Tavis Smiley and Cornel West Need to Shut Up

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Tavis Smiley and Cornel West Celebrates MLK's March on Washington With More Division

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If Tavis Smiley and Cornel West don't have anything constructive to add to the national debate, they really need to shut up. They've lost all respect from over 90% of the Black community, yet, they continue to run their mouths in what seems to be a vain attempt to salvage any vestige of relevance that they might have left. But in the process they're only succeeding in coming off like the snake that bites himself after having his head cut off.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6p_wRCTh1w

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Cornel West is quoted as saying the following with respect to the 50th commemoration of the March on Washington:

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"We had very low quality leadership today on the stage. We saw bona fide apologists for the Obama administration. There was no serious talk about Wall Street. There was no serious talk about the new Jim Crow, no serious talk about drones, no serious talk about the U.S. security state, no serious talk about the massive surveillance state. It was about just voters' rights and maybe some vague reference to jobs. Martin Luther King Jr. turns over in his grave. He turns over in his grave."
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"It was JUST about voters' rights and maybe some vague reference to jobs!!!!?" Is the man insane? Voters' rights is the very foundation of this democracy! And when he and Tavis Smiley were out hawking their books during their so-called poverty tour - which seemed to disappear as soon as the election was over - "jobs" seemed to be the most important word in their vocabulary. So why is the subject of jobs lest than important today?

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The fact is, the United States is currently knee-deep in a CLASS WAR. The corpo-Republican coalition doesn't care any more about poor and middle-class White people than they do Blacks, women, gays, or Hispanics. So they have a vested interest in keeping the American people miserable, angry, and divided in order to prevent us from coming together to mount an effective response to their agenda of 1). punishing America for electing President Barack Obama, and 2). lowering the American middle-class standard of living to conform to the new global economy. Therefore, anyone whose primary animus is to promote division in America without ever putting forward any constructive solutions to address our problems should be looked upon with deep suspicion, and that includes Tavis Smiley and Cornel West. 

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We should also take into account their history and associations. Tavis Smiley is closely associated with numerous ALEC-associated corporations such as Walmart, Exxon/Mobile, Nationwide Insurance, and Wells Fargo Bank, and the ALEC Consortium is leaving no stone unturned to promote national policies that are directly focused toward undermining the interests of the poor and minority, including obstructing our right to vote.

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Smiley was also involved in the Wells Fargo "Ghetto Loan" scam, where Wells Fargo Bank agreed to pay $175 million to settle the discrimination suit which, according to the Department of Justice, targeted over 30,000 Black and Hispanic borrowers for subprime loans with a higher interest rate than for similarly situated White borrowers between 2004 and 2009. According to the Department of Justice, it was the second largest housing discrimination case in United States history (http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-question-for-both-tavis-smiley-and.html).

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As for Cornel West, he joined forces with Ralph Nader in the 2000 Presidential Election to help get George W. Bush elected. Bush became President of the United States by winning the state of Florida by 537 votes. In that same state, the Nader/West coalition tore away 97,488 votes from Vice President Al Gore. So when we consider the fact that our current economic condition is a direct result of the economic policies of the Bush administration, Cornel West is more than just a little responsible for the very conditions that he’s now complaining about (http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=2000&fips=12).

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In addition, people like Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and Boyce Watkins are going out of their way NOT to tell the Black community that the United States Constitution gives sole control of spending to the United States House of Representatives, which is controlled by the Republicans. So the only way that President Obama can spend any money to assist the Black community is to get the Republican House to go along with him.

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That’s why it’s so important for the president to hold together a coalition of Blacks, women, gays, Hispanics, and every other segment of the American population. He needs ALL of us to place pressure on the Republicans to loosen the purse strings in order for him to get anything done. So anytime you hear Tavis, West, or Watkins pointing their finger at what President Obama is doing for any other segment of the population, they’re doing you a disservice.

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Here’s how politics works - you support me when I need you, and I’ll support you when you need me. So whenever President Obama does anything for other segments of the population, he’s building up political capital so he can help you. But, he doesn’t discuss what he’s doing for the Black community for a very good reason - as Cornel says himself (when it’s convenient), "Race Matters."

