In my ongoing series “Fox Nation vs. Reality” I have endeavored to expose some of the more brazen departures from truthful reporting that so often make their way onto the pages of the Fox Nation web site. But today the Fox Nationalists have ventured beyond even their typical separation from the facts by posting as their headline story this sensationalistic declaration: White House ‘Panicked’ Over Gas Prices, President Becoming ‘Incoherent’
The associated article said nothing about the White House being panicked. It said nothing about the President being incoherent. Despite those words being put in quotes in the headline, they were not referencing any citation by any person. In fact, they were not a part of the story in any respect – not directly, indirectly, insinuated, implied, hypothetical, allegorical, or…well you get the idea. The entire piece consisted of a video of a Fox News report on the presidential campaign, an excerpt of results from a Fox News poll, and one paragraph that briefly abstracted part of the content of the video.
Where the Fox Nation editors got the idea that the president was panicked and incoherent is a mystery. The only explanation is that they are so infected with Obama Derangement Syndrome that they were in the throes of a hallucinatory seizure. Either that or their determination to slander the President is so overpowering that they could not resist the urge to invent derogatory adjectives to attach to his name.
It’s bad enough when the Fox Nationalists post stories with pejorative quotes from the likes of Hannity or Limbaugh as if it were news, but when they don’t even have a source and they still put their insults in quotes, they have crossed a line that could only be acceptable to the most untrustworthy purveyors of schlock journalism – aka Fox News.
Update: The Fox Nationalists edited the article this morning. They swapped out the video for one that consists of a panel discussion with Jonah Goldberg, who made the following statement in response to a question from anchor Bret Baier:
Baier: The president is out almost every other day, it seems, talking about gas prices. Is it a sign that this White House is concerned about this issue? What does it tell us?
Goldberg: I think it tells us they’re in something of a panic over it. We’ve seen his poll numbers drop precipitously. And you can’t prove it, but most people think the gas thing is a major driver of it. And the problem is that he basically beyond doubling down, he’s tripling down on the same stuff he was saying three years ago, and it’s fundamentally incoherent.
So now they have the basis for their quotes – a highly partisan right-winger with an agenda to peddle. However, from the same segment they completely ignored the statements by panelist Kirsten Powers who called it hypocritical:
Powers: This is a real exercise in hypocrisy because when George Bush was being blamed for high prices by Democrats, Republicans were saying the president doesn’t have any control over that and now we have the exact reverse.
Obviously somebody at Fox Nation wasn’t paying attention when they first posted this item. But what’s worse is that the correction includes a clip of Fox’s chief news anchor, citing a Fox News poll, saying that “the majority said the president is to blame for gas prices.” Except that the majority in the Fox poll said exactly the opposite. The majority (52%) said the President is not to blame, and only 40% said that he is. So Fox News compounds their erroneous reporting even as they attempt to correct it.
Fox News is full of shit. You can quote me as I’m probably an expert.
Gas prices still aren’t as high as they were at the peak of high prices when Bush was President. I remember the king of energy policy in that administration, Dick Cheney, saying that when adjusted for inflation those high prices weren’t as high as they were during the embargo and long gas lines of the 70’s. They need to drag that clip out and play it. The difference between high gas prices now and high gas prices then, is that the democrats weren’t happy about the high prices then like the republicans are happy about them now. Gas prices may get as high as they were before and maybe even higher but I think by October-November they will be easing back and that is what frightens republicans. They know production is up, demand is down and the speculative high oil prices will probably be driven down by market forces befor November.
If you believe in an election year that one party – Dem or repub wouldn’t love something to tilt the election potential in their favor, you’re incredibly naive. Yes, I’m sure the republican party will leverage high gas prices as much as possible to improve their chances of winning, but if you think it doesn’t happen both ways – you’re a sucker. Many of us average conservative types have no love of the republican party because we know they don’t actually represent us – only their desire for power – I suggest you wake up to reality on your liberal side.
Way to be delusional and miss the point yet again Steve in York.
You do know there is a huge difference between politicians and the media, don’t you? This site is not so much about what politicians say and do, it is about the way the media portrays it. It is interesting to me that you always seem to miss the distinction.
While there may have been some liberal blogger blaming George Bush for gas prices, I specifically remember stories talking about how gas prices work in the mainstream media.
Just for the record: liberals are not glassy-eyed idiots who think their politicians are perfect. I don’t know anyone who thinks like this of any of the politicians. First off, they are human and therefore imperfect, but their job is to appeal to a wide swath of the public, so they tend to say what will make people happy. This can make them hypocritical at times. I actually think some of the politicians (on either side) think they are doing what’s right for the nation. Others want fame and power. Funny thing is, I don’t know anyone on the left that talks about politicians as if they were saints the way that some republicans talk about Reagan….
Long and short of it is that on both sides of the political divide, we are not voting for our ideal. The question on this site is different, though: how is the press portraying these candidates? How objective are these “reporters” being? On Fox “News”, the partisanship is so clear and their rhetorical devices are really obvious -can you see them?
Mark! Get a grip. Looks like you’ve dedicated your life to seeking out untruths and misrepresentations. You’re making it way too hard on yourself. There’s an all-you-can-eat buffet right under your nose. Just delving into the campaign promises (i.e. lies) of Premier Barry would keep you busier than Eric Holder on Capitol Hill. The pickings are easy. Transparency?? Posting bills on the internet for days before they are voted on? Unifying the nation and reaching across the aisle?????? The list is way too extensive to list here. It’s a disgraceful situation – if you have a conscience.
The President typically lives in a fish bowl. Yet, after over 3 years of this regime, we still don’t know much about this jerk. And what we do know is extremely distasteful. Fox is not the problem just because they haven’t fallen in line with the lemmings that spew Barry’s propoganda. Before you decide you want to live in a country where one idiot pulls all the strings you should spend a considerable amount of time in a country where that is the norm now. My guess is that you wouldn’t like it, but then again maybe you have a reason for thinking the government could run your life better than you could on your own.