Shock Jock Howard Stern Claims Voters Involved In Political Race War
Posted: Tuesday, October 14, 2008
by Alf Gordon
When I hear the name "Howard Stern" I think of rude, obnoxious, offensive, and whatever that one movie was that he made that did so incredibly well in theaters (yeah, right). When I combine that name with the phrase "presidential candidates" I imagine Stern presenting a diatribe against the candidate he does not support. So imagine my surprise when I was directed to a YouTube audio where Stern is attacking, not the candidates, but the voters.
Stern claims that it's useless to discuss politics with most people, as "99 percent of people don't know what the **** they're talking about." To prove his point, Stern sent one of his staff members out to Harlem to interview African-American people about their choice of candidates for the Presidential election. The interviewer, Sal Governale, asked people who they were planning on voting for and why. The overwhelming choice for those interviewed was Barack Obama. Governale then asked if they supported Obama's stand on several issues--except that he presented John McCain's position instead of Obama's. Every person interviewed said that they agreed with the Democrat's stand on promoting pro-life, continuing the war in Iraq, preventing stem-cell research, and selecting Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate. Not one person stopped to correct Governale's claims; all blindly accepted the statements accurately reflected Obama's policies, when in fact Governale was presenting McCain's positions on these issues.
Is Stern insinuating, as some believe, that people are voting for Obama strictly because of his race and not because of his stand on the issues? (He certainly wouldn't be the first person to do so.) The last part of the audio discusses the Presidential race being more of a "race war", with one of Stern's staff admitting he felt he had to vote for Obama because if he didn't, he'd be voting "against his race." However, in all fairness, Stern played a portion of an interview where Governale spoke with a staunch McCain supporter (also African-American). The individual strongly supported McCain's position to pull out of Iraq, and approved McCain's choice of Joe Biden as vice-president (all of Obama's policies).
In a blog discussing the video, one individual commented that Stern is out to attack the African-American community, and is trying to make them look stupid. Unfortunately that doesn't explain the large numbers of voters of other races who also plan on casting their vote for Obama in November; nor does it explain those African-Americans who believe McCain is the better choice.
Is Stern right on this one? Or is this just his way of garnering more listeners and a bigger market share? You can hear the video clip here and make up your own mind. (Be forwarned: This IS Howard Stern, and the language on his show becomes quite coarse at times.) Does Stern have a finger on the pulse of America, or is he just giving America the finger?
Is Stern insinuating, as some believe, that people are voting for Obama strictly because of his race and not because of his stand on the issues? (He certainly wouldn't be the first person to do so.) The last part of the audio discusses the Presidential race being more of a "race war", with one of Stern's staff admitting he felt he had to vote for Obama because if he didn't, he'd be voting "against his race." However, in all fairness, Stern played a portion of an interview where Governale spoke with a staunch McCain supporter (also African-American). The individual strongly supported McCain's position to pull out of Iraq, and approved McCain's choice of Joe Biden as vice-president (all of Obama's policies).
In a blog discussing the video, one individual commented that Stern is out to attack the African-American community, and is trying to make them look stupid. Unfortunately that doesn't explain the large numbers of voters of other races who also plan on casting their vote for Obama in November; nor does it explain those African-Americans who believe McCain is the better choice.
Is Stern right on this one? Or is this just his way of garnering more listeners and a bigger market share? You can hear the video clip here and make up your own mind. (Be forwarned: This IS Howard Stern, and the language on his show becomes quite coarse at times.) Does Stern have a finger on the pulse of America, or is he just giving America the finger?
This Article has been viewed 834 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)If Stern did the reverse--presented Barack's positions as McCain's--would those "supporting" him be doing so becase McCain is white? The real point is voters have low interest, short attention spans, an absense of passion, and a lack of clarity about local or national issues!In this case, Walter, obviously not, as the example in the article clearly shows. It's difficult to tell where Stern is going with this one. He and his staff imply that race is an issue, but interviewed only enough people in Harlem to help shore up their argument. I would have liked to see him go to other places in New York with this experiment to see what the results were. I would tend to agree with you, Walter, that most people wouldn't notice that "their" candidate had "the other guy's" policies.
Alf a great artcile but in this election since when did facts matter? I have to agree by nature of my own survey, which is conducted daily in the checkout line, the hospital waiting room and the like and the net result time after time, "The Easter Bunny". I have found that out the hard way. I used to think people weigh and reason I have now found that was all my mistake.Thanks for the gracious comments, Robert. Too many people are so caught up in the hype of this being an historic election that issues no longer seem to matter. It's sad, really.
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