What the H*ll did Wolf Blitzer just say?

[Theodore Kurita]

This is another clip spreading around the interweb.

Apparantely, he made a VERY racist comment on CNN.

Check it out:

http://wolfblitzer.ytmnd.com/

"All of them that we see, are so poor, and They Are So Black..."

[Dylab]

Heh, I don't really get it. How is it racist?

[Tony]

How is it racist?

[Ed]

It would be decidedly racist to not notice it.

[Mycroft]

I think it's worth noting that this natural disaster seems to have found a way to selectively turn tens of thousands of black people into refugees while allowing all the white people to get away. I've never been to NOLA, but I understand that demographically it's got a much larger black population than most other cities, yet not that much more so.

So I don't really know if it's an economic thing, geographic thing, or if racism plays some role, all I know is the people I see on TV who are refugees are 99.99% black, and I'd like to know why. I don't think Wolf Blitzer making the same observations I do is racist, but I do think it's the first step in discovering what's behind this phenomanon.

[Theodore Kurita]

Not saying he's racist.

But the comment does seem a bit off color to me. It could be interpreted as racist however, hence that is why I am posting it.

[Mycroft]

Originally posted by Theodore Kurita
Not saying he's racist.

But the comment does seem a bit off color to me. It could be interpreted as racist however, hence that is why I am posting it.

I think we've become so sensitive ro racism that any mention of race at all makes us uncomfortable.

[Skeptic]

Not saying he's racist.

Huh? You said, "Apparantely, he made a VERY racist comment on CNN."

[crackmonkey]

But the comment does seem a bit off color to me.

What a punster. Racist.

[Charlie Monoxide]

I don't feel it's a racist comment. All sorts of stuff gets said on live TV. I'm sure he also has some earphone in his ear with someone babbling away to him while he babbles.

You have to admit, he is correct.

Charlie (then again I feel we're all black) Monoxide

[KelvinG]

They are so black?

I've been watching the news and they don't seem much blacker than most other black people I've ever seen.

[Theodore Kurita]

Originally posted by Skeptic
Not saying he's racist.

Huh? You said, "Apparantely, he made a VERY racist comment on CNN."

I was being facetious. I'll have to make a mental note to put in sarcasm smilies whenever I am ever being facetious or sarcastic.

[Regnad Kcin]

Wolf has never struck me as a particularly smooth ad-libber. With that in mind, my guess is his thought likely was along the lines of: They are so poor and so [many of them are] black. But, his mind tripped over to a bit of poetic repetition (by quick editing out the bracketed words above) -- a copy writing trick used for emphasis.

Racist? No.

---

(Edited to fix a damned spelling error.)

[Kopji]

Originally posted by Regnad Kcin
Wolf has never struck me as a particularly smooth ad-libber. With that in mind, my guess is his thought likely was along the lines of: They are so poor and so [many of them are] black. But, his mind tripped over to a bit of poetic repitition (by quick editing out the bracketed words above) -- a copy writing trick used for emphasis.

Racist? No.

Yeah, I agree (except for the spelling of repetition).
I've heard it expressed this way on several media outlets. The meaning is sort of an accusation that we rich white folks are ok with leaving the poor black people there to suffer.

[jordan_o]

The comment was made after a portion of the Cafferty File was shown on the Situation Room where he was talking about the (then) unreported issue of the race and social class of the people left there.

Then it cut back to Wolf Blitzer who had to take a commercial break. He ended it with that clip from above. While it wasn't the best thing to say, if you saw the whole thing you'd notice the comment followed from that report and wasn't intended to be racist or offensive.

[username]

Perhaps the reason such a large percentage of those who are now refugees are black is because they are poor?

I mean 80% or so of the population left in advance of the hurricane. I don't see how racism can affect who is allowed to get in their car and drive out, but I do see how poverty could influence this.

[crackmonkey]

Now, that's using logic. No fair.