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Category Archives: Fox News

Jon Stewart Skewers Fox News’ “World of Class Warfare” Against Poor

21 Sunday Aug 2011

Posted by Mr. S. Knabt in Fox News, Jon Stewart, poverty

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concentration of wealth, Daily Show, Fox News, Jon Stewart

Nobody – but nobody – can cut through Fox News’ right-wing propaganda spews like Jon Stewart.

Fox News has been mega-phoning the talk radio meme half of Americans pay no federal income taxes. The talking point has percolated up to the Republican political ruling class who thump their chests about broadening the tax base, code words for not increasing taxes on the affluent and rich but on the poor, working poor and lower middle class. As Stewart points out the wealth is concentrated at the top. The bottom 50% possess only 2.5% of the wealth.

Taking 1/2 of their wealth merely matches the tax increases on the ‘rich’ over 10 years many Democrats propose. Sticking the ‘rich’ with a $70 billion per year tax tab is too trivial an amount for the Foxies to champion using Foxy logic. Cutting out Michele Obama’s budget, Obama’s tour bus or making federal employees pay for their parking spaces? Worthwhile, if relatively trivial, cost-cutting measures meriting consideration because they jab sharp sticks in the eyes of those they hate. Typical Foxy hypocrisy.

But the brunt of Stewart’s message is, as Fox News’ Neil Cavuto puts it, the bottom half need “skin in the game.” How do conservatives who hate any revenue increase rationalize support for taking more tax revenues out of the pockets of those least able to pay for them? Simple. Conservative admiration is based upon personal wealth and income. The bottom half of America’s wealth demographic are held in complete contempt. This attitude is nicely summed up by Ann Coulter who calls the have-nots “parasites.”

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Fox News Wishes President Obama a Happy Birthday or Maybe Not

07 Sunday Aug 2011

Posted by Mr. S. Knabt in Allen West, Fox and Friends, Fox News, GOP

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Allen West, Fox & Friends, Michele Bachmann

President Obama turned 50 on Friday. So did – could – partisan Fox News lay off him about it? Apparently not. It’s like asking a skunk to give up its stink.

Famously (it’s been Tweeted alone over 1,300 times!), their web propaganda organ, Fox Nation, posted the article “Obama’s Hip-Hop BBQ Didn’t Create Jobs.” Note Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder performed, according to their write-up. Neither are known for their hip-hop acts.  DJ Cassidy did play some hip-hop tunes but mixed with a wide variety of musical genres. If the deliberately misleading title wasn’t enough of a conservative race-baiting dog whistle, the accompanying photos might clue in the denser fanboys. All of the photos of attendees are of blacks even though many guests weren’t. Fox Nation doesn’t do subtle.

We found many of the comments to be offensive and inappropriate and they have been removed. We also shut down further comments on this piece.

Bill Shine, Fox News

 

If that were all. Fox Nation also posted some b-day whacks from their Tea Party pals, Michele Bachmann and Allen West. And what trashing of President Obama by Fox News would be complete without Fox & Friends getting their b-day digs in too?

I’ve compiled the complete collection for your viewing displeasure. TPM compiled their own video from which I stole 2 brief clips.

Fox News Attacks Possible Al Sharpton MSNBC Hosting Gig

31 Sunday Jul 2011

Posted by Mr. S. Knabt in Al Sharpton, Fox News, Fox News Watch

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Al Sharpton, Fox News Watch, media bias, MSNBC

The Reverend Al Sharpton may replace Cenk Uygar at MSNBC’s 6 PM time slot reports Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid rag, the New York Post but that isn’t the only Murdoch property sniffing up Sharpton’s butt on this story. Fox News Watch, ironically a media bias watchdog show that’s one of the more conservatively biased programs GOP TV carries, is all over it as well. Fox News Watch is less interested in discussing the facts but having a partisan political hootenanny attacking the notion.

Notice that “fair and balanced” Fox News needs a ‘liberal’ to legitimize both their fairness and their balance. Enter Kirsten Powers, a Clintonite, who has since realized how rich the milk coming from Murdoch’s tit is. She’s not only drawing a fat Fox News paycheck but double-dipping in the News Corp trough over at the New York Post. While I can’t say she never makes a decent liberal point, she knows well the tolerance levels of the conservative Fox News audience and plays the game accordingly. In this clip you wouldn’t know she had any liberal leanings if I hadn’t already clued you into her Fox News Watch role.