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These gentlemen know full well that if President Obama runs around bragging about what he’s doing for the Black community, the Republicans are going to use that as leverage to tear his coalition apart. They would tell women, gays, Hispanics, and everyone else in America that Obama doesn’t care about them; all he wants to do is help his own people, and that message hurts the Black community. Don’t these so-called intellectuals recognize that? If they don’t, they’re dumb. If they do, that means that they’re purposely trying to mislead you. The question then, is why?

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So the fact is, when people like Tavis, West, and Watkins run around telling you that the proof that President Obama is not working for you is that he refuses to throw his fist in the air, these people are working against you, not for you - and they know it. You see, their primary agenda is NOT about helping the Black community. Their agenda is about tearing down President Obama, and that hurts you.

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President Obama is trying to help ALL of the people - and that includes you. So Tavis Smiley and Cornel West needs to shut up and cleanup their own act. Thus, Cornel West has a lot of nerve talking about Martin turning in his grave. The fact is, if and Martin could see the self-serving and petty demagoguery of these two, he wouldn't just be turning, he'd be spinning in his grave. And if there was any true justice in this world, Just mentioning the names of Martin Luther King or Malcolm X would cause Tavis and West's mouths to foam.

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Ewattree@Gmail.com

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Black Kids Have Heard Enough Whining - It's Time To Inspire Them To Reach For Their Full Potential

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Black Kids Have Heard Enough Whining - It's Time To Inspire Them To Reach For Their Full Potential

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I’ve been so aggressively out front in my criticism of Tavis Smiley and Cornel West that I decided that I needed to draft a formal statement explaining why I’ve embraced this issue so passionately - and by the way, I could also add Boyce Watkins to this mix, but he’s so anxious to play with the big dogs that at this point he might consider it a compliment.

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The primary problem that I have with Tavis and West has nothing to do with their criticism of President Obama, as they would have the world believe is the motivation of anyone who disagrees with them. The problem that I have with them is their selfishness and hypocrisy. They have a single-minded agenda of promoting their own interest at the expense of the Black community.
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In addition, I’m sick to death of so-called "brothers" who engage in and promote Black-on-Black hatred (bligotry) under the guise of "defending the people." That’s been a blight on the Black community for over 400 years, so it’s past time for us to bring that to an end once and for all.
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So it’s both sickening, and embarrassing, that these so-called “brothers,” who profess to be enlightened intellectuals, are so steeped in hatred that they fail to recognize the historical stupidity of their behavior. Yeah, I know - “They’re merely speaking truth to power.” The only problem with that claim is that they seem to have only found their tongues after George W. Bush and Dick Cheney left office.
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Smiley,West, and their supporters are suffering from a serious case of projection. They’re so fixated on the politics of Obama-hating that they’re completely oblivious to the gross stupidity of their behavior, and they insist that anyone who’s critical of them is merely an Obama cheerleader or defender, but that’s simply not the case. When my son and daughter were teenagers they had a phrase that perfectly summed up the allegations of these people - they’re stuck on stupid.
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Their criticism of Obama has absolutely nothing to do with the Black community’s growing antipathy towards these two. An ever-increasing number of Black people are critical of Tavis and West because we see them for what they are - snake-oil-selling  demagogues - and we consider their behavior self-serving, counterproductive, and detrimental to the Black community - period.
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Young Black people have heard enough whining. They need to be educated about who they are and what they represent - the potential answer to the prayers of a million slaves. So they need to be inspired to reach for their full potential. That's what the community should be focused on - that, and educating the community to be more politically astute in order to more effectively promote our political agenda.

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Of course we should hold President Obama accountable, just like we would any other politician, but it's absolutely ridiculous to go out of one's way to slander the most powerful role model that our young people have in the world today. We shouldn't even have to tell that to anyone who professes to be an intellectual, and if we do, both their motives, and intellectual credentials, should automatically be suspect. Common sense 101.

