Lonzie Cox, Jr. – 1/27/06

This page was last updated on January 27, 2006.

Right-wing media attack; Lonzie Cox, Jr.; Beaver County Times; January 27, 2006. I am not related to Mr. Cox.

Mr. Cox consistently uses the term “right wing” throughout his letter. Here’s his problem. Using Mr. Cox’s definition, JFK would be considered a “right-winger” given that he believed in a strong national defense, implemented “tax cuts for the rich,” et cetera.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“The corporate media, always influenced heavily by the Republicans and rightwing preachers like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, had a busy past week.”

[RWC] Mr. Cox never tells us who makes up “the corporate media.” This must be the same press that serves as the house organ of the Democrat Party, the same guys who tried to frame President Bush with forged documents. Is this the same media that completely misreported the Hurricane Katrina story because to tell an anti-Bush story? Is this the same media that has recently ripped Robertson for his incredibly stupid statements? What must it be like to live in Mr. Cox’s fantasy world?

“They criticized Hillary Clinton, Al Gore and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin for opinions they had expressed in speeches.”

[RWC] Let’s review.

Sen. Clinton said, “When you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a plantation, and you know what I’m talking about.” I guess it’s OK to call Republicans slave owners, and to assume the members of the black audience have been plantation slaves.

Al Gore compared the NSA terrorist wiretapping program to the illegal wiretapping of Martin Luther King during the 1960s. I’m sure Mr. Cox has selective amnesia on this point, but heroes of Mr. Cox, JFK, LBJ, and RFK, performed the wiretapping of MLK.

We’ll get to Ray “School Bus” Nagin below.

“Mayor Ray Nagin, of course, got the worst of the bad press. He no doubt felt that making a speech to a mostly black crowd on the King holiday would afford him a little leeway as to what he could get away with saying. The mayor criticized the war in Iraq and the crime and violence in the black communities of New Orleans even before the hurricanes struck.”

[RWC] The second sentence is a racist comment. Why should anyone get “leeway” on what they say based on the color of the audience?

“What drove the rightwing media crazy was when Nagin indicated that the 65 percent black population that fled the city should be encouraged and, in fact, helped to come back home.”

[RWC] What a surprise, Mr. Cox misrepresented the situation. You’ll see what I mean below. To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever indicated a desire not to have New Orleans residents return regardless of color.

“What was wrong with that? The people of New Orleans - all of the races that lived there - should have the first choice as to when and how to return and also first choice of the work of rebuilding instead of contractors importing immigrants to give the jobs to.”

[RWC] “What was wrong with that?” Not surprisingly, Mr. Cox didn’t provide Mayor Nagin’s words. Nagin said, “It’s time for us to rebuild New Orleans — the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans. I don’t care what people are saying [in predominantly white] Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day. This city will be a majority African-American city. It’s the way God wants it to be. You can’t have New Orleans no other way. It wouldn’t be New Orleans.”

Can you imagine the uproar if Mayor Nagin and New Orleans were white and he had made an equivalent comment about God wanting New Orleans to be white?

“Kanye West’s comments after the hurricane, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy’s tough questions to Judge Samuel Alito and Nagin’s encouragement of blacks returning to New Orleans all drew negative press from the right wing media. What else is new. [sic]”

[RWC] Let’s do a quick review.

Kanye West’s “comments” (“Bush doesn’t care about black people.”) were nothing more than a personal attack against President Bush.

Kennedy’s “tough questions” were nothing more than an attempt at character assassination. Even perennial Republican basher Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) expressed his disgust with his colleagues’ attempts to smear Judge Alito.

Who is “the right wing media,” Mr. Cox?