Brilliant or Trainwreck: Sharpton's Perm Versus Hannity's Mouth! You Watch! You Decide!

For some reason, after years of using Alan Colmes as a personal punching bag for bringing a thesaurus to a knife fight, Sean Hannity is doing to pre-inaugural stunt casting and has invited Rev. Al Sharpton and Meatloaf to an upcoming segment of his shout-fest on FOX News. I don't know if this is just to stir up some trouble/ratings, but say what you will about the Good Reverend Al -- he's no Al Colmes.

My one true criticism of Hannity (coveted winner of The Black Snob's "Most Hated" award on "Top Pundit") was that it was unfair to bring the mild-mannered, librarian like Colmes to his Fight Night at the Apollo Creed-like show. If he had his druthers and really wanted to stir up things he'd have on someone as loud and crazy as himself, like Ed Schultz, who I can't stand, because he is just as irresponsible with his words and conspiracy theories as Hannity is. A nut should fight a nut, but no, he picked Colmes to berate and mock because he wanted to promote the stereotype of the wimpy, effete Liberal (even though Colmes sort of developed a bit of a spine as Obama gained momentum towards the end, perhaps knowing that he was totally blowing this Popsicle stand once the election was over).

Al is more like Ed than he is like Alan. A matter of fact, he's a lot like Ed, only Al (shock of shocks) is slightly more responsible about the words that come flying out of his mouth. Dare I say it: he has some restraint compared to the feral Schultz. That said, Al is as much of a scheming, sly opportunist as Hannity and a likely bit smarter around the mouth area. He will be bringing a gun underneath that James Brown perm to the knife fight? You know the Good Reverend always does!

So what is this? Suicidal or crazy like a FOX News show? I think it's a little of both. And if Hannity is savvy, he will bring on more lefty whackadooes and less Liberal cockadoos, re: people as nutters as he is on the left, to produce a more "entertaining" fight for the masses. Plus, he might get some people other than the regulars to watch the show and all TV news is turning into shouting as a viable public discourse so, why not? He could actually claim the "high horse" over Keith Olbermann and charge that he at least has Liberals on his show to mock regularly, as opposed to fellow ideologues and "impartial" beat reporters.

And that is my biggest criticism of Keith, who I enjoy occasionally, but sometimes annoys the shit out of me. At least Chris Matthews and Papa Bear Bill O'Reilly invite the opposition onto Hardball and The Factor to get shouted down and berated like the condemned, sans ciggie, in front of a loud, obnoxious, verbal-diarrhea afflicted firing squad. Keith is as loud as the rest of them. What gives? Why is lovable, hateful, crazy Pat Buchanan the only member of the Fightin' Fruitcakes to get an occasional spot at the table? I mean, I love crazy Pat the Bigot as much as the next person, but, c'mon, you could have his equally hateful sister, Bay, on once and awhile! Jon Stewart does!

But back to the question at hand: Hannity versus Sharpton -- will you watch? (Or will you watch it on YouTube, I should say. I know some of us are pretty adamant about not supporting FOX in any form.)

The fight will go down on Monday. Here's the take from Broadcasting & Cable's report:

The new Alan Colmes-less Hannity premieres Monday with frequent Fox News guest Al Sharpton filling the liberal seat on Sean Hannity's newly christened "Great American Panel."

Rep. Michelle Bachman (R-Minn.) will fill the seat on the right. (And she should have plenty to talk about given the Senate dispute in her state between Al Franken and Norm Coleman.) ...

Hannity will employ a rotating panel in lieu of a permanent ideological counterpoint. The show will also bow a few new elements including the Hate Hannity Hotline featuring highlights from Hannity haters.

Side note: If Hannity's show does turn into "Fight Club" would this mean that FOX News has actually recreated CNN's "iconic" (and I say that ironically) original political fight club show, Crossfire? And does that mean Jon Stewart can get invited on to kill the show again? Because that, my friend, that was awesome. Jon Stewart KILLED A SHOW!

Stop hurting America, Hannity!

O'Reilly Tries to Bully Obama Into Coming on "The Factor"

Sayeth Newshounds:

(H)e made his pitch saying that Barack Obama had promised to come on The Factor after the primary. " He looked me in the eye and patted me on my shoulder." He warned that " the dance has been going on much too long" and "what am I to think?... "As a journalist and a voter I would like to know why Barack Obama is so hesitant about defining himself?"

Then offering the ultimatum O'Reilly said, "If Barack Obama continues to hide himself from American voters, he encourages a negative information flow against him."

