Media Mum on Dean's 'KKK' Fundraiser
There's little doubt that if Howard Dean were a Republican, he'd be announcing his withdrawal from the presidential race this week, as details from a recent Dean rally - so ripe with racism it would make a Ku Klux Klansman blush - have begun seeping into print.
Since Dean is Democrat, however, at least one prominent media columnist is saying it's no big deal that the entertainment for the ex-Vermont Governor's Dec. 8 event included "N"-word jokes, imitations of Condoleezza Rice in an Amos n' Andy accent and references to the President of the United States as a "piece of living, breathing s - - t."
Credit for breaking the media embargo on Howard Dean's KKK-style Manhattan fundraiser goes to the New York Post's Deborah Orin, who first noted the "N"-word references last week, then fleshed out the details in a Post op-ed piece yesterday. [Why an op-ed, when this story belongs on the front page? But that's another matter.]
The details of what passed for entertainment at the Dean rally are as ugly as they come. Here's a few of the lowlights, according to Orin:
"Comedian David Cross used the N-word for blacks in a disjointed 'joke' apparently based on the premise that it's fine for a pro-Dean comic to use racial epithets as long as the goal is to claim Republicans are racists. . . .
"Sandra Bernhard insulted Condoleezza Rice in racial terms with a 'Yes Massa' accent at another Dean fundraiser the same night. . .
"Dean rival Joe Lieberman got ridiculed for being unable to campaign on Jewish holidays because he's Orthodox. . . .
"[Vice President Dick] Cheney's daughter Mary, who is gay, was called 'a big lezzie.'. . .
"Comic Judy Gold dissed President Bush as 'this piece of living, breathing s---' and Janeane Garofalo ridiculed the Medicare prescription-drug bill that Bush had just signed as the 'you can go f--- yourself, Grandma' bill.'"
As the New York-style Klan rally continued, the Democratic frontrunner was said to be "fuming" backstage.
But Dean did nothing to interrupt the proceedings, and certainly hasn't returned any of the campaign cash he collected from the folks who found the anti-black humor so amusing.
Neither has Dean issued a public apology, or pledged that those "comedians" who made racially offensive statements will be barred from all future Dean events.
When asked about the outrageous comments delivered at an event held in his name, the Vermont Democrat said only that some of the language was "wrong," then added meekly, "I don't have much tolerance for ethnic humor."
So why hasn't the press jumped ugly with Dean? Maybe it's because they don't find the racist rants delivered in his honor any more offensive than he does.
Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz offered a clue into the media's take on the racist rally, dismissing the episode in his Wednesday column by joking, "I, for one, am shocked at comedians using bad language."
GOP Congressman Peter King was less forgiving, telling Orin, "It's disgraceful. It's like an Upper West Side Manhattan left-wing Ku Klux Klan mentality. If some Southern redneck talked like this about a liberal, everyone would denounce it. But because it's Upper West Side humor, somehow it's supposed to be chic."
There's little doubt that if Howard Dean were a Republican, he'd be announcing his withdrawal from the presidential race this week, as details from a recent Dean rally - so ripe with racism it would make a Ku Klux Klansman blush - have begun seeping into print.
Since Dean is Democrat, however, at least one prominent media columnist is saying it's no big deal that the entertainment for the ex-Vermont Governor's Dec. 8 event included "N"-word jokes, imitations of Condoleezza Rice in an Amos n' Andy accent and references to the President of the United States as a "piece of living, breathing s - - t."
Credit for breaking the media embargo on Howard Dean's KKK-style Manhattan fundraiser goes to the New York Post's Deborah Orin, who first noted the "N"-word references last week, then fleshed out the details in a Post op-ed piece yesterday. [Why an op-ed, when this story belongs on the front page? But that's another matter.]
The details of what passed for entertainment at the Dean rally are as ugly as they come. Here's a few of the lowlights, according to Orin:
"Comedian David Cross used the N-word for blacks in a disjointed 'joke' apparently based on the premise that it's fine for a pro-Dean comic to use racial epithets as long as the goal is to claim Republicans are racists. . . .
"Sandra Bernhard insulted Condoleezza Rice in racial terms with a 'Yes Massa' accent at another Dean fundraiser the same night. . .
"Dean rival Joe Lieberman got ridiculed for being unable to campaign on Jewish holidays because he's Orthodox. . . .
"[Vice President Dick] Cheney's daughter Mary, who is gay, was called 'a big lezzie.'. . .
"Comic Judy Gold dissed President Bush as 'this piece of living, breathing s---' and Janeane Garofalo ridiculed the Medicare prescription-drug bill that Bush had just signed as the 'you can go f--- yourself, Grandma' bill.'"
As the New York-style Klan rally continued, the Democratic frontrunner was said to be "fuming" backstage.
But Dean did nothing to interrupt the proceedings, and certainly hasn't returned any of the campaign cash he collected from the folks who found the anti-black humor so amusing.
Neither has Dean issued a public apology, or pledged that those "comedians" who made racially offensive statements will be barred from all future Dean events.
When asked about the outrageous comments delivered at an event held in his name, the Vermont Democrat said only that some of the language was "wrong," then added meekly, "I don't have much tolerance for ethnic humor."
So why hasn't the press jumped ugly with Dean? Maybe it's because they don't find the racist rants delivered in his honor any more offensive than he does.
Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz offered a clue into the media's take on the racist rally, dismissing the episode in his Wednesday column by joking, "I, for one, am shocked at comedians using bad language."
GOP Congressman Peter King was less forgiving, telling Orin, "It's disgraceful. It's like an Upper West Side Manhattan left-wing Ku Klux Klan mentality. If some Southern redneck talked like this about a liberal, everyone would denounce it. But because it's Upper West Side humor, somehow it's supposed to be chic."
