Law Professor Confronts O'Reilly Over Fox News And The Far Right: "Fox News, Far Right Have A Race Deck, And They Play The Ace Of Spades Every Day" (VIDEO)

Dr. Jeremy Levitt, a law professor at Florida A&M University, confronted Bill O'Reilly tonight over Fox News' role in fomenting racial tensions regarding President Obama. Specifically Dr. Levitt cited Glenn Beck and the network's role in encouraging the 9/12 protests, which featured an assortment of racist signs.

O'Reilly dismissed the racist right-wing attacks on Obama as part of a fringe group, insisting that an equivalent group exists on the left. He also stated that 10 percent of the nation is racist. Dr. Levitt would not let up, however, telling O'Reilly that "Fox News and the far right have a race deck, and they play the ace of spades every day."

WATCH: (H/t D.J.)

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Comments

[LewisT]

O'Reilly kept him honest. Liberals and other BS artists hate it when someone keeps them honest.

[blueskybigstar]

Will they bring him on the show again?

[novoorganum]

Agreed--there are racists and bigots in our country, The fact that there are, doesn't mean Fox and Company is to be reckless by fanning the flames of bigotry for the purpose of divide and conquer politics and power grabbing goals.

[BambooHarvester]

fox ki//s
~

[PhilipTaylor]

Excellent job by the Professor!

He could hardly get a word in edgewise!

How defensive can O'REALLY get!

[Promote]

The Birthers , Tea Parties , and Seceders Are Racism !

[S117]

Hm...so anyone that disagrees with Obama is racist, anyone that agrees with him is not? Or anyone who is conservative is racist and liberals are not? Or is it Fox News is racist, say, MSNBC is not?

Ad hominim attack. Attack on the person.

If your only rebuttal to someone is "You're racist!", then you should seriously be rethinking your position. If you have no fault with their argument, or can't articulate it beyond calling them names like a 5 year old, then you're probably in the wrong.

...just saying. And also, the man was no more or less articulate than O'Reilly (offhand, I'd say Bill won that little exchange...he certainly seemed more calm and collected.) Set your bias aside and at least try to appraise things intellectually.

And O'Reilly's point does stand - for every racist you find on the right, you find one on the left, but the vast majority on both sides are not racists. Why aren't you calling out those on the left too? Have you already forgotten who was so excited about their candidate being "the first African-American President"? How "historic" it was for a black man to become President? WHO brought race in there? Those against him, or those for him?

Fin.

[TheLooseCannon]

I have never seen racist signs at a Greenpeace rally?
Hmmm methinks thou protest too much.
Of course you can have rational non racist dissent against this president, regardless of his color and not be a racist. This does not change the fact that those carrying the racial or Nazi banners should be pointed out as ignorant.
What is appalling to rational Americans, is that none from your side will call them out as wrong.
Apparently you will not either.

[noudidnt]

strawman alert

[Mikal Singletary]

Strawman confirmed

[DontBeFoolish]

Ok, in order to think, or have an intellectual conversation, you must first pay attention. Did you now hear about the signs that are being waved at different venues, have you not seen these signs. Although I am not a Farrakhan fan, if he decides to speak for 5 minutes, it's a race war.

What the professor was speaking about, has been going on for months, and getting worst everyday. Do yourself a favor; stop trying to remove the plank from someone else's eye, when there's one in yours that is totally blinding you.

Oh, and here's another tidbit for you. When conducting a Q & A, you’re supposed to present the question, have your guest answer it, and then rebuttal if you like. 99.9% of the time, if you don't let the conversation flow as so, then someone is either lying or on the defense. Intellectual conversation, what a crack up you are.

[imfedup]

Check this out if you're tempted to think O'Reilly is reasonable:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IwIRNM5noY

[ellenst]

Very interesting.

[Tunghoy]

The Speaker of the House is correct: the rhetoric spewed by right-wing blowhards will absolutely lead to tragedy. It's only a matter of time. This was the atmosphere in Israel in 1995 when P.M. Rabin tried to negotiate peace, and the right-wing, religious zealots called him many of the same names we hear today. And look what happened.

Many right-wingers aren't ignoring what happened to Rabin; I think they know very well.

[bobm0001]

Let's see now . . .

If Fox's 9/12 demonstration had even 70,000 attendees, then using Bill's figures, there were 7,000 racists there.

Sounds about right to me.

[Tunghoy]

These corporate-sponsored protesters used code words and phrases (like "I want my country back") while in private, and in the parking lots where they assembled, they freely referred to the President with the "N" word. Maybe only 10% show it in public, but my guess is that many more than that show it in private.

[bethel1974]

In a biblical text before Jesus was persecuted he waited for someone to intercede on his behalf (to stand up for his life) in a revelation from GOD he knew that was not going to happen he even told Peter you will deny me three times when asked if you knew me. In saying people Jesus died on the cross for your sins and mine. President Obama needs these kind of intercedings in our mainstream lives so he can go about this countries business without worrying about some loon coming after him. This idea of big government is a key work for big brother. We have had big brother for 8 years with the Patriot Act but since it was offered by a white man it is okay. President Obama deserves better and an opportunity to lead this country back to greatness without vast right wing conspiracy working against him.

[BambooHarvester]

billo, who's up next on your hit list ?
~

[roch20]

Wow, this Law Professor is my new hero!!! Woof, i was jumping up and down the entire clip, it's amazing how much a well spoke, and a very articulated message from a young man can do! Awesome! Bill O'Reilly is a pinhead, period! And how truthful was for him to say that the far right and FOX News have a race deck, brilliant.

[Scarborian]

To borrow a phrase from a right wing icon, Margaret Thatcher, these extremists and racists should be should be denied the oxygen of publicity. Instead Fox actively pumps oxygen to them and still pleads innocence because it's not Fox employees actually saying these things.

Turning a blind eye would be one thing but to encourage them for the sake of the publicity and ratings is so disgraceful it's something only Murdoch could love. A politician in the UK said that Murdoch's news media were paying the paparazzi to persecute the Princess of Wales in the hope that they'd push her too far and "get the big story". We know how that ended. I think he's doing it again, using his control of the media to shape events by encouraging the unstable to the point where one of them does something really wicked and creates the big story he's looking for.

[Turtleposer]

In the long run, the conservatives are shooting themselves in the feet by not addressing the racism in the nutbag wing of their constituency. I'm not talking about all Republicans. Most Republicans I know truly disagree with Obama on philosophical grounds. However, by letting the birthers, the deathers, etc. take the mike all the time Republicans give legitimacy to the loonies.

True, left-wingers showed signs of Bush being depicted as a monkey during various protests in the past. However, I don't recall any Democratic officials calling these left-wingers "every day American Patriots" even as Bush was lying his way into a war. How difficult is it for the Republican establishment to state that they will not approve any inflammatory or violent language at their gatherings?