"Belzer Hopes Obama Redefines 'Warmongering, Intolerant,' America"
Mike
MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org
Belzer Hopes Obama Redefines 'Warmongering, Intolerant,' America
The weekend before last, on Fox News' Geraldo At Large, actor/
comedian Richard Belzer declared his hope for Barack Obama to redefine
America from the "warmongering," "far right," "intolerant,"
atmosphere-"raping", poor-"demonizing" nation that it's become under
the Bush administration. Prompted by host Rivera to reveal his choice
in the 2008 campaign, the Law and Order: Special Victims Unit star
took off on the following anti-Bush/pro-Obama tirade:
"We've been redefined for seven years now as a war-mongering, far
right, intolerant nation who's raping our own atmosphere and
demonizing the poor and letting the banks rob us blind. I think if,
any incremental move away from that would be a Godsend. And I think
Obama will, at the very least, put the breaks on this madness and in
some ways heal it. Another thing, if I may Geraldo, being a man of
color, I think the rest of the world, if they see that America elects
a man of color I think they'll breathe a big sigh of relief and not
think that we're this warmongering, rich white guy country."
Earlier CyberAlert item on Belzer's far-left views:
# Belzer Ties Reagan to Iraq 'Heist,' Calls Giuliani 'Fascist
Thug'
The right wing's "big heist" in Iraq led by bankers who "are
screwing everyone" all "started with Ronald Reagan crushing the poor,
crushing the unions," actor/comedian Richard Belzer bizarrely claimed
Friday night on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher before proceeding to
smear Rudy Giuliani as a "fascist thug with a comb-over trying to
suppress his speech impediment."
See the January 28 CyberAlert: www.mediaresearch.org
# Belzer Knows Better About Iraq than Uneducated Soldiers in
Iraq
When Congresswoman Ileanna Ros-Lehtinen contended Friday night,
on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, that servicemen she's met in Iraq
are "saying 'we're proud of our mission, we know what we're doing over
here. We don't want you guys in Washington to lose it over there,'"
actor/comedian Richard Belzer condescendingly fired back, claiming
that to "ask them" is "bulls**t" since, apparently unlike him, "they
don't read twenty newspapers a day." Ros-Lehtinen cited the knowledge
of her Marine officer stepson, but Belzer, who plays "Detective John
Munch" on NBC's Law & Order: SVU, retorted: "Doesn't mean he's a
brilliant scholar about the war because he's there." A quite agitated
Ros-Lehtinen sputtered: "Oh, you are though! You are though? Okay." To
which Belzer affirmed: "Well I have more time..." The Republican
Congresswoman from Florida noted that her stepson is a college
graduate, leading Belzer to snidely denigrate the military: "You think
everyone over there is a college graduate? They're 19 and 20-year-old
kids who couldn't get a job." He went on to argue: "It's this
patronizing thing that people have about if you're against the war
everyone's lumped together. You know, the soldiers are not scholars,
they're not war experts." That was too much for host Bill Maher:
"You're going to lose even me..."
See the March 20, 2006 CyberAlert: www.mediaresearch.org
The following is the full exchange as it occurred on the March 2
edition of Fox News' Geraldo At Large:
GERALDO RIVERA: I haven't heard that you've endorsed anyone. You
did endorse John Kerry in 2004 and you wrote some pretty scathing,
some hot stuff on the blog about the Republicans then. I haven't heard
too much about who you are endorsing this time around. Why?
RICHARD BELZER: Well I'm ready, I mean I voted in the New York
primary for Obama. And I think Obama it's, it's beyond politics at
this point. I think that they say he's a rock star but it's beyond
rock star. He's clearly touching something in people's hearts and
souls and minds and he has a shot at redefining who we are. We've been
redefined for seven years now as a war-mongering, far right,
intolerant nation who's raping our own atmosphere and demonizing the
poor and letting the banks rob us blind. I think if, any incremental
move away from that would be a Godsend. And I think Obama will, at the
very least, put the breaks on this madness and in some ways heal it.
Another thing, if I may Geraldo, being a man of color, I think the
rest of the world, if they see that America elects a man of color I
think they'll breathe a big sigh of relief and not think that we're
this warmongering, rich white guy country.
RIVERA: Let me ask you this Richard, though, do you think, a lot
of his support, so far, is based on the energy of young people, some
of the first time voters. Do you think that, that energy can sustain
for eight long months [to] the general election?
BELZER: I partially disagree with you Geraldo. I think in, in,
the thing that's really inspirational is that young people are getting
involved as never before. But when I talk to people. I've spoken to
Republicans, not a lot, but some who are gonna voter for Obama. There
are a lot of Democrats that used to say, "Well I'm voting, if I vote,
you know with my head I vote for Hillary. With my heart -- it's
Obama." Now Obama has combined the heart and the head. He proves
everyday with his unflappability, his grasp of the issues that he is
capable of being president. He's more experienced than Abe Lincoln was
when he became president. John Kennedy was considered a frivolous
playboy. He evolved into a great president. So I have every confidence
that this man will surround himself with all the right people. Not
every candidate knows everything and I think he's smart enough to know
that.
RIVERA: Richard Belzer that's a really eloquent endorsement. I
appreciate you coming on the program. I knew it would be good. Thank
you very much.