Considering that Barack and Michelle Obama have been interviewed by everyone including People Magazine, Larry King and even Access Hollywood, what dark secrets or petty nonsense can only be revealed by the O'Reilly interview technique.

Oh, the desperation! I'm assuming he's referring to this embarrassing incident where he almost caught a beatdown from a Secret Service agent in New Hampshire.

Video from Crooks and Liars.

Tsk. Tsk. Silly O'Reilly! Tricks are for legitimate press!

I'm getting rather sick of FOX News staffers bitching and moaning about how they aren't treated like a legitimate media source. (The Dems won't have a debate here! They won't come on our shows! Wah! Wah!) That they're the bastard, black sheep, red-headed, inbred step children of cable news. It seems amazingly stupid that a network which has lead in the ratings for years (although they're experiencing some slippage this year) is worried about its "legitimacy." If Rupert Murdock doesn't give two shits, why do you? If your bosses cared about legitimacy you wouldn't have spend so much time reporting on crap.

And it's not that CNN and MSNBC don't report on crap. You guys just take it to another level. Like excuses to show "wild" girls on spring break and call it "news coverage." The stalking of people who disagree with you. (Mike Wallace only stalked people who had something to hide because they were being felonious. Calling you a gas bag is not felonious.) Altering the faces of print media critics to mock them. That whole "Obama's baby mama/terrorist fist jab" crap. That shit. That fact that you didn't cover Jena 6 ... at all. These are the reasons why no one takes you seriously in the industry. You're like a bunch of 14 year old girls with a slam book watching "Gossip Girl."

Wolf Blizter is a total slut who will news whore for any source! Katie Couric plagiarizes her signing-off statements! Everyone at The New York Times are all total gaylords! Instead of the "Gray Lady," they should call it the Gay Lady! News sluts!

See? Not cool. You're acting like a total gaylord, O'Reilly.

NEWS SLUTS! *Giggles!*

It's Called "Hyperbole"

I rarely pay attention to FOX News' Bill O'Reilly. Mostly because I think he's irrelevant and not a real journalist ... and I think he knows he's not a real journalist on a fake news network and it kills him inside, hence the thin skin and nuttiness.

If anyone saw Bill-O's interview with Mike Wallace on "60 Minutes" last year it became pathetically obvious that Bill started out in journalism with the wide-eyed hope of being the next Mike Wallace or Walter Cronkite or any of the greats. He wanted to be a SERIOUS journalist, kind of like Halle Berry's life-long ambition to be a SERIOUS actor.

While he's found a way to be filthy stinking rich and popular, he's not happy. Nothing about the man is happy. Because he looks at the rest of the "uppity" news establishment -- the "60 Minutes," the evening news broadcasts, the Brian Williamses and Katie Courics and seethes. These are the people who rejected him. Who said he wasn't good enough and as much as he claims to hate them (particularly NBC, but that's more about his hip hop style beef with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann), he wishes to be one of them. If CBS called Bill-O tomorrow and said we want to make you nightly anchor and a "60 Minutes" correspondent after we get rid of Katie when the election is over he would dump FOX in a minute.

You see folks? Bill-O is just a little bitter snot nosed brat who just wants to be loved. He fawned all over Mike Wallace, his hero. He claimed his "ambushes" of those who oppose him were inspired by the "Mike Wallace, 60 Minutes!" ambushes of legend where Mike busted crooked businessmen. One is about fighting for the little guy, the other is about pure spite and pettiness, but in spirit -- same. (But not really.)

Because of this I'm not surprised by anything Bill-O says and since the "free market" has decided he's a "star," I accept his right to exist. But there is one thing I am TIRING of -- the hyperbole.

Even if he actually mutters something halfway agreeable he botches it with the hyperbole. A lot of these pundit/hosts do this from time to time. Like Keith Olbermann can go overboard with the "sensitive" man routine. Like when he apologizes to Bill-O victims on behalf of Bill-O. Cringeworthy. But O'Reilly (and possibly Lou Dobbs) have it the worst.

Case in point, Bill's tendency to label any group that dares to disagree with him as a "hate group." In particular, he labels MoveOn.org, DailyKos and Media Matters "hate groups." Now if he's referring to the fact that these groups hate him, yeah, maybe he has a point. But this O'Reilly, so he has to reach down and whip out the hyperbole.

Open foot. Insert mouth. Bill O'Reilly has just said "MoveOn is the new Klan."

As a black person I can't tell you enough how offensive this is. For one, the real Ku Klu Klan murdered and terrorized black people across America for decades. They were entrenched in Southern state government, law enforcement and justice. They hanged black men, women and children. They burned crosses on the front lawns of everyone from black people to European immigrants they considered "non-white." The intimidated people and held my people under a virtual police state in some parts of the country. They were/are the most unAmerican group in America. They were murdering, raping terrorists.

Last time I checked, the worst thing MoveOn did was rhyme "Petraeus" with "Betray us." Did anyone die in that? Was anyone mutilated and hung, then afterwards, the whole upstanding folk of MoveOn stood around beaming for a photograph around the hanging, defiled and burned corpse? Did they do that? Because that's what the Klan does.

This is an asinine argument. Much like when Bill, Sean Hannity or Glenn Beck equate lefties and the media establishment that rejected him to Goebbels and the Fuhrer.

Nazi massacre in Kerch, 1942. The death toll in the Soviet Union during World War II was immense. (Wikipedia)

Seriously. Stop insulting Hitler by comparing him to CodePink. Hitler instituted the "final solution" which brutalized, mutilated, scarred and murdered millions of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and disabled people. Basically, anyone not fit to be part of the "Master Race." He wiped out entire families of Jews, killing 6 million overall. Never mind the fact that he started a megalomanical war with the world that resulted in 23,100,000 dead in the then Soviet Union, 13 percent of the country's total population. Three million dead in Poland, 16 percent of that country's population. Overall an estimated 72,763,500 people, military and civilian, died due to World War II.

If you want to compare Hitler to people, compare other megalomanical dictators. Compare him to his heir apparent Joseph Stalin, Mobutu Sese Seko, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Chile's Augusto Pinochet or drug lord, tyrant and once seventh richest man in the world Columbia's Pablo Escobar.

People who actually destroyed millions of lives, terrorized people, imprisoned them without just cause or due process, murdered enemies -- real and perceived, destroyed their countries' economies, robbed and raped their people and murdered folks on a regular, horrific basis. With the exception of Stalin and Pol Pot, most of these dictators are rank amateurs by comparison, but they deserve to be compared to the Nazi Party leader, not some lefty group who's modus operandi are anti-war, anti-Bush/Cheney internet and TV ads and petitions.

Ooooo! Internet ads and petitions! I'm terrified. These people aren't exactly snatching up blonde conservative fembots and trying to "politically" cleanse them. They haven't issued a fatwa against the Republican Party. They have not burned and pillaged the offices of KBR and Halliburton. They aren't holding Rush Limbaugh hostage, videotaping themselves beheading him.

Hyperbole!

I get that you hate MoveOn, Bill, because they pester you so with their emails and phone calls and press releases and internet ads, but fucking man up. You asked for this level of hype and criticism when you opened your mouth and started screaming your "no spin" manifesto while twirling away like a majorette. Other journalists get criticism (see "Couric, Katie"), but don't use their air time to air grudges.

I realize that Bill O'Reilly despises "gangsta" rappers, but he sure behaves like one. Like the 50 Cent of the airwaves he spits his battle rhymes against Liberals and peaceniks, grabbing his dick like it was the only one ever made, braying that he is the biggest and the baddest mofo ever and that anyone who steps to him is a hater. Throw in a few N-words (or, since he's Irish American, a few white ethnic slurs), and he's Lil' Bill-O speaking his "truth" about how it's hard out there for a multi-millionaire talk show host.

I hate to break it to you, O'Reilly. But petty beefs are really below your pay grade and you could stand to dial back the "outrage."

It's called hyperbole. Consider losing it and not your temper.

PS. I will never tire of this video. Never. Greatest. Thing. Ever. Especially the dance remix.

Nas Protests FOX and FOX Balks!

A black person stood up and called someone on their shit and per usual, that person who did the shit and stank-a-danked things up cowered and hid. Black person: one. Punk-ass news bitch: 0.

Here are the pictures from Nas and Color of Change's confrontation at FOX headquarters were they attempted to deliver a petition the bitch-ass network would not accept. MAN are they wussies. They did this same thing to a gaggle of homeless war veterans confronting Bill O'Reilly for claiming there were no vets sleeping under bridges. Naturally, the posse of homeless Vietnam and Iraqi/Afghanistan war vets thought a tad bit differently. They wouldn't even let The Daily Show in there. (Well ... I can understand that. The Daily Show will clown on yo' ass and you will look a damn fool.)

Wussies. And typical. They'll bash black folks on air, but they can't tell it straight to our faces. Punks!

