Maddow and Letterman discuss Breitbart and Fox News

It’s not very often that you see a late-night talk show host speak so strongly and openly against the dishonest smear tactics from slimeballs such as Andrew Breitbart and the crew at Fox “News”, as they tend to be either uninterested or too careful to avoid offending part of their viewership. (But then, if some of your audience takes offense at liars being called out for what they are, then it’s no loss, really.) But I suppose having MSNBC’s great Rachel Maddow on the show would help coax David Letterman to speak a bit more freely, and together they examined the whole Shirley Sherrod affair in a pleasant back-and-forth.

It’s all good, but I especially liked this part [my transcript]:

LETTERMAN: It took several days to unravel, and many mistakes were made, including the White House kneejerk reaction, immediately – pulling this woman over on the side of the road and saying, ‘You gotta turn in your resignation’. Now, how much – good Lord, here’s a woman, as it turns out, doing the right thing; how much time and energy was wasted because this [asshole] was [fucking] around?

[Crowd laughs, cheers, rousing applause]

Maddow also said the following about Fox’s constant pimping of the stupid “reverse racism” gambit:

MADDOW: […] I think that, with Fox in particular, it’s part of a pattern. They keep running these stories about – for lack of a better phrase, “scary Black people”. About “scary Black people” at the USDA discriminating against White farmers. And “scary Black people” stopping White people from voting. And “scary Black people” getting, stealing the election – the whole ACORN scandal. There’s this theme that they keep [working on.]

On a totally unrelated sidenote, she somehow turns garish blue glasses into something geeky and adorable.

(via @mmfa)

Tags: Late Show • David Letterman • Rachel Maddow • Shirley Sherrod • badass • Andrew Breitbart • Fox News