HLN Welcomes George Zimmerman's White Supremacist Bestie For Insights On Shooting Black Children

So first off, let's get the sorta-apology out of the way. Yesterday, in our story on the murder of 17-year-old Jordan Davis for being black and in a car with loud music, we said that one of the few good things to note about the media coverage of the murder is that "outside of white supremacist sites, Michael Dunn doesn’t have a lot of support among the Armed Patriot crowd," and we noted that a number of rightwing websites with a stiffy for George Zimmerman were not presenting Davis's killer, Michael Dunn, as a Second Amendment hero. And that's all true, as far as it goes, What we hadn't been aware of is that HLN, CNN's screamy little sibling, has provided a regular platform for George Zimmerman's pal Frank Taaffe, who not only thinks Dunn was justified in shooting Davis for being black, but is also an unapologetic white supremacist. So while rightwing sites haven't embraced Dunn, basic cable is happy to give a microphone to a bigot who suggests being afraid of black teenagers is a perfectly valid reason to kill the little thugs.

Wonkette regrets the oversight. We just didn't expect Dunn to have such mainstream defenders.

Now, when we say Taaffe is a white supremacist, we don't mean he has the attitudes of one. We mean he co-hosts a White Power podcast, although he prefers the term "white separatist." And we prefer to call him a chickenshit racist fuckhead.

And this nice man, with his multiple criminal charges -- including charges for drunk driving, stalking, domestic violence, and child abuse -- has been a go-to source for commentary on HLN; this week, as Michael Dunn's murder trial wraps up, Taaffe is slated to appear nightly on both Nancy Grace and Dr. Drew on Call. He's already argued that Dunn was justified in shooting Davis, largely because as everyone knows, black male teenagers are inherently scary and likely to be dangerous. On a recent talking-heads panel on Dr. Drew on Call, Taaffe got into a tiff with fellow panelist Shahrazad Ali, (another favorite HLN guest; a Nation of Islam adherent, she's apparently the resident "blacks are racist, too" panelist on Dr. Drew's television freakshow). Taaffe explained to Ali exactly why white men are justified in having an itchy trigger finger around black teens:

You talk about the white man being the devil—well, here's a fact…According to the FBI, and the US 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 convicted 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…

Ah, because you've convinced yourselves to be terrified to the point of pissing yourself when you see a black teenager! That changes everything.

Also, The Blacks don't do well in school, and they get all up in white people's faces with their loud hippity hop, and they don't comply with a simple request to turn down their goddamn thug music. We're especially impressed by Taaffe's suggestion that Davis needed to be shot because he didn't turn down the stereo from the back seat of that SUV.

And CNN/HLN continues to give him a forum, apparently because in the Great American Dialogue on Race and Crime, it's important to include all perspectives, even those who, like Frank Taaffe, believe that "the only time a black life is validated is when a white person kills them."

If teabaggers get to complain about their insurance paying indirectly for slut pills, we feel fairly justified in complaining that our cable bills help to pay for appearances by this scummy excuse for a human being. Why is he still collecting a paycheck from Turner Broadcasting?

[ MoJo via Gawker ]

 Follow Doktor Zoom on Twitter. he's feeling a little ranty today.