As Stephen Colbert fans are finding out, the only thing worse than not being talked about by the corporate media is being talked about by the corporate media. After recovering from Colbert breaking the first rule of journalism (Don't talk about Journalism), the corporate media deciders have circled the wagons around the truthy feeling that Colbert wasn't funny. The NYT Arts section piped up today. On Tuesday Dan Froomkin had a good round-up of the bobblehead consensus building effort. (via Doghouse)
I guess Milbank prefers Colbert's earlier, funnier stuff.
But enough of that. I don't want to get into a pissing match with the Kewl Kidz. They'll out-piss me every time. I want to remember another similarly courageous, significant appearance at a political event that was either ignored or mocked but never truly heard or analysed by much of anyone in the corporate media or in blogtopia (hail skippy) for that matter.
That's from the Rev. Al Sharpton's Tuesday-night address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention. It was part of the speech that was "off-book," not part of the official prepared remarks he submitted to the DNC before he went on. It was part of what put his speech past the 20-minute mark, threatening to do the unthinkable, throwing John Edward's speech past prime time. The way it was covered on MSNBC, with Chris Matthews leading the charge, you would have thought that Sharpton perpetrated a terrorist act. But, when you look at what he said, you can see that he did throw quite a few rhetorical bombs. You can listen to the whole, marvelous address and the audience's enthusiastic response to it here at American Rhetoric.
Unlike Colbert the satirist, Sharpton didn't use irony to make his points. He preached, which is equally effective when the objective is to speak truth to power. On the surface, the power to which Sharpton was speaking was the GOP, specifically BushCo. But he was also speaking to the Democratic Party.
"It was those that earned our vote that got our vote," Sharpton said. "We got the Civil Rights Act under a Democrat. We got the Voting Rights Act under a Democrat. We got the right to organize under Democrats." But the Voting Rights Act is under attack. Civil Rights are under attack. The right to organize is struggling to hold on. And the Democrats are moving to the right. Sharpton's speech and the unrestrained reaction to it reminded the power elite of the power of the people. And the corporate media can't have that.
But they were ready for Sharpton. He didn't have the element of surprise that Colbert did. Their book on him is written. So we got the following prototypical reaction from Chris Matthews and his bobbleheaded crew, who were covering the convention live that night. I'm going to leave the transcript of their reactions intact and include the post-speech interview between Sharpton and Brian Williams. I don't think it needs any comment from me. You'll be able to recognize the coordination of the attack immediately. I do suggest that you watch Sharpton's speech before you read the response from Matthews et al. You should know what they're talking about. You should know to what Doris Goodwin is referring when she made this observation:
You should see for yourself how the audience, African-Americans included, responded when you read Howard Fineman say this:
And when Chris Matthews tells you that MSNBC is doing the Democrats a favor by cutting away from Sharpton before he was finished and the crowd really let loose and when Doris Goodwin tells you over and over that we have nobody to blame for the Al Sharpton monster but the media who invented him, you'll know what they really don't want you to hear. (any emphasis is mine)
MATTHEWS: Is that who he was appealing to?
FINEMAN: Well, I don`t know who he was appealing to.
(CROSSTALK)
FINEMAN: He is the only guy--he could actually can turn off the black vote, yes.
MATTHEWS: I don`t think he--Doris, the whole idea of an election is to win 51 percent. Does that help?
GOODWIN: Absolutely not.
In fact, the yelling in the rally right now is like chalk on a board, a blackboard. It`s grating. You can`t bear to listen to it. And I suspect he`s going on much longer than he was supposed to.
FINEMAN: Well, we know he is.
GOODWIN: He`s not an elected--right.
(CROSSTALK)
GOODWIN: Yes, exactly.
FINEMAN: Because he just started ad-libbing like crazy.
GOODWIN: But there`s a sense in which, if he were an elected
official, if he had a constituency that
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: Well, that`s something he has never been, nor likely to be.
GOODWIN: But he`s not. That`s exactly right.
MATTHEWS: Right.
GOODWIN: So these are words without any connection to a constituency.
It`s entertainment.
MATTHEWS: How does a fellow who has never won a single primary in this whole year, never impressed a major--any large amount of the American people, any amount, African-American, whatever, with his leadership ability, how did he earn this spot on the podium tonight?
GOODWIN: Because of the media. Because of the media.
(CROSSTALK)
FINEMAN: I think, frankly, it`s an insult. It`s an insult, I think, as an outsider, to African-American voters that they`re giving this guy as much time as they are, when there are many other people--if they were just wanting to talk to and fire up the base of the party...
MATTHEWS: Right.
FINEMAN: ... many other people they could have chosen. He did nothing in the campaign except show up at the debates and be provocative and entertaining. Fine. But that`s not what this is about.
And, stylistically, you don`t scream and shout at that convention. You will never shout over the voices there. You talk intimately to the audience.
GOODWIN: Television is a cool medium, as they say.
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: You know, we`ve been talking now for weeks about how this is going to be a cosmetic campaign, a convention confected for television.
Last night--and I said it to her son tonight--Teresa Heinz Kerry talked too darned long.
FINEMAN: Right.
MATTHEWS: She just kept going and going after she made some very good points about women`s status in our society.
This fellow got on stage. It`s quarter to 9:00, right in the middle of prime-time. People waiting to hear from John Edwards caught that act.
FINEMAN: It couldn`t be--it couldn`t be--it couldn`t be any more
· is he still going on? Is he still going on?
