Fox News Appoints Itself As Mitt Romney’s Debate Coach

It’s a few days before the first presidential debate of 2012, and Fox News is playing out its role as Mitt Romney’s debate coach.

Fox News Helps Romney

With broadcasts that openly display their preference for Romney, Fox News has dispatched their anchors, correspondents and contributors on a mission of shoring up Romney’s fading electoral hopes. Their television segments have headlines like “What Does Romney Need to Do to Win Next Week’s Debate?” And “Romney’s Debate Challenge: Can He Change the Campaign Narrative?”

Funny…Fox has never had a segment on what Obama needs to do to win, or how Obama can sustain his lead. All of these segments were aimed at providing advice for Romney on how to beat Obama in the debates and prevail in November.

Much of the discussion on Fox is hilariously incoherent and contradictory. They spend a great deal of time trying to lower expectations for Romney so that if he manages to avoid drooling spittle down his chin he can claim victory. At the same time they brag about his ability to present a clear vision that will demolish the President. Likewise, they are building up Obama’s debating skills to something on par with Churchill. But this is the same guy that they ridicule for being unable to string two sentences together without a TelePrompter.

The contradictions are also apparent in the advice Romney is getting. One faction says that all he needs to do is avoid mistakes and that just appearing on the stage with Obama raises the public perception of him. Others say that he needs to be aggressive and go for a knockout punch. Actually, both courses are likely to fail. Romney definitely needs a game changing moment to turn back the tide that is engulfing him, which suggests that the knockout is the way to go. But he’s not the sort of candidate that can pull that off and he risks looking mean-spirited and aloof. And if he tries to just muddle through without stumbling it won’t be a dynamic enough event to change the present course of the campaign.

In short, Romney’s only hope is that Obama screws up badly. That’s not impossible, but it’s also not much to bet on. This leaves Romney with pretty thin prospects for altering the political landscape. And that’s why Fox News is expanding their role and attempting to shape a path to victory for their candidate. Ironically, as highlighted on the image above, they will also continue to allege wholesale bias on the part of the mainstream media while hoping people will forget that there is no bigger or more biased media corporation in the world than Fox News.

BENGHAZI-GATE: How Fox News Is Shamelessly Politicizing Terror In Libya

The attack on the U.S. embassy in Libya was a tragic event that took the lives of four Americans serving their country. But rather than reporting what occurred with dignity and respect, Fox News immediately sought to politicize the tragedy in an effort to damage President Obama during a heated campaign. Unfortunately, their zeal to create a phony election issue has also harmed the families of the victims and the search for the truth.

In the wake of the attack there was rampant speculation as to the cause and the participants. Right-wing pundits and politicians didn’t wait for any facts before declaring their conclusions that it was premeditated terrorism. The Obama administration took a more thoughtful and responsible approach by not making any definitive statements. Conservatives portrayed that as weakness and continued to muddy the waters with baseless yammering.

As usual, Fox News took the lead in propagating rumors and innuendo. Their Fox Nation web site has published a steady stream of one-sided criticisms of the Obama administration. Amongst the wildly unfounded accusations are charges of deliberate cover-ups complete with comparisons to Watergate. Thus was born Benghazi-Gate.

Fox Nation Benghazi-Gate

Ever since the mid-1970’s scandal that drove Richard Nixon from office, partisans have been attempting to slap a “gate” at the end of any controversy. But it should be remembered that Watergate was not simply some government gaffe. It was an intentionally criminal act that included breaking into Democratic headquarters, paying off accomplices for their silence, and lying to investigators from law enforcement and congress. All of that unlawfulness was in pursuit of personal political benefits to the Nixon White House and reelection effort.

What occurred in Libya was tragic, but it was certainly not the result of someone in the White House pursuing personal gain. Nor was there any hint of corruption or clandestine plots to sabotage a political foe. Nor were there any attempts to covertly mask unlawful activity. In other words, there is nothing in this story that remotely resembles Watergate. This is just an attempt on the part of Fox to throw more mud at the President and hope that some of it sticks. It is their contribution to the Romney campaign that has been so woefully inept.

