S.E. Cupp Tries Unsuccessfully to Get Salon Writer to Admit It Was Not OK to Hope Boston Bomber Was a 'White American

S.E. Cupp (file)

During her other gig on MSNBC's "The Cycle," TheBlaze's S.E. Cupp on Wednesday attempted to get Salon writer Joan Walsh to admit that it was wrong for some in the liberal media to hope the Boston bombers were "white Americans" and/or a "right-wing" Tea Party members.

Cupp was not successful.

Walsh said it's isn't as bad to prematurely blame whites as it is to pin attacks on non-whites because "white Americans" are not profiled the same way other groups are.

"We really don’t want to acknowledge that these boys have as much in common with Timothy McVeigh and – actually, more to the point, with school shooters; the Columbine killers, James Holmes, then really they do with hardened jihadis." Walsh said, despite the fact that the FBI has identified radical Islam as a motive in the attack.

She said the alleged bombers "are a product of America as well as a product of alienation."

Cupp brought up and criticized a Salon column by David Sirota in which he openly hoped the Boston bomber would be a "white American." She also noted several tweets and statements from other liberal figures who expressed similar feelings, including Michael Moore.

“You both seem to suggest that there is a need for conservatives to pin these kinds of moments on non-whites, but surely – surely, Joan – you have to also admit that there is a need among liberals to pin these kinds of attacks on white right-wingers,” Cupp said, agreeing that neither side should rush to judgement. “Surely, you have to find equal problem with that as well?”

“Well, I don’t know if I find equal problem with it...If it’s a white American, whites are just not profiled the way, you know, the way other groups are," Walsh answered.

Walsh went on to say that as white person "one of our many privileges" is that people consider white attackers "individuals." But when mass violence is committed by minorities there is a "wave of paranoia, and profiling and prejudice."

“But the wave of paranoia and prejudice is also fomented on the left by folks like David Sirota,” Cupp shot back.

"I don’t see it that way,” Walsh added. "All we can see is what we have here and, in that sense, David was right."

"Amen," co-host Toure got in before he thanked Walsh for speaking out on race issues.

Watch the segment via MSNBC/Mediaite below:

The point here really is this: No one should ever "hope" that a person of a particular race or religion is found responsible for a horrific attack like the Boston bombings.

(H/T: Noah Rothman, Mediaite)