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.

Hannity Once Again Provides Jesse Lee Peterson A Platform To Attack Black People

I would never insult a house Negro by calling Jesse Lee Peterson one. Peterson is far worse than a house Negro.

Jesse Lee Peterson is a slave-catching Negro who takes pride in doing the dirty work against other black people for his master (in this case it is Fox News right wing talk show host Sean Hannity). With great joy, Hannity sits back and watches as Jesse Lee Peterson launches racist attack after racist attack against black people. Hannity, I would imagine, sees himself as inoculated against any backlash because he has his black man on there to do the dirty work. Back during slavery, the white slave master or slave catcher could sit back and let his black slave catcher do the hard work while he kept his hands physically clean from the horrors.

In one of his latest appearances on Hannity’s Fox News show, Peterson had this to say:

PETERSON: But to be honest with you, this whole thing is — I remember, George Washington built America based on truth. Barack Obama is destroying America based on lies.

This thing is about the redistribution of wealth, it’s about Black Liberation Theology. Obama lied on the primaries, he’s been lying ever since. And the sad thing about it, some Americans — most Americans are starting to see it, but they don’t realize that they’ve been seduced by this man, and he doesn’t care about what is right.

We see what he’s doing, bowing down to everybody around the country –

HANNITY: Around the world.

PETERSON: And around the world. Look what’s happening in Israel right now, he’s never really supported Israel. This guy is not on our side.

He’s — Obama, in all honesty, is the Congressional Black Caucus, he is Louis Farrakhan, he is Rev. Wright, his minister, he is all of them wrapped up in one — and he’s gonna take — if we allow this health-care thing to happen, he’s gonna turn America into Detroit. And we cannot let this happen.

Peterson of course comes back to the customary mention of Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan (names designed to do little more than to scare white people and gain him favor with these same whites he adores more than he adores himself). He comes back to the same tired lines about “redistribution of wealth” and drumming up more fear with his mentioning of so-called “Black Liberation Theology.”

Sean Hannity is a disgraceful man who knows exactly what he is doing by bringing Jesse Lee Peterson on his show to attack black people.

The Young Turks on Peterson:

Peterson as a house Negro (and like Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks):

Here are some of my previous posts on the racist idiocy of Jesse Lee Peterson:

Here, he is disrespectful of Demond Wilson and goes on the attack against him: http://simmerdown3.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/demond-wilson-angered-by-rude-jesse-lee-peterson-hangs-up/

Here, Jesse Lee Peterson thanks God for slavery (maybe because he is acting like Sean Hannity’s slave): http://simmerdown3.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/jesse-lee-peterson-thank-god-for-slavery/

Father Michael Pfleger Makes An Interesting Point About Bill O’Reilly

I read the comment (below) from Fr. Michael Pfleger, who has been targeted by far-right conservatives like Fox News commentator (not fair and balanced journalist or journalist at all for that matter) Bill O'Reilly because he can be somewhat used as a way of attack President Obama. First off, none of these conservatives gave much of a rat's tail about Pfleger or Rev. Jeremiah Wright until they saw them as ways of attacking Barack Obama during his candidacy to become president of the United States.

Anyway, fast forward to the present, the time since the historic election of 2008, and right wingers like O'Reilly continue to target Pfleger, Wright and Minister Louis Farrakhan as ways of attacking black people or portraying blacks as being racist (note: yes, I do realize that Pfleger is a white man, but not a lot of conservatives see him in that way).

I found this quote from Pfleger at News Hounds: "O'Reilly doesn't want to hear the truth we speak," Father Pfleger said, " . . . I'll hang around Wright and Farrakhan any day rather than O'Reilly."

Who Pfleger chooses to hang with is his business (in no way, shape or form do I subscribe to the theories that Pfleger or Wright are anywhere close to racist as people), but, the underlying message in his quote is an important one. O'Reilly doesn't want to hear the truth about issues regarding race. He, like many conservatives, live in this laughable utopia where all people of all races are equal, the battle for civil rights was one and it's a completely level playing field.