It has been less than three weeks since the Libyan embassy attack. That is hardly enough time to have conducted a thorough investigation and arrive at a conclusive decision. It doesn’t help matters with bitter partisans screaming for the heads of government agencies and even the impeachment of the President. In fact, that’s the kind of background noise that actually inhibits the process and unnecessarily incites further hostilities. Imagine the glee with which Al Qaeda would greet the news that their violent protests led to the downfall of the American president who ordered the killing of their leader. That is who the Republicans are aligning themselves with in this attempt to oust Obama from office.

The Snuff Film Network: Fox News Airs Live Suicide Of Carjacking Suspect

Faux PasToday during the broadcast of Shepard Smith’s Studio B, Fox News cut to a live police car chase in Arizona. This is typical fare for Fox News who frequently break into programming for this sort of crime drama. Never mind that there is nothing particularly newsworthy about it. Ordinarily it involves some low-level violation that would only be of interest to the residents of the locality where it occurred.

However, today the situation had much more tragic consequences. The suspect drove into field, abandoned the car, and ran down a dirt road to a clearing where he pulled out a gun shot himself in the head. Fox News aired the entire tragedy live.

After the shooting, Shepard Smith was heard ordering his crew to cut away, but it was too late. He seemed to be genuinely disturbed, and his subsequent apology was no doubt sincere. The network also issued an official apology.

However, there is a bigger issue here that Fox isn’t addressing. Why do they cover these car chases at all? There is no news value, particularly to a national audience, for a local crime. Suspects in these affairs are often seen exploiting their new-found celebrity. And the interest to the viewer is confined to its morbid nature.

What does Fox News expect to happen when they broadcast these chases? They know that the conclusions can be dramatic and disturbing. They follow fleeing suspects as they run through busy intersections and narrowly miss pedestrians. They interrupt more important news coverage as they devote hours to watching a car snake through the city.

Let’s face it, the only reason these chases are covered is for ratings. And the more dramatic the chase, the higher the ratings. Anyone who doesn’t believe that Fox harbors some desire that the car smash into a truck or a crowded bus stop, or flies off a bridge, is simply naive. Their resources are expensive. Helicopters, cameras, studios, producers, anchors, and crews, as well as the airtime and pre-empted commercials, are not given lightly to stories without some justification. They don’t spend hours tracking a vehicle from the air with the hope that the driver just decides to pull over and lay down on the ground. A shootout with police makes much better television.

So despite Smith’s regrets, it is hard to forgive Fox for subjecting their viewers to this. It was the inevitable outcome of their sensationalistic editorial philosophy. They simply cannot absolve themselves of any responsibility and then go back to broadcasting the next police pursuit as if nothing happened.

Allen West: Disgraced Army Reject Attacks Opponent For A Teenage Bar Fight

In the annals of disreputable political attacks, Allen West is going to have a place of honor reserved. His latest ad is a pathetic and desperate assault that avoids any discussion of substantive policy matters, but goes directly for jugular with an absurdly irrelevant personal smear.

For the record, Patrick Murphy was a nineteen year old college student in 2003. His arrest is surely not a moment of great pride, but anyone who is surprised that a teenager in college drank alcohol and got into a fight at a bar doesn’t know many teenagers in college. The charges were dropped and Murphy went on to graduate and become a successful businessman.

In 2003 Allen West was in Iraq where he submitted an innocent Iraqi police officer to torture. For that abusive and illegal behavior West was relieved of his command and only escaped a court-martial due to the intervention of a couple of powerful GOP torture supporters in congress. He was allowed to “resign” from the service but not without paying a fine and having his record sullied by his having disobeyed the law and ignoring orders.

West’s ad concludes by saying “Two men, a country in crisis — you decide.” That’s a good question. Who is the better man to represent the 18th district of Florida? A man who was thrown out of a bar as a teenager, or a man who was thrown out of the Army for torture and insubordination. And we might also ask whether one would prefer a Murphy, a man who has demonstrated his competence and diplomacy, or West, a maniacal extremist who thinks that 70-80 of Democratic members of congress are communists and calls anyone with whom he disagrees a Nazi. That’s the caliber of man who Mitt Romney chose to chair his Black Leadership Council.

You can help Murphy defeat West here: Patrick Murphy for Congress

[Update] Murphy just released an ad responding to West’s attack. The ad goes straight at West’s military misconduct and unlawful acts.

Wake The F**K Up: Samuel L. Jackson vs. Ted Nugent

A new video is trending on the InterTubes that features Oscar-winning actor Samuel L. Jackson in a parody of the bestseller “Go the F**k to Sleep” by Adam Mansbach. The video follows Jackson and a young girl warning her family that this election is too important to become complacent. It’s not safe for work, and also hilarious.

So queue up the right-wing outrage over a liberal from Hollywood unleashing a string of (bleeped) profanities. The conservative blogosphere is aghast at this display of uncivil language.

Which is funny because they absolutely worship Ted Nugent when he does it. Here is a video of him threatening President Obama, and Senators Boxer and Feinstein with machine guns while calling them “piece[s] of shit” and “worthless whores.”

Nugent: I was in Chicago last week I said, “Hey Obama, you might want to suck on one of these, you punk?” Obama, he’s a piece of sh*t and I told him to suck on one of my machine guns. Let’s hear it for them. I was in New York and I said, “Hey Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset you worthless bitch.” Since I’m in California, I’m gonna find Barbara Boxer she might wanna suck on my machine guns. Hey, Dianne Feinstein, ride one of these you worthless whore.

And don’t forget that Mitt Romney actively solicited (and received) Nugent’s endorsement for president, but has never repudiated these remarks. In fact, he seems to be completely OK with Nugent’s performance as his surrogate. He never complained about his either:

Ted Nugent

There’s nothing subtle, creative, or humorous about the way these miscreants communicate their hate. It’s just a load of the sort of vacant bravado that appeals to Republicans. They cheered when bush stood on a mound of rubble on 9/11 shaking his fist at the terrorists, even though he failed to bring them to justice, as Obama did. They admire chickenhawks who advocate for more and bigger wars, but who have never served in the military. Both Nugent and Romney went to great lengths to evade military service. It’s typical of their mind-numbing hypocrisy and, now they present another example of just how detached they are from reality.

Conservative Leaders Urge Their Followers To Become Even More Stupid

It has been proven in multiple studies that consumers of conservative media (particularly Fox News) are significantly less knowledgeable about current affairs than those who favor other media or even those who consume no news at all.

Nevertheless, it is conservatives who whine incessantly about an illusionary liberal media bias. It is astonishing how they can convince themselves that these giant, international, multi-billion dollar, conglomerates are somehow aligned to a socialist ideology that would rob them of their wealth and independence.

As if the present ignorance of the right-wing masses were not already disturbingly severe, a group of conservative organizations and authorities just issued an open letter calling on their minions to “Tune out the Liberal Media” and cease their exposure to the evil leftist press. The letter enumerates a set of perceived grievances and concludes with this desperate appeal:

“We the undersigned – representing millions of Americans from our respective organizations – are now publicly urging our members to seek out alternative sources of political news in order to make an intelligent, well-informed decision on November 6.”

Oh great. Now the least informed segment of society is being coerced to voluntarily make themselves even more stupid by constricting their media access to a narrow and partisan assemblage of right-wing propaganda and blind conservative boosterism. That’ll help.

The aforementioned list of grievances in the letter is a tired collection of debunked conspiracy theories, misrepresentations of news events, and Republican talking points. Certainly the audience to whom the letter is directed has already been sufficiently misinformed on these matters. So what goal do the letter’s co-signers have in beseeching their readers to abstain from watching a more diverse selection of media? The only plausible purpose is to insure that they remain untainted by alternative viewpoints so that they can be more easily manipulated by their conservative masters. Obviously there is some lack of confidence in the ability of conservatives to digest broad-based information and make up their own minds.

