West Threatens to Leave Black Caucus
BLITZER: Following up on Jim Acosta's report that you just saw, we're seeing the Tea Party stir up a lot more red hot anger on the left. But do renewed allegations of racism within the movement cross an ugly line? Let's get right to our "Strategy Session". Joining us, our CNN political contributor, the Republican strategist, Mary Matalin, and CNN political contributor, the Democratic strategist, Donna Brazile. Guys, thanks very much for coming in. I want to follow up, and I'll start with you, Donna, on Congressman Andre Carson of Indiana. Some very, very controversial, explosive words he said the other day. Listen to this and then we'll discuss.</s>REP. ANDRE CARSON, INDIANA: Some of them in Congress right now, of this Tea Party movement, would love to see you and me, I'm sorry, Chairman, hanging on a tree.</s>BLITZER: All right. In case our viewers didn't hear that properly, "Some of them in Congress, in this Tea Party Movement, right now, would like to see you and me, I'm sorry, Chairman, hanging on a tree." Donna, did he go way too far?</s>DONNA BRAZILE, FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF BRAZILE ASSOCIATION: His remarks tell us what's wrong with our political discourse today. There's no question, Wolf, that for African-Americans who understand this history, especially a history of lynching, to use such language is something that inflames and not informs people. So, yes, I clearly would not have advised him to say that about the Tea Party or any other party or caucus. But it tells us a lot about the level of incivility, the level of extreme language that's being used. And it's not just being used in the context of the Tea Party. It's being used in the context of talking about the president. It's been used in talking about other members of Congress. So I would advise him not to use that language.</s>BLITZER: And Congressman Allen West, Mary, the Republican conservative from Florida, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, the only Republican member of the Congressional Black Caucus. He responded this way, I'll read to you what he said in a letter to the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. "As chairman of the CBS, I believe it is incumbent on you to both condemn these types of hate-filled comments and to disassociate the Congressional Black Caucus from these types of remarks. Otherwise, I will have to seriously reconsider my membership within the organization." Should he stay in that organization, you think, Mary, Allen West?</s>MARY MATALIN, EDITOR IN CHIEF OF SIMON AND SIMON AND SCHUSTER: Well, it's not representative of great American black leaders. You know, Glenn Beck did an astounding, remarkable series on the civil rights struggle in this country, including black founding fathers. And that congressman and Maxine Waters who said all the Tea Party can go straight to hell, they are not in that great tradition. And they should be condemned. And a huge attraction, a significant attraction, and this is quantified in the polls, to Barack Obama, among white people, was his promise to be post-racial. This is retro-racial, and not only should the CBS condemn it, the president should condemn it.</s>BRAZILE: Absolutely not.</s>MATALIN: This is a moment for him to step up and say, enough is enough.</s>BLITZER: Donna, I want -- also respond to the suggestion that Mary made that Congresswoman Maxine Waters who said that these guys can, in her words, go to hell. Did he go too far as well?</s>BRAZILE: Well, first of all, I want to step back, and I think everyone should step back and breathe a little deeper. Because some of the comments made by Tea Party members towards the president, towards other Americans, it's been downright hostile. Again, it's inflammatory. I don't support this level of incivility right now among our elected officials. And I think Congressman West, who's also made some inflammatory comments, regarding Debbie Wasserman Schultz. I don't want to go back and forth, back and forth. I think it's important that Congressman West. He is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. They represent millions of American citizens, black, white, and others. They have every right to challenge the Tea Party, to challenge Republicans, and to challenge the president when they feel that their constituents are not being served. So I take personal, and as well as professional distance from these comments because they're not the comments I would make, knowing the history of this country. And let me just say this about Glenn Beck. For Glenn Beck to somehow or another tell people of color or any Americans about racism, about blackness, about our founding fathers, I'm sorry, walk a day, walk a mile, but don't tell me anything when Glenn Beck also insulted the president.</s>MATALIN: You know what, Donna --</s>BRAZILE: He insulted the president of the United States.</s>MATALIN: Donna -- Glenn Beck is not telling you or anyone anything other than the history and there --</s>BRAZILE: He don't know my history. He does not know my history, nor does he know the history -- he could read it, Mary. I know my history, but for Glenn Beck to lecture any person of color about history, when he made the uncivil comments about President Obama, I am so sorry, Mary, I draw the line there. Look, my history is an American story. Your history is an American story. But what Glenn Beck has tried to do and his level of civility, has not add to it, he's subtracted to it. So I'm sorry, on Glenn Beck, I draw the line. You've been more civil than Glenn Beck.