Fox News is the television news mouthpiece for the Bush administration. When the White House recently announced the departure of press secretary Scott McClellan rumors immediately surfaced that his replacement would be Tony Snow of none other than Fox News. The rumors were true and now it is official, Fox News speaks for Bush.

At his first press briefing Snow was asked about the NSA program that has allowed the federal government to spy on thousands of Americans. In his response Snow couldn’t resist throwing in references to white supremacy fantasy in order to defend government supremacy over our lives. 

“I don't want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program – the alleged program – the existence of which I can neither confirm nor deny.” 

You can take the man out of Fox, but you can’t take Fox out of the man. Like his former colleagues at that network Snow doesn’t pass up an opportunity to openly espouse racist doctrine.

Fox correspondent John Gibson recently exhorted viewers to make babies, and quickly. Gibson is worried that Hispanics are having all the kids.

“To put it bluntly: We need more babies. Forget that zero population growth stuff of my poor, misled generation. Why is this important? Because civilizations need populations to survive. So far we're doing our part here in America, but Hispanics can't carry the whole load. The rest of you: Get busy. Make babies.”

After being criticized for saying that Hispanic babies are not part of civilization, Gibson took umbrage but again proved his critics right. 

“My concern was simply that I didn't want America to become Europe, where the birthrate is so low the continent is quickly being populated by immigrants – mainly from Muslim countries – whose birthrate is very high.”

Bill O’Reilly doesn’t want to be left out of the white supremacy band wagon either. He complained about efforts to destroy “the white power structure.” 

“. . . many far-left thinkers believe the white power structure that controls America is bad, so a drastic change is needed. 

“According to the lefty zealots, the white Christians who hold power must be swept out by a new multicultural tide, a rainbow coalition, if you will.”

Perhaps we should thank O’Reilly for confirming that there is a white power structure in existence. The world should be so lucky to have it swept away.

Snow’s explanation for his insult was equally insulting. He whined about being picked on and pointed out what everyone already knows, that the term tar baby came from the Uncle Remus stories.

The words tar baby are a slur, period. They are used to hurt, to anger and to offend. The fact that they first appeared in the Uncle Remus stories doesn’t let Snow off the hook. The Uncle Remus stories were part of a carefully orchestrated effort to make plantation life appear benevolent instead of horrific.

The Uncle Remus character gave his young white master home spun wisdom. The white child was able to refer to an unrelated elderly man as uncle and not Sir or Mr. as he should have. The Uncle Remus excuse is more than just lame. It proves that Snow fantasizes about the good old days of plantation life and how wonderful they would have been, for him that is.

He said he wouldn’t use the term again, not because he admitted wrong doing, but because, “I've decided, though, because it's a classic case of, I think, somebody trying to sort of pick a fight. I'll probably take that out of my tool chest of rhetorical devices, rather than having to explain a hundred and fifty years of American culture."

Snow’s comments were disgraceful, but the usual black suspects were waiting in the wings to keep him from catching too much flack. The media give prominence to black commentators who toe the line. They must criticize other black people who speak truth to power and also let white racists off the hook.

Enter DeWayne Wickham. The USA Today columnist followed the rules laid down by the corporate media and declared that Snow just misspoke and we should all just shut up about it.

“It's obvious to me that Snow had no racial reference in mind when he uttered those words. Like others who use the term "tar baby" in describing a sticky situation, Snow was probably unmindful of its more insidious usage.” 

DeWayne Wickham is a mind reader. Who knew? Perhaps he can give us more insights and tell us what else Snow does and doesn’t believe. Wickham’s defense of Snow is as disgraceful as the original comment. He should use his powers of clairvoyance to tell us why Snow didn’t just use the words sticky situation instead of channeling tales of the old South. 

It is all terribly insidious. The White House has a favorite network that is openly racist and even black people who want a seat at the table have to say that it is all okay. On his very first day on the job the new press secretary makes the agenda clear to anyone who wasn’t paying attention. Yes, you will be spied upon and yes, we white people are the boss, and no, you won’t stand in our way. Where is Uncle Remus and his wisdom when you need him?

Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BC. Ms. Kimberley is a freelance writer living in New York City. She can be reached via e-Mail at [email protected]. You can read more of Ms. Kimberley's writings at freedomrider.blogspot.com.