Brit Needs A Beat Down

When I first read this I brushed it off because, even though it sounded bad, I assumed I knew what he meant. Yet, this is exactly the problem with the nuances of "unintentional" racism.

From Fox News Sunday this morning:

JUAN WILLIAMS: You can try to minimize it, but the fact that you have Scooter Libby, so involved in justifying going to war, and in the posture of trying to smear a critic of that justification. I think is pretty revealing and pretty damaging to the Bush White House. I think they'’re going to have to rebuild a sense of trust with the American People. And that'’s why when Brit asked this question, why did he have to lie, he felt the need to lie if he did lie, but by all indications he'’s going to say I didn'’t remember it quite the way this person remembered and all the like. That’s not very strong in my book, and I think Fitzgerald did a terrific job on Friday. But the reason he felt the need was to make it clear that he was not involved in what really was a conspiracy to defame Joe Wilson.

BRIT HUME: Juan, somebody needs to hose you down.

At some point, there has to be a certain level of sensitivity and enough understanding of history to respect what black people have gone through in this country. It's ironic that the same day that Rosa Parks lies in state in the Capitol, Brit Hume makes a reference to "hosing" a black man. The scenes of dogs and hoses being unleashed on ordinary black citizens who were having a peaceful march were some of the most vivid of that era. Brit Hume is certainly old enough to have seen that footage live in his own living room and, albeit it was probably a freudian slip, he should have learned something from being in the company of Juan week after week. If I thought Juan let that statement go over his head, I was wrong once I saw the clip. The look Juan gave him sent a chill up my spine. I don't know what happened when the cameras stopped but I have a feeling that Brit may have gotten more than a mere history lesson from Juan.