Is the Reverend Al biased? Undoubtedly. He’s the typical team sport pundit who’ll do anything to make an argument defending fellow liberals even if his arguments are thin at best. Yet the obvious irony here is Fox News Watch is loath to criticize anyone except the usual liberal suspects conservatives froth and foam over. I’ll wear out my fingers citing right-wing hosts featured on Fox News such as Bill ‘Papa Bear’ O’Reilly (The O’Reilly Factor), Sean Hannity (Hannity), Greta Van Susterin (On The Record), Neil Cavuto (Your World), Greg Gutfeld (Red Eye), Mike Huckabee (Huckabee), Jon Scott (News Watch), Gretchen Carlson (Fox & Friends), Steve Doocy (Fox & Friends),  Brian Kilmeade (Fox & Friends), Jeanine Pirro (Justice with Judge Jeanine), Brenda Buttner (Bulls & Bears), David Asman (Forbes On Fox), Oliver North (War Stories), Paul Gigot (Journal Editorial Report) and so on.

Perhaps the media watchdog hounds at Fox News Watch will turn a similar critical eye to their own new show The Five. A lame concept where a rotating panel of 5 Fox News second-stringers rapid fire talking points over red meat conservative topics. If you look at their website it looks like a “fair and balanced” line-up of liberals (the Fox News analyst version of liberal) and conservatives. However, if you witnessed Bob Beckel last week in his continual lament it’s a 4:1 right-wing pile on travesty you can pretty much see where that show’s format is headed: Just another featured Fox News conservative propaganda mill. As if the network needs another one!

Charles Krauthammer Blinks; I Laugh (Quite a Bit)

30 Saturday Jul 2011

Posted by Mr. S. Knabt in Charles Krauthammer, Debt debate, Fox News

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Charles Krauthammer, Debt debate

The sausage-making may be unsightly, but the problem is not that Washington is broken, that ridiculous ubiquitous cliché.

Financial Times called Charles Krauthammer “the most influential commentator in America.” Having a chair at the table of Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier certainly puts an exclamation mark to that statement though I’m sure there’s no shortage of talk radio stars like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Laura Ingraham who might argue the point.
Charles Krauthammer
Nevertheless he still yields considerable weight which he’s leveraging to shill for Speaker Boehner’s debt ceiling plan. You could say he was premature in pushing the Republicans, particularly the Tea Party types, to vote yea on the Boehner plan because the 1st two drafts couldn’t muster enough votes to pass the House. Each interation gets better from Charle’s perspective. With a balanced budget amendment provision added to the package and passage assured, Krauthammer published a syndicated column pleading his case one more time.

That an establishment conservative pundit is backing the leader of the Republican establishment is hardly newsworthy except Charles is typically a real fire-breather talking of deep moral principles and expressing bitter santimony of the shallowness of everything Democratic. I’ve had a hard time watching him on Bret Baier’s panel insist President Obama’s playing politics by requiring the debt ceiling deal run past the next election yet Speaker of the House Boehner isn’t by pushing for at least one more pre-election vote to keep the Republican’s top issue front and center before the voters as they make up who they want to be the next resident of the White House.

Charles Krauthammer’s hypocrisy on this issue digs quite deeper. In his column he assues the Tea Party House members holding out for the whoe enchilada “I have every sympathy with the conservative counterrevolutionaries.” Then he spends the rest of his editorial trying to convice them to give up their principles in favor of real politics. Just be good team players, folks.

Senator Rand Paul said tonight that the Boehner plan serves no purpose. It can’t pass the Senate and the Cut, Cap and Balance Bill they sent earlier, which met the same fate, was much closer to the Tea Party’s ideal. So why is Charles cheerleading this particular link of sausage?

It might take a partial federal government shutdown to press all sides to finally face reality. However, the odds are Speaker Boehner and his buddies probably have gotten as much mileage as they can from this issue. They forced the issue of budget cuts in their favor. They got the Democrats to drop increasing revenues as part of the solution, probably the most foolish aspect of the negotiatons but more on that at the end. Forcing an 11th hour balanced budget amendment with no time to debate this momentous issue is simply irresponsible and has no chance to pass.

