Fox Nation vs. Reality: Al Gore Going Up The River?

With the multitude of disreputable sources that Fox News has to chose from, it is still somewhat surprising that they frequently chose to embrace the utterly demented WorldNetDaily as a source for news stories that they republish on Fox Nation.

WorldNetDaily is run by the notorious conspiracy monger Joseph Farah. It is the base for Obama Derangement Syndrome sufferer, Ed Klein. It is where former Swiftboat liar, and current King of the Birthers, Jerome Corsi, hangs his hat. And it is now being featured on a Fox News web site for this screwy bit of nonsense:

Fox Nation - Al Gore

The assertion that Al Gore has been threatened with arrest is not one that should worry the Vice-President. That’s because the threat did not emanate from any one connected to any law enforcement agency that might be able to carry out the threat.

As it turns out, a well known conservative nut case who goes around calling himself Lord Monckton is the person who made the threat. It holds no more risk than if I were to threaten to have Monckton apprehended by Druids and cast into a medieval dungeon.

The affair sprang from Lord Monckton’s outrage that Gore is parading around the British countryside complaining about global warming. Monckton, who also anointed himself the “high priest of climate skepticism,” was not going to sit still for that. So he issued this missive to Gore:

“If you say anything in Gibraltar which has any bearing on the fortunes of Generations Investment Management, if you say anything that is incorrect about global warming, and that’s how Generations Investment Management is making a lot of its money, then you are guilty of an offense under the Financial Services Act of 1988, and you will be arrested, prosecuted and convicted.”

Monckton doesn’t explain precisely what provision of the Act Gore might be in violation of, but the likelihood that he is in any legal jeopardy for saying the same things he has been saying about the environment for years is pretty low. Gore has not been saying anything different than any other climate change activist in the U.K., and none of them are in jail. Monckton is simply a babbling fool who manages to get his ravings published on a web site that is ignored by people with functioning cerebellums.

The shame in this has nothing to with Monckton himself. There are lots of dolts spewing insane garbage and talking to themselves in bus station restrooms. And many of them get their work published in WorldNetDaily as well. But for Fox News to feature it as if it were a newsworthy story that contained some measure of truth is just another example of how much they have in common with the tabloid trash that generates this crap.

Failing To Score Points By Criticizing Obama, Romney Flips To Agreeing With Him

After watching last night’s debate I was struck by how often Mitt Romney agreed with President Obama on a string of the most significant foreign policy issues. It’s hard to fathom how Romney can go out on the campaign trail and lambaste the President for a foreign policy that he asserts is falling apart, when he seems to concur nearly across the board with what Obama is doing and has done.

Setting aside the fact that Romney has also blasted Obama for these very same policies, here is a short list of examples of his Etch-a-Sketchy new positions that he has cribbed from the President:

  • I believe, as the president indicated, and said at the time that I supported his action [in Libya].
  • I don’t blame the administration for the fact that the relationship with Pakistan is strained.
  • I support that and entirely, and feel the president was right to up the usage of [drones], and believe that we should continue to use it,
  • I congratulate him on taking out Osama bin Laden and going after the leadership in al-Qaeda.
  • It’s absolutely the right thing to do, to have crippling sanctions [on Iran].
  • The surge [in Afghanistan] has been successful and the training program is proceeding apace […] and we’re going to be able to make that transition by the end of 2014.
  • We can be a partner with China. We don’t have to be an adversary in any way, shape or form.
  • First of all, I want to underscore the same point the president made which is that if I’m President of the United States, when I’m President of the United States, we will stand with Israel.
  • I couldn’t agree more about going forward.

That kind of acquiescence makes for a pretty one-sided debate – which is what it was. On a question regarding Syria, Obama responded to Romney’s answer by saying “What you just heard Governor Romney said is he doesn’t have different ideas. And that’s because we’re doing exactly what we should be doing.” That might just as well have been the answer almost everything Romney said. Romney obviously doesn’t have an original thought to contribute to the discussion so he pathetically mimics the President.

The Huffington Post helpfully put together a video that features just how deferential Romney was to Obama last night.


Mitt Romney: Taking America Back To The Future – Horses And Bayonets And All

The final debate of the 2012 presidential campaign is history, which is ironic because that’s where Mitt Romney appears to want to lead America.

Obama/Romney Policies

There was almost nothing that Romney said that described a vision for the future of America. The entire focus of his remarks centered on either what he regarded as Obama’s failures in the past four years or his own proposals that closely mirrored those of the Bush administration – or even farther back. When Romney raised what he surely thought was a killer point comparing the size of today’s Navy to that of the Navy in 1917, Obama shot back

“But Governor, when it comes to our foreign policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s and the economic policies of the 1920s.

The President topped that observation by noting that Romney’s backward looking analysis failed to take into consideration the capabilities of a modern military force. While it may be true that the number of certain defense assets fluctuate, Obama zinged “We also have fewer horses and bayonets.”

Mitt Romney's Horses and Bayonets

Romney was clearly uncomfortable talking about foreign policy, an area in which he has no experience. He was so uneasy that he repeatedly attempted to shift his answers to the domestic economy. Unfortunately for him, he lost debate points on that field as well. Romney’s dodging resulted in a lackluster performance that even his conservative colleagues noticed. Many of them lamented that he didn’t bring up Libya and the tragic murders in Benghazi. In fact, the only time Romney could be said to have gone on offense was a lame criticism of Obama’s travel itinerary in the first few months of his presidency.

On many other issues of substance Romney resorted to agreeing with Obama’s policies – on Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, and the killing of Osama Bin Laden – even though Romney had previously excoriated Obama on those matters in stump speeches throughout the year. With regard to Romney’s past criticisms Obama blasted his judgment saying “I know you haven’t been in a position to actually execute foreign policy, but every time you’ve offered an opinion, you’ve been wrong.”

Audiences were keenly aware of Romney’s failings. The polls that have been published this morning all give the win to Obama. CNN put it at 48-40. CBS has 53-23. Public Policy Polling gave Obama a 53-42 advantage. It’s what is commonly known in polling circles as a blowout. Although it remains to be seen what impact this debate will have on broader presidential preference polling that will be conducted over the next several days.

Perhaps the most devastating misfire by Romney is the one that Fox News has been trumpeting all morning as a success. Romney had the gall to chastise Obama for the fabled “apology tour.” The folks at Fox and Friends were nearly giddy in their recitation of that segment of the debate. However, the charge is one that has been examined and repeatedly debunked. PolitiFact gave it a ruling of a “Pants-on-Fire” lie. And that is emblematic of the Romney campaign. If this remains the core talking point in Romney’s favor for the rest of the day, he’s in big trouble.

As of this morning the race is still pretty close. But if substance matters, voters should begin to swing back to the President. He has now decisively won two out of three debates, and he has demonstrated his superior grasp of both domestic and foreign affairs. And any objective analysis would have to conclude that the country is way better off now than it was in 2008, after Republicans, executing the same policies that Romney advocates today, created an economic calamity of historic proportions. Obama’s best message is that, after all we’ve endured, we must not allow the party that steered the nation into the rocks to regain control of the helm.