The News Corpse Person Of The Year: The Anonymous 47% Video Guy

2012 was a year of monumental achievements and deplorable failures. Chief among these are President Obama’s historic reelection despite harrowing obstacles, particularly an economy that was stubbornly weak and an opposition with nearly unlimited resources and animus. Then there was Gov. Romney’s surprisingly incompetent campaign that wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on a losing effort that never seemed to have a coherent strategy.

There was no shortage of contestants in the competition to declare the person who had the most impact on the course of the year. Aspirants as diverse as Karl Rove and Donald Trump and Sandra Fluke and Nate Silver all vied for the top spot. But there can be only one Person of the Year, and in 2012 the person deemed by News Corpse to have had the most striking impact on shaping the affairs of the nation was – The Anonymous 47% Video Guy!

News Corpse Person of the Year

The still unidentified person who caught Mitt Romney at a private fundraiser candidly saying what he actually believes about nearly half the country, exposed what was the most profound revelation of the campaign.

Romney: There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.

With that statement Romney was confessing that his view, and that of the Republican Party, was that middle and lower class Americans were moochers who hinged their votes on what they could scam from the public trough. It was an insensitive and unretractable insult that buried any hopes of Romney gathering enough votes to prevail in November. But we must not forget that Romney didn’t invent this line of attack. He adopted it from other conservative voices, mostly emanating from Fox News. For instance, all of these quotes predated Romney’s speech:

  • Bill O’Reilly: 50 percent of Americans don’t pay any federal income tax now.
  • Stuart Varney: About half the people who work in America, half the households, actually, pay any federal income tax at all.
  • Donald Trump: You do have a problem because half of the people don’t pay any tax.
  • Dave Briggs: [A]lmost half of this country pays no income tax whatsoever.
  • Gretchen Carlson: But what does that mean when you factor in that 50 percent of the nation doesn’t even pay federal income tax?
  • Steve Doocy: With 47% of Americans not paying taxes – 47% – should those who don’t pay be allowed to vote?
  • Sean Hannity: 50 percent of Americans no longer pay taxes.
  • Neil Cavuto: I’ve discovered nearly half of this country’s households don’t pay any taxes at all.
  • Dave Ramsey: This idea that 42% of Americans don’t pay anything…that’s just morally wrong.
  • Brian Kilmeade: Fifty-one percent of the country isn’t paying any taxes at all.
  • Eric Bolling: 43 percent of households don’t pay any federal tax.
  • Glenn Beck: There was like 48 percent say they pay their right amount of taxes and 49 percent don’t pay any tax.

Clearly this was a well coordinated effort to demonize half the electorate. By documenting that Romney himself held the same views that the Fox Borg mind held, the Anonymous 47% Video Guy performed a valuable service to the nation. Romney could no longer toil in his Etch-a-Sketch world inventing himself anew and erasing any prior inconvenient opinions that threatened his fictional character development.

So congratulations to the Anonymous 47% Video Guy on being named the News Corpse Person of the Year. We hope to meet you someday and thank you personally.

Support Your Local News Corpse – And Get The Highly Acclaimed New Ebook: Fox Nation vs. Reality

Fox Nation vs. Reality2012 was an exciting year full of political ups, downs, intrigue, and scandal. And through it all News Corpse was there to document the egregiously dishonest reporting of Fox News and other conservative media outlets.

Now you have an opportunity to express your gratitude to News Corpse for saving you the trouble of having to suffer though watching and reading all that garbage yourself. By purchasing my new eBook, Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Community’s Assault On Truth, you can help insure another year of commentary, insight, bluster, satire, and sarcasm. The book contains more than fifty examples of Fox’s blatant dishonesty as published on their Fox Nation web site.

When Fox News debuted sixteen years ago, it was crafted from scratch to be a partisan outlet for right-wing propaganda and a platform for advancing a conservative agenda. Its founder, Rupert Murdoch, was already an internationally known purveyor of right-slanted newspapers and broadcasters. Complimenting Fox’s television presence is its Internet community web site, Fox Nation. The statement of purpose posted on the Fox Nation web site says that it is “committed to the core principles of tolerance, open debate, civil discourse, and fair and balanced coverage of the news.”

However, a cursory glance at the site reveals that they have fallen wide of their stated purpose by several light years. Fox Nation vs. Reality chronicles the flagrantly dishonest reports by the Fox Nationalist team of faux journalists. These are not mere differences of opinion or discussions that might have varying degrees of perspective. They are obvious, provable, outright lies, and they are manifestations of a disconnect with the real world.

Your purchase of Fox Nation vs. Reality will help News Corpse to continue to expose Fox and its affiliated accomplices in propaganda. It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it. Thanks for your patronage, past and future. And have a happy new year.

The Sarah Palin Chronicles: A 2012 Retrospective Of Humiliation And Hilarity

The past year has presented a wealth of unintentional comedy from right-wing raconteurs whose generosity in embarrassing themselves was profound. There was Donald Trump and Dick Morris and Allen West and many others vying for the top spot in the Crackpottery Hall of Fame.

However, this year, as in much of the recent past, the competition was too stiff and everyone had to bow, once again, to the Queen of Quackery: Sarah Palin. What follows are just a few of the most memorably humiliating hijinks in a year of world class buffoonery.

Today Show Ratings Down With Sarah Palin As Guest Host

In a desperate attempt to counter-program ABC’s Good Morning America, NBC invited Palin to guest host their Today Show. The result was an episode that underperformed NBC’s average and may have been the catalyst that led to ABC eventually beating NBC in the morning news wars for the first time in years.

Sarah Palin Calls Nancy Pelosi A ‘Dingbat’ – No, Really!

Appearing with fellow crackpot Sean Hannity on Fox News, Palin responded to a question about Democratic Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi by saying…

“Well, first off, Nancy Pelosi is a dingbat. And she is the perfect spokesperson for this whole agenda of the far-left running the Democrat Party.”

Palin/Pelosi

And if that weren’t bad enough, Palin also made a disparaging, phallus-related insult directed at President Obama, calling him a “tool.”

The Alaska Mistake Mouths Off: Sarah Palin Finally Responds To Dick Cheney

After former Vice-President Dick Cheney told ABC News that her selection as John McCain’s running mate was “a mistake,” Palin fired back saying that…

“It would have been a mistake to have hunkered down, just lived that luxurious, if you will, comfortable lifestyle in Alaska.”

Of course, we now know that Palin gleefully exploited the notoriety she attained from the nomination. She peddled her books and speaking engagements. She signed a multimillion dollar deal with Fox News. She starred in laughably inept reality TV programs. She increased her net worth many times over, yet recalls wistfully her “luxurious” lifestyle in Alaska. Palin is a notorious grifter and Cheney, for once, is quite right.

Sarah Palin Wants One Name Of A Hostile Republican

When Palin appeared on Fox News with her friend Greta Van Susteren, the conversation turned to some of the nastiness on the campaign trail that Palin thinks is exclusively on the side of the Democrats. In a hilarious demonstration of self-delusion, Palin said…

“Name one — name one prominent Republican who even comes close to what like the Alan Graysons, the Harry Reids, the Joe Bidens come up with and spew to the American public. I can’t think of one prominent Republican who talks the way that they talk.”

Sarah Palin Hostile

Sarah Palin is about the most vituperative, mean-spirited, mud-slinger in America today. But, in her defense, she did specify a “prominent Republican.”

Sarah Palin Says You Are Diminished By Even Mentioning Her Name

Palin was so upset that John Kerry referenced her in joke that was directed at Mitt Romney that she unleashed this bit of nonsense on Neil Cavuto’s show on Fox News:

“I think he diminished himself by even mentioning my name. How does he even know my name? I mean aren’t these guys supposed to be these big-wig elites who don’t waste their time on the little people like me?”

So Palin is surprised that someone should know her name after running for vice-president, conducting bus tours (and book signings) across the country, hosting in two unintentionally hilarious reality shows on cable TV, and appearing regularly on Fox News as part of her million dollar contract? After all of that she still has some bizarre impression of herself as a little person. Little, perhaps, in mental acuity.

Sarah Palin Drips With Envy Over Obama’s Selection As Time Magazine’s Person Of The Year

Sarah Palin appeared on her old pal Greta Van Susteren’s show on Fox News where she was asked to comment on Time Magazine’s selection of President Obama as “Person of the Year.” And, what a surprise, the ego-driven Queen of the North could only find nasty things to say about Obama. But she concluded with a statement I agree with wholeheartedly:

“Time Magazine, you know, I think there’s some irrelevancy there to tell you the truth. I mean consider their list of the most influential people in the country and in the world, some who have made that list – yours truly – that ought to tell you something right there regarding the credence that we should give Time Magazine and their list of people.”

Sarah Palin Irrelevant

It’s interesting to see just how little Palin thinks of herself. She doesn’t think anyone should have heard of her, and she doesn’t think she’s relevant enough to be mentioned in Time. However, these bouts of low self-esteem only seem to flare up when she is being attacked. Whenever she is promoting herself her abundant ego is in full effect.

The big problem Palin has is that many others share her opinion about her being an insignificant has-been. Her books don’t sell, her TV and film ventures bomb, and speculation has it that Fox News will not be renewing her contract next year. Consequently, there is not likely going to be another Palin retrospective at the end of 2013. I miss her already.

Fox Nation vs. Reality: Westboro Baptist Hate Group A Left-Wing Cult?

In a feat of mental malfunction on an Olympian scale, the Fox Nationalists posted an item that placed the radical hate group, Westboro Baptist Church, on the political left. The item included a photo with the following caption:

“Bikers Turn Out to Protect Newtown Mourners from Left-Wing Westboro Cult.”

Fox Nation - Westboro Baptist Church

The only people deranged enough to believe that are the readers of Fox Nation. Everybody else knows that Westboro is as right-wing as you can get. They are most famous for crashing the funerals of fallen soldiers and brandishing signs that say “God Hates Fags.” No one could reasonably argue that Westboro’s homophobic intolerance, or their extremist Christianity, is consistent with liberal views. However, those are the basic tenets of conservatives and were written into the Republican Party platform.

Fox Nation sourced the item to an article on the Gateway Pundit blog by Jim Hoft. Hoft sourced his piece to the Cochrane Times of Alberta, Canada. The Cochrane Times wrote that…

“Bikers seem to have thwarted attempts by the Westboro Baptist Church to protest the funeral of Newtown, Conn., shooting victim Principal Dawn Hochsprung.

“The vocal right-wing Christian group, whose website is godhatesfags.com