February
2007
Charlie Sykes, Liar
He’ll say anything to further the Republican agenda, but talk show host Charlie Sykes got caught red-handed in a lie about Milwaukee Alderman Michael McGee (Jackson) Jr.
Mike Plaisted summed it up well when he wrote:
So when Sykes pulled out an audio clip of McGee Jr. saying something about gay activists and “the Jude cops” (the ones who beat up Frank Jude) being behind his recall, he got the usual “yeah, you’re right Charlie”s from his assembled enablers. But, anxious to believe the worst about McGee, Sykes took his race-baiting a bit too far this time, claiming that McGee said it was “jew cops” who were out to get him. Proudly proclaiming his phony “gotcha”, Sykes spent a good ten minutes trying to get everyone on the panel to agree with his pretended outrage. It wasn’t hard, although the only African-American on the panel, Michael Holt, refused to play along, politely defending McGee while his in-control host used his hard-found lie to continue his rant.
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Tim Cuprisin also covered the story:
Cuprisin wrote:
HE SAID WHAT? Ald. Michael McGee frequently says outrageous and inflammatory things. But his comments weren’t nearly as outrageous as Charlie Sykes claimed Wednesday on his annual “Insight 2007″ broadcast on WTMJ-AM (620).
Playing a tape of a McGee news conference about recall efforts against him, Sykes claimed that the alderman was blaming “Jew cops” for being part of the attempts to remove him from office.
What McGee actually said was “Jude cops,” referring to police accused of beating Frank Jude Jr. in 2004.
WTMJ general manager Jon Schweitzer admitted that Sykes had screwed up.
“We are aware that a mistake was made, and Charlie intends on dealing with this on his show tomorrow,” Schweitzer said Wednesday.
One of the members of Sykes’ morning discussion, public relations executive Jeff Fleming, of the Zizzo Group, said he hadn’t heard the original comments by McGee, and couldn’t quite make out the words in the audio that Sykes played Wednesday morning.
“I can understand how Michael McGee’s comments could be understood as anti-Semitic. But in hindsight, it would have made more sense for him to have made comments about the Jude cops.
Here at Watchdog Milwaukee we’ve been critical of Sykes for his double speak and hypocrisy, but to confuse the well publicized case of bad cops beating Frank Jude Jr. with antisemitism defies any possibility that this was an honest mistake. Sykes knows about McGee’s activism in his “Justice for Jude” campaign just as anyone in the Milwaukee media market knows about the case. Everyone also knows that McGee has been one of the ones screaming for the cops to be fired. Quirkiness and sometimes reckless behavior aside, McGee didn’t deserve this sort of slander.
Jim McGuigan
Jim McGuigan, Watchdogging Talk Radio
RSS feed
Link
And yet, the original, errant version was completely plausible given that it came out of the mouth of McGee/Jackson/Whomever.
The problem isn’t Sykes, it’s the spawn of Michael McGee Sr. that is the problem.
You say it’s plausible because so many things that come out of McGee’s mouth are off the wall but Sykes was WAY, WAY off base when he lied about McGee and then tried to get his panel of guests to agree with him.
This whole thing is reminiscent of the Saturday night live sketch with Rosanna Rosanna Danna where she went off on a rant about something that she misheard. At the end of the sketch, one of the actors (Chevy Chase?) would correct her and she would simply smile and say “never mind”.
The differences here is that nobody took Rosanna Rosanna Danna seriously. McGee simply didn’t say the anti-semitic stuff that Sykes said he did.
What’s funny is how people like Mike Plaistd and Tim Cuprisin will pounce on Sykes whenver he makes a mistake that was obviously confirmed by station management and for which Sykes will apologize for on-air live…but these same people will NEVER call out McGee for ANY of the hate speech that spews forth from his mouth everyday. Based on McGee’s recent wide-ranging vitriol where he called out almost every single social, ethnic, and business group as out to get him…it’s quite conceivable that he could have said “jew cops” which sounds very close to “Jude cops”. If Sykes was wrong, which indeed he was, he should apologize…but lefties like Plaisted and Cuprisin only accept apologies from fellow lefties who screw up.
Yeah, nobody ever says anything bad about McGee, They are just trying to recall him is all.
And if you actually listened to Sykes you would know he gets away with saying stupid stuff nearly everyday, but he gets a free pass because he wears glasses and looks so smart.
Take a look at the hamering Biden gets for what he said, or Bill Maher got for what he said, and lets not pretend Sykes is suffering greatly for his mistake (which I think was wishful listening and not deliberate) or Belling gets for his slurs. Everyone keeps their jobs around here, except, perhaps, McGee.
