Jon Stewart Hammers Fox News For Misleading Editing Of Obama Video

Once again, the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart has proved that he’s a better journalist than the dishonest hacks at Fox News and, for that matter, most of the rest of the media. And he’s not even trying to be a journalist.

Ever since last Friday’s announcement by President Obama that his administration would suspend deportation of certain younger immigrants, the right-wing media has been trying to trip up the President’s policy by portraying it as an unconstitutional power grab or searching for some evidence of hypocrisy. On the latter front, Fox News uncovered a video of Obama from last year where he appeared to give Fox just what they were looking for. In the video, as broadcast by Fox, Obama said that…

“I just have to continue to say this notion that somehow I can just change the laws unilaterally is just not true. We are doing everything we can administratively. But the fact of the matter is there are laws on the books that I have to enforce. And I think there’s been a great disservice done to the cause of getting the DREAM Act passed and getting comprehensive immigration passed by perpetrating the notion that somehow, by myself, I can go and do these things. It’s just not true.”

That would seem to close the file on the matter of presidential hypocrisy, were it not for the intrepid investigative reporting of Jon Stewart. On the Daily Show last night Stewart aired the uncut video of Obama (see it below), including the part immediately following the point where Fox News ended their clip:

“…It’s just not true. What we can do is to prioritize enforcement — since there are limited enforcement resources — and say, we’re not going to go chasing after this young man or anybody else who has been acting responsibly, and would otherwise qualify for legal status if the DREAM Act passed.”

In other words, Obama very clearly said, as Stewart put it, “…that he can do the exact thing he just did, but which you said he said he’s not supposed to.” This is a blatant, inexcusable example of deliberately editing video to misconstrue its meaning and deceive their audience.

Sadly, it is not particularly uncommon for Fox News. But their brazen dishonesty doesn’t prevent them from making false claims about others. Yesterday Fox ran a story wherein they charged that MSNBC had edited a video of Romney that they say created a false impression. It wasn’t true, as is documented here, but Fox still featured the allegation prominently on their web site. Perhaps they will now publish a story exposing this new and verified incident of unethical journalism:

Yesterday on Fox News.
Fox News Projection
Tomorrow on Fox news?
Fox News - Not

Yeah, sure. That’ll happen.

[Video no longer available]

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One thought on “Jon Stewart Hammers Fox News For Misleading Editing Of Obama Video

  1. Youe can’t say it better than Stewart did when he said, ‘motherfuckers’!. I saw a clip from Rachel Maddow’s show where one of Scott Brown’s demands for participating in a debate with Elizabeth Warren was that MSNBC could not be a participant in anyway eventhough they were not participating in anyway. In other words, he was demanding something(MSNBC’s non-participation in the debate) that didn’t exist in the first place. His demand was made because he claims MSNBC is a biased news oranization. If that is so then the democrats should never participate in anything Fox is associated with, ever!!! The fact that Fox exists in the form it does is absolutely sickening and a threat to our very democracy!

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