Fox News ... Fair And Balanced ... Yeah Right

Typical Fox News. Finishes an interview with flip-flopping right-winger Newt Gingrich, bashes the Obama Administration for not coming on its network and then teases a segment with right-winger John McCain and Joe Lieberman, who has essentially become a right-wing politician.

Fox News showing how fair and balanced it is once again.

Juan Williams Takes A Rare Shot At Sarah Palin And ... GASP ... Does It On Fox

Juan Williams, for once, actually told it like it is: 1. President Obama does have some vulnerability looking ahead to 2012, 2. the Republicans have no one who captures the imagination other than Sarah Palin and 3. Sarah Palin is not on the intellectual level of Barack Obama.

Williams definitely hurt himself in the Fox News crowd. They probably spanked slapped his hand back stage.

I am sure he will do something to earn those points back.

Are U.S. Supreme Court Right Wingers Set To Show True Bias Against President Obama?

Rumors abound that some of the U.S. Supreme Court justices are considering not attending the President's upcoming State of the Union address.

It was a topic of discussion this past weekend on Fox News Sunday as U.S. Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer was interviewed.

Some of the justices apparently have their panties in a bunch because President Barack Obama was critical of one of their decisions.

If these justices are that weak, that they can't take that little bit of criticism, then that truly is disturbing.

BUT, if they are whining and pouting because they are upset with the politics of what President Obama said, then that is pathetic.

Aren't judges/justices supposed to be impartial? Would their protest (should it happen) be indicative of a U.S. Supreme Court that truly is political?

From Crooks and Liars:

During his 2010 State of the Union address, Obama criticized the court's Citizens United decision which said that corporate funding of independent political broadcasts cannot be limited.

"With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign corporations – to spend without limit in our elections," Obama said.

"Well, I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, and worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’d urge Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps corrects some of these problems," he added.

While Democratic lawmakers cheered for the president's remarks, Justice Samuel Alito could be seen mouthing the words "not true."

Weeks later, Chief Justice John Roberts said the address had "degenerated to a political pep rally."

"The image of having the members of one branch of government standing up, literally surrounding the Supreme Court, cheering and hollering, while the court -- according to the requirements of protocol -- has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling," Roberts said to University of Alabama law students.

It will be interesting to see what whiners like John Roberts, Sam Alito and high-court right wingers do.

Crooks and Liars:
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/justice-breyer-very-important-attend-state-u

Always The Victim … Starring RNC Chairman Michael Steele

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele never misses an opportunity to position himself a victim and all who oppose him as hypocrites or in some other way as bad people. Steele recently was on TV to discuss Sen. Harry Reid’s stupid and racially insensitive comments (I will blog about that later) and called out the Democrats and progressives for what he feels is hypocrisy about how racial charges are handled. But, in his clumsy zest to attack Democrats, Steele showed his own hypocrisy by downplaying a recent comment that he made that many people feel was a slur against Native Americans.

Once again, Michael Steele wallows in victimhood, deflecting his own racially insensitive comment, while attacking Sen. Reid for a racially insensitive comment and calling on him to resign as majority leader of the U.S. Senate.

Here are Steele’s comments, while being interviewed by Fox News Sunday host Chris Matthews, about Sen. Harry Reid:

STEELE: I think he should. There is a standard where Democrats think they can say these things and apologize when it comes from the mouth of their own. But if it comes from anyone else, it’s racism. It’s either racist or it’s not. And it’s inappropriate, absolutely. So if the standard is the one we saw with Trent Lott as leader at the time, then I think this absolutely falls in that category here. … Remember, this is the same leader who just a few weeks ago was talking about health care in the context of slavery. Clearly he is out of touch.

As you will see in the Huffington Post account, Matthews did confront Steele about his double standard. But, the RNC chairman simply said if his comments were offended he apologized and tried to leave it at that apology (something he was not willing to allow Sen. Reid). So, where is the real double standard there, Chairman Steele? If the hypocritical Steele is not willing to resign, as RNC chairman, after his racially insensitive remarks, then why should Sen. Reid resign from his post as majority leader?

Now, in no way, shape or form can you compare Sen. Reid’s comments to that of former U.S. Senator Trent Lott, who suggested that “all of these problems” could have been avoided if segregationist Strom Thurmond had been elected president of the United States in 1948. Once again, the passion of Steele is somewhat admirable, but he is so clumsy and blundering that he takes a political issue that could be a good one and blows it because it is perhaps he who is the out-of-touch hypocrite.

