Fox News Hypocrisy Again Shows Through With Franklin Graham Situation

Fox News conservatives (I know ... kind of redundant) are crying like schoolchildren over anti-Muslim hater Franklin Graham having his invitation to speak at a Pentagon National Day of Prayer event revoked.

Fox News brought on a man by the name of whiner Peter Johnson Jr. to come on and cry about poor Franklin Graham being treated so poorly. Yes, if only we were all a little more sensitive to his anti-Muslim bigotry it would be a happier world ... for people like Franklin Graham.

Here is an excerpt of what Media Matters writes (with video of Johnson whining):

In a classic moment of cognitive dissonance, Johnson Jr. said:

No one is out to make any excuses for the statements that Franklin Graham made. And they were made nine years ago, in the wake of 9/11. In the wake of 3,000 deaths. He doesn't need excuses, he's made his viewpoint clear as an evangelical minister and as someone who wants to proselytize the world in the word of Jesus Christ.

Of course, in stressing that Graham's comments were "made nine years ago, in the wake of 9/11," Johnson Jr. is attempting to excuse Graham's comments a few seconds after claiming that "no one" is "out to make any excuses." As my colleague Simon Maloy pointed out, yesterday Johnson Jr. also spent several minutes offering excuses for Graham's anti-Muslim rhetoric, including invoking 9-11. And he's not the only one.

Graham himself has defended his rhetoric about Islam as recently as this past December on CNN, telling Campbell Brown that "True Islam cannot be practiced in this country. You can't beat your wife. You cannot murder your children if you think they've committed adultery or something like that, which they do practice in these other countries."

Last night, Sean Hannity repeatedly excused Graham's comments, specifying that they were aimed at "radical Islam." But the outrage over Graham's comments is that he has taken the actions of fringe lunatics and applied them to an entire faith, which he has classified as a "very evil and wicked religion."

Defense of Graham hasn't been limited to Fox News, as CNN's Erick Erickson wrote that: "The Council on Islamic-American Relations and other Islamic groups got upset with Franklin Graham pointing out the truth."

So, conservatives want Graham's comments to be put into context (it was after 9/11 and it was almost 10 years ago).

Now, imagine if the speaker was say ... randomly ... oh ... the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Would these same conservatives be scrambling to have Rev. Wright put into context? No. Would these same conservatives care that Rev. Wright's controversial comments (the ones played constantly) were made a little after 9/11? No way.

Johnson's comments are so ridiculous it's difficult to know where to begin. Johnson weakly and pathetically tries to bring politics into the issue to try and paint the left as religiously bigoted (oh, the irony of such thought).

Were we "America-lite" when Rev. Wright was being attacked?

Were we "America-lite" when Fr. Michael Pfleger was being attacked?

Watch this video and ask yourself ... Would Peter Johnson would make the same argument for Rev. Jeremiah Wright?

Gretchen Carlson comes on near the end of the clip and whines about us being a politically correct society, but did she feel that way when Rev. Wright and Fr. Pfleger were being attacked and demonized?

Will Bill O'Reilly attack or send one of his "producers" to attack Franklin Graham for his anti-Muslim comments the way he demonizes Minister Louis Farrakhan for (negative comments made toward Jews) and sends his one of his "producer(s)" to hound Fr. Pfleger for defending Farrakhan? No. Is Bill O'Reilly "defending hate" with regard to Graham? see the clip on Pfleger>

Hannity is quick to defend almost anyone (white or black) of any comments that are bigoted or racist against people of color (Rush Limbaugh, Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman, Don Imus, Jesse Lee Peterson, and Michael Richards).

Fox News once again proves to be hypocritical and unethical.

