Fox News Racism Exposed In Perry/Obama Photos

The unvarnished racism of Fox News continues to reveal itself – over and over and over again.

The latest example of their repulsive hate messaging is an article purporting to show contrasting photos (below) of President Obama and Texas Governor Rick Perry in their youth. It’s actually generous to call it an article. To be accurate, it is just a link to a photo that some wingnuts are distributing on Twitter. The photo juxtaposes an image of Perry in military garb with an image of Obama that packs a more ethnic punch.

This deliberate attempt to insult the President is wrong on many levels. First, Perry’s photo may indeed be of him at or around the age of 22, but Obama’s photo is obviously much younger. [Note: I have confirmed that Obama was 18/19 when the pictures were taken by a student photographer, Lisa Jackson in 1980]. Second, while Perry did serve in the Air Force, he avoided combat duty despite the fact that his service began in 1972 and the Vietnam war was still raging until 1975.

The Fox Nationalists might just as well have featured a very different pair of photos that more realistically conveyed the contrasts between Perry and Obama. After all, Obama was an honors student who was the editor of the Harvard Law Review and graduated Magna Cum Laude. Perry, on the other hand, was a yell leader at Texas A&M and barely graduated with a 2.2 grade-point average and almost exclusively Cs and Ds on his transcripts.

Fox Nation Perry Obama

It is painfully clear what Fox is trying to convey to their gullible and bigoted audience. This sort of open prejudice and hate mongering needs to be exposed and disseminated widely so that Fox does not get away with such revolting behavior. And every day that the rest of the media continues to treat Fox as if it were a legitimate news enterprise is another day of shame for the press.

And on the lighter side, the brainiacs at Fox can’t even count:

Fox Can't Count

Notice that the article refers to Gawker and 7 other web sites that are dead or dying. However there are eight additional web sites represented by the logos. In fact, there are nine if you include the one in the bottom right corner. So Fox is admitting that they are dead or dying. And why not when they can’t even count to ten.

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27 thoughts on “Fox News Racism Exposed In Perry/Obama Photos

  1. I’m surprised they didn’t try to Photoshop in a piece of straw in Obama’s mouth. Also, he looks like he’s 15. And one can’t even tell if it’s Perry in the F*xNation post.

    I wish I could figure out what conservatives’ fascination is with evangelical Air Force draft dodgers from Texas. If Rick Perry does one more thing that mirrors Dubya my head might explode.

  2. Let us not forget that they won’t show anything about education because, to them, education is evil. Sadly, Fox will never admit to their viewers that the people that are blathering at them are college grads…

  3. Okay, let’s get this straight: Are you flat-out stating that the photos Fox used are NOT pictures of them at 22? Perry could have been in ROTC or other training, and Obama could have been at a picnic or party. You seem to allege falsehood indirectly, but don’t actually prove the photos are misrepresentations.

    If the photos are indeed of both of them at 22, then truth is their defense. I can just as easily say that your offered alternative photos demonstrate an obvious prejudice for Obama (making him look scholarly and legalistic) and against Perry. Why shouldn’t your “obvious” prejudices be just as readily condemned as Fox’s biases?

    I said as soon as Obama was confirmed as the Democratic candidate that if he were elected, his supporters would spend the next decade or more claiming ANY criticism or nay-saying of Obama, deserved or not, was racism, and the national discourse would deteriorate as a result. The reality of such refutations have vastly exceeded even my most cynical and pessimistic expectations.

    • First of all, yes, I am flat-out stating that Fox misrepresented the content of the photos. It’s obvious by looking at them. What’s more, Fox apparently feels the same way. Since I posted this they have rewritten their headline to read “Perry/Obama Comparison in Twitter Picture.” They entirely removed the age reference. They also disassociated themselves as the source of the photos. Why do you suppose they did that?

      Secondly, the photos I used in my alternative were chosen intentionally to illustrate the absurd bias that Fox engaged in. You’d have to be pretty dense not to recognize that. Even so, my version is more realistic for the reasons I stated in the article.

      Finally, this is not a case of alleging racism without justification. Any neutral observer can see the overt prejudice in the way Fox used the photos. You would have to be blind or equally as bigoted as Fox to deny it. Rather, you are dismissing the allegations without justification by asserting that any charge of racism is inherently false. You even admit that you arrived at that conclusion years ago before any of this took place. So much for your credibility.

      • Alexander, I am flat-out stating that Mark is lying. Again. A photo that shows Barack Obama wearing a hat and smoking a cigarette does not qualify as racism.

    • It’s clearly bullshit. Perry was a C-130 pilot, but the aircraft in the background is a fighter.

      • The aircraft is a trainer, dipshit.

  4. Looks alot like that photo of Bush in his air national guard photo, I can hardly tell the difference. I don’t think this country needs another Bush, especially not Bush on steroids(Perry). The right-wing loves parading their politicians around in military uniforms. There are so few of them, when they get one they have to show how tough they are by showing pictures of them in uniform. If his military record is anything like Bush’s(military desertion in time of war) they may want to put that photo away. I suspect his air guard record may reflect his college transcripts-total under-achievment.

  5. Mark I don’t actually see racism in the photos. I see more of the “Obama is weak” meme. Regardless, it is important to remember a key fact when “comparing” these photos. When Perry was 22 there was an actual war being waged. When the Obama picture was taken (yes, that’s him at 22) the patron Saint of the Republican party, Ronald Reagan was president and there was little in the way of military action going on. Further, they take an obviously staged picture of Perry and compare it to a spontaneous picture of Obama. Anyone can see the circumstances of the photos are completely different. I could take a picture of H.W. Bush puking at a dinner in China and compare it to Clinton giving a speech before Congress and title it, “H.W. Bush as President vs. Clinton as President” and it would be just as honest.