Generally, when Michael Steele is confronted on his missteps (and there have been more than a few), he blames Washington, people afraid of change, Democrats, the media, etc. For the most part, he blames everyone but Michael Steele.

Self-Righteous Brit Hume Engages In Religious Bigotry Against Tiger Woods

Fox News right-wing commentator and religious expert Brit Hume (on the Sunday, Jan. 3 edition of Fox News Sunday) offered golfing phenom Tiger Woods, experiencing no shortage of marital problems these days, some religious advice. Hume, reminiscent of Europeans who went into Africa to colonize and civilize blacks (by introducing and imposing their religious beliefs), was strong in his words of advice toward Woods.

HUME: Tiger Woods will recover as a golfer. Whether he can recover as a person, I think, is a very open question. And it’s a tragic situation. . . . But the Tiger Woods that emerges once the news value dies out of this scandal, the extent to which he can recover, seems to me to depend on his faith. He’s said to be a Buddhist. I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be, ‘Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.’

Hume seems to be engaging in what is little more than religious bigotry by taking it upon himself to define Buddhism and suggest Woods just abandon it and embrace Christianity.

Check out this video of the historic Alex Haley film “Roots.” Fast forward to about 6:55 of this clip to see the relevance (below the video is the transcript).

Hume’s comment made me think long and hard about this particular scene from that film.

CAPTAIN DAVIES: What are they like…the blacks?

MR. SLATER: They’re just a different kind of breed, sir. A man breeds a dog for hunting…and breeds another sort of dog for his family. Blacks are slow-minded but strong. They’re made for slavery like you’re made to run this ship. The natural order of things, eh?

DAVIES: Yes. Yes, I could understand that, I suppose.

SLATER: It’s good for them, us taking them like that. They’re better off for it, sir.

DAVIES: I’m not sure I understand that part, Mr. Slater.

SLATER: For one thing, there’s Christianity. We’re bringing them to a Christian land. That’s got to be better for them than the heathen Allah they got now. That’s the first thing. Second is…we’re saving them from being eaten by their own kind. They do that, you know. Cannibals, all of them.

DAVIES: As I said before, Mr. Slater…below decks, you’re the expert.

Maybe Hume feels like he is civilizing Woods by trying to convert him to Christianity … much like Mr. Slater believed in “Roots.”

The religious bigotry from Hume, however, displays a shameful form of ignorance and bigotry. It also shows that Hume has learned nothing from the bigoted beliefs (symbolic of intolerance) of some people 400 years ago.

It’s not to say Hume is exactly like slave masters, but it is sad he has not learned a little something about religious bigotry from that horrible legacy.

Check out how a few conservatives are predictably coming to the defense of Hume: http://mediamatters.org/research/201001040038

Sen. Lindsey Graham Wisely Distances Himself From Glenn Beck’s Freak Show

Face it, Glenn Beck has been a true freak show for quite some time, but he does have his following. It seems some Republicans are finally working to distance themselves and the GOP from the loud lunacy of men like Beck, who has become (in the eyes of many) the new face of the conservative wing of the political spectrum. The problem is that Beck is so far to the right of the mainstream that he needs a chartered airline flight to get to the middle. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), speaking on Fox News Sunday, had some less-than-kind words for Beck.

GRAHAM: No, I’m not saying he’s bad for America. You got the freedom to watch him if you choose. He did a pretty good job on ACORN. What I am saying, he doesn’t represent the Republican Party. You can listen to him if you like. I choose not to because, quite frankly, I don’t — I don’t want to go down the road of thinking our best days are behind us. We need to act decisively.

People are genuinely upset with how much money we’re spending up here. But at the end of the day, when a person says he represents conservatism and that the country’s better off with Barack Obama than John McCain, that sort of ends the debate for me as to how much more I’m going to listen. So he has a right to say what he wants to say. In my view, it’s not the kind of political analysis that I buy into.

I don’t agree with Graham a lot, politically, but I do agree with him on Beck (even though I think he could speak out even stronger against Beck, Rush Limbaugh and other extremists on the right).

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/04/graham-beck-fox/

Another Example Of Far-Right Lunacy Relative To U.S. Failure To Get Olympics As Conservatives Cheer

Conservatives have been gleefully applauding the failure of the United States and the U.S. Olympic Committee to bring the 2016 Olympic Games to U.S. soil. They’ve been cheering against our country. Here is an example from far-right commentator Bill Kristol (predictably on Fox News Sunday) who had that familiar grin on his face as he attempted to attack President Obama’s work to try and assist the USOC in bringing the games to the United States of America.

KRISTOL: There are so many ironies in this. By Barack Obama’s view of the world, he should have been rooting for Brazil to get the Olympics. South America has never gotten them, Brazil has never gotten them. It is a rising power, it would help Brazil. We don’t need the Olympics, we have had them a million times. Our economy doesn’t need the boost of the Olympics (he said with sarcasm). And then [Obama] in a sort of George W. Bush like way goes and tries to bully the International Olympic Committee… ‘Come walk with us. I’m here for America.’

More from the conservative commentator:

KRISTOL: Come walk with us. I’m here for America. Can you imagine if some Republican — if Bush had done this and we hadn’t gotten it? Typical Bush heavy-handedness, cowboy unilateralist, hegemonic imperialist action. Obama falls into that trap and they went for it. I must say you couldn’t help be amused by it.

Ah, but if the president had rooted for Brazil he would have, once again, been called anti-American.

World leaders often lobby for the Olympics.

Imagine if liberals had been cheering had G.W. Bush (who didn’t have to worry about his citizenship being questioned or being labeled by so many as anti-American, a hater of America and so on) gone and tried to secure the Olympics for the U.S. and failed. Liberals would be called anti-American, haters of America and so on.

It’s interesting that now President Obama now is being called a bully (and conservatives now are even throwing G.W. Bush under the bus as they’ve decided to eat one of their own).

Clearly President Obama was trying to do something that would have been great for the U.S. to bring people to our great country and show that we can put on a first-class Olympics (as we’ve done in the past). President Obama has been working to rebuild the bridges destroyed during the previous administration that left the U.S. isolated and disliked around the world. President Obama, showing that relationships were partnerships appealed to our neighbors in the world and showed them that the U.S. has been great, but not perfect and that other nations are great in their own ways, but not perfect. For that, the president was slammed with idiotic accusations such as charging him with going on an “apology tour” (a favorite of right-wing nuts).

Now, Kristol is accusing the president (who went over to try and show the greatness of America) of trying to be a bully. It’s laughable.

When conservatives see President fighting for America they call him a bully and when they see him as not fighting for America that basically label him anti-American.

Kristol has let his right-wing bias drive him nutty.

Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/04/bill-kristol-revels-in-ol_n_309011.html

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/04/kristol-obama-olympics/

Bridge Over The River Cry ... Starring Fox News Mouthpiece Chris Wallace

Crybaby Chris Wallace, of the right-wing Fox News and host of the conservative-leaning Fox News Sunday, was back on the air whining like a kindergartener again because President Obama won’t come on his show. Wallace then goes into the usual temper-tantrum stuff of cheap-shotting the president and the White House like we used to do as kids when we were in elementary and middle school and didn’t get our way. This is what Wallace said as the tears started to flow when he found out he would not get a chance to interview the president, “biggest bunch of crybabies I have dealt with” as Obama made the media rounds for Sunday. Wallace then went on to refer to the Obama administration as being petty and childish. The hypocrisy there is nothing short of stunning considering Fox News enjoys popularity due largely to the right-wing people who flock there and get drunk on the old G.O.P.-flavored Kool-Aid.

Wallace, as he mentally talked himself down off the ledge from his on-air fit, finally cried, “What ever happened to reaching out to all Americans?” Maybe Wallace and his Fox cronies should have thought about that when Fox blew off events the president had that were picked up by the other networks and dismissed it to the right-wing Fox News channel (which has been bashing Obama with reckless abandon).

This is from Think Progress, and it is interesting:

But ironically, later during the panel discussion, Wallace cited a recent report showing that Obama has done more one-on-one interviews than both Presidents Clinton and Bush up this point and wondered if Obama is “overexposed” (despite wanting to interview him on his show). In another bit of irony, Wallace, who has been complaining for the past few days about the snub, accused the White House of being thin-skinned:

WALLACE: Every president is thin-skinned but I wonder whether this administration, this White House has a particular problem with criticism. … Not talking about just us but just the attitude of this White House. Whatever happened to reaching out to all Americans?

