Former DNC chair Howard Dean appeared on Fox News Sunday with Newt Gingrich this morning to chat about last week’s headline-dominating Shirley Sherrod controversy. And Dean did not hold back whatsoever when providing his take on the channel’s role in the saga, which cost Sherrod her job.
“Fox News did something that was absolutely racist,” Dean said. “They had an obligation to find out what was really in the clip. They had been pushing a theme of black racism with this phony Black Panther crap and this business and this Sotomayor and all this other stuff. The tea party called out their racist fringe and I think the Republican Party’s got to stop appealing to its racist fringe. And Fox News is what did that. You put that on. Continuing to cater to this theme of minority racism and stressing comments like this — some of which are taken out of context — does not help the country knit itself together.”
Host Chris Wallace got understandably defensive (“I know facts are inconvenient things!” he interjected) and maintained that Fox waited to broadcast footage until Sherrod had already been fired by the USDA. Dean wasn’t about to back down, though, arguing the video “was about to go on Glenn Beck, which is what the administration was afraid of.”
Howard Dean Tells Chris Wallace Fox News Is Racist [Mediaite]
Howard Dean Calls Fox News ‘Absolutely Racist’ For Handling Of Shirley Sherrod Controversy [HuffPo]