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But Smiley and West are so fixated on their own self-interest that they’re completely ignoring that fact, and I suspect there are several reasons for that. First, they’re seeking the fame and fortune of being seen as the primary spokesmen for the Black community. Secondly, they have an intense hatred for Obama fueled by jealousy, envy, and the feeling that they’ve been snubbed. And finally, since Barack Obama has completely overshadowed them as president, their egos demand that they try to ride into history on his coattail as the people who "forced" Obama to do right by the people, which, of course, is ridiculous.
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So their actions have absolutely nothing to do with the poor; it’s all about promoting their own self-interest and soothing the pain of their wounded egos at the expense of the Black community - and it's disgusting that millions should have to suffer to assuage the the hurt feelings and envy of two oversized egos.
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And anyone who needs clear evidence that the activities of Tavis and West are self-serving, and have absolutely nothing to do with the well-being of the poor, need simply ask Tavis the following question - “Tavis, since you’re such a big promoter of ‘accountability’ and what’s in the best interest of the poor, were you accountable, and concerned enough about the poor, to returned any of the millions of dollars that you reportedly made from the Wells Fargo “Ghetto Loans” scam to the poor Black people who lost their money and homes?”
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Personally, I’m not privy to any information suggesting whether or not Tavis returned any of that money, but considering his character and greed, I feel completely comfortable in saying, I doubt it. But that's a question that needs to be put to him, and if he didn't return the money, considering his position on 'accountability,' our next question should be, "Why not?"
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In addition to that, as deluded as these two characters are, they should both have sense enough to recognize that the most important aspect of a young person’s ability to cope with adversity is his or her self-image. And one of the big differences between Black kids and others is, Jewish kids are taught that they're "God's chosen people," and White American kids are taught that they're the greatest thing to ever walk the Earth. But due primarily to people like Tavis and West, Black kids are being taught that they're helpless victims whose well-being is in the hands of others - and since, we are what we think, that's what many of our young people are becoming. So it's time to stamp out that message, and correct that image.
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But, of course, Tavis and West would simply glaze over everything that’s been said here and continue to repeat their mantra that they're fighting for the people. But I don't accept that for a minute. Again, what they're actually fighting for is the very lucrative job of spokesmen for the Black community. Tavis has proven that many times over with not only his involvement in Wells Fargo’s "Ghetto Loans" scam, but also with his association with a number of corporations that were members of ALEC, including Walmart. And as I’ve mentioned before, Cornel’s mere association with Tavis gives him the credibility of a man running down the street ranting about fascism after just having lunch with Mussolini.
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So the Black community needs to bring this self-serving nonsense to an end - AND NOW! And we should start by boycotting everything, and everybody, associated with Tavis Smiley and Cornel West.
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Did you hear that Boyce Watkins? You think you want to run with the big dogs, but sooner rather than later the Black press is going to realize that they’re being unforgivably remiss and on the wrong side of history by not more aggressively covering this gross assault on the Black community. Once they recognize that fact, Dr. Watkins, you may find that you’ve latched on to the Titanic.

Why I Love Being BLACK

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http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/01/why-i-love-being-black.html

Eric L. Wattree

Http://wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com

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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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WHY AM I SO FIXATED ON CORNEL WEST?

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

WHY AM I SO FIXATED ON CORNEL WEST?

IS THIS THE SAME CORNEL WEST WHO WAS
BAD-MOUTHING OBAMA BEFORE IT BECAME CLEAR
THAT HE WAS GOING TO WIN?

A lot of people ask me why I’m so fixated on Cornel West. The reason is simple. I grew up with brothers like West in the hood - they were a dime a dozen - so I know exactly what he’s about - nothing.
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Contrary to popular belief, there’s a wealth of both knowledge and intellect in the Black community. Johnny Cochran came out of the hood, and so did Colin Powell, Barack and Michelle Obama, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr, and Charlie Parker. Langston Hughes came out of the hood - and hell, so did I. So contrary to what's reflected in the media, a large part of this nation's most valuable resource is lying dormant in the inner cities across this nation, because there, you've got to be sharp just to survive.
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But what's generally reflected in the media are the dregs of the Black community.  For every 'gangsta' in the hood, there are literally thousands of young people struggling to get ahead. But the problem is, far too many of us have allowed the media to define who we are, so we no longer have respect for our own intelligence. As a result, many young people tend to have more confidence in the intelligence of frauds like Cornel West than they have in their own ability to think.

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Many of our young people are simply taking the media's word for the fact that Cornel West is suppose to be this powerful intellect instead of actually assessing what West is saying for themselves. The problem is, they’ve been brainwashed into believing that the White man’s water is wetter than their own, so when they hear the words "Harvard" and "Princeton" connected to Cornel West’s name, they simply assume that he possesses a greater ability to think than they do, and that he can see things that they can't. That's nonsense, and it didn't used to be that way. Brother's used to define themselves based upon their ability to think, not by how 'fresh' their tennis shoes look - in fact, unless they ran track, they didn't even wear tennis shoes, because their primary goal in life was to get away from having to wear tennis shoes.
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I remember how much pride my grandparents took in me when I went off to college.  And later, when I got my degree, they stopped debating issues with me all altogether. It was like all of a sudden I went from being one of the kids to becoming the head of the family. I remember my grandmother used to say, "Well, Eric, you’re educated, so you know about all that stuff. We don't understand it."
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They didn't understand it?  They understood enough to waltz through the Great Depression while White folks were throwing themselves out of windows, and they also understood enough to managed to become financially secure in a world that threw every stumbling block before them that it could muster - and without busting a sweat bubble. I don't ever remember them having to suck-up to a landlord.  They always owned their own home.  Yet, even as they were keeping an eye on me and my young family to make sure we didn't falter, my grandmother was saying, due to my education, they didn't understand life like I did.
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I knew my grandmother was giving me much too much credit, but I didn’t say a word, because my young ego had me soppin' up the props like gravy.  But I knew in my heart that even though I’d gone off and gotten a degree, that she - and especially my grandfather - could think circles around me.
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Because even back then, I understood that there was a big difference between innate intelligence and its attendant wisdom and knowledge, and simply going out and picking up a degree. You see, if a ghetto kid who dropped out of high school has an IQ of 140, and a brain surgeon has an IQ of 120, due to his education, the brain surgeon may be in possession of more information, but he'll never be able to connect the dots as efficiently as that high school dropout, because the kid is smarter, and he always will be. Well, I had enough education to recognize that my grandfather was naturally smarter than me, and regardless to how much education I obtained, he always would be - in fact, he was so smart that he had the wisdom not to humiliate me by ramming that fact home. He understood how important it was to let me THINK that I was his peer, so he placed my self-esteem above his need to be 'the man.' That took wisdom, the kind of wisdom that still benefitting from to this day.
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So I knew what my grandfather was doing - after all, I was his grandson - but in spite of that, his actions taught me a far greater lesson - that no institution of higher learning can confer either wisdom, knowledge, or intelligence upon any individual. The only thing that Harvard, Princeton, Yale, or any other institution can confer upon an individual is a receipt indicating that the individual paid his tuition and occupied a seat in a room where knowledge was shared. And while that receipt might also indicate that the individual was able to regurgitated the information once or twice, it cannot certify that any of the information was absorbed, or that it can be effectively manipulated to draw further insight. Education is a solitary pursuit, so the only one who can educate you, is yourself.
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Thus, what my grandmother failed to understand was, my degree didn’t certify that they’d taught me to out-think her, the only thing it certified was that I had been exposed to, and learned to regurgitate, the thoughts of dead White folks. It said absolutely nothing about whether or not I’d learn to think for myself. After all, George W. Bush obtained a receipt from Yale, and we all have a firsthand knowledge of how little that was worth.
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Therefore, it’s important that we in the Black community learn that the very same thing is true of Cornel West, Boyce Watkins, and many other so-called public "intellectuals." While we should have all of the respect in the world for education, we must also have a clear understanding of what constitutes an education. An education is the consumption of knowledge, regardless to whether we consume that knowledge at Harvard, or at the corner library. Knowledge is knowledge, and it's free. So Harvard's knowledge is no more knowledgeable than anyone else's - you just pay more for it, and it comes with public relations support. So if you can't afford to go to college, seek your knowledge from elsewhere - anywhere else - but continue to seek it. And always remember this - Harvard was built to teach what insightful men had ALREADY thought.
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So what most of us fail to understand is, a person cannot BE educated. Each individual must educate himself. Thus, to allow someone else to educate you is not education at all - it's indoctrination. So while having a string of letters behind one's name makes for an excellent calling card and has immeasurable economic value, it says aboulutely nothing about an individual's ability to think. Titles, robes, badges, and all of the other accouterments of alleged knowledge and stature are society’s way of dictating who we listen to, and that’s not always in our best interest. So unless we’re dealing with a highly specialized area of knowledge - like medicine, for example - we should NEVER give anyone else’s ability to think priority over our own, because when we allow someone to think for us, we're also allowing them to control us.
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Consider this - simply having influence over the minds of other people is big business. It can be worth literally millions of dollars to any person who can convince you and others to let him control your attitudes, thinking, and behavior. During the 2008 primaries, one preacher in the south charged Hillary Clinton a specific dollar amount for every brian that he controlled in his congregation.
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A perfect example of how valueable having influence over others can be is, even as we speak Tavis Smiley and Cornel West are on the road trying to portray President Obama as the Bogeyman in an attempt to get Black people to elect the Devil - the Republican Party. Can you imagine how much money the billionaires in the Republican Party would be willing to pay them, not to actually deliver the vote, but to merely keep Black people away from the polls? Now, I have no evidence to suggest that that's what's going on, but it wouldn't be the first time that Cornel West has engaged in the tactic of dividing the vote. West joined forces with Ralph Nader in the 2000 election and helped to get George Bush elected ("Once Again, Nader and West Team to Elect a Republican President").

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DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT NATIONWIDE
IS ON YOUR SIDE?
DO YOU THINK TAVIS SMILEY BELIEVES IT?
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But if you confront members of the Nader/West coalition with the fact that they helped to elect George Bush, they’ll immediately begin to obfuscate and engage in intellectual gymnastics in an attempt to avoid responsibility for the horrific fate that they brought upon this country. They’ll say things like, "It’s not our fault that Gore lost. He just didn’t fight hard enough for a recount." But by using such arguments what they’re actually saying is, "Gore just didn’t work hard enough to undo the damage that we’d done." But here are the facts - Gore lost the 2000 election to Bush in Florida by 537 votes, and the Nader/West coalition peeled off 97,488 votes from Gore in Florida alone. So don’t take my word for it, you do the math. The bottom line is this – Cornel West is more than partially responsible for the very poverty that he's reportedly being paid $10,000 a speech to complain about - period, and case closed..

That's why back in the hood we used to routinely dismiss people like Cornel West. We recognized them as self-serving individuals who couldn't be trusted, because they would do or say anything to get attention. So even if we allowed them to hang around, the minute they opened their mouths we’d simply tell ‘em to shut the hell up, and that would be that. But back then, people like West were simply a source of irritation, under the current circumstance, however, West’s propensity for self-service and chasing public attention is in direct conflict with what’s in the best interest of the Black community. So for that very reason, I try to drag his tired ass through the mud every chance I get. I have a Google Alert on both Tavis and West. I call it the Mutt and Jethro Alert - and I'm about to add Boyce Watkins to it as well, and change the name to the Treacherous Trio Alert.

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At first I tried to prevent it, but this has become a personal thing with me. One of my primary missions in life has become getting Black people to see Tavis and West for who and what they are - two ruthlessly self-serving and dangerous individuals who crave public attention so desperately that they're willing to drag the entire Black community under a bus to get it. West is all affectation, contrived image, and gesticulation, and if you take off his costume and cut off all the fuzz from about his head and face, the only thing you’ll be left with is a goofy-looking little bucktooth punk who takes a very long time to say very little.

