Day: 8/25/2010

Megyn Kelly: Capitalism Is Only For The Rich

Posted by on August 25, 2010 at 4:22 pm. 1 Comments :

Megyn KellyOn today’s segment of America Live on Fox News, host Megyn Kelly presented a segment (video below) about the developer of the Park51 Islamic community center near ground zero. It was promoted as an expose about the person responsible for the project and suggested that there would shocking new information about its financing. Of course everything Kelly reports appears to be shocking because it is a permanent part of her vocal delivery. She is the human manifestation of Fox’s ever-present “FOX ALERT!” Here is how Kelly introduced the segment (bearing in mind that it is impossible to convey in text the panicky cadence of her voice):

“Five years ago this man was waiting tables in Manhattan! Today he is spending millions – IN CASH – on New York real estate! Including on the building where this mosque will go!”

Kelly then tosses to Charles Leaf of WNYW (the NY Fox affiliate) for the “MUST SEE” report on Sharif El-Gamal. Having been set up as a staggering work of investigative journalism, the viewer is primed for a roller-coaster ride along the tracks of a scandal that saw a one-time waiter become the Muslim Donald Trump. Leaf spins his tale of melodrama and mystery with this prologue:

“Naturally we wanted to meet Sharif El-Gamal. We wanted to know more about the man and his plan. But apparently he didn’t want to meet with us. We made repeated requests for a sit-down interview with him, left him multiple voice messages, and he never returned any of our calls. We even went to his office and talked to some of his colleagues but we were turned away. So we were left with no choice but to go find him.”

Actually, Leaf was left with no choice but to go stalk him. Leaf took a camera crew and followed El-Gamal around asking questions that it was clear he would be getting no answers to. It was as journalistically edifying as Geraldo Rivera’s excursion into Al Capone’s vault.

According to Leaf, El-Gamal left his job as a waiter in 2002 to become a real estate broker and within a year had his own company, Soho Properties. Leaf interviewed an old boss from El-Gamal’s waiting days who was entirely complimentary and impressed with his ambition.

Leaf also interviewed an anonymous source who spoke on camera in shadows and with his voice (hilariously) altered. It was a spooky sequence that cast El-Gamal as potentially dangerous. Leaf never provided any context for this anonymous source or verification of his concerns of retribution. And the only thing we learned from this source was that El-Gamal liked to meet celebrities and go to parties. Quick, someone call the District Attorney.

There was nothing whatsoever in this segment that raised even the slightest suspicion as to El-Gamal’s business dealings. The reporter merely tried to imply that El-Gamel’s desire for privacy was evidence of some impropriety. But in America it isn’t illegal for private individuals to mind their own business. If Leaf had some evidence that something untoward was going on, then I would have no problem with his aggressive tactics. But he had nothing, not even rumor.

What we have here is the story of a man who achieved the American dream. He worked hard as a waiter (and apparently a very popular one) while he sought to improve his life by learning to be a real estate agent. He graduated from that to property owner who received plaudits from his tenants. Eventually he hit the big time buying and selling high income properties in Manhattan.

Isn’t this the reward that America promises to those who strive to excel? Why is El-Gamal being disparaged and smeared by Fox News? Obviously Fox is opposed to this country’s great tradition of opportunity for all. Obviously Megyn Kelly thinks that a successful developer must be a crook if he were at one time a waiter. How could a lowly servant ever become a respected businessman? It doesn’t make sense. He should stay in his class and be grateful for some hotwings and beer. Kelly may not be a waitress, but she is clearly taking orders – from Rupert Murdoch. And Murdoch wants to assure that the message that goes out from Kelly and Fox News is that the rewards of capitalism are only for the elite and well-bred.

Glenn Beck: Obama Is Not A Muslim – Or A Christian

Posted by on August 25, 2010 at 12:39 am. 13 Comments :

For someone who continually broadcasts disclaimers that he is not an expert on anything, Glenn Beck sure pontificates on every subject imaginable as if he were the world’s supreme authority. In today’s episode Beck chose as his topic the actual supreme authority, God!

The message that Beck sought to convey to his jello-brained viewers was that President Obama is some sort of spiritual chameleon whose only prayerful commitment is to a collective holy borg. The presumptuousness of Beck believing that he could analyze the President’s faith reveals a measure of pride that would surely condemn him to eternal damnation were it actually the mortal sin it has been advertised as.

A new poll was released that shows that about one in four Americans are still so stupid and ill-informed that they think Obama is a Muslim. Amongst Republicans (who must be even stupider) it’s one in three. Beck blamed Obama for this mass asshattery that, in truth, was more the result of people like Beck and his talk radio lie brigades.

But Beck went further to construct a tower of trash and innuendo that was designed to leave his flock in a state of uncertainty and panic regarding this alien figure residing in the White House. For Beck is was pretty much routine. He simply trotted out the ghosts of Jeremiah Wright and social justice and wove them into a new fabric of fear. And of course, he employed his patented use of out-of-context quotations and eerie micro-focusing of otherwise mundane citations.

Prominently featured in Beck’s fantasia was a passage from Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope, wherein Obama described his spiritual introduction to Christ:

“Kneeling beneath that cross on the south side of Chicago I felt God’s spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth.”

To which Beck responded:

“Even that statement is confusing. Submission? That’s Islam.”

Umm…..Glenn may need to brush up on his scripture:

James 4:7 – Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Job 22:21 – Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.

This is typical of the way Beck invents red herrings against which he can rail. He simply makes a declarative statement, like “submission is Islam,” and then castigates his target for violating some principle that Beck just made up. Another of his favorite methods of misinformation is to quote some authority and claim that the quote validates his position. Today Beck did this with a citation that he has used before from Pope Benedict:

“Wherever politics tries to be redemptive, it is promising too much. Where it wishes to do the work of God, it becomes not divine but demonic.”

Beck intended for this to be an indictment of Obama’s belief in “collective salvation.” All that means is that Obama places importance on helping others as a method for enhancing his connection to the holy. But Beck, due to his revulsion of helping others, twists it into some sort of evil plot to suppress individual will. That is an invention of Beck’s making and has nothing to do with Obama’s intention. But even more damning, so to speak, is that the Pope’s remark is more an indictment of people like Beck who insert religion into government works. The Pope is saying that when government and politicians try to do God’s work they are actually doing the work of the devil. So all you congressmen who want to draft legislation to outlaw abortion or gay marriage had better wise up.

Finally, I thought it would be fun to note that Beck took a back-handed swipe at CBS News anchor Bob Scheifer. Scheifer’s sin was to express the shocking opinion that there is false information on the Internet (you don’t say) and that that was where some of the misperception of Obama’s faith came from. That didn’t sit well with Beck who wanted to blame everything on Obama. So Beck said…

“Bob Schiefer. You seem like a nice gentleman. I don’t know you. And I’m sure you are a good journalist. I don’t know, because I don’t watch CBS News and, quite frankly, I don’t know anybody who does.”

Oh boy, that’s funny. Beck slammed Scheiffer for having so few viewers. That’s gotta hurt. Except for this little fact: Scheiffer’s CBS News draws twice as many viewers (5.2 million total/1.6 million 24-54) as Beck’s lame cable show (2.1M total/603K 25-54). So the fact that Beck doesn’t know anybody who watches CBS just reaffirms what a sheltered little world he lives in.