This is a rush transcript from “Hannity,” February 17, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Just when you think liberals could not stoop any lower, they have found a way to outdo themselves. This time, the left is focusing on former radio talk show host and possible 2012 contender, Herman Cain.
Now the blog AlterNet.org posted an article last week criticizing Cain for being a black conservative. Now the post reads, quote, “I find black garbage pail kids, black conservatives fascinating, not because of what they believe but rather because of how they entertain and perform for their white conservative masters.”
It went on to say, quote, “We always need a monkey in the window for he, she, reminds us of our humanity, while simultaneously reinforcing a sense of our own superiority.”
And the author of this disgusting post wrote another article today saying that he firmly stands behind these remarks.
Joining me now with reaction, Fox News contributor, the one and only Juan Williams. Yes, you’re shaking your — I’m shaking mine too. I mean —
JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: It is unbelievable. You know, the thing is Sean, you know, the guys who write this kind of trash, who would attack Herman Cain and say that somehow, he is playing to — he used this term — to white reactionaries, that he is pleasing, you know, white conservatives fantasies. They’d act as Herman Cain has no intellect, has no individual sense of what he can say and what he wants to say and what he believes.
It is just so insulting. And the idea that this is black on black crime. It’s essentially a black on black drive-by shooting in my mind. It just blows your mind. It’s the start of the 21st century. He accuses Herman Cain of being a minstrel for giving a speech at CPAC. Now, if nobody spoke who was black at CPAC, then you’d say, oh CPAC is racist. Because Herman Cain speaks there and Herman Cain is a genuine sincere conservative, then they attack him as this minstrel. It is just sickening to me.
HANNITY: Well, he’s been a friend of mine for a long time. He’s brilliant. He’s got a great background, he’s dynamic, he’s got an incredible personality.
Here’s the problem, Juan, every African-American conservative I know, faces this problem every single one.
WILLIAMS: Let me tell you, you and I go at it. But I must tell you, I get this all the time. And it is just dispiriting to me. But you stop — you said, I just want to pick up on that, you stop and think about it, Justice Thomas on the Supreme Court. And liberals have just attacked that man so that you can even understand what a brilliant mind America is lucky to have on the court. They’ve done this in terms of Thomas Sowell, one of nation’s I think celebrated economist, they do this in terms of people like Colin Powell, Condi Rice. You know, you start to think about it, even Bill Cosby. Bill Cosby, they say oh no, you know what? He’s wrong to speak out about the problems in the black community. He’s a black conservative too.
That gives you an idea of how weak their position is and how they are willing — when I wrote my book “Enough,” they said why are you writing a book about, you know, the high number of dropouts in the black community, about the sad number of out of wedlock births? As if it’s you know — oh no, don’t say anything. I’m inauthentic, Sean, but the minute some rapper shows up and starts using the N-word, oh, that’s the real deal, that’s the real black man. That’s how crazy their thinking is.
HANNITY: Yes. Maybe you want kids to have a better life. Maybe you believe in their inherent talent.
Let me give you the latest example. There is a protest by a well-known liberal group, and cameras were rolling. And they were asked that you mentioned Justice Thomas. And these outrageous things were said. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: After we impeach Clarence Thomas, what do we do with him, let’s keep it real?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Put him back on the — put him back in the fields.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Justice for Anita Hill, what do we do?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: We cut off his toes one by one and feed them to him.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Impeach Clarence Thomas, what do we do with him?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: What do we do with him? String him up. And his wife too, let’s get rid of Ginny.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: You can say anything, we are all friends.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Hang him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Put him back in the fields, string him up, lynch him and his wife.
WILLIAMS: You know, it’s just unbelievable. And this thing, it’s encouraged. And it becomes a mindset and they are the ones who think that somebody else is locked in and not willing to speak honestly. They are the ones that are advancing this kind of, this is the only way every black person must think, and if you are not doing this, you are not truly black. I mean, it is crazy, Sean, it is just crazy.
HANNITY: Well, it seems, you know, the funny thing is, because I feel every election cycle, we can predict with certainty that, and I can take this back to ’98. I’ll give you case by case example. Missouri radio ad, if you elect Republicans black churches are going to burn. The 2000 ad against Bush by the NAACP, the bird dragging death. Bush supported the death penalty for the people responsible for that atrocity.
WILLIAMS: Right.
HANNITY: It happens all the time. The very people that try to create a caricature that conservatives are racist.
WILLIAMS: You know, here’s what bothers me. You attack people like in the James Byrd case, you attack people like President, you know, then-candidate George W. Bush, who is a strong friend to the black community. And people still, you know, around Washington still say, he had a more diverse Cabinet than Barack Obama.
But you know, all that gets lost. All the idea of people as people having honest discussions, honest differences, debate gets lost. And who is putting people in racial boxes, who is enforcing this kind of racial regimentation, but the guys who say they are the most liberal, they’re the most open-minded, they’re the most progressive. My God, they are the most regressive, Sean.
HANNITY: You know, I just — what is best for the country is why we just get beyond the issue of race? Why don’t we just deal with the issue that merits? I would like to see a time, and this is perhaps for another night, values-wise on issues and opportunity and on faith, I would like to see more African-Americans vote conservative.
I don’t understand why 90 percent when we break down demographically in elections, why the African-American community predominantly 90 percent of the time goes with the Democratic Party, I don’t get it.
WILLIAMS: Well, I mean, look, there’s some history here and it’s very heavy. I mean, it goes back to Goldwater and opposition to the Civil Rights Act and obviously —
HANNITY: Wait a minute, what about Robert Byrd? What about Al Gore’s father? The Republicans helped Lyndon Johnson pass that.
WILLIAMS: Absolutely and just to finish on Herman Cain for a second, the idea that he’s a successful business man, a Morehouse man, well educated, has beaten stage 4 cancer, isn’t that the kind of guy you would want your children to emulate, Sean?
HANNITY: Yes, at 100 percent, and except for your liberal views, you too.
WILLIAMS: You’re too kind.
HANNITY: Except for those views, which I’m working on. Over time I think I can change them.
WILLIAMS: You’re working on me.
HANNITY: Juan, good to see you. Thanks for being with us.
WILLIAMS: Nice to see you, Sean.
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