CNN Books Zimmerman's White-Power Buddy to Discuss Killing Black Boys
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Frank Taaffe is George Zimmerman's best friend, who feverishly worked the networks during Zimmerman's murder trial to paint his victim, Trayvon Martin, as a black thug. Frank Taaffe is a white supremacist. And CNN's sister network still loves loves loves bringing Frank Taaffe on to talk about dead black boys.
Mother Jones' Mariah Blake notes this morning that CNN's hideously deformed scarin'-the-white-ladies spinoff, HLN, has practically made Taaffe a star, featuring him six times in the past few days. Both Dr. Drew and Nancy Grace have brought Taaffe on to discuss the murder case of Michael Dunn, a Jacksonville bubba who accosted a carload of black teens over their loud music at a gas station, then shot up their car, killing 17-year-old Jordan Davis, then claimed he was standing his ground.
What brilliant legal reasoning does Taaffe bring to this case? Well, of course Dunn was scared and justified in shooting a car full of black boys, because black boys are scary:
Hey, man, I'm showing the love, Dr. Drew. I'm going to show the love tonight… You talk about the white man being the devil? Well, here's a fact. I want to only discuss the facts in the Michael Dunn case and particularly about crime in America. According to the FBI, and the U.S. Department of Justice, African Americans make up 12 percent of the population, yet they commit the most disproportionate amount of violent crimes. Over 60 percent of the murders were committed by African-Americans. And 32 percent were under the age of 18. So, when Michael Dunn pulled into that gas station, you know, you wonder why we have these premonitions…
In a later appearance on Dr. Drew, he added that by not turning down his loud music, the now-deceased Jordan Davis was "the provoker" of his death.
Hey, don't get mad! Frank Taaffe's just a regular working joe, like the rest of us. And don't we all have a tendency to think in stereotypes, like Frank Taaffe?
Well, maybe not just like him. As Blake points out, Taaffe's a little more preoccupied with securing the existence of his people and a future for white children than, you know, sane people are:
It has since come to light that Taaffe is an ex-con and fervent white supremacist who believes that whites and blacks have no business mingling and claims that"the only time a black life is validated is when a white person kills them." He also hosts a white-power podcast. On one episode last fall he argued that all women who married black men would probably meet the same fate as Nicole Brown Simpson. ("I always say, you lie down with dogs you're going to get fleas—especially if they're black dogs.")
Why in the holy hell does one of the largest TV media corporations in America continue to book this guy to intone on anything? Well, to be fair, he is sort of an expert on criminal behavior, having been arrested for DUI, battery, burglary, "repeated assault," and domestic violence. And in HLN's defense, its producers probably have to work pretty hard to find guests who will make Drew Pinsky and Nancy Grace seem like the smartest people in the room.