My friend Jason Mattera, Young America’s Foundation spokesman and conservative gadfly, is never afraid to speak his mind. Even if you don’t totally embrace his style, he’s thoroughly entertaining and a really great, energetic guy. What he’s not, however, is a racist. But that’s exactly what New York Times reporter Kate Zernike concludedafter attending a CPAC panel discussion in which Mattera participated yesterday.
She posted on the Times‘ political blog that Mattera had “bashed Obama…in racial tones.” GASP!
See full video of the speech and read relevant quotes from the New York Times article here.
Anyone who meets Jason quickly becomes aware of the fact that he’s from Brooklyn. His accent makes it hard to miss. Like many people, when he talks excitedly, the pitch of his voice goes up. This combination, Zernike concluded, constituted a “channeling” of Chris Rock and an obvious case of racism. If Zernike had bothered to, oh I don’t know, speak to the person at whom she was hurling a provocative and damaging accusation, she may have noticed that Mattera happens to speak “like Chris Rock” all the time. With the slightest bit of effort, this New York Times reporter may also have discovered that Rock also grew up….in Brooklyn. Maybe this New York (!) Timesreporter may have put two and two together before dashing off her insulting and pathetic blog post.
Were Mattera’s words about Obama’s admitted drug use inflammatory? Absolutely. Objectionable or gratuitous? Perhaps. That’s a separate quibble. But racism is the ultimate scarlet letter, as it should be — if accurate. Some on the Left continue to toss it about irresponsibly and unfairly for political purposes. It’s disgraceful, and it must stop. If it doesn’t, the charge will lose all meaning, thus allowing actual racists to shrug off the label and leading average Americans to tune out such discussions altogether.
Zernike and the Times owe Mattera an apology.
This post was crossposted at National Review Online.
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354 Comments
The NYSlimes is an embarrassment. Tabloid journalists have higher standards.
Where's Correcto?
I disagree, and instead think we need to be more tolerant of Ms. Zernike for being a victim of a particular worldview, in which conservatives are biologically predisposed to having no sense of urban style. Considering Mr. Zernike's narrow-minded upbringing and work environment, what else could she conclude but racism when hearing vocal inflections indicating street hipness at a conservative gathering.?
Just kidding. She' obviously your garden-variety southpaw hater-bitch imagining racism in the other, even though there was none, to coddle her own sense of self-righteousness.
Since this is gonna be an everyday thing up until election time may i suggest a "Race Card Counter" in the top corner of the web site? Just for confirmed unsubstantiated hit pieces using the race card. I bet it would get to 1000 before November….
Race cards are like Powerball tickets. Everyone who buys into them, for personal greed, ALWAYS loses. The ones who do win, become so enveloped in the card itself, that it eats them alive.
Until the believers in small government actually elect and seat a congress that actually enacts legislation to reduce the size of government, attacks like this will just get worse and worse. Even AFTER it happens the progressives will squeal like pigs and accuse every freedom loving voter of oppression. Thats OK, because this IS and WILL CONTINUE to be the freest nation in the world, they can say whatever they want, but we don't have to listen and I for one don't have to give them any of my money by purchasing their worthless rag. When their circulation continues to fall, the advertisers will figure it out too. We must be patient and persevere.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by CO2HOG: via @BigJournalism The New York Times Owes Jason Mattera an Apology http://bit.ly/bdPdSj #tcot…
Tchah! You don't think sophisticated New York Times staffers ever mingle with the crude demos of the lesser boroughs, do you? How beneath them!
Ha. Make that "By April".
You think the woman that scribbled the "CPAC is Racist" story wuld have seen "Saturday Night Fever" at least ONCE over the years.
Maybe she might have taken a WRONG turn and crossed the bridge into "the wrong part of town"…
p,s, I did that in East St. Louis once – oops! (like in National Lampoon's "Vacation")
It'll have to be a president that is not committed to be re-elected. He (or she) could march an and start eliminating Federal Departments – starting with the Dept. of Education. That is a state's function – no need for a Federal money dispencery with strings attached.
We need to get the Federal government to stop squating on millions and millions of land (mainly in the West) and sell it, make it productive.
Not pristine, historic parks etc., just huge tracts of dormant land.
I swear to God, these people are pulling out the primeval inner bitch right outta me every damn day now!
Abolish the EPA already!!!!!!!!!!!! they and the CA teacher's union have destroyed my once beautiful home state!!!!!!!!!!!!
added to your list jamesb
My post on BigJournalism – "The New York Times vs. The Truth" earlier this evening:
The left just can't lose the "race" thing. It's their security blanket. The thing is, just like so much else, we are tired of it. We really do want "can't we all just get along?" to be a reality. It's the last thing they want. It's been their edge. That edge is getting mighty dull. The edge they better concern themselves with is the cliff's.
Good idea I like it. Let's also start a pool to see who can guess how many insults from the MSM we Tea Partiers get by November. Winner gets a trip for two to Vegas to spend their kids College fund Brahahaha.
Racist? 123 Nazi, 123 Homophobe 123 Redneck 123 Stupid and so on and so on. I don't even listen to them now.
Missy you pack a punch, they'll be some red on that towel too.
Don't like the odds. Sometimes ya just gotta make concessions – my kid goes to Voc school, wife & I do Vegas.
It's a win/win/Wynn situation.
Thank you, another bloated mostly worthless bureacracy.
Jamesb, yes, the NY Times is a NY paper, but it's part of the "very" socialist Manhattan, which is light years from Brooklyn. Two distinct cultures. Two very different worlds, politically speaking.
When will people catch on to the tricks of the Left. This reporter did what Leftists always do when they want to dirty an enemy. She simply made a charge of racism based on her "perception", instead of fact. To the readers of the NYT, that's as good as a fact.
Beware of those who cry racism, for they are the true racists.
The Times should revisit Hillary,Gore and Obama sliding into an ultra racial tone when it suits their purposes.The Hillary one is actually a classic.
I’m with The_Great_Satan, who cares what the “old dead lady” has to say about ANYTHING.
“NYSlimes” lol, very appropriate indeed.
Well of course they (NY Times) have to keep saying this kind of stuff. After all when the dem bulbs start losing seats in 2010 and Obama isn't reelected in 2012 it will all because "we the people" are racist.
Could not agree more Jamesb!
Isn't this a case of libel,,,law suit time? The Times and the so-called journalist should issue an apology and a settlement check. . .hopefully one big enough to put the paper out of final misery.
The reason why our movement has grown exponentially in less than 1 year is because of statements like Kate Zernike's. Dozens of our friends and family know we're very well educated (75% with college degrees; CNN poll), more well informed & willing to seek info from both sides (Ohio State study; Knobloch-Westerwick & Brigham Young; Davis) and have a diverse set of friends.
So, when they here statements like Kate's… they know who's lying and who is telling the truth. Every time one of them plays the race card or calls our movement astroturf it gives me the opening I need to to convince my friends and family that people like Kate are lying to them intentionally. The main point is, I have been VERY successful at conveying that the media is biased toward Progressive/Socialist ends.
These careless statements are a blessing in disguise for us. These statements make clear the blurriness that most politically ignorant see when they view politics or more precisely what they frustratingly consider a mindless game between Dem and Rep that they rather not bother with.
Once these careless statements are made, the scrutiny disappears and I win. I have been successful getting over a dozen people to see "what's up" for the first time in their lives, people who are now involved an passionate about taking our Country back! Your family and friends know who you are, use it to your advantage!
I took my daughters pacifiers away when they were three. The progressive movement is about a hundred years old….I think it is time we take their pacifier away.
It amazes me that they could not take on anything else that was said….because it was true!
The term "racist" pretty much doesn't mean a damn thing anymore. When I hear the word now I think of it as another word for "stupid head" or "sissy dork" or "turd face". Basically it's what a loser says when they can't come up with a creative ad hominem attack. Which precludes the real truth: anyone that needs an ad hominem attack is a loser in the first place.
cold turkey, sometimes it's the only way
Cheap typical tactic…I don't think it works this time. They've been beating this "Tea Party Racist" drum for a while now – conservatives are more united.
I see that potted plant with a mouth Olbermann was on it yesterday, or today.
NYT — what a bunch of crybabies! They call anybody racist — they're NIFONGs — great word, let's use it.
A NIFONG is somebody who calls somebody else racist who isn't racist — like the prosecutor Michael Nifong in NC who pursued the case against the Duke Lacrosse players and called them racist when he knew better, remember?
They're NIFONGING Jason Materra.
NYT– NIFONGS. Kieth Olberman — a NIFONG. Chris Matthews — a NIFONG. MSNBC — all NIFONGS
Democrats — are NIFONGING the Tea Party Protestors.
.
"racist" = Shut up!
PROGRESSIVE* SPEAK TRANSLATOR…
"adviser" = Czar
"vision" = Marxism
"racist" = Shut up!
"progressive" = Communist
"recovery" = 3 Million jobs lost
"investment" = Deficit Spending
"bi-partisan" = Shut up and agree
"peace process" = Sellout to the Arabs
"jobs bill" = Billions for banker bonuses
"reproductive care" = Tax funded abortions
"road to recovery" = We're heading for the dumper
"tax reform" = Take money from taxpayers to buy votes.
"climate change legislation" = Energy tax to buy votes.
"health care reform" = Government takeover and rationing of health care.
*progressive: I am elite and smart, you are stupid, therefore I will be your master
Dr. Thomas Sowell on Intellectuals
http://usataxpayer.org/?0028068146
HR4530 The Progressive's Plan for Your Children
http://usataxpayer.org/?0092081630
Yes indeed…I have visions of many LSM people looking for work…sucking their thumbs.
He could not be gone to soon for me…..among the rest of their ilk!
Jason Mattera is from BROOKLYN.
Jason SAYS he's from Brooklyn.
The New York Times is a NEW YORK newspaper.
Brooklyn is PARTof New York City.
YOU THINK THE N.Y. TIMES WOULD CONNECT THE TWO, HUH?
More typical race baiting lies from a failing, antiquated dying medium.
Ya, where's our ALPACA?
Hearing a charge of racist from those in the MSM is nothing new.
Unless there is a quick retraction, the NYT should be sued.
The New York Times was going to move to its much-ballyhooed 'paid-for' model. I wish they'd hurry up and do it so their audience will shrink to only the most fervent like-minded Moonbats. Of course, The NYT knows this, too, which is why they're reluctant to actually go ahead and make the move.
Nice Andrew video over at Politico http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/33164.h...
If she works or ever worked in NYC she already knows the accent and if she doesn’t then she’s stupid, a snobby elitist, or both. I’m foreign born and can detect which Borough someone’s from…it’s obvious Jason is a Brooklynite. (I lived in Qn’s until fairly recently).
The New York Times owes America an apology. But who reads it anyway!
Jason talks like a fireman or cop (or mobster – grin) which is probably what gets in her craw. She has no idea of the real world but spends her time at home behind a computer critiquing everything they do from afar. Why on earth the NYSlimes hire these rich white college kids to report on anyone or anything out here is beyond me. They’re simply clueless.
So – when exactly was this "Freaky Friday" when the New York Times and the National Enquirer traded souls?
[...] GUY BENSON: The New York Times Owes Jason Mattera An Apology. [...]
Wha?! Did I miss something? The NYT had a sudden spike in credibility?!
Wha?! Did the NYT suddenly have a spike in credibility?!
The term racist now only means that a person is NOT a progressive. It has reached the point that one should not want an apology.
As Breitback says – punch back hard.
