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Tim Russert also asked Barack Obama in 2006 what he thought of Harry Belafonte calling George W Bush a terrorist. The question came from out of nowhere, was completely ridiculous, and was posed to Obama seemingly because both he and Belafonte are black. There was no other reason I can think of for bringing it up.
There's no denying the media gives a free pass to Christian extremists, regardless of how bigoted and hateful their speech is, but I believe Russert's issues have a lot to do with his seeing blacks as a monolithic group who are ALWAYS answerable for each others behavior. But, of course, I'm "playing the race card" to even think Russert sees Barack Obama solely as a "black candidate".