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Think about it. Tell me one thing that Cornel West has said in his 30 years of public prominence that’s been either profound, or even the least bit memorable?  Let me answer that for you - not a damn thing. Cornel is best known for two things - slandering the first black President of the United States, and publicly calling his Black female colleague, Dr. Melessa Harris-Perry, a liar and a fraud.  Never mind that it was grossly disrespectful to the President of the united States, Dr. Harris-Perry, and Black women in general, it got him public attention, and that's all he cared about - and this, from a 'brother' who claims to love his people, yet, has never taught at a school that the average Black person can even afford to eat lunch at in his career.

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So in the hood we had a rule of thumb regarding people like West - "Never trust a brother who's always trying to be the coolest thing in the room, because he’s putting so much brainpower into his image that there’s nothing left for him to think with. Hood Rat Wisdom 101.

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LESS WE FORGET  

Here’s a 2008 video of Cornel West calling himself giving, then, Senator, Obama a tongue lashing for deciding to announce his intent to run for president instead of postponing it so he could appear on Tavis’ dog-n-pony show. Think about that for a minute. Tavis was so big headed that he thought the democratic process should be put on hold just for him! And Cornel, latching on to an opportunity for publicity, jumped right on his bandwagon.  I’ve never seen such presumptuous arrogance in my life. Who the hell do Tavis and West think they are!!!?

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Here’s Old-schooler, Dick Gregory, on the same show, essentially telling Tavis and West that they’re damn fools.

 

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Dr. Cornel West and intellectual Rice Cake

http://wattree.blogspot.com/2011/07/dr-cornel-west-and-intellectual-rice.html

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Eric L. Wattree

Http://wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

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Once Again Nader and West Team to Elect a Republican President

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Once Again Nader and West Team to Elect a Republican President

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WEST SUCKIN' UP -

BUT LOOK AT OBAMA'S FACE

So Ralph Nader and Cornel West have teamed up yet again to sabotage the Democratic Party. They’re currently canvassing the country for Democratic opponents to challenge Obama in the primaries. According to Nader, "Without debates by challengers inside the Democratic Party’s presidential primaries, the liberal/majoritarian agenda will be muted and ignored." And he goes on to say, "The one-man Democratic primaries will be dull, repetitive, and draining of both voter enthusiasm and real bright lines between the two parties that excite voters."
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If my grandfather was still around he’s say, "These two fools have more nerve than a brass-ass monkey." And he would be right. I’m shocked that either of them have the nerve to even open their mouths, because the last time they teamed up during the 2000 election to "excite the voters," they excited the Democratic Party right out of office. I used to jokingly tell friends that after Bush was sworn in, his very first act as president was to take down a picture of George Washington and replace it with a picture of Ralph Nader in the Oval Office.
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Admittedly, many of us are frustrated by President Obama’s lack of assertiveness toward the GOP, but the point of an election is to vote your interest, not your frustration. If you were Jewish in pre-Nazi Germany and frustrated with the administration in office, would you squander your vote to vent your frustration at the sitting administration, or would you vote to make damn sure that Hitler didn’t win the election? That’s the situation that we’re currently in here in the United States.
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I’ve written several articles criticizing of Barack Obama, but I’ve always tried to remain constructive, and I’ve limited my criticism to specific issues instead of launching unsubstantiated attacks on his overall character. As I see it, that’s the difference between attempting to have a positive impact on policy, as oppose to engaging in the destructive practice of pursuing a personal agenda.
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Obama has caused me tremendous frustration on several issues, but simple common sense dictates that my being frustrated is far preferable to allowing the GOP to come into power and turn the United States into a nation of corporate feudalism. That’s a level of common sense that Ralph Nader, Tavis Smiley and Cornel West seems to be lacking. Tavis seems to be keeping a low profile in this effort, by the way, but somehow I still visualize West sitting on his knee with Tavis’ hand in his back.
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Isn’t it curious how all of their criticism is directed at Obama while, this point, it has become abundantly clear that the GOP has turned into a group of radical lunatics with absolutely no sense of limits, or any respect for the United States Constitution?
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The GOP literally stole the 2000 election, invalidating the votes of literally millions of Americans; they invaded an innocent country, killing over a million Iraqi citizens – the majority of whom were innocent women and children; they’ve thrown away the lives of thousands of our troops in pursuit of corporate greed; they ravaged our economy and are using it as a pretext to abolish Social Security and all other elements of the social safety net; their radical Supreme Court has given multinational corporations more control over our electoral system than American citizens, and they’ve effectively turned the state of Michigan into Michighanistan by taking away the citizens’ right to self-determination. Yet, Nader and West would risk turning the nation over to these people, yet again, because they’re personally irritated with Barack Obama?
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Anyone – and I do mean ANYONE – who would do that is either stupid, insane, think they’ll benefit from a GOP victory in some way, or are so blinded by an oversized ego that they’ve lost all connection with reality. It is clear to most thinking people that President Obama, flaws and all, is our best defense against turning the nation over to a GOP who want’s to drag us back into the Middle Ages. If that wasn’t the case, Nader and West wouldn’t have to mount a talent search. Thus, it’s one thing to have individual principles, but placing the entire nation in jeopardy to indulge those principles suggests an egomania that, at the very least, borders on psychosis.
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It’s time for Nader and West supporters to realize that neither of these two individuals are grounded in reality. They both have a proven track record of being politically naive, at best, and delusional at worst. They both fail to recognize that while it’s an admirable ideal to want to vote one’s conscience, that’s all it is – an ideal. Politics is about being practical, and the inescapable fact is, their consciences can’t hold political office – and even if they could, I wouldn’t want to rely on the consciences of men with such poor judgment in the first place. So while they might want to fall on their swords in the name of political purity, the rest of us would rather settle for a functional democracy.
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Again, this is not the first time that Nader and West have engaged in this failed strategy. West supported Nader in his self-serving and childishly petulant campaign during the 2000 election that led to the appointment of George W. Bush. So while West is running around claiming to be so outraged over the economy and lack of jobs for the poor and middle class in this country, he’s partially responsible for it. In a previous article,
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The Tavis/West Poverty Pimp Tour, I point out the following:
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"Those of us who are students of political history have seen this Tavis/West demagoguery before. They’re following directly in the footsteps of Ralph Nader, one of the worst turncoats in American history.
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"Nader should have pushed his agenda during the Democratic primaries, then if his position was rejected, he should have fallen in line and supported the Democratic candidate, if for no other reason than to support the public good. But instead, when his position was rejected, he took it as a personal rejection and acted like a petulant child. He ignored the greater good and purposely sabotaged the Democratic agenda – along with all of the causes that he was supposed to be so passionate about all of his life – and took his ball (and votes) and went home.
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"By doing so, Nader negated everything that he ever accomplished in his life. He also betrayed the fact that everything he ever accomplished was done purely for self-promotion and not for the public good, as we had previously assumed. His miserable act of treachery during the 2000 election was purposely designed to help George Bush to win that election in order to deny the Democrats after rejecting him as a candidate. That makes him just as culpable as Bush and Cheney for the death of over a million Iraqi citizens, the maiming and death of thousands of American troops, and even the nations current economic condition, which is a direct result of the Bush administration’s purposeful plundering of the United States treasury. Nader supporters would say that he stood on principles, but his "principles" have led to the death and misery of literally millions of innocent people. Thus, Ralph Nader should be remembered as one of the most miserable and self-serving snakes in all of U. S. History.
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"Tavis and West are engaged in the very same sort of treachery as Nader, and it may very well lead to the same result, or worse. Because you see, this time we’re going to be left with a fascist state."
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But if you confront members of the Nader/West coalition with these facts, they’ll immediately begin to obfuscate and engage in intellectual gymnastics in an attempt to avoid responsibility for the horrific fate that they brought upon the country. They’ll say things like, "It’s not our fault that Gore lost. He just didn’t fight hard enough for a recount." But by using such arguments what they’re actually saying is, "Gore just didn’t work hard enough to undo the damage that we’d done." But the bottom line is this – Gore lost the 2000 election to Bush in Florida by 537 votes, and the Nader/West coalition peeled off 97,488 votes from Gore in Florida alone. So don’t take my word for it – you do the math.
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Eric L. Wattree
http://wattree.blogspot.com/

Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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