[...] Kate Zernike, in her haste to pin the Raaaacist label on any conservative she can find, is just too stupid to realize that Jason has a pretty distinctive Brooklyn [...]
“It’s disgraceful, and it must stop.”
It never will. It’s all they’ve got.
The New York Times supports racists and selective racists groups, e.g. they supported Obama even though he spent over 20-years as a member of the racist TUCC group, and now they want to talk about racism?!? No wonder the paper is in financial ruin. Where were the Kate Zernike's articles on racism when the racist Reverend Leah D. Daughtry was Howard Dean's chief of staff (when he was chairman of the Democratic National Committee) and when she was "the CEO of the 2008 Democratic National Convention Committee"?!?!
Where were the New York Times and Kate Zernike when Rev. Wright wrote in the preface of James Cone’s A Black Theology of Liberation Rev. Wright: “There will be no peace in America until whites begin to hate their whiteness, asking from the depths of their being: ‘How can we become black?’”
Perhaps the New York Times and Kate Zernike agree with James Cone's definition of what racism is, e.g. this from James Hal Cone's other racist book – Black Theology and Black Power: "It is important to make a further distinction here among black hatred, black racism, and Black Power. Black hatred is the black man's strong aversion to white society. No black man living in white America can escape it…But the charge of black racism cannot be reconciled with the facts. While it is true that blacks do hate whites, black hatred is not racism."
Ya think the elites at the "Grey Commie" would at least recognize the accent a little bit.
Actually I "get it" it's a "GOP is racist" hit piece.
I can see the newsroom on assignment time for this one – covering C-PAC – "Oh oh, me me " like a school room.
Nobody but the press care if is he or he isn’t. We “the people” are getting tired of even reading this kinda stuff. I have turned off even FOX. O’reilly makes my blood boil. Hannidy’s tired use of the word specificity off-putting, It’s like “gee a big word I can use”….over and over. Glenn is running circles around those guys….but put the stupid pipe down. If he stays the straight man and drops the other clown stuff he would be taken seriously. He is trying to teach and believe me from the man on the street interviews the country needs a lesson. Forget the MSM nobody listens to them and If the conservative blogs would stop reporting on what they “said”, and wrote nobody would be the wiser. Obama is finished anyway, He is like a chicken without it’s head.
Not surprising. This twit like all the other radical marxist leftist want to portray the conservatives and tea party folks as racists and anything else they can say to make them look bad. They never learn and they are always proven wrong. They are and do look like A$$E$, rightly so. Don't forget these radicals are going to have moles in every group against them that they can. As far as the politicians, Maybe they will all continue dropping like flies for the error of their ways one at a time, and take some of these MSM wanna-be journalists with them.
Amazingly, the origins and purpose of all this chaos are predicted and accounted for in the prophetic, political Thriller book, BLACK ROAD 2012, which I bought on amazon, and was a real goose-bumpy, totally absorbing ride: http://tinyurl.com/amazon-BLACK-ROAD-2012
If you hadn't reported this, who would know? Nobody reads the thing.
…. leading average Americans to tune out such discussions altogether?!?
It's too late for that…..
How could a New York Times reporter be expected to know about a place as far off and exotic as Brooklyn?
The "New York Times" is a contemptible, racist propaganda organ for clueless, elitist totalitarian psychopaths. Who cares what they print? These delusional, subversive liars merit no credibility. When something important happens, like the biggest scientific fraud in history or a Communist take-over of the U.S. government, we can bet on their screeching silence. Yeech!
The NY SLIMES has a “reporter”? John Stoessel is a reporter. Kate the commie is a PROPAGANDIST, no different from what PRAVDA and INVESTZIA were for the commies of the old Soviet Union. Or an even better comparison-Kate the commie is no different from NAZI propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels. Kate the commie does the same PROPAGANDA Goebbels put out with Uncle Adolph, Kates ideological soulmate.
NYT — what a bunch of crybabies! They call anybody racist — they're NIFONGs — great word, let's use it.
A NIFONG is somebody who calls somebody else racist who isn't racist — like the prosecutor Michael Nifong in NC who pursued the case against the Duke Lacrosse players and called them racist when he knew better, remember?
They're NIFONGING Jason Materra.
NYT– NIFONGS. Kieth Olberman — a NIFONG. Chris Matthews — a NIFONG. MSNBC — all NIFONGS
Democrats — are NIFONGING the Tea Party Protestors.
NYT — what a bunch of crybabies! They call anybody racist — they're NIFONGs — great word, let's use it.
A NIFONG is somebody who calls somebody else racist who isn't racist — like the prosecutor Michael Nifong in NC who pursued the case against the Duke Lacrosse players and called them racist when he knew better, remember?
They're NIFONGING Jason Materra.
NYT– NIFONGS. Kieth Olberman — a NIFONG. Chris Matthews — a NIFONG. MSNBC — all NIFONGS
Democrats — are NIFONGING the Tea Party Protestors.
Speaking on the Duke Nifong rape case-anyone notice how the black accuser has now been arrested and charged with ATTEMPTED MURDER? Seems she tried to attack her ex-boyfriend. Hey Jesse the Jackass, wheres that “scholarship” you promised this fine example of your poverty pimping?
NYT — what a bunch of crybabies! They call anybody racist — they're NIFONGs — great word, let's use it.
A NIFONG is somebody who calls somebody else racist who isn't racist — like the prosecutor Michael Nifong in NC who pursued the case against the Duke Lacrosse players and called them racist when he knew better, remember?
They're NIFONGING Jason Materra.
NYT– NIFONGS. Kieth Olberman — a NIFONG. Chris Matthews — a NIFONG. MSNBC — all NIFONGS
Democrats — are NIFONGING the Tea Party Protestors.
NYT — what a bunch of crybabies! They call anybody racist — they're NIFONGs — great word, let's use it.
A NIFONG is somebody who calls somebody else racist who isn't racist — like the prosecutor Michael Nifong in NC who pursued the case against the Duke Lacrosse players and called them racist when he knew better, remember?
They're NIFONGING Jason Materra.
NYT– NIFONGS. Kieth Olberman — a NIFONG. Chris Matthews — a NIFONG. MSNBC — all NIFONGS
Democrats — are NIFONGING the Tea Party Protestors.
NYT — what a bunch of crybabies! They call anybody racist — they're NIFONGs — great word, let's use it.
A NIFONG is somebody who calls somebody else racist who isn't racist — like the prosecutor Michael Nifong in NC who pursued the case against the Duke Lacrosse players and called them racist when he knew better, remember?
They're NIFONGING Jason Materra.
NYT– NIFONGS. Kieth Olberman — a NIFONG. Chris Matthews — a NIFONG. MSNBC — all NIFONGS
Democrats — are NIFONGING the Tea Party Protestors.
When BHO is talking like a white guy is that racism?
What is racism? According to Webster's: Main Entry: rac·ism
Function: noun
Date: 1933
1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.
I wonder where this started….Oh with the Nazi's? Hummmm. Now let's see: when a group of people (don't care about their color) ask to be given special employment rights, special admission rights, special housing rights, special social rights, when they tell you you must respect those special rights and fund those special rights, above the rights of everyone else….sounds like racism to me.
I love it.
The race card… the first refuge of a liberal who’s losing an argument.
Fine. It's a good term to use.
Do you have to post it so many times?
I would love a "Discover the Networks" equivalent for journalists. Type in a name and get a list of past reporting, corrections, political donations, related family employment, education/work background.
He doesn't sound anything at all like Chris Rock. However, for a brief second, he did sound a little like Chris Walken. Obviously, Mattera has something against German-Scottish Methodists from Queens.
How dare us Proles question our betters when it comes to all things racial? The smartest people ever to populate this planet are all experts at picking up on that "Negro Dialect". After all, they hear it all day from their servants.