So “the most influential commentator in America” puts his weight behind a bill that’s dead on arrival, is a compromise of his cherished principles in all forms, and is such a bad piece of legislation it isn’t a long-term solution by design but a ploy to embarass President Obama closer to election time. Charles gets paid to publish this rubbish? Nice job if you can get it.

America’s running huge deficits. The Republican Party has seized the moment to push their tired meme of shrinking government. However, the terrifying scope and scale of our budget deficit is largely a product of our economy many call the Great Recession. In bad economic times obviously our government must spend more to help the poor and unemployed. Add to this mix the cost of our military adventures abroad. War is expensive. Add further the cost of the Bush tax cut extension. Then there were expenditures to blunt economic crisis: TARP and Obama’s stimulus plan.

Republican national debt forecasts look at current spending and project it forever. Senator Reid’s rival plan points out the obvious: the surge in Afghanistan will end. That lowers the projections but they cry “foul” because it isn’t a new cut. Which is what their argument is really about. They’re not trying to solve the current crisis. They’re just using it as a subtrafuge to fullfil their wet dream of shrinking government to some utopian 18th century mythology.

Which is why revenues should have been kept on the table as the Democrats wanted. Ending the Bush tax cuts – and this would personally affect me – would do much in cutting the deficit. Add in 2:1 or even 3:1 budget cuts and you’re talking real money that would prevent a downgrade in our debt rating (a phony issue, I believe, but I’ll leave that for another day). The wars will end. The recession will end. We can balance the budget in the good times.

Finally, there are obligations which will long-term be a giant debt bomb: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Health care reform should have fixed the latter two. Sadly, it didn’t. However, a sober solution to these complex problems can’t be found during the current toxic debt ceiling negotiations.

Charles should have discussed all this but went for the easy paycheck feeding red meat to his conservative fanboys.

Put ‘The President Does Not Have A Plan’ Meme to Bed

29 Friday Jul 2011

Posted by Mr. S. Knabt in Fox and Friends, Fox News, Greta Van Susteren, Hannity

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debt ceiling, Fox News

Weekly “fair and balanced” Fox and Friends trot out Brent Bozell to expose media bias. Which is to say the arch conservative data-mines topics to keep alive the notion the media, except trusted conservative sources like Fox News, is in the tank for liberals.

Today his topic was the liberal media blaming the Republicans for the debt negotiation impasse. My personal observation is rival CNN isn’t bashful about spreading around the blame – often expressing opinions I don’t agree with – but you don’t hear me whining about it. Yet, I digress.

He propped up his argument with the tired talking point President Obama hasn’t written down a plan. Countless conservative Fox News guests have parroted this point. Not to mention Greta Van Susteren beat this topic to death last night on her GOP TV show as did Sean Hannity in his slug-fest with Juan Williams (who put on his liberal hat for a while).

So the conservative Fox News partisans finger-point to a failure of leadership on the President’s part. What’s overlooked is President Obama couldn’t get any practical movement from Speaker of the House Boehner or Majority Leader Cantor regarding general principles. Nor was this the first Democratic attempt as Vice President Biden saw the Republicans walk out on him too. If you can’t reach agreement on broad issues like revenue enhancenents and defense cuts being on the table wasting the President’s time drilling down into the weeds of details is foolish.

I fundamentally don’t understand how such a dumb idea gets so much mileage on Fox News. Oh wait, I did say it was Fox News.

Jon Stewart Double Feature: In the Name of the Fodder & GOP Special Victims Unit

28 Thursday Jul 2011

Posted by Mr. S. Knabt in Fox News, Jon Stewart

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culture war, Fox News, Jon Stewart

I’ve waded through the sewer that is Anders Behring Breivik’s manifesto. He wrapped himself in the Knights Templar and cultural Christianity. Certainly he meets no reasonable standard of Christian by practice or behavior. Yet his mania passionately embraced it.

One conservative meme defining “fair and balanced” Fox News is its unending “culture war”. They’re the self-appointed protectors of Christianity in America against the liberal atheist hordes. It doesn’t matter if the idea that Christianity is being persecuted in America is pure hooey. Fox News can data-mine a prayer in school stifled here and a nativity scene banned in some public building there to build mountains from mole hills.

Given this, it’s no surprise Fox News would be hyper-sensitive to any media mentions of a mass murderer embracing cultural Christianity.

Add their equally rabid war against Islam, a religion competing against their own, and this stinking pile of hypocrisy can erupt into hilarity. Nobody’s more skilled at pointing this our than Jon Stewart.