Don Imus Is Back And Already Taking A Nasty Shot At President Obama

It didn’t take controversial new Fox Business Network host Don Imus long to make his first controversial statement with yet another piss-poor attempt at humor (you’d think he’d have learned something from his situation with the women’s basketball team of Rutgers a few years back). But, the I-Man is still old school, stubborn and with a distinct inability to avoid making idiotic and controversial statements. Imus hosted Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain (arguably the most media-hyped presidential campaign loser in United States of America history) on his show and the two men shared a joke (one in very poor taste in light of how much conservatives whine about comments about former President George W. Bush’s involvement in 9/11). Apparently, Sen. McCain was quite amused by a joke comparing President Obama to the 9/11 attacks:

“Ha ha,” she added dryly, when I told her that Imus, in a discussion with another first-day guest, Sen. John McCain, repeated a “joke” that after 9/11 “President Obama was the second attack on America.” (McCain, on the phone, laughed more heartily.)

As Think Progress points out, Imus must have had his conscience return (if he has one) after making telling the “joke” on the air as he tried to walk back from the comment and weakly offered about the joke that it was “an idiotic thing to say.”

Shocking: Don Imus Goes To Fox

It appears that Don Imus has found a new home for his views and it seems that new home will likely not be much of a surprise to anyone. The new home for the controversial Imus, who has a history of making what many people feel are racist remarks, has resurfaced on Fox Business Network. I have no problem with Fox hiring him, but it does not surprise me that Fox would open its family up to Imus and it makes sense with the way Sean Hannity fairly recently had him on the network to help rehabilitate his image (as Hannity is apt to do with certain people who get themselves into racial problems with stupid talk).

Here is a portion of the story from Fox:

FOX Business Network has signed a multi-year deal with legendary radio personality Don Imus in which his nationally syndicated program Imus in the Morning will be simulcast on the channel, announced Kevin Magee, Executive Vice President. Beginning October 5th, the program will be presented in High Definition [HD] Monday through Friday from 6-9 AM ET on FOX Business and continue to be syndicated on the radio by Citadel Media.

In making the announcement, Magee said, “We’re excited to welcome a renowned broadcaster like Don Imus to the FOX Business team. His 40 years of on-air experience combined with his superb interviewing skills and capitalist sensibilities will be a great addition to our lineup.”

The program will incorporate additional business news into its format which now offers a mix of current affairs, politics, entertainment and sports as discussed amongst Imus and his genius cast of characters including: Charles McCord, Bernard McGuirk, Rob Bartlett, Lou Rufino, Tony Powell, Warner Wolf and Julie Kanfer.

Imus added, “I love FOX. Roger Ailes is the preeminent genius of American Broadcasting. Who wouldn’t want to do this?”

Hopefully Imus has learned his lesson (I doubt he has fully considering some of the content of his interview with Hannity) and will be able to contribute something positive.

Don Imus Finds A Safe Haven With Sean Hannity, But Remains Bitter

I watched this excerpt from Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, as posted by Media Matters for America, and I have to admit … Don Imus almost would have fooled me had I not known what was coming at some point in the clip. For a few minutes, I saw a man who genuinely felt sorry and had gotten over personal bitterness for being called out relative to his nasty comments about the women of the Rutgers basketball team. But, this was an interview on Fox News and it was an interview conducted by Sean Hannity. So, you just knew at some point Hannity and Imus would have their anger boil up to the surface (otherwise, what would be the point of even doing the interview) and they would somehow tie everything to President Barack Obama. Imus danced on the head of a pin as he tried repeatedly to demonstrate his desire to take responsibility for his nasty comments about the women basketball players, but his anger showed through when he went into attack mode and brought in President Obama’s name to relieve his considerable frustration.

From Media Matters:

IMUS: Obama a “hypocritical phony” for demanding “context” for Rev. Wright comments but not being “willing to do that with me.”

You know the bigoted Sean Hannity (the one who questioned what good deeds Rev. Wright has done while forgetting his service in the military) was loving that little rage expressed by Imus, who (sadly) is struggling to leave the past in the past.

Imus made his comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team on April 4, 2007.

Barack Obama announced his run for the presidency about three months earlier and I question, at the time, whether Imus or anyone else outside of Illinois even knew much (or cared much) about him.

But, now that he’s president, it almost seems like Imus is looking for some kind pardon or something (who knows why the guy would bring up Obama’s name outside of the fact he was on a show with right-wing extremist Sean Hannity).

The interview (or, at the very least that clip) showed that Imus remains a bitter and selfish man who proved to be the real “hypocritical phony.”