Sure, these right wingers will utter the customary, "sure racism still exists," but every example you give of racism they deny it is racially motivated.

Rep. Steve King Smears President Obama, Bashes Great City Of Chicago

Rep. Steve King, who is one of the darlings of the far right who hails from the state of Iowa, is on the attack again using all of the old and tired clichés about President Obama, Chicago, the Chicago Machine, gangsters, Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers … yadda, yadda, yadda.

Apparently, Rep. King has no new materials and instead resorts to the same tired and weak attacks against President Obama.

KING: Valerie Jarrett is a product of Chicago politics. This is power politics through Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama, son and daughter of Saul Alinsky, linked up with Mayor Daley, the one that actually hired Michelle Obama and put her into that link, which may have well been the link that put Barack Obama into that machine. The Chicago Machine, we know what it is. Someone called it gangster government. In Chicago, you have gangster government and Valerie Jarrett’s been in the middle of that. She’s been brokering power for a long time. And the link she has with William Ayers, and other nefarious characters in Chicago tells us what we’ve got in the White House itself. I mean she’s there. There are a number of links directly to Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett, and they go back to Chicago.

This guy is a nut, who is attacking Chicago to score political points with the far right (which he should already have in his back pocket if this talk is indicative of anything).

If President Obama, Valerie Jarrett, Rahm Emanuel, Michelle Obama and others are a product of Chicago politics then does that make Steve King truly representative of Iowa politics?

I certainly hope not, but there are some Iowans who continue to vote for this clown to represent them in front of the citizens of the United States of America.

Here is one of the comments in response to the article:

Equalness4all wrote:

What concerns me is the lack of civility we have in discourse, political and otherwise. I believe that it is healthy to disagree, and argument is a good thing, but hate speech seems to be the rule rather than the exeception. Don’t like someone, call them a name, assassinate their character, spread viscious gossip about them. These things can always be attributed to having heard it from someone else. It is so much easier to protray everybody else as the bad guy than to stand up and offer something for the good of the cause. Mr. King’s double speak is also fascinating, unfortunately he is not alone in doing this. Just look at the quote above. “There are a number of links to Chicago…and they go back to Chicago.” Huh? Really intelligent banter. People in Iowa deserve better, people in the country deserve better.

The people of Iowa may deserve better, but apparently Steve King represents them well enough that they support him and his divisive talk.

Two Far-Right Bigots (O’Reilly And Beck) Talking About People Being Anti-American Is Just Dumb

It’s funny to watch two far-right nuts like Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck attack this guy Van Jones and attack Rev. Jeremiah Wright (as a way of attacking President Obama as being associated with black radicals so they can try to scare people). This approach failed miserably in the presidential campaign of 2008, but biased individuals like the dishonest O’Reilly and the reckless Beck are sitting there as if their closets are in order bashing people for being anti-American (it’s the modern-day version of calling people communist). Oh, wait, they invoked the word “communist” in their segment, too.

I wonder if O’Reilly harshly grilled Beck about his nasty comments about President Obama:

BECK: This president has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture, I don’t know what it is.

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.”

Someone Take The Microphone From Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Can someone close to Rev. Jeremiah Wright let him know that it’s time for him to take a step back from the stage and embrace silence. Here, Wright is making a comment about being able to talk to President Obama.

WRIGHT: Them Jews ain’t going to let him talk to me. I told my baby daughter that he’ll talk to me in five years when he’s a lame duck, or in eight years when he’s out of office,” he said to the Daily Press of Newport News following a Tuesday night sermon at the 95th annual Hampton University Ministers’ Conference.

“They will not let him to talk to somebody who calls a spade what it is. … I said from the beginning: He’s a politician; I’m a pastor. He’s got to do what politicians do.”

That’s a horrible statement, and it just doesn’t make any sense.

Wright did apologize for it.

WRIGHT: I apologize for the way I framed my comments. I mis-spoke and I sincerely meant no harm or ill-will to the American Jewish community or the Obama administration. I have great respect for the Jewish faith and the foundational (and central) part of our Judeo-Christian tradition.

OK, the apology is sort of nice, but how about not saying that kind of inflammatory stuff in the first place? You’d think Wright would have learned by now.

Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/10/rev-wright-no-hard-feelin_n_213768.html

Fox Forum Blogger Noel Sheppard Continues To Flog A Dead Horse

Noel Sheppard is concerned about the so-called liberal bias in the media (while writing for Fox which is perhaps the most blatantly biased name in the major media).

Here is how Sheppard’s blog started:

“The greatest threat to America is not necessarily a recession, or another terrorist attack. The greatest threat to America is a liberal media bias.”

So said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) last week as he announced the creation of a new Media Fairness Caucus, telling NewsMax, “If the American people can’t get good information, can’t get the facts, and can’t make good decisions, then we simply don’t have a viable democracy.”

Although folks in the liberal blogosphere predictably ridiculed Smith’s comments, any honest assessment supports his concerns about the continually declining journalistic standards employed by today’s news media.

Anyone affiliated with Fox News should look inward before looking outward to discuss “declining journalistic standards.” It’s laughable or Fox to criticize anyone for “declining journalistic standards.” Fox News conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly recently was caught lying about CNN’s coverage of the murder of Pvt. William Long. He waged a war of hate and demonization against Dr. George Tiller that has barely skipped a beat since Dr. Tiller was assassinated by a crazed anti-abortion nut. That is just one example. The first part of that statement is too idiotic and nutty to even warrant a response. Also, the American people are smart enough to get their news from sources they trust (even if one of those sources happens to be right-wing-leaning Fox News).

Sheppard, as you might expect, continued:

Before casting this aside as so much conservative posturing, ask yourself whether Barack Obama would be president today if the press had fully vetted him back in 2007 when he first announced his candidacy.

More to the point, would a junior senator from Illinois have beaten Hillary Clinton if the news media prior to the first primaries and caucuses had fully exposed his:

• Connections to domestic terrorists William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn
• Connections to the Trinity Church and Reverend Jeremiah Wright
• Connections to corrupt real estate developer Tony Rezko
• Totally unimpressive tenure as an Illinois state senator and U.S. senator?

If the answer is “No,” the press elected Barack Obama — NOT the American people, which is indeed a far greater undermining of our democracy than any attack that has ever been made against this country as well as any economic calamity that’s befallen it.

More of the same old tired stuff that Republicans tried to shove down our throats during the election. No matter how much all of the aforementioned issues were touched on (by all corners of the media) conservatives continue to cry that it was not enough. The American people rejected the ridiculous notion of guilt-by-association politics. Bitter Republicans continue to cling to their failed tactics of the their failed bid for the White House in 2008.

The press did not elect President Obama. The people of this nation overwhelmingly elected President Obama with a huge mandate. The whiners on the left are mad because their efforts to paint Barack Obama as some angry black radical who is a hater of America and a friend of a terrorist failed miserably.

The American people wanted ideas rather than demonization.

The Republicans, and bitter people like Noel Sheppard who reach back into the past to chase ghosts (while laughably assisting the Bush-Cheney “Save-Our-Legacy Tour and apologizing for all the previous administration’s numerous missteps and shortcomings), didn’t get it then and still don’t get it now.

Fox Forum:
http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/06/09/noel-sheppard-is-liberal-media-bias-a-greater-threat-than-terrorism-or-recession/

Is There Hypocrisy From The Right About Jon Voight Comments Against America

Actor Jon Voight made some very critical comments about President Obama and the United States of America. Some people view Voight’s comments as patriotic. To the far-right conservatives, when Jon Voight is talking negatively about America, saying we’re becoming a weak nation, he is merely being “critical” of things. But, when Michelle Obama, Michael Pfleger and Jeremiah Wright made comments that were critical they were promptly labeled, by those on the far right wing of the political spectrum, as angry, ungrateful, as haters of America and anti-American. Some of Voight’s comments are delusional, but he is entitled to his opinion.

VOIGHT: My most pressing concern at this hour is the safety of Israel. I think Obama has no idea that Israel was built on the blood and sweat of the Jewish people. Every blade of grass, every tree, has been a successful effort because the Jewish people understanding they would have a safe homeland forever. He could not possibly understand this or he would know that the Jewish people are tried time and time again to give the Palestinians land and bring a peaceful solution. But every attempt, every attempt, was returned with violence. The Palestinians used Gaza to attack Israel. As far as I’m concerned, their only agenda is to wipe Israel off the Earth. And he reprimands the Israeli people, Obama. Like he’s a professor and they’re the school children. I was embarrassed to watch his press conference with the great war hero, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has helped keep his country safe for many years. Obama sat there with complete arrogance that he is the new American power, that he is able to dictate what he thinks is best for Israel. So how worried are we supposed to be now? Was I hearing things when he said that Iran might have the right to nuclear power? Are we supposed to be sitting and waiting, watching for the possibility of a new Holocaust? Who’s going to take the responsibility to keep Ameri — Israel safe?

I’ll tell you why this really scares the hell out of me. Because everything Obama has recommended has turned out to be disasterous. His so-called stimulus package and his budgets will leave our grandchildren with great burdens and great debts. The government is now owning car companies and banks and we’re losing job after job. Our unemployment rate is an astronomic 9.4. And of course they send out Joe Biden, one of the great double-talkers of our time, to tell us the unemployment rate is getting better. The government wants to run health care and tell people what doctors they can see. How much they can make. What cars to drive. And they’re killing off the entrepreneurs who are the backbone of our economy. It’s no wonder that the Russian newspaper Pravda, the former house organ for the former Soviet Communist regime, has said the American descent into Marxism is happening with breath-taking speed. We can blame Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chris Dodd, George Soros, David Axelrod and their ilk for the downfall of this country. It saddens me greatly to think we were the great power for good in the world. We as Americans knew America to be strong. And we were the liberators of the entire world. We are becoming a weak nation. Obama really thinks that he is a soft-spoken Julius Ceaser. He thinks he’s going to conquer the world with his soft-spoken sweet talk. And really thinks he’s going to bring all the enemies of the world into a little playground where they’ll swing each other back and forth. We and we alone are the right frame of mind to free this nation from this Obama oppression.

And let’s give thanks to all the great people like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, William Bennett, Glenn Beck, Hugh Hewitt, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Dennis Miller, Dick Morris, Ann Coulter, John Kasich, Michael Steele, Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Thomas Sowell, Victor Davis Hanson, Shelby Steele, Charles Krauthammer, Michelle Malkin, Fred Barnes and so many others. Let’s give thanks to them for not giving up and staying the course to bring an end to this false prophet Obama.

Here is a video of Michael Pfleger talking about some of the hypocrisies in regard to things that some people can say that would be considered “critical” vs. the same things the other people would say that would have them labeled as “haters of America.” If Jon Voight has a right to his opinion then Jeremiah Wright has a right to his opinion.

Pat Buchanan Again Attacks President Barack Obama Using Race

Media Matters has documented numerous instances of conservative media figures trying to portray President Obama as a mafia-type figure (which lead to racist stereotypes of Italians, but that is another story for another time). But, one of the comments I found particularly interesting was written by the diversity-challenged Pat Buchanan.

This is from Media Matters:

In a May 15 column, MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan claimed: “On war and torture, at least, [liberals] thought Barack was one of them. He is not. Barack is not into ideology. He is into Barack. As he showed in 2008, when he threw his white grandmother under the bus and spared his beloved black pastor, the Rev. Wright, then threw Wright under the bus when his toxicity level rose too high, Barack has all the sentimentality of Michael Corleone when it comes to the family business.”

Notice Buchanan’s use of race. President Obama is portrayed as having thrown his “white” grandmother under the bus and having saved his “black” pastor. Again, this is part of an orchestrated right-wing smear to portray President Obama as being hostile toward whites (which is utterly ridiculous).