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As funny as the first clip is, I find his second sketch far more satisfying. More fundamental to Fox News’ “fair and balanced” hubris is the way it smears liberals then turns around and whines how mean and evil the liberals are to them. How many times have I heard them complain liberals are taking a page from Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals or practicing the bared knuckled “Chicago way” politics? Too many to count.

Ah… payback is rewarding!

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Laugh of the Day

26 Tuesday Jul 2011

Posted by Mr. S. Knabt in Fox and Friends

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So I’m driving to the grocery store listening to Fox News’ Fox and Friends morning show on XM satellite radio. We all know Fox News proudly declares itself “fair and balanced”. Fox and Friends daily proves their slogan bull crap with its ceaseless attacks on President Obama which contrasts nicely with them reflexively apologizing for President Bush.

Putting the two things together – their slogan and their hypocrisy – it strikes my funny bone as highly ironic Fox and Friends ran a segment attacking President Obama’s heavy use of the phrase “balanced approach” in last night’s speech as transparently political.

I suppose a pot calling a kettle black would know these things.

Jon Stewart Finds the Lipstick Where Fox News Kissed Murdoch’s Ass

23 Saturday Jul 2011

Posted by Mr. S. Knabt in Fox News, Jon Stewart

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Jon Stewart Rupert Murdoch Fox News

What possible commentary can I add to Jon Stewart brilliantly cutting through the hypocrisy-driven fog created by “fair and balanced” Fox News? Enjoy!

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Fox News Turns a Small Touch of Patriotism Into Something Dirty

22 Friday Jul 2011

Posted by Mr. S. Knabt in Fox News

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Fox News

I’m watching Hannity – and, no, I’m not going to focus on Sean – which is a real red, white and blue show. The lower third crawler featured an American flag until “BREAKING NEWS” replaced it. Even without the flag literally waving his set’s red, white and blue motif is not exactly subtle.

I served in the military so there’s no lack of patriotism here. However, the wear-it-on-the-sleeve variety featured routinely on Fox News strikes me as shallow. More to the point, it’s lazy because it lacks any sacrifice. So let’s talk about a story with some small element of giving of oneself: the Joining Forces Movie Series.

What is it? Simply put it’s a small token of appreciation Hollywood is showing military families. Special screenings of movies are shown on bases for military families. I mention it because it’s a case of Fox News’ selective patriotism.

Michelle Obama attended a showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two at Naval Air Station Oceana. Here’s a chance for Fox News to spotlight a little piece of patriotism. Yet they didn’t. Quite to the contrary, they turned it into something dirty and it has nothing to do with conservatives thumbing their noses at liberal Hollywood per their habit.

No, Michelle Obama said something Fox News decided to pounce upon with their typical “fair and balanced” partisanship: “How many Harry Potter fans are here?” Michelle Obama asked the crowd. “How many people have read all the books and seen all the movies? Well, you’re right along with the president and my girls. They’ve seen the movie already. They lined right up.”

Did you catch it? I didn’t either until I read the Fox Nation headline covering the event: “With Default Looming, Obama Finds Time To See New Harry Potter Movie…” Clever huh?

Now, the obvious come-back is to point out that President Bush wasn’t exactly the hardest working leader of the free world either. As CBS points out he spend 487 days with his feet propped up at Camp David, another 490 days playing cowboy at his Texas ranch. However, while I’ve used this talking point as debate fodder in the past, quite frankly, I don’t begrudge presidents taking some time off. If you look at all them age in office, they need to recharge their batteries probably more than anyone else in this great nation.

Unfortunately the story doesn’t really end here. Fox Nation links to their source, the conservative Weekly Standard, which also took a shot at the president: “It sure is a politically safe move for the president to reveal himself as a Harry Potter fan, naturally. But one does wonder where the Obamas ‘lined right up’ to see the latest film.”

Lost in all this partisan sniping is a good deed. Forget the First Lady stepping out to spend some time with the troops. I’m sure Fox News sees it as a cynical photo opportunity. You’ll never get them to praise a Democrat unless they rubber-stamp some Republican policy. But the least they could do is highlight the Joining Forces Movie Series initiative.

A story on Joining Forces Movie Series might have encouraged others to support our troops, even in some small way. That’d be a far better outcome than some cheap, partisan sniping.

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