A recent crop of bad press has not stopped U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) from making his usual media rounds this week. On Wednesday, after being named among Congress's thirteen "most corrupt" representatives, Walsh sat down with the Media Research Center’s Brent Bozell to discuss the mainstream media's alleged "protection" of President Obama, claiming the president's race protects him from criticism.
Bozell, a conservative talk show host, brought up the Tea Party's love for African American GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain before accusing the Obama administration of "playing class warfare and race warfare games." He went on to say that the national media is "aiding and abetting" that agenda, and Walsh agreed, referring to the president as "this guy."
"This guy pushed every one of the media’s buttons," Walsh said. "He was liberal, he was different, he was new, he was black. Oh my God, it was the potpourri of everything. They are so vested in our first black president not being a failure that it’s going to be amazing to watch the lengths they go to protect him. [The media], I believe, will spout this racist line if some of their colleagues up here aren’t doing it aggressively enough. There is going to be a real desperation."
In May, Walsh told Slate's David Weigel that Obama was elected because he was black and "articulate," and once again accused the media of being "in love" with the president.
“Why was he elected? Again, it comes back to who he was. He was black, he was historic," Walsh said. "And there’s nothing racist about this. It is what it is. If he had been a dynamic, white, state senator elected to Congress he wouldn’t have gotten in the game this fast. This is what made him different. That, combined with the fact that your profession . . . not you, but your profession, was just absolutely compliant. They made up their minds early that they were in love with him. They were in love with him because they thought he was a good liberal guy and they were in love with him because he pushed that magical button: a black man who was articulate, liberal, the whole white guilt, all of that."
Despite not knowing "the guy," Walsh has continually attacked Obama, calling him "idiotic" and refusing to attend a joint session of Congress for the president's jobs speech, which he called "political theater."
Walsh should know a thing or two about political theater: he has made more television appearances than any freshman in the House and likely more headlines on issues ranging from unpaid child support to his decision to run against a fellow GOP congressman in 2012.
Front photo by markn3tel via Flickr