'I'm Not Talking To Bigots,' CNN Pundit Shuts Down Former Illinois Rep Joe Walsh

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Mar 29, 2017 10:23PM

Former Republican Illinois Congressman and current man of many useless opinions Joe Walsh was on CNN recently to discuss accusations of racism and sexism within the White House administration, and wow did it not go well for him.

Walsh was put in conversation with Democrat political consultant Angela Rye, and was quickly shut down: “I’m not talking to bigots, Joe,” Rye said when he attempted to counter her claim that black politicians and journalists are held to a higher standard than their white colleagues.

Rye pointed to a recent (and glaringly racist) tweet Walsh sent her, in which he wrote, "We LOWERED the bar for Obama. He was held to a lower standard cuz he was black."

Rye read Walsh’s tweets from Tuesday, then asked why CNN "decided to give Joe Walsh a platform today."

"I’m not giving him the time of day," she continued. "I’m interested in having conversations, Brooke, that will move [people] of all races forward in this country. I’m interested in having a conversation that will help us to admit the wrongs that were done in this country and how we move forward. I am not interested in trying to convince and change the mind of a bigot. Someone who will openly troll me and say things that are offensive, that he knows are not true.”

Rye had previously said on CNN that President Barack Obama was expected to be "the next best thing to Jesus," in contrast to current President Donald Trump, whom she criticizes for boasting about grabbing women's genitals, using money from his family to build his business, and once taking out a newspaper advertisement calling for the death penalty for a group of black teenagers who had been wrongly accused of murder in New York City.

"I apologize that you invited me, 'a bigot,' onto your show, I know you wouldn't do that willingly," Walsh responded to CNN's Brooke Baldwin, who was moderating the discussion.

Rye gets many good points in, despite Walsh's repeated interjections, including this gem: "I'm sorry, [Obama] actually served in Congress longer than you did Joe, so you might not want to talk about lowering the bar."

We also found it noteworthy, at the end of the clip, how Baldwin sums up the exchange by cautioning everyone to "respect each other," seemingly oblivious to how Walsh's comments plainly state that he held Obama's presidency to a lower standard because he is black.