Come on Matt, you cannot honestly believe what you wrote. McGee is an ELECTED official. If they people who voted him into office feel that he’s done a terrble job, they have every right to recall him. Sykes and Belling are HIRED employees of companies, if his advertisers that pay to advertise during his show don’t like him, then they can stop advertising on his station at any time.
And comparing a prominent US Senator who regularly makes national headlines to a lowly radio talk show host on for 3 hours a day in the 33rd largest radio market in the country is laughable.
So just because you believe that Sykes says “stupid stuff” everyday doesn’t mean that he ought to be fired. Why not start a blog that points out every single lie that he says on a daily basis?
MKE, Just to clarify: I did not suggest McGee should not or cannot be recalled. I will leave that to his constituents. My point is that McGee has been hammered forever, and I dare say by people on the left and the right. For instance, Democrat Tim Carpenter has said plenty about him… And I have no affection for the man even if he didn’t say Jew Cop.
My point about Biden wasn’t that he was comparable, and I will concede your point-albeit narrowly. Mypoint is that the right will frequently complain that the left does not criticize its own, yet the left often does. Hence, when you say Plaisted (lefty) and Cuprisin (media columnist with no apparent political interest or knowledge “pounce on a mistake” I am trying to point out that this was hardly a pouncing and was also a pretty big mistake.
And that is how this stuff is done. No one on the right is pouncing on Sykes now, just like few on the left pounced on Kagen for his “injun time” “mistake”.
With regard to the blog, I do have a job. I only hear Sykes and Belling in the car, and I usually can’t remember what they say by the time I get to where I am going. And believe it or not, I respect the fact that its gotta be damn hard to go 15 hours a week without saying something stupid (although offensive is another matter).
And finally, it may have been fair to read what I wrote as suggesting the lowly talk show host be fired, but I did not intend that at all. I would like balance, but this is America and he’s got the show. He can be wrong and I can complain about it, but there need not be headhunting. And Sykes did in fact apologize, which I for one believes goes a long way (the first time- and then only sometimes. See i.e. Mel Gibson and Michael Richards).
Have you heard what McGee has said about Carpenter? You act like McGee has done nothing wrong. He’s been “hammered forever” because he’s been controversial forever. Name me one other city alderman who even comes close to McGee as far as getting in trouble.
If you read Cuprisin regularly, he’s quite left of center.
There is a HUGE difference between what Kagen said and what Sykes said.
Kagen said what he did ON PURPOSE. He purposely said what he said because that was a belief. He knew exactly what he was saying. Sykes repeated something he heard McGee said. Unfortunately Sykes misunderstood what McGee said, he’s not exactly an eloquent speaker you know. Sykes made a unknowing mistake. Kagen purposely used a racial slur (much like Belling did)…yet no one on the left slammed Kagen for what he said, instead they made excuses for him. No one on the right made excuses for Belling, he said a bad word, so he should have to pay the consequencses.
Forced balance in talk radio? Sounds awfully socialistic to me. Why not just start your own radio program, supported by advetising, that runs counter to what Sykes does? Air America tried and failed, maybe you can do it better?
MKE Lover:
Make up your mind. Should I get a blog, or do I have to get a whole radio station? And why, since the right wingers always say my people run all the media anyway.
It is you who should have a talk show, since you are talking out of both sides of your mouth now. You started out by complaining that people “like” Plaisted etc. pounce on Sykes, but will never pounce on McGee. When I point out that left winger Carpenter did indeed pounce on McGee you criticize me for not pouncing on McGee. That’s not the point I was making, and you know it. Since you should get the talk show.
I would also point out that as a lefty I do not adopt McGee as one of my own. His anti-gay rhetoric is obviously disgusting, but is also much closer to conservative christian right wing theory than my own. For instance, I support gay marriage. McGee (and maybe you) do not. I support a strong governmental role in addressing social problems, outside of just police. Conservatives think “government is the problem” and McGee thinks its a big white conspiracy. He’s one of yours. And you can have Kevin Barret too.
Let me point out that you have somehow discovered a political viewpoint in the TV critic for the newspaper. I do not know if this reeks of McCarthyism or paranoia, but yeah, we really are everywhere. Only Charlie can stop us.
Huh, I missed this one. I did hear the broadcast in question–I think. McGee Jr. and Sr. were ranting one morning about homos in brewers’ hill, and how the 3rd Dist. alderman is probably gay, and amid all that one of them mentioned the “Jude cops.” I thought they said “Jew cops” too, given the context and mumbling.
I wasn’t paying much attention to the radio yak either. I don’t think there are more than a couple of Jewish cops in the entire city.
Maybe now that Jr. is through this recall mess, he won’t get caught up in his dad’s shock radio Farakhan raps. When he was first elected, he said he was going to be a different kind of activist than his dad, kind of blend between “the warrior”, Black Panther generation and those who came after, learning to work for change within the system.
But, like Eugene Kane suggested in his column last week, you gotta wonder whether he can.
The other thing that’s worth noting on this thread is that there is this weird assumption by some folks on the right (and we’ve heard this before) that lefties are hesitant to critize McGee because he is “one of ours.”
Obviously, we don’t hesitate here, but the bigger point is that people like Mikel Holt, Howard Fuller, Mike McGee Sr. and Polly Williams are anything but lefties. They’re black conservatives who look to Booker T. Washington’s ideas about building a separate black economy, not the integrationist ideas of W.E.B. Dubois or the progressive political ideas of Dr. Manning Marable.
Williams may have a “D” next to her name, but she’s quite independent. Williams, Fuller, McGee et al a, have a lot more in common with someone like Sykes than they do with the left. And they despise labor unions more than just about anything, which, again, means they have more in common with conservatives commenting in this thread than with the authors of the thread. It’s old Black Panther stuff, and has something to do with the New York City teachers strike in the late 1960’s …
As Obama keeps telling us, it’s time to break out of the political constructs that were set up in the 1960’s. McGee Jr. is a good spark for this sort of discussion. Forty years later, and the north side of Milwaukee looks bleaker than ever … It’s time to evolve.
The only thing that will possibly tone McGee down is his part in the establishment. If he just wants to hang onto the best paying job he can ever hope to hold, he may be able to hold office and act the imbecile all he wants. But if he wants any real power or career advancement, his behavior and rhetoric has to be confined so that it does not embarrass or reflect badly on his other aldermanic colleagues and other city officials. If he wants to play the fool, he will be snubbed, played, and passed over for major committee assignments.
Plus, in the long run, black racial rhetoric as a way to consolidate a voting base is on its way out. The Latino rising tide is going to change the game greatly.
And on the Black Panther stuff, even McGee Sr. is a fake. See this piece of a comment on the James-in-Sherman-Park blog:
“Weak turnout, divided vote, and most of all McGee mobilizing the NW chunk of the district by using the same pay-for-play canvassers and bus-you-to-the-polls people that Barrett and Walker have pumped tens of thousands into. Yes, those same people spread Walker literature and Walker+Pratt literature all over the district… They’re not believers in any race rhetoric - it’s about getting paid.”
“But how do the McGees get away with it–backed, aided, and owned by a multi-business, multi-property owner and media magnate who is a Nixon Republican living in Glendale? With McGee owning a house in Riverwest and a former (maybe current) condo or apartment on Commerce St., he is a “man of the people?”
http://nationalconversation.typepad.com/the_national_conversation/2007/04/recall_vote_aff.html#comment-65704236
a. morse,
“On the Black Panther stuff …” Taking the dough, wherever it comes from if it leads to independence, is the BP idea. Also, the Nation of Islam is usually right behind the McGees when the call goes out. The question is not why does McGee get away with it, but why have Howard Fuller and Mikel Holt and the rest of the gang become such media stars in Milwaukee? Why is the state’s largest and oldest black paper (The Community Journal) a neocon paper? Because that’s the way Milwaukee is - the neocons in the black community have a strong foothold.
There are people who “just take dough” but I wouldn’t say that to characterize any of the above. They’ve been working on this stuff for decades now, and their rhetoric is very consistent. And they’re entrenched.
It’s a long, long Milwaukee story. Immigration from Mexico isn’t going to wipe out the racial dynamic here. Not by a long shot. Is there really much question about whether McGee’s easy win affirmed this?
Do you think they really believe that taking the ough is the path to freedom, after all this time? It’s pretty obvious that taking the dough makes the McGees and all the rest identical hypocrites. They pretend to be whatever they pretend to be while they all have daggers drawn at each other in the scramble for any available cash. Sure, they each have their own rhetoric, but that’s all it is–and it’s not consistent with their actions.
There’s a real black panther who moved on to Omaha in the 90s out of disgust at the inside operation of the blaxploitation machine the McGees work in. YOu should talk to him.
Robert Miranda sent this around when it came out:
-Carl Gee OIC leader reveals FBI inquiry into operations [3 articles]
OIC co-opted Mike McGee by funding McGee’s WNOV radio
-Welfare Warriors: OIC used welfare funds for McGee WNOV radio show
-OIC hired Doris Green as W2 Project Respect Director [2nd article]
-Norquist, McGee put ire aside, icy relationship shows signs of a thaw
-Leader reveals inquiry while being lauded
MJS: Oct. 27, 2003
Spivak & Bice Column
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/oct03/180660.asp
http://www.execpc.com/~wmvoice/actions.htm
if links are dead, I have full text.