</s>MATALIN: Well, you can draw the line. I don't even know what you're talking about, Donna, but I'm going to ask you this. Did you see any of his programs? Did you watch any of his remarkable documentaries on the founding and the black founding fathers and the scholars that he had on and the scholarship that he did, and the accolades that he received from the black community? This -- you're making your point that you were disregarding earlier, which is, we're just judging people and saying things about people without even knowing who they are or what they've said. This is not a show about Glenn Beck, but he's the furthest thing from a racist. And I think why this, why we have to have this conversation because what's happening with Democrats and liberals, if you oppose their policies, then they brand you a racist --</s>BLITZER: Hold on, Donna, hold on one second. Donna, hold on one second.</s>BRAZILE: I disagree. We should have this conversation again, but I finally disagree.</s>BLITZER: Wait a second. Mary, you remember when Glenn Beck said that President Obama has a deep-seated hatred of white people. You remember when he said that? Mary.</s>MATALIN: That was -- yes! I do remember that.</s>BLITZER: So what does that have to do with -- is that a factual statement?</s>MATALIN: Glenn Beck was -- put that in the context of a number of things that were in Barack Obama's background, which hadn't been condemned. That Barack Obama didn't condemn. I'm not condoning that remark.</s>BLITZER: Well, forget about condoning, are you condemning -- Mary, are you condemning that remark?</s>MATALIN: I do not think that Barack Obama has any deep-seated hatred for anybody.</s>BLITZER: So you condemn Glenn Beck for saying that?</s>MATALIN: No, I do not condemn him for saying that, because he said it in the context of remarks just like this, that this president that promised us to be post-racial, that's what he ran on.</s>BRAZILE: No, he did not.</s>MATALIN: -- has not lived up to that promise.</s>BLITZER: Donna, are you condemning Andre Carson, the congressman, for saying that Republican members of the Tea Party in the House of Representatives want to see him hanging on a tree?</s>BRAZILE: First of all, as I said, Wolf, that I don't believe his language informed anybody --</s>BLITZER: It's a simple question. Are you condemning him for that?</s>BRAZILE: As I said, that I disagree with the language he used.</s>BLITZER: Here's what I don't understand, guys --</s>BRAZILE: Given the history --</s>BLITZER: Why can't either one of you condemn outrageous statements?</s>BRAZILE: Because we'll be doing this every day and not talking about any issue of substance, if I have to condemn --</s>BLITZER: After Gabrielle Giffords was attacked the way she was, shouldn't we condemn members of Congress and others who go out and make these outrageous statements, Mary?</s>MATALIN: I think any language that does not contribute to civic dialogue in a conversation, in a discussion, without people saying that as a liberal, as a Democrat, as a Republican, as a conservative, that level of incivility, Wolf, is why we're sitting here today. Talking about should we condemn what this member of congress said when every week a member of Congress will say something stupid.</s>BLITZER: Well, it's not just stupid --</s>MATALIN: It is stupid! It is stupid.</s>BLITZER: But it's beyond stupid, Mary.</s>MATALIN: And it's insulting, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: When Glenn Beck says that the president of the United States has a deep-seated hatred for white people, and his mother, she has passed away, was white. His grandparents who raised him were white. That is an outrageous statement. I don't understand why you can't condemn that.</s>MATALIN: I condemn it in a vacuum like that, but in the context of the church that he attended and did not disavow for 20 years until he was running for president, which roundly weekly, in the most vicious in racist language, condemned whites, that's the context that Mr. Beck was speaking about. But Mr. Beck, by the way, is not a sitting member of congress. I'm going to agree with Donna, my dear friend that somebody's going to say something stupid every week, but when you disagree with a policy that has no grounds to call -- that the policymaker a racist, a homophobe, a misogynist, or any disgusting, despicable attacks like that. And not only did this president run as post-racial, he ran as post- partisan.</s>BRAZILE: He did not run -- I want to clear the record, we believed that electing our first African-American president, biracial that we would enter a period of post-racial. We did not enter that period. We're still at that mountaintop moment where with we cannot even have a conversation about what constitutes racism or racist because we don't have the language, Mary. And we don't have the relationships and the partnerships and the people that actually got us into that moment. And the president of the United States cannot be only the person who will lead us in that era.</s>BLITZER: Mary Matalin, Donna Brazile, a good, important discussion. My position, basically, is a very simple one. If you're a member of Congress, a member of the media, a member of anybody else and you say something that is clearly outrageous. Good folks have a responsibility to stand up and condemn it for what it is, an outrageous and potentially dangerous statement given the atmosphere that's going on right now, but that's just me. Guys, thanks very much. And this additional note, a reminder, I'll be the moderator when CNN hosts a Republican presidential debate in Tampa, Florida, along with the Tea Party Express, several other Tea Party groups as well, Monday night, September 12th, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only here on CNN. The archives of the Libyan prison may hold answers for families who say their loved ones were massacred by the Gadhafi regime. 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