Classless Stengel on MSNBC: ‘Weakness of U.S. Character’ Behind Coverage of Queen
Before going to work at MSNBC, Rick Stengel had been President Obama's Undersecretary of State for "Public Diplomacy." With the sort of "public diplomacy" Stengel displayed today, we're lucky he didn't touch off WWIII!
Stengel appeared on Nicolle Wallace's MSNBC on Thursday, just after Brits Katty Kay and Keir Simmons made moving and emotion-laden statements about the passing of Queen Elizabeth. Stengel proceeded to announce that he was going to make himself "the skunk at the garden party." And man, did he deliver!
To your earlier question, why are American news networks dedicating all of this time to Queen Elizabeth's funeral? I think it's a good question. I mean, I think it's something, there's a weakness in the American character that still yearns for that era of hereditary privilege which is the very thing that, that we escaped from.
Stengel also rapped Queen Elizabeth regarding apartheid and British colonialism, "which she presided over for all these years [that] had a terrible effect on much of the world. It's something that people revolt from."
Stengel also rapped Queen Elizabeth regarding apartheid and British colonialism, "which she presided over for all these years [that] had a terrible effect on much of the world. It's something that people revolt from."On a day like Thursday, there is something else that "much of the world" will find revolting: Rick Stengel.
Note: far from taking issue with Stengel's utterly ungracious remarks, Wallace exclaimed, "I love it!"
Also note that at the time of her remarks in Cape Town in 1947, Elizabeth was a 21-year-old princess. She wouldn't become Queen for another five years. And Elizabeth's comments in Cape Town were filled with kindness and were hardly an endorsement of apartheid.
She said: "I welcome the opportunity to speak to all the peoples of the British Commonwealth and Empire, wherever they live, whatever race they come from, and whatever language they speak . . . There is none of my father's subjects from the oldest to the youngest whom I do not wish to greet."
Stengel also seemed to forget a few things. First, as the Nelson Mandela Foundation noted, the warm relationship the Queen had with the anti-apartheid leader:
By his own admission, Nelson Mandela was an anglophile, and in the years after his release from prison cultivated a close relationship with the Queen. He hosted her in South Africa and visited her in England, taking particular delight in exploring Buckingham Palace. They also talked on the phone frequently, using their first names with each other as a sign of mutual respect as well as affection.
Secondly, South Africa rejoined the British Commonwealth in 1994.
On Nicolle Wallace's MSNBC show, MSNBC's Rick Stengel saying the heavy US media coverage of Queen Elizabeth's passing reflects "a weakness in the American character" was sponsored in part by AT&T, DirecTV, Clear Choice, and Progressive.
Elizabeth Ii was known for her reluctance to comment involving government policy, especially controversial ones like Apartheid. Maybe that s one of the reason's the British loved her so much and so long. Stendel apparently didn't approve of that quality.
ReplyDeletekisto - Stengel is a journalist, not a diplomat. So now that he's "out" of the State Dept., I suppose he feels he's free to express his "personal" opinions ... Are these opinions to be ignored? Let history judge ...
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