Nas Does Colbert and He Does It Right

Wednesday I proposed the question: NYC rapper Nas repping for Color of Change's anti-FOX News racism campaign, good, bad or WTF. Later that night I got my answer on The Colbert Report:

Answer: The Pro-Nas people won this argument. I have been persuaded. I have seen the light. Anyone who can diss Bill O'Reilly, Dick Cheney and drop a Redd Foxx reference all in the same song rocks. I'm glad the "brilliant" Nas showed up this time, prepared and on his game. Go Team Nas.

Nas For Obama: Good Thing? Bad Thing? WTF Thing?

It seems rapper Nas has joined with black progressive activist group Color of Change in their campaign to challenge FOX News for their habitual Negromongering over Presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle. Sometimes it feels like 1952 on there -- the way we never were. Someone had to launch a counter-attack.

From MTV.com:

You don’t have to be invited onto Nas’ tour bus to know that the big screen in the back lounge isn’t tuned to Fox News. Ever.

If the track “Sly Fox” (”Watch what you watchin’, Fox keeps feeding us toxins/ Stop sleeping, start thinking”) on Untitled didn’t already tip you off that the MC isn’t a fan, then his position at the front of the pack at a press conference held outside the “fair and balanced” news network’s Manhattan headquarters should seal the deal.

At 2:30 p.m. tomorrow, Nas is joining the Web sites ColorOfChange.org and MoveOn.org to deliver a petition with more than 620,000 signatures demanding that the network end what the organizations call a “pattern of racist attacks against black Americans including presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle.”

“Fox poisons the country with racist propaganda and tries to call it news,” Nas said in a statement. A spokesperson for Fox News could not be reached for comment at press time.

But Nas? As one poster on Jack & Jill Politics opined, "Wasn't Will Smith available?"

Will Smith, like Obama, is not prone to gaffes, is tightly in control of his press and career and knows how to behave in polite circles. He's friendly enough for the white folks, yet down enough for the blacks. He's your basic "Blackness Ambassador." It's a title you get when you bridge two worlds semi-successfully. I'm a Blackness Ambassador. So is Oprah and Gwen Ifil. It's a pain in the ass explaining what a pressing comb is to white people, but someone has to do it.

Nas is not the sort of guy who bridges that gap with a Coke and a smile. Yet that's who we got. Nas, a guy who tried to release his latest album under the title "Nigger," including wearing gear with the world "Nigger" printed on it at the Grammys. He changed the title. (Did people learn nothing from Ol' Dirty Bastard's "N*gger Please" album? MTV VJ's can't exactly drop that title on TRL.) But Nas is also a talented rapper with a great pro-Obama song. He's more conscious than say, Jay-Z, and other than sometimes sounding like an idiot (as rappers are prone to do when they discuss things outside of their sphere of influence -- no one asked your opinion on "Jesse can't keep shit in the family"-gate). He's no T-Pain. If T-Pain or Lil' Weezy were repping for Color of Change's anti-FOX protest I'd be concerned.

And I'd be saying, was Puffy not available? I'm sure he could have pulled out some of those old "vote or die" T-shirts.

Jokes aside, I guess I'm glad Nas is taking an active role in getting Obama elected. I would have preferred him being polite on the sidelines, writing good pro-Obama rap songs like "Black President," then registering to vote and later actually showing up at the polls to vote for Obama, but that's me. Also, I don't know if Obama wants most rappers' help -- donations? YES. Obama takes cash. But I'm sure he also has a naughty and nice list for rapper fans.

Mos Def, good.
will.i.am, perfect.
Queen Latifa, good.
Lupe Fiasco, has potential.
Snoop Dogg, bad.
Yung Berg, bad.
50 Cent, bad.
Kanye, risky.

But pro-rapper love or not, Barack is getting his help. Nas, Move On and Color of Change to the rescue.

It's great when we all work together.

But Jack & Jill Politics commenter "Town" sums up my true cynicism about this endeavor.

Publicity stunt on Nas' part, IMO.

I'll bet a box of Krispy Kreme donuts that Bill O'Reilly will call ColorofChange a racist hate organization and he'll talk about how the gangsta rapper NAS loves the n-word so much that he wanted to name his album that but the good folks at Walmart took a stand against such racist filth.

Yeah ... that feels about right. And he'll work George Soros in there too. And Jesse Jackson. That's the FOX I know. Just let the bigotry wash over you like a bath of battery acid. So warm and stinging.