The signers of the letter are a who’s who of right-wing disinformation, starting with the head of the uber-rightist Media Research Center, Brent Bozell. Other notables include Gary Bauer, President of Campaign for American Values; Matt Kibbe, President and CEO of FreedomWorks; Laura Ingraham, National Radio Host; Amy Kremer, Chairman of Tea Party Express; Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council; and, of course, Rush Limbaugh. These are the people who are complaining about bias in the media? And their appeal was posted as a news story on the front page of the Fox News web site where there has never been a hint of bias.

Fox News Bias Alert

I think it’s a great idea to sequester the lunatic fringe to an asylum inhabited by their own kind. Then they won’t bother the rest of us with their delusions of Kenyan usurpers, climate science deniers, and fables of Jesus riding on dinosaurs. They can amuse each other with their shared distortions of reality, listen to Ron Paul books on tape, and swap stories about their gold coin collections and dehydrated survivalist dinner packets.

We’ll be here taking care of things while they’re gone, and tending to the problems of the real world. Should they ever decide to rejoin us they will find history, and diversity of opinion still in tact.

Fox News Promotes Disreputable Voter Intimidation Campaign, True The Vote

For many months now, Fox News has been on the case of alleged voter fraud in America. And notwithstanding the fact that they have utterly failed to turn up any evidence of more than a handful of incidents (usually implicating Republicans), they persist in presenting it as a rampant crisis that threatens our democracy.

The latest example of this stain on journalism is an article Fox published yesterday about the discredited and disreputable Tea Party-affiliated band of voter intimidation activists, True the Vote. The headline for the article declares that “Voter watchdog says it’s uncovered absentee ballot fraud in Florida, New York.” This is precisely the sort of garbage that has earned Fox a reputation for demeaning professional journalism and violating ethical standards of practice. The article begins by stating that…

“A national voter fraud watchdog group announced Tuesday that it has uncovered at least 31 cases of absentee ballot fraud in New York and Florida — a finding the group claims is ‘just the tip of the iceberg.'”

That’s it. That is pretty much the whole article. There is nothing further that substantiates the claim by the “watchdog” group. There is no production of evidence. There is no affirmation from the state election agencies of New York or Florida. There is only a claim by True the Vote that their investigation yielded a massive trove of 31 voters whose names allegedly appear on the voter rolls of both states. But there is no indication that any research was done to ascertain whether they may have been different people with the same or similar names. So far as can be determined from the article, the voters themselves were not contacted.

So Fox News did precisely nothing to validate the assertions made by True the Vote. Yet they published the claims as if they were newsworthy. In effect Fox is acting as their press release publisher and as such have no obligation to verify any of the article’s content.

That’s convenient because True the Vote has never provided any documentation for their claims of election fraud. They have been operating for a couple of years after having spun off from a Texas Tea Party group called the King Street Patriots. They have been found guilty of conspiring with the Republican Party to provide in-kind contributions that were a violation of the law and cost them their tax-exempt status. And that history must be what Fox relied upon to give them the credibility of publishing their unsubstantiated allegations.

Fox News is using this hoax to further their phony campaign against non-existent election fraud and in support of voter ID laws that are designed to disenfranchise voters who happen to lean Democratic. It should be noted that the claims of fraud in this article are related to absentee ballots and would not have been prevented by any of the new laws, even if they were proven to have occurred. It is also noteworthy that the discovery of a mere 31 incidents would hardly justify purging voter rolls of millions of eligible citizens and thus denying them their right to vote.

In light of this, the only explanation for Fox publishing this story without even a cursory investigation into the substance, is that Fox News has signed on with True the Vote and is acting on their behalf. They are doing their part to prevent millions of seniors, minorities, students, and veterans, from casting votes this November. And that’s the real election fraud.