"Yassuh! Massuh' n Missy sho' 'nuff no's dey di-leks!"
"I denies da' allegation, and I'd also likes to state for da' record, dat I dislikes the alligator."
Does this mean that it's only okay to speak "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one" ?
Kate Zernike needs to tell Harry Reid and Obama that they are racists.
[...] Read the full article. [...]
New York who? Oh you mean that sorry excuse for fish rap….runny ink. I didn't know they were still in business…will someone please confirm that they are still around…I'm running out of my fish wrap.
That's why when someone shouts "YOU LIE!", the NYT 'hears', "YOU LIE, BOY!" And before you know it, liberals all over the country 'hear' it too. I've had it with these people. They're paid liars, not journalists. And nothing more.
Like your sense of humor. These lefty haters are becoming amusing because they are so predictable.
Fact Check? All the fact checkers have been paid off to pay the union printers more for printing fewer sheets.
he arrived!
Long Island Newsday site went paid…. cable and newspaper subscribers got free membership…. then they sold subscriptions to the site… they sold about 35.
Sooo … maybe it's Chris Rock who talks like Jason Mattera? (Who is one gutsy guy when it comes to catching congress critters in the head lights).
Above: The "New York Times" is a NEW YORK newspaper.
Brooklyn is PARTof New York City.
YOU THINK THE N.Y. TIMES WOULD CONNECT THE TWO, HUH? "
That would mean crossing the river.
May be one or two of the Famous Rubber Room Teachers of NYC can be employed in teaching the New York Slime that 2+2= 4… not 5… not 2… not even 8…
Actually I found areal need for the NY Slime… KITTY BOX LINER…it does serve apurpose after all…..
Yeah … too bad it did not make the Evening Lack of Truth shows on the Madcow/Oldummberrmann Shows…on MSNBC Naturally!
Hey now, hold on 'un momentito', "reporter" Kate — It is Chris Rock…who is trying to speak like Jason Mattera.
Now get out there and cover THAT!
Have you seen what this woman looks like? She probably lives in a stable and feeds on oats. Her biggest problem is that she needs to get laid.
Hey, if she can throw bombs, so can I.
Calling people racists, homophobes, sexists, etc. has been so overplayed that it's become a joke. Being called a racist by the NYT is a badge of honor.
Inflammatory? Inflammatory? Isn't that the best method when trying to get people in a 20-year denial cycle to wake up and HEAR not just listen?
Keep it up Jason.
Didn't we just read where Fat Rosie and braindead Jeannie Garafolo attacked Rush for drug use? And he got hooked on perscription drugs. Obama admitted he was a coke user and as far as I know that is one of the hardest addictions to break, why can't we bring it up? They were always bringing up W's drinking "problem" even though he hadn't had a drink for at least 20yrs.
This is a comment I left on the NYT blog… still in Moderation status
Being an Italian-American from an immigrant neighborhood in Chicago, I am highly offended that our poorly enunciated dialect of broken English (i say in half-jest) in construed to be de facto racist.
Since you didn't quote any actual wording that was racist, I have to assume it was the way in which he said them.
You on the Left are defusing all meaning and power from the accusation of "racist"… it is instead becoming a joke in your hands.
When is some enterprising attorney going to file a class action defamation of character suit against the NYT's.
Hey now, hold on 'un momentito', "reporter" Kate — It is Chris Rock…who is trying to speak like Jason Mattera.
NY Slime now wants to CHARGE to read their online edition. How much do you think they'll make? Hope the jerks go broke…
You are correct, she is.
Great idea, just like the Al Gore dooms day clock on Rush Limbaugh's web site.
Start collecting facts, they are like silver bullets to the werewolves on the left.
Oh ya, American students have really "profitted" from Federal intervention.
Fancy "Education Palaces" to go with dumbed down expectations and results.
That sure worked, huh? (/sarc)
With no federal intervention in education how will American students continue being number 1 in the world at tests?
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