From an old Leon Todd newsletter:
Fwd: Re: News Flash: OIC Board Resigns in the wake of Carpet Gate!
And not a mention of Carpet Gate in the MJS?* The Carpet Company,
incidentally, is Ambiance [Mr. Clean] at 4700 Fon du Lac Av. I
understand a lot of Ambiance OIC/W-2 $250,000 money goes to advertising
on the Michael McGee show.* I also understand that Doris Green of
OIC/Project Respect and her daughter by McGee sing the Ambiance ad on
the McGee.* The owner’s name is supposedly Little Anthony Stewart.*
Some are suggesting that this Stewart, or a Allen Stewart, is related
to Linda Stewart of North Milwaukee State Bank Board.* An alderman
showed up at the the Police Athletic League [PAL] Board, which was
considering Chapter 7, desperately demanding payment for Ambiance from
PAL.* Notice how they missed mentioning the Building Trade guy on the
OIC board in their press release and took down the pictures of the
board members after the e-mail below went out on the OIC URL.* I also
understand that some of the politics and finances of OIC and the
Building Trade Union is tied together.* Tavern talk is that there is an
interesting connection between OIC and Jerrel Jones, more than has been
published on or investigated.* A lot of the suspected corruption
dollars [i.e. Garfield Foundation, Robbie's Corn Roast, Ambiance Carpet
Scam, and there is more of course] wind up in the pockets of Jerrel
Jones via WNOV, Courier Communications, or Urban Markets with Carole
Geary.* Interesting.* More later, thanks.
about jones and the commander:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE2DE1231F934A3575AC0A961958260
more:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=217021
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4196/is_20060201/ai_n16036265
http://calbears.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4196/is_20050427/ai_n14602970
All of this is history that hasn’t been written or really looked at in a way that makes sense. By 1992-93, Norquist and/or the common council had dismantled McGee’s Urban Initiative, and of course by then McGee was out of elected office. Does anybody remember Genesis Park?
But let’s not just focus on the McGees. How about Fuller and Holt? Welfare reform [OIC] and school choice, the Potowotami’s, Johnson Controls … Private Industry Council …City CDBG funding, the Bradley Foundation. Bolden Construction. There are many funding sources, with only the the federal CDBG smacking of anything from the left. Remember in 1998 when the folks from the black media partied down at a Tommy Thompson fundraiser?
So McGee’s show was funded by OIC in the form of advertising and sponsorship. The story ran on the front page of the Journal Sentinel and was kind of a “so what?” OIC had been pumping money into the Community Journal and The Courier too. Welfare reform created a surplus, and it was spread around the community via an old buddy system that had been set up in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. Isn’t that precisely the business model that the architects of W-2 at the Heritage Foundation had prescribed? Delivering services to women and children was never top priority. OIC was a black business, supporting other black business, something the Panthers wouldn’t disagree with. Remember, Richard Nixon appreciated some of the BP business ideas.
We can discuss this until PBS airs “Eyes on the Prize” again and Charlton Heston and the ghost of Malcolm X lead the people to the promised land — but it will still come down to the “we” on the left not agreeing with how the money is being spent, not agreeing with welfare reform, private school vouchers, church basement schools, the expansion of casino gambling, much less Johnson Controls corporate goals. At some point, the neocons who take the money look at the high minded lefties in the eye and say …
“Alright, put your money where your mouth is. Got any better ideas?”
While the progressive Left is trying to remember who to be more mad at, the Democrats who voted for welfare reform and school choice or the Republicans who took it all to its Milwaukee extremes, a kid trying to impress the Vice Lord on his block sneaks up from behind, politely taps progLeft on the shoulder and says, “Gimme your wallet, Snowflake.”
“I represent the progressive Left and we’re here to help,” progLeft says, handing over the wallet. It is empty. The kid looks at progLeft like he’s crazy. “I think he’s getting ready to smack you one,” black neocon says.
“I told you fellows I just wanted to help,” progLeft says. “But - I’m sorry - everybody knows the left eat its own.”
They take pity on progLeft and let him get back to his spaghetti dinner. After being dropped off, progLeft thinks he hears laughter, and figures that’s probably what it is. Maybe 30, 40 years ago, he might have thought it was crying, but it’s 2007 and he knows that nobody really has the time or energy to cry over Milwaukee anymore.