Fox News (Again) Convenes An All-White Panel To Decide That Birtherism Isn’t Racist

In case Brit Hume didn’t make it clear to you earlier this month that the birther movement had absolutely nothing to do about race, he made sure to rinse and repeat the same basic segment Wednesday night.

Two weeks after leading an all-white panel in a discussion that concluded birtherism isn’t racist, the Fox News anchor brought on two more white people to again come to the same decision. Speaking to conservative pundit Fred Barnes and NPR’s Mara Liasson (who is also a Fox News contributor), Hume brought up First Lady Michelle Obama’s recent speech in which she lit into Donald Trump for not apologizing over his years of birtherism.

Hume, as he is wont to do, said that Trump has tried to put the birther issue behind him but others just keep bringing it up. He then said Trump’s “critics” believe birtherism is racist and asked, “Is it racist?”

Per Liasson, apparently Mrs. Obama doesn’t think it is since she didn’t say the word “racist” during her speech. The NPR correspondent then noted that she herself didn’t believe the issue was a racist one. She did at least acknowledge that Trump was the one who pressed the issue for a long time in order to help delegitimize President Obama, but she didn’t believe there were any racial undertones.

As for Barnes, well, just read what he had to say, per Media Matters:

“It’s an issue now that the Democrats want to use, Hillary does. Mrs. Obama does as well. Because they think it will help with that one group we have been talking about so much. That’s African-Americans. When you say it’s a racist thing that he did, then that’s the group you are aiming at. Now, I don’t think it’s racist at all. The whole birther thing is not a matter of race. It’s a matter of nationality. Of where he was born. Whether he was a citizen or not. Now, look, I’m not blaming Obama for this. But I’ve always wondered why it took so long for him to release his birth certificate. Now maybe he realized that this was going to hurt these people raising this and to some extent it has hurt Donald Trump.”

So, one, it definitely isn’t racist per the 73-year-old white conservative dude. Two, blacks will vote for anything if you just say the word racism. Three, it isn’t Obama’s fault that this conspiracy gained so much traction, but then it is.

Anyway, this concludes another broadcast of White People Deciding What’s Really Racist.

Below is video of the segment, courtesy of Fox News: