pbrauer
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In September 2001 Illinois State Senator Barack Obama was interviewed on WBEZ radio (Chicago); he spoke about the U.S. Constitution. On Sept 17, 2009 (Constitution Day) Glenn Beck showed a video on his Fox cable show that used highly edited words from the original WBEZ interview. The word in bold were snipped out of the audio.
Here is the result after Beck’s edits:
HOST: Barack Obama, what are your thoughts on the Declaration and Constitution?
OBAMA: Well, you know, I think it's a remarkable document. I think --
HOST: Which one?
OBAMA: The original Constitution, as well as -- as well as the Civil War amendments, but I think it is an imperfect document, and I think it is a document that reflects some deep flaws in American culture -- the colonial culture nascent at that time.
African-Americans were not -- first of all, they weren't African-Americans. The Africans at the time were not considered as part of the polity that was of concern to the framers. I think that, as [program co-panelist] Richard [John] said, it was a nagging problem in the same way that, these days, we might think of environmental issues or some other problem that, where you have to balance, you know, cost-benefits, as opposed to seeing it as a moral problem involving persons of moral worth.
And, in that sense, I think we can say that the Constitution reflected a enormous blind spot in this culture that carries on until this day, and that the framers had that same blind spot. I don't think the two views are contradictory to say that it was a remarkable political document that paved the way for where we are now, and to say that it also reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day.
Here is the original audio from the WBEZ broadcast:OBAMA: Well, you know, I think it's a remarkable document. I think --
HOST: Which one?
OBAMA: The original Constitution, as well as -- as well as the Civil War amendments, but I think it is an imperfect document, and I think it is a document that reflects some deep flaws in American culture -- the colonial culture nascent at that time.
African-Americans were not -- first of all, they weren't African-Americans. The Africans at the time were not considered as part of the polity that was of concern to the framers. I think that, as [program co-panelist] Richard [John] said, it was a nagging problem in the same way that, these days, we might think of environmental issues or some other problem that, where you have to balance, you know, cost-benefits, as opposed to seeing it as a moral problem involving persons of moral worth.
And, in that sense, I think we can say that the Constitution reflected a enormous blind spot in this culture that carries on until this day, and that the framers had that same blind spot. I don't think the two views are contradictory to say that it was a remarkable political document that paved the way for where we are now, and to say that it also reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day.
Here is the result after Beck’s edits:
OBAMA: The original Constitution [snip] I think it is an imperfect document, and I think it is a document that reflects some deep flaws in American culture -- the colonial culture nascent at that time. [snip] I think we can say that the Constitution reflected a enormous blind spot in this culture [snip] and that the framers had that same blind spot. [snip] It also reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day.
Here is Beck's despicable video: