Fox News Running Out of Reasons to Call Obama Racist

So they're settling instead for attacking innocuous metaphors.

By Channing Kennedy Oct 29, 2010

Talking Points Memo brings us this roundup of frothy Fox News reactions to an Obama quote that nobody but Fox News noticed. Speaking in Rhode Island last week, the president said, in the context of his now-familiar ‘car’ metaphor for the economy, "We can’t have special interests sitting shotgun. We gotta have middle class families up in front. We don’t mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in back." Fox News lost no time in getting a bunch of white people to comment on how offended they are that Obama would bring up race in an election season–since, you know, black people had to sit in the backs of cars buses, as Sean Hannity reminds us. Obviously, language is important, and dogwhistle terms like "illegals" need to be exposed as what they are. But when your resident experts on racial sensitivity and presidential behavior are Brian "but Muslims are terrorists!" Kilmeade and George W. Bush’s chief of staff Dana Perino, perhaps you’re not really interested in exposing the truth. The good news is that Fox has former NPR staffer Juan Williams on board, so next time the president says something racist about cars, Williams can be there to call Michelle Obama "Stokely Carmichael in a dress." That’ll provide balance!