Fox Anchor Gibson Celebrates Increase in "Anglo" Birth Rate, Asks "Do You Still Think I’m a Racist?"

Posted by Matt Corley, Think Progress at 2:11 PM on January 17, 2008.

In May 2006, Fox News host John Gibson sparked controversy when he claimed on air that "twenty-five years and the majority of the population is Hispanic" because "Hispanics are having more kids than others" and "white people are having fewer." Worried about the demographic shift in America, Gibson urged his audience to "do your duty. Make more babies."

On his radio show yesterday, Gibson returned to the controversy, touting an Associated Press article about the "baby boomlet" in the U.S. in 2006 as vindication for his call that "the dominant, or largest, population sector, which is Caucasians" should "make more babies." Declaring "I was right," Gibson celebrated the increased birth rate of "non-Hispanic white women":

"The nearly 4.3 million births in 2006 were mostly due to a bigger population, especially a growing number of Hispanics. That group accounted for nearly one-quarter of all U.S. births." As you can tell, Hispanics are doing the hard work of child raising. "But non-Hispanic white women and other racial and ethnic groups were" also "having more babies, too." A big round of applause for all of you out there having those babies.

Claiming that "people were following my advice," Gibson exclaimed that he was "not only right," but "prescient" and that it was time for "a John Gibson victory lap."

Gibson also complained about his critics who called him a "racist" for his May 2006 comments. "I was simply saying look what happened in Europe," said Gibson. Immigrants "having kids like crazy" meant "England wasn't looking so British anymore" because "Anglos" and "selfish white people weren't going through the hard work of having babies."

Demonstrating a lack of self-awareness, Gibson closed the segment by asking his "drooling left wing" critics if they "still think I'm a racist."

Tagged as: gibson, racism, immigration, fox news

Matt Corley is a Research Associate for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.