13. And the footnotes reference Red Liz’s bogus studies,
    ‘Tim Blair’s law’ in action.

    [note: fished from spam filter. –Stashiu]

    narciso (87e966)

  14. Facebook members: You can post on Soledad O’Brien’s facebook page without “Liking” her.

    https://www.facebook.com/SoledadOBrienCNN?sk=wall&filter=12

    koam @wittier (b5f54f)

  15. Note 30, references Red Liz, who in turn thanks
    Brown and company

    narciso (87e966)

  16. Nothing to see here. Time to move on.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  17. Dang those dang KKKs. They made Obama President just to fool dumb black people and keep them from burning down Watts again.

    nk (dec503)

  18. Is there a more condescending, less honest, bigger a**hole on a cable network?

    I don’t think so.

    Colonel Haiku (6b6c65)

  19. Painted Jaguar: My mummy, ever so patient and loving, taught us cubs to tell the truth. We know she meant it, because she always told the truth.
    Do these people have cubs? Do they teach them to lie, like mummy like human cub?
    Creatures proud of how well they lie. How do they look at themselves in the mirror, with closed eyes?

    Painted Jaguar (A sockpuppet) (3d3f72)

  20. she sounds like Bryant Gumble on estrogen… and that’s bad… BAD!

    Colonel Haiku (6b6c65)

  21. MD in Philly, you are putting me in a dangerously Kipling mood and it will be all your fault if you hear from me things like “… and the dog Azeris fly”.

    nk (dec503)

  22. Soledad O’Brien has always been a lousy journalist. Nothing new.

    Anita Busch (a025dd)

  23. So CNN played Professor Dorothy Brown for a fool. I would imagine she didn’t appreciate that.

    I don’t think so. I did email her and give her the chance to clarify her comments, quoting Pollak’s ACTUAL views, and asking if she agrees.

    If she actually didn’t know what was going on, and got played by Soledad, she ought to tell me so.

    We’ll see.

    Patterico (feda6b)

  24. I’ll look forward to hearing whether or not she responds to your inquiry, Patterico.

    If she did get played and didn’t know what was going on, will her loyalty be to O’Brien/CNN or to the truth? Interesting.

    Dana (4eca6e)

  25. The problem with this believing this discredits Soledad O’Brien is it presupposes a crediting.

    Random (f9e702)

  26. And no, Brown didn’t get played — she was complicit in conspiring to play the viewers to defend O’Brien’s ass.

    Random (f9e702)

  27. But… she’s so pretty! And she’s on TV!

    Book (5b3f1d)

  28. Does Soledad O’Brien have any Big Girl Serious glasses like Katie Couric started wearing when wanted to shed that perky unserious morning host rep? That might help poor Soledad’s credibility here.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  29. Then on Tuesday she (O’Brien) hosted birth control activist Sandra Fluke and simply rolled out the red carpet for her guest to knock her own conservative critics.

    Trying to take back what Breitbart took. lol

    Noodles (3681c4)

  30. It’s very unlikely Brown was played for a fool by Soledad. Anyone interested in Critical Race Theory would already be following this story… it’s kinda a once in a lifetime event for them.

    And anyone who already used the term ‘white supremacist’ to explain the focus of Critical Race Theory’s view of society wouldn’t just assume someone else using the term was completely impossible to understand. They would try to summarize how the term could be used correctly (as Pollak actually used it) to correct the wrong version (the one O’Brien presented).

    The idea Pollack and Breitbart.com were saying Obama and Bell are actually white supremacists is simply too ridiculous for either Brown or O’Brien to present with a straight face. After the wikipedia earpiece antics, I didn’t think they could get any more absurd, but CNN truly is a joke.

    This reminds me of that studio Desert Storm coverage from back in the day.

    Dustin (401f3a)

  31. ==The idea Pollack and Breitbart.com were saying Obama and Bell are actually white supremacists is simply too ridiculous for either Brown or O’Brien to present with a straight face==

    LOL Dustin. Especially when coupled with Jay’s hysterical “Why are you afraid of black people?” contribution to the previous scholarly discussion.

    elissa (f22181)

  32. Bryant Gumbel on ETROGEN??? FREE ESTROGEN??

    “Dr Fluke, paging Dr Fluke, Dr Fluke to the RED house phone!”

    Gus (36e9a7)

  33. Is there a more condescending, less honest, bigger a**hole on a cable network? I don’t think so.
    Comment by Colonel Haiku — 3/12/2012 @ 8:53 pm

    — Do you not watch The Last Word with Lawrence “I Stare Directly Into The Camera And In No Uncertain Terms Express My Anti-Mormon Bigotry On A Nightly Basis” O’Donnell?

    Grab some popcorn. He’s all kinds of the humorous!

    Icy (306668)

  34. Dorothy Brown: Although CRT does not employ a single methodology, it seeks to highlight the ways in which the law is not neutral and objective, but designed to support White supremacy and the subordination of people of color.

    — Sounds more like Conspiracy Racism Theory to me. It’s not just the way in which the law is applied or enforced that is discriminatory, it’s the way in which the laws are written or “designed”? Gee, I sure hope the members of the Congressional Black Caucus strenuously vote as a bloc against such laws!

    Icy (306668)

  35. So sad. I remember Soledad O’Brien from the early ’90s. IIRC, she was a decent reporter for C|Net back then. It is disappointing that she sold her soul to the Eternal Grievance Posse in exchange for a bit part as a watercarrier on CNN…

    Redhawke (8bc4b9)

  36. Wow! I was just reading/enjoying all the rabble on Soledad O’Brien’s Facebook page- about 9:15PM I got bumped off my server, fixed that….went back…voile, her page is 90% scrubbed…what a putz! Probably 4 days worth of cogent critical rebuttals to the Pollack “interview” went bye bye.

    dudeabides (abd9ea)

  37. OK, I’m crazy, now hose posts are all back again….I swear a hunk was not there 20 minutes ago…now it is. She’s still a putz though.

    dudeabides (abd9ea)

  38. facebook is gayer than when putin updates his status to say I’m fat and nobody loves me

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  39. Putin’s status, “very interesting…but stupid….” and way too bossy. I never saw a giant edit on a FB page disappear and reappear; maybe someone in her headset told her to put it back. Well, that cat’s out of the bag. Thanks for that one, Andrew.

    dudeabides (abd9ea)


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