By the way, media people are way more thin-skinned than presidents (check out the vendettas Bill O’Reilly constantly wages against anyone in the media who has a beef with him or anyone he does not like).

This adminstration doesn’t have a problem with criticism (it seems Wallace is the one who is more thin-skinned and with a problem based on the amount of crying we’ve heard from him and his crew at Fox News). For example, MSNBC has people like Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan who regularly bash the president, but the network also has balance with commentators who give a different set of views with respect to the president. CNN has Lou Dobbs who regularly trashes the president, but is a reputable organization because it balances its news and offers balanced opinion (something Fox News rarely attempts to do).

Fox News is free to show clips from the interviews the president conducted with other media outlets.

Also, Think Progress added this:

During one of Wallace’s whining sessions this week, another Fox host complained that Obama is skipping out on “the highly rated Fox News Sunday.” But as Media Matters points out, Fox News Sunday is “in dead last, where it has remained pretty much since its inception.”

If Fox News was the only major news outlet that didn’t get the love then that seems to indicate something about Fox News than about President Obama.

Far-Right Bill Kristol Comes To Defense Of Rep. Joe Wilson

Rep. Joe Wilson’s outrageous and disgraceful outburst during President Obama’s speech before a joint session of Congress has set in and now some of the far-right commentators are beginning to come to the defense of their newly-declared hero (perhaps he represents their feelings, attitudes, professionalism and ability to self control). I am not contending that Wilson should have someone put a foot up his ass and sending him flying out of Congress. But, he does not to be soundly condemned for his ridiculous outburst that bring into question his mental stability.

Predictably on Fox, Kristol had this to say:

KRISTOL: Can I just say one thing? He [Obama] is leading his party off a cliff, and Speaker Pelosi is going to lead his party — her party off the cliff if they try to rebuke Joe Wilson.

He has apologized. It will be a disgrace if they do some stunt in the House to try to humiliate this man, who is, in fact — has a reputation for bipartisanship on the Armed Services Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee he’s on.

Obama and Pelosi are leading the party off a cliff, I think, and I hope a lot of Democrats say, Slow down. Let’s take a look at this bill.

People on both sides of the aisle have come together to condemn the garbage the world heard from Wilson. This should not be a partisan issue in the very least. This is something both sides should be able to come together and denounce. The fact that Kristol is saying something like this shows how irrational and unreasonable he is for the lack of respect and discipline shown by Wilson. Kristol, rather skillfully, has tried to twist this around and use it as an excuse to attack President Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This is not about President Obama and Speaker Pelosi. This is about Joe Wilson.

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/13/kristol-leave-wilson-alone/

Fox News Again Blames ‘Liberal Media’

Fox News host Chris Wallace oftentimes struggles to conceal his right-wing lean relating to discussions that are supposedly unbiased. Once again, Wallace lived up to this reputation as he hosted a segment discussing President Obama’s popularity and his popularity with the media. Consider these two exchanges posted by Crooks and Liars writer Nicole Belle.

CHRIS WALLACE: So let’s go over the record, and let’s put it up on the screen. CBS is running an interview today with Barack Obama , “An American Dad.” ABC is running coverage throughout the day on Wednesday of President Obama’s health care plan including a prime-time town hall. NBC just ran two specials, “Inside the Obama White House.” Tom Brokaw was named this week to a presidential commission. And Newsweek has put Mr. Obama on the cover 19 times since 2004. Steve Hayes, how do you explain all of that?

STEVE HAYES: A lot of people call Newsweek now “Obamaweek” because they’ve put him on so often. Look, I mean, clearly, his joke about rolling over and finding Brian Williams is more than just a joke. I mean, I think the sense is – and you’ve provided evidence that it’s true – that he’s in bed – the media are in bed with Barack Obama.

That’s clever, Hayes.

First off, Fox News spent a lot of time in bed with President Bush, Vice President Cheney and, during the 2008 campaign, with Republican candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin. Plus, Barack Obama sells right now and popularly so (much to the obvious annoyance of conservatives like those in power at Fox News). The media is supposed to cover news events, but the media also needs ratings and to make sales. President Obama is hot right now and he moves product. Fox News, as another example, capitalizes on President Obama by spending ample time criticizing nearly his every move.

MARA LIASSON: On the other hand, some of those numbers are reflective of — look, Bill Clinton had an incredibly chaotic first 100 days. There was a pratfall every other day to cover. George Bush was the result of — I’m assuming that was the first term — was the result of…

WALLACE: Yes.

LIASSON: … a contested election. And Barack Obama came in as a real majority winner. He has a big majority in Congress.

WALLACE: Oh, come on, don’t you think some of it is because he’s got liberal ideas?

Liasson is correct in the points she makes. People felt that Bush had stolen the election (whether you agree or disagree) and Clinton had some struggles coming out of the blocks. Still, it’s unbelievable naive to ignore the history we’ve seen in this country with the presidential election of 2008. We elected a young and charismatic president. He is the first non-white male to be named president of the United States of America (he is the first black man to serve as president). We witnessed history. We’re witnessing history. Wallace, like so many on Fox News, is obsessed with perceptions of liberal media bias while ignoring their own bias in reporting so consistently against President Obama. Look how much time Fox News spends on President Obama.

Republicans set the pace during the previous eight years when they had George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in office.

Democrats have the power and get the attention.

Crooks and Liars:
http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/fox-news

Fox News’ Chris Wallace Strengthens His Conservative Credentials

Here is Chris Wallace opening Fox News Sunday in a way that will strengthen his conservative credentials. Wallace, who has been known to regurgitate Republican talking points to attack liberals, may have been doing just that with a line he used on Sunday.

WALLACE: Uncle Sam wants you driving one of his cars, writing checks at one of his banks, and using his health insurance. Are we saving the economy or headed toward socialism?

That is right from the Republican playbook (a book I am sure Wallace knows cover to cover).

Here is an interesting response from John Amato:

I’d like to remind Chris Wallace that Uncle Sam under George Bush gave us terrorist attacks, two wars, torture, illegal wiretapping, a stock market crash and almost destroyed the world’s global financial markets and much much more in eight years. I could think of many more, but you get the idea.

Crooks and Liars:
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/chris-wallace-opens-fox-news-sunday-asking

Fox’s Chris Wallace Shows A Lack Of Professionalism And, Perhaps, Objectivity

I’ve never been too impressed with Fox’s Chris Wallace, but mainly because I believe he is a right-wing partisan who masquerades as a straight-down-the-middle journalist. Now, Vice President Joe Biden has been known to make some regrettable statements, and he made one recently with precautions he advocated for this swine flu deal. Personally, I think Biden and a lot of other people are panicking way too much about swine flu, but Wallace was way out of line. Wallace clearly stepped over the line of professionalism when he made this comment in reference to Vice President Biden on Fox News Sunday (as captured by Crooks and Liars).

WALLACE: I have to tell you, some people have said to me since Vice President talked. Maybe you guys are telling the public one thing, but at the highest levels of government you’ve heard something else, no - you’re saying to me that everything the Vice President Biden said, I’m not talking to the travel to Mexico. Being in a confined space, being in a classroom. Being in a school. Being in a subway, no health danger to any of that?
SEBELIUS: Again, with, we’re letting the science lead this investigation and trying to be prudent…
Soon thereafter, he took this unprofessional shot at the vice president of the United States of America:
WALLACE: So why would the Vice President tell his family that? Are we to believe that the Vice President of the United States is a crackpot?

If Biden feels like that is the measure he wants to take to keep his family safe then that is his business. Wallace could have asked: Do you think the vice president may be getting a little carried away here? No, he went to the nuclear option (I believe for political reasons) and used the term “crackpot.” But, there is a bigger point here. The Comments from Wallace are an example of how so many individuals on Fox destroy the reputations of true journalists who strive to objectively bring the facts to people. This was a calculated and partisan cheap shot. It also spits in the face of nonpartisan moderators who want to facilitate discussion among their guests without inserting their own opinion (or worse) making nasty comments about the vice president of the Untied States of America. This is part of the reason Fox appeals so much to the far-right nuts - cheap shots at Democrats like the one Chris Wallace took. Wallace, in this instance, was a disgrace to the airwaves.

Crooks and Liars:
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/fox-news-chris-wallace-called-vp-joe-bi