GOODWIN: Of course.
But try and figure out, why he did become such a figure? The media is responsible.
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: He has not won any primaries.
GOODWIN: I agree. But then the reason he did was, the media embraced him. They wrote articles about him. They said he was the most entertaining in those debates.
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: We`re doing a favor to the Democratic Party right now.
This is a partisan act. We`ve taken him off the air.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
MATTHEWS: Go ahead.
FINEMAN: It`s completely counterproductive to what the aim of tonight was, to introduce John Edwards as the spokesman of and tribune of rural people, moderate voters, you know, not necessarily African-Americans, who are already in the camp, already in the camp of the Democratic Party.
MATTHEWS: Howard, one of his themes tonight, the Reverend Al Sharpton, was dishonesty at the highest level, failure to give adequate intelligence before the war with Iraq. And everyone recognizes that that`s a fair target.
However, the one doing the shooting should not be someone who built their political career on a lie.
FINEMAN: It`s a tremendous favor to Bush.
GOODWIN: Chris, you`re saying this now, but the media did not say this during the debates.
You remember those debates when those eight people came floating out and he would be getting the greatest media the next day. They said he was the best, he was the sharpest just because they were looking at it as entertainment. Debates are not entertainment. They`re serious things. This is a serious time. And this isn`t fair.
FINEMAN: Those were different circumstances, different circumstances.
But whose judgment I wonder about here tonight is Kerry and his
campaign. They shouldn`t have given
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: What was the deal?
FINEMAN: Well, obviously, the deal was, you get some time and you disappear.
MATTHEWS: Right.
FINEMAN: That was basically the deal. We`ll give you 20 minutes in a good slot and then we don`t want to hear from you again.
GOODWIN: But I don`t he`ll keep the other end of disappearing.
(LAUGHTER)
FINEMAN: He didn`t keep this end of the bargain, because he went on way too long.
MATTHEWS: Right.
FINEMAN: Past his vetted speech. And he`s not going to keep that end of the bargain either.
MATTHEWS: He attempted at the beginning of this campaign to replace the Reverend Jesse Jackson as the spokesperson for African-Americans. Well, of course, that was a hard, high road to take, because of Jackson`s long experience with the civil rights movement.
And say what you will about the guy. He is an historic figure who went out and really tried to run for president. He put together a Rainbow.
FINEMAN: Twice.
MATTHEWS: It was multiracial. It was diverse. It was an attempt to really win an election. And he won a lot of delegates and gave some beautiful speeches.
FINEMAN: Yes, he did.
MATTHEWS: This fellow`s goal was what?
GOODWIN: To self-promote.
(CROSSTALK)
FINEMAN: Self-promote. Fill up some time. I`m surprised he didn`t plug his TV show, as Keith was talking about.
MATTHEWS: Well, let me give you the proof of that. I may be wrong and I will stand corrected if the following happened.
In the past, when the Reverend Jesse Jackson has lost campaigns for the Democratic nomination, there`s been arrangements for the general election whereby he would be given a plane, enough money to do voter registration and campaign around the country, to the tune of $2 million. Will Al Sharpton get $2 million and a plane from John Kerry, Doris?
(CROSSTALK)
GOODWIN: I think he`s getting a bus after tonight.
(LAUGHTER)
MATTHEWS: I think it may be a bus to Canada.
FINEMAN: You know who is going to get the plane? Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton is going to be the guy out rallying the base all around the country. And he will be traveling extensively. They will put him in urban areas. They will put him in rural areas. They will put him in places where they have to rally the base, where they`re not worried about any blowback from the early days, you know, and Monica Lewinsky and all that.
So that`s what they are going to do with Bill Clinton. It`s not going to be Jesse Jackson. It`s not going to be Al Sharpton.
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: Let`s go right now and let`s hear some more from Al Sharpton, care of Brian Williams, who has him right now on the floor.
Go ahead, Brian.
BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC ANCHOR: Chris, we do indeed.
Reverend Sharpton, from my vantage point here on the podium, I was able to look over your shoulder at that teleprompter that just sat there for what seemed like a half-hour while you did a riff on whatever you did a riff on. Now, what if that speech of yours puts the Democrats over in prime time?
SHARPTON: Well, I think that we told them and they agreed that I would address the president, his remarks in questioning black Americans, came after my written speech. And I think it was important he be answered. And I wanted to answer him respectfully tonight. He raised the question.
I wanted to give him the answer.
WILLIAMS: Seriously, do you know if you went over? Or do you...
SHARPTON: I think I went over a few minutes, but every candidate has gone overtime so far.
WILLIAMS: Now, the campaign trail can grueling. Does this make it worth it, a prime-time slot in front of your audience for your message delivered in your way?
SHARPTON: I think it helps to put the message out there. I think it helps the party because it makes everyone feel included. It makes everyone feel energized, particularly when you have the incumbent shooting now at the base of people that I emanate from.
So I think it`s important because people can`t feel included if they don`t see and feel that in the proceedings of a national convention.
WILLIAMS: Does this ticket speak to you?
SHARPTON: Oh, absolutely. I meant what I said. I believe in these guys. I`ve looked at them. I think that they mean what they say and say what they mean. And I will be out there for them as hard as I was in the primaries for my own candidacy.
WILLIAMS: Reverend Al Sharpton, still perspiring, fresh from the podium--Chris, back to you.