Black Man Supporting John McCain Getting Passionate Hate Mail
LEMON: OK, let's get back to that radio talk show host. James T. Harris is a popular radio host. He is a McCain supporter and he is black. That has put him right in the crosshairs of spirited Obama supporters. Shelley Walcott from our Milwaukee affiliate WTMJ shows us an ugly side to politics.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Sambo, maybe Master McCain will let you shine his shoes since you did such a good job licking his boots, boy.</s>SHELLEY WALCOTT, WTMJ CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The hate mail started pouring in almost immediately after WTMJ radio host James T. Harris addressed Senator John McCain at this Republican rally in</s>JAMES T. HARRIS, NEWSRADIO 620 WTMJ HOST: The next coming debate, it is absolutely vital that you take it to Obama, that you hit him where it hurts. I am begging you, sir. I'm begging you. Take it to him.</s>WALCOTT: The national media pounced.</s>HARRIS: I knew something was up when "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" started asking me questions, and then CNN and then Fox. I'm like, Oh, Lord.</s>WALCOTT: The clip made heavy rotation on national talk shows, and Harris says he heard from African-Americans across the country calling him an Uncle Tom, a sellout.</s>HARRIS: Most of the stuff that I got in e-mail, like, how can a black man stand up and say, well, you know what? You know, I happen to be an American of African descent but I am a conservative.</s>WALCOTT: And he says he has no regrets.</s>HARRIS: I realized that I'm speaking for millions of people. It just so happens in this racially, emotionally charge election that the people who look like me happen to be on the other side of the aisle.</s>LEMON: James T. Harris talked to us by phone in our earlier broadcast and laid out why he is supporting the Republican ticket in spite of all those threats.</s>VOICE OF HARRIS: What have Republicans done for black people? You know what? What have Democrats done for black people? Since we've been given them 99 percent of our votes for the last 40 years, how have things improved? How was the black family better? How is, you know, how are the schools that Democrats run? How have they helped our children?</s>LEMON: OK. As you can tell, he speaks his mind and so do you. We have these responses coming in to us. We have some from Twitter, from Facebook and from MySpace. The e-mail, my inbox lit up. OK. So James Harris had to come back. J.T. Harris, and he joins us now. And you are smiling. But, you know, it's not funny, because you said you have gotten death threats with all of this. And you're concerned about your safety and you don't understand this. Let's get to one of our first responses. This is from Facebook. This is what people are saying. "Don, I think the young man is only out to make a name through the media. James Harris has no basis to be where he is. He is a traitor for real." One more. "John Harris is stupid and it hurts my ears to hear such words from his mouth. My question is how much did John McCain pay him to sit front row and make such a statement?" That's coming from Ann. There are many, many more of those. How do you respond to that?</s>HARRIS: Well, I didn't get paid anything. This was something that I just ended up being in this place through a series of events. I'm not a shield for the Republican Party. I'm not paid by WTMJ. I just happen to be there with my beautiful wife. And I had an opportunity to ask a question that obviously was on the hearts and minds of millions of Americans. And I just took that opportunity. I can't help the fact that I have a radio talk show host. I can't help the fact that I believe in my conservative principles. And I don't see -- I'm really am taken aback by the backlash of -- from the Obama supporters because I happen to have a different view than they do.</s>LEMON: OK, do you understand it, though, in any way? I'm just asking, do you understand that there is, you know, an African-American man who finally there's a chance for him to become president, and black people are saying what is wrong with this man? What's wrong with you? Why aren't you supporting him?</s>HARRIS: That's the question that I absolutely just -- listen. Barack Obama is an American of Kenyan descent. And he is on the verge of making history. But for me it's not about color or the color of one skin. It's about ideology. He is a liberal. He's the most liberal senator in the Senate. And I am a conservative. And I don't believe that his vision of America is what's best. And now there are millions of people who feel the way I do. My question is why is it that because I am an American of African descent I have to tow that line?</s>LEMON: OK, I got to tell you this, too, because there were some people who said -- as we said earlier, I told you this, African- Americans are not a monolithic group. And this is America, you can do whatever you want.</s>HARRIS: You said that, but I'm starting to think you are wrong.</s>LEMON: Whatever you want -- whatever you want to be, you can be conservative, you can be --</s>HARRIS: Well, Mr. Lemon that's obviously not true.</s>LEMON: Hang on, let me get this out and I'll get back to you.</s>HARRIS: OK, sorry.</s>LEMON: There were some positive responses. There was someone said "To each his own. Being black does not require someone to vote for Obama." And that was from BLKMGK. I guess it would be black magic. That is from Twitter. But also, I have to ask you this. The tone. A lot of people have been saying that the tone that's being brought up by the McCains is inspiring hate speech in some people. How can you support -- and I read one of those comments earlier. How can you support John McCain in light of what's happened lately on the campaign trail?</s>HARRIS: On the way over here to the studio, I dropped off my son's best friend. He asked me a very provocative question. He said what would happen -- let's just change the situation and say there was a white person, but he said the same thing you did. How would that be played today on CNN? And I stopped the car. I thought that was an amazing question. And the answer is it would be played out through the same comments that representative John Connors made today. We would be -- or the Republicans would be accused of inciting race.</s>LEMON: OK, James Harris. I will leave it at that. We don't know for sure how it would be played out. But we know how this one is playing out. And we are only the conduit here and we're reading what our viewers responded.</s>HARRIS: Listen, can I make one more point?</s>LEMON: I would love for you to make another point, but I can't. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time.</s>LEMON: You can send me an e-mail and we'll talk back and forth. All right, thank you very much, James T. Harris. Best of luck to you. We appreciate you coming on to</s>CNN. HARRIS: Thank you.</s>LEMON: All right. And brace yourselves, folks. They're here. Political fireworks from the left and from the right. The topic tonight, the race card. What happens when a black man is boastful about his support for John McCain? There you see them. Our radio guys. Hello, guys. We'll see you in a second.