    • Well, we differ on the question of racism, but agree that it is a deliberate effort to unfairly insult Obama. And your points as to the circumstances of the photos is spot on.

      However, I have confirmed that Obama was 18/19 when the pictures were taken by a student photographer, Lisa Jackson.

      • Good work on the confirmation! I am excited to see this. I read a blog post yesterday on this issue and the author, a reliable blogger, seemed to take the age as unquestioned. This makes the exercise even more despicable. Well done.

        For clarification, I understand your arguments about racism, and I’m in no way saying the differences in the photos would not appeal to inherent racist attitudes of certain constituents.

  6. So was it racist for Barry to where the Panama hat, or front his Afro or was it racist to notice his race? As a black man I get a little nervous when you white guys think we need you to defend us based on color. What’s the matter you do not like your Negroes being to strong? Obama is a liberal that is why he is attacked. Him being a black liberal is only noticed by racist liberals.

    • If you don’t see the obvious racism expressed by portraying Perry as a hero and Obama obviously younger, more casual, and with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, I don’t know what to tell you. This was an unmistakable attempt to cast Obama as a delinquent next to Perry, an upstanding American. It’s a deliberate insult and you’d have to blind to miss it.

      I also find it curious that you’re offended when a white guy speaks out against racism. A lot of white people marched with Dr. King. Would you have preferred they stayed home? For you to characterize it as a statement about “Negroes being to strong” is pathetic. It is a statement of solidarity and brotherhood.

      Finally, Obama is not, and never has been, a liberal. I know because I’m a liberal. Obama did not fight for universal health care. He let the Bush tax cuts for the rich be extended twice. He supported the Patriot Act and its extension. He even voted for the war in Iraq.

      He is, therefore, not being attacked because he’s a liberal. You can crawl back into your shell now and pretend that racism has been abolished and attend your Tea Party where they exploit you even as they insult you.

      • This was an unmistakable attempt to cast Obama as a delinquent next to Perry.

        “CAST?”

        He IS a DELINQUINT

        You are just jealous of the T-party people, because ya all dont protest everything and nothing anymore and they protest out of control govt, something SOME of you USED to do when Bush was prez.

        Now that Obama is doing the SAME thing, it does not bother you.
        Waycis.

      • Earth to Snizz:

        So, you think my post was racially motivated?

        Newsflash: Gangsters come in all colors – MORON!

    • Mason, liberals are the real racists.
      IF Obama was doing a good job, they would not have to cry and wine, screaming every other day; THATS RACIST!!

      This picture shows what one man was doing at 22; Smoking, thinking he was cool etc.
      The other pic shows another man in the USAF at 22.

      Whats a matta LIBERALS? Ashamed?
      You should be.

  7. You are 100% spot on, Mason. It’s obvious you hit it out of the park, especially after reading Mark’s putrid response.

    “…younger, more casual, with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth…”

    Have you been sleeping through all the press coverage about President Obama’s struggles to try and quit smoking? He doesn’t look delinquent in that photo; he looks like he got cast on “That 70’s show”. Seriously, that is one dated hat.

    “…you’re offended when a white guy speaks out against racism…”

    Wrong again, genius. People get offended when a white guy (or anybody else) cries racism when it’s not there. That’s why Janeane Garofalo looks and sounds so insane. Mason isn’t blind at all.

    “…attend your Tea Party where they exploit you even as they insult you…”

    The Tea Party doesn’t exploit blacks or whites or anybody else. And the only one hurling insults around here is you.

    • That’s why Janeane Garofalo looks and sounds so insane

      What do you mean ‘sounds?’

      She IS insane.

  8. So showing a president smoking is racisit? Is there any photo of Obama that doesn’t show him with a halo or his own socialist realism logo that isn’t racist in your small, johnny one-note minds? If this is the heart of racism, then we’re in good shape in that department because you’re really reaching. Obama’s first tax on poor Americans was a cigarette tax–is he a racist?

    • It is the juxtaposition that”s racist. You, and other commenters here, want to pretend that the picture exists in a vacuum. That is dishonest and you know it.

      Why do you think Fox Nation and the other rightist web sites disseminating these photos are doing so? Can’t you admit that they intend to disparage the President? To make him look, at the very least, less patriotic? It’s obvious if you’re honest about it.

      • We are the ones being honest, and you know it.

      • U act like conservatives have not been brainwashed, as well, by phoney black racism for over 22 years.

        Well, you are wrong. I notice that when the genocidal progressives call West and Cain “UNCLE TOMS” Ya all dont seem to mind it at all.

        Pot. Kettle. Black..

        Hypocrisy.

    • Norma;

      They are ashamed that their president acted more like a gang-banger at 22, vs Perry who was an A.F. man.

      Bo, where is the TOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLERANCE toward gang bangers!?

      I would be ashamed, too if I was madly in love with a pres named Barack HUSSEIN Obama.

      But, these people are above reproach-in 1992 they elected in a hippy-dippy, draft-dodger.

  9. Where is the racism?
    These are just pics of Osama as in comparison to Perry.
    Thats all.

    When there is a REAL racist attack of some sort, nobody will believe you ‘people’ anymore.

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