Republicans know that they can’t win this election fairly, so they are pulling out all the stops to corrupt the process and infringe on voter’s rights. And Fox News is a willing partner in this anti-democratic operation.

Fox Nation Admonishes Their Faithful: Don’t Believe The Polls

As Mitt Romney sinks further into an abyss of electoral sludge, his Pharisees at Fox News dispense divine guidance to their disciples. The word from on high at Fox Nation is: “Don’t Believe the Polls.”

Fox Nation Don't Believe Polls

It is true that most of the recent polls show President Obama widening his lead over Romney. Even the polls from Fox News report Obama ahead by significant margins. That news is triggering a severe case of paranoia resulting in a defensive overreaction on the part of Romney’s PR team (aka Fox News).

So Fox found an article on The Hill and linked to it with a headline of their own making. The actual source was nothing more than a report on the comments by Romney’s pollster Neil Newhouse, who just happened to disagree with all the polls showing Romney behind. But Fox, in their headline, failed to attribute that opinion to a Romney operative. Newhouse, it should be noted, is the adviser who declared that “We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers.” To his credit, the campaign has kept that promise.

This admonition to cast out the demon polls is typical of the behavior of a cult where the first sacred lesson is to accept that anything told you by anyone outside the order is a lie. Therefore, all the pollsters are agents of the unholy and must be shunned. Never mind that all of these same pollsters were once embraced by the Foxists as prophets:

Fox Nation Polls

  • Rasmussen Poll: Romney 50%, Obama 42%
  • Poll: Romney Beating Obama Among Women Voters
  • Poll: Romney Up Double Digits With Swing State Independents
  • NBC-WSJ poll: On economy, Romney Opens Up Lead Over Obama
  • Rasmussen Poll: Romney 48%, Obama 44%
  • Fox News Poll: Romney Edges Obama as Approval of President Drops
  • Two National Polls Show Favor For Romney

You have to wonder what calamity befell these pollsters since their prior celebration by those at Fox. It must be that the mortal sin of reporting the results of surveys that show the Kenyan, socialist, anti-Christ defeating the Magic Underwear, White Horse Savior, is sacrilege to the Fox Nationalists and must not be tolerated at the risk of sacrificing your soul. So put the evil polls aside, children, and glory in the Truthiness of Fox.

HEY AMERICA: Today is National Voter Registration Day

From NationalVoterRegistrationDay.com:

In 2008, 6 million Americans didn’t vote because they missed a registration deadline or didn’t know how to register. In 2012, we want to make sure no one is left out.

On September 25, 2012, volunteers, celebrities, and organizations from all over the country will “hit the streets” for National Voter Registration Day. This single day of coordinated ?eld, technology and media efforts will create pervasive awareness of voter registration opportunities–allowing us to reach tens of thousands of voters or more who we could not reach otherwise.

Over 1,000 organizations, including Facebook, Google, and Rolling Stone, are coming together to set up what will be an unprecedented online and offline effort to make sure voters are registered. News Corpse is participating in this nationwide exercise in patriotism by providing an opportunity for readers to register and get information specific to each state’s laws and procedures.

The GOP is working overtime to suppress the vote. They are passing laws that disenfranchise seniors, minorities, students, and other legitimate voters who just happen to lean Democratic. But if we counter those efforts in the courts and the public arena, we can defeat them and ensure that all eligible citizens get to express themselves in this election.

Use this form register or get more information. And pass it along to your friends and family.

What’s next? Visit GottaVote.com

  • Plan to vote: Find out what you need to vote, what rules your state has about voting, the details about absentee voting, and other important dates and deadlines.
  • Early vote: Check if your state allows early voting – and when early voting begins. [This is important as it frees up resources to get out the vote on election day]
  • Commit to vote: Commit to vote in this election – and send yourself a reminder to vote once the polls are open.
  • Find your polling place: Find out where you vote on election day and what hours your polling place is open.
  • Mark your calendar: Add important dates and deadlines to your phone or personal calendar.
  • Tell your friends: Share important information about registering to vote and how to vote with your friends.

