Multimillionaire moral cipher peddles Rachel Jeantel: Here at THE HOWLER, we aren’t bashers of Rachel Jeantel. We hope she goes on to live a long, productive life.
Three teenagers have been in the news. She is the only one left.
One such teen is Jahar Tsarnaev, who graces the new cover of Rolling Stone. Everybody said he was the sweetest kid going. He went off in a surprising direction—although, in fairness, quite a few young people did violent things in the 1960s in reaction to the war in Vietnam.
Tsarnaev has said that he was reacting to America’s wars around the world. His decision and his behavior made no sense, but teenagers can be exceptionally stupid. Plus, he had an apparently crazy older brother.
Another such teen is Trayvon Martin, who died last year. A few weeks ago, his long-time stepmother, Alicia Stanley, appeared with Anderson Cooper to speak about what he was like.
Stanley seemed like a thoroughly decent person, which doesn’t mean that she is necessarily right in all her judgments. That said, she painted a picture of Trayvon Martin as a decent, loving young person.
That may be who he was—we have no way of knowing. But watching Stanley made us think of what everybody said about what a sweet kid Jahar Tsarnaev apparently was in his everyday dealings.
Whether you’re a Muslim kid growing up in Cambridge or a black kid growing up in Miami, there are plenty of people and forces around which may take you off in directions which may not serve you well. You may end up doing things that contradict other parts of your nature.
Trayvon’s stepmother struck us as a good, decent person. The country is full of such people.
By way of contrast, Chris Matthews seems to have sold his soul a very long time ago. (Personally, we like him.) It’s hard to avoid this judgment, unless you are a professional journalist who wants to appear on cable.
Think names like Walsh and Corn.
In our view, Matthews played a larger role than any other broadcast journalist in the ugly, twenty-month process which sent George Bush to the White House. By last night, though, he was serving a new corporate master.
Clinging to his $5 million salary, Matthews played tape from the Piers Morgan show, then oohed and aahed about how great that third teenager turns out to be when she isn’t on the witness stand.
Midway through the show, Matthews teased the upcoming segment:
MATTHEWS (7/16/13): Witness for the prosecution! When Rachel Jeantel testified, many thought she damaged the prosecution`s case. Many did.At MSNBC, the corporate line has the maggots saying that the prosecution had a good case but failed to present it well. In various ways, this is manifest nonsense. But the graspers and grabbers, young and old, are all going to say it.
But last night, we got another side of her altogether. So why didn’t the prosecution do a better job of preparing this young woman for her day in court?
They are paid to say these things. They will say them well.
After a break, Matthews was back, selling these corporate wares. Soon, he played tape of Jeantel talking about the injuries that were dished to Zimmerman.
When she said, “That’s not bashing,” she seem to be referring to the beating Zimmerman took. We will remove the bleeps inserted by Matthews’ producer.
To watch the full segment, click here:
MATTHEWS: Jeantel also talked about Zimmerman’s injuries.Has Matthews ever been more craven? In that presentation, his producers had him suggesting that Jeantel came across well on Monday night as she talked about the ass-whuppin’ Zimmerman took.
JEANTEL (videotape): When somebody bash somebody, like, blood people? Trust me, the area I live, that’s not bashing. That’s just called whuppin’ ass. You got your ass whupped.
MATTHEWS: Well, was Jeantel better able to express herself on television there than in the jury room, or in the courtroom? What does that say about the prosecution case? Did they fail to better prep her before her testimony?
If only the prosecutors had prepared her to be more like that!
Matthews will do and say anything if it serves the current line. At MSNBC, the current line is to blame the prosecution for blowing a very good case. Matthews was willing to pretend that it was the prosecutors’ fault that Jeantel didn’t come across well on the stand.
If only they had let her talk about all that ass-whuppin’ Zimmerman took! So this deeply fallen multimillionaire was willing to say.
Below, you see the fuller text from the Morgan program. If you are currently being brainwashed by MSNBC, you are supposed to believe that this represents Rachel Jeantel at her jaunty best:
JEANTEL (7/15/13): When somebody bash somebody, like, blood people? Trust me, the area I live, that’s not bashing. That’s just called whuppin’ ass. You got your ass whupped.At this point, Jeantel went off on a tangent that didn’t seem to connect to the question.
MORGAN: Would Trayvon, if he had been attacked or had been confronted, and he was scared, would he have “whupped ass,” as you put it?
JEANTEL: Whupp assssssss.
MORGAN: Could he—would he have done that? Could he have done that?
JEANTEL: What?
MORGAN: Would he have defended himself if he'd been in that position?
JEANTEL: Yes, in my mind-well, in reality, Trayvon, before his death, he thought I was still on the phone. I could have called out for help or something.
We hope Rachel Jeantel goes on to lead a good, constructive life. We aren’t big believers in bad people around here.
That said, Matthews and Morgan are deeply fallen people. The younger money-grabbers on Matthews’ channel are corrupting themselves as well.
Maddow is becoming an obvious moral cipher. Hayes is losing altitude fast. They are now being told to say that the prosecutors mishandled Jeantel.
That is a crazy thing to say. Grabbing for the golden ring, a gang of deeply horrible people will stand in line to say it.
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