Rupert Murdoch Accuses Obama of Racism

News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch backed Glenn Beck's claim that President Barack Obama is a racist. Mudoch gave an incoherent defense of Beck. Murdoch went further by claiming Obama made a racist statement about "blacks and whites." Murdoch doesn't bother to cite Obama's allegedly racist statement. That might be because the statement doesn't exist.

Rupert Murdoch: "On the racist thing, that caused a [unintelligible], but [Obama] did make a very racist comment about blacks and whites and so on, which he said in his campaign he would be completely above. And that was something which perhaps shouldn't have been said about the President, but if you actually assess what he was talking about, [Beck] was right."

Mudoch also denies that Fox News on-air talent has compared Obama to Joseph Stalin.

Rupert Murdoch: "No, no, not Stalin, I don't think. I don't know who they -- not one of our people."

Media Matters has compiled quotes of Fox News personalities.

Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano

"I'm absolutely calling it a power grab. It's blatantly unconstitutional. If the government can do this, this is central planning, Soviet-style. This is Josef Stalin without the bloodshed."

Glenn Beck

"[F]or the last couple of weeks, I keep seeing these scenes and I'm like, gosh, I've seen these scenes before, and I couldn't remember where it was. This morning, I'm in a meeting and I remember and I said to the staff, "Lenin, Stalin and Hitler." I am not comparing -- and I doubt you are, too -- I'm not comparing what's currently going on in our administration or in Washington on either side with these guys, but I see echoes of the past that frighten me."

What is hysterical is Murdoch and Beck have the audacity to call anyone racist. Fox News has spent this decade bashing Muslims, Hispanics and gays. Bill O'Reilly speaked in racist terms towards Michelle Obama.

"I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels -- that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever -- then that's legit. We'll track it down."

Fox News went balistic over Sotomayor's "wise Latina" quote. Sotomayor made the remark during her speech at the "Raising the Bar: Latino and Latina Presence in the Judiciary and the Struggle for Representationtic on Sonia Sotomayor's "Wise Latina." Fox News is somehow shocked Sotomayor would bring up her Latina heritage to a group of Latina lawyers. Fox News has publicly supported the Minutemen Project. Minutemen organizer James Gilchrist admitted the group has white supremists in their ranks. Fox News isn't concerned about combatting racism. The network panders to racists for ratings.

Someone must have informed Murdoch that his statement was laughable. Murdoch is doing the dance of shame and backing down.

But News Corp. spokesperson Gary Ginsberg tells POLITICO that Murdoch did not intend to suggest that he had the same opinion as Beck.

“He does not at all, for a minute, think the president is a racist,” Ginsberg said.

My response is bullshit. Murdoch clearly intended to accuse Obama of racism. Murdoch just didn't have the spine to deal with the political fallout.