Spread the word and don’t let your voice be silenced.

Fox News Desperation Grows: As Romney’s Prospects Decay, Anti-Obama Attacks Accelerate

It must be frustrating to be a Fox News producer or editor these days knowing that your professional mission is to advance the campaign of Mitt Romney for president, while Romney himself seems to be working as hard as he can to sabotage any possibility of victory.

Last week was widely considered to be disastrous for the Romney campaign, but what is most notable about the Romney Ticket’s Series of Unfortunate Events is that they were all the fault of Romney’s own missteps. Which makes it all the more curious that he appears to be so completely clueless as to his shortcomings. He told an interviewer that there is not a thing wrong with his excellent campaign and that it doesn’t require any turnaround:

Mitt Romney Campaign Turnaround

Someone must not have conveyed that positive message to the rest of Romney’s staff. As Rachel Maddow noted last night, Romney’s campaign has undergone a steady stream of makeovers, resets, retoolings, reboots, and recasting of messages:

Rachel Maddow Resets

So what does poor Fox News do when faced with such a rolling calamity (as conservative columnist Peggy Noonan described Romney’s campaign)? Well, they litter their reporting with nothing but anti-Obama stories in a desperate attempt to unlevel the playing field and boost Romney’s fading prospects. Yesterday on the Fox News web site the following stories appeared:

  • ’60 Minutes’ interview causes headache for White House
  • Libya latest example of Obama administration downplaying initial reports of terror?
  • Obama heads for taping of ‘The View,’ as UN summit begins
  • Romney accuses Obama of trying to ‘fool’ voters
  • Ryan: President Obama will let Medicare go belly up.
  • Ryan: If Obama ‘can’t change Washington’ we need to change presidents
  • Obama admits some ads go ‘overboard,’ Romney defends campaign in dueling interviews
  • Obama Shifts Further on Libya Strike, Says Attack Not ‘Just a Mob Action’
  • White House: Obama Too Busy for Side Meetings at UN
  • White House pressed on why Obama UN itinerary doesn’t include meetings with world leaders

That’s ten stories with obviously anti-Obama spin. And to make this unfair and unbalanced presentation of the “news” all the more apparent, there was not even one story that similarly treated Romney. Not one. Zero. Zilch. In fact there wasn’t even a single story wherein Romney was the lede. That must be because even Fox couldn’t find anything positive to say about his campaign. Therefore, they stuck to burying Obama in an avalanche of mud.

Meanwhile, on the air at Fox News, they approached their political reporting with a peculiar slant. Just about every story was framed along the lines of “What Can Romney Do To Turn Things Around?” Or “How Will Romney Respond To All The Negative Media?” Or this bit of breaking news: “Gov. Romney Revs Up 2012 Campaign.”

Bret Baier Fox News

These are characteristic representations of Fox News’ partisan perspective. They would, of course, never lead off with a headline like “What Can Obama Do To Maintain His Lead?” The Pro-Romney editorializing at Fox News could not be more transparent. They have gone into overdrive as they recognize the near futility of pulling Romney’s ass out of the fire of his own making. It is almost painful to watch them squirming like worms on a hot sidewalk who know that it’s just a matter of time before they become so desiccated they can no longer wriggle in the sun.

The desperation of Fox News is manifest in their manic hyperactivity to pile on Obama, while virtually ignoring the hapless misadventures of Mitt & Co. And this is the sort of misbehavior that we can expect to increase in the few weeks left before the election. At this point does anyone expect to see any future headlines from Fox praising Obama’s speech at the United Nations or declaring him the winner of a debate? Don’t bet on it.

As the days grow short, so will Fox’s fuse on their rhetorical bombs. The good news is that no one but Fox’s glassy-eyed disciples will ever know there was an explosion because, more and more, Fox’s influence is confined to an insular group of fanatics who can still tolerate their brand of dishonest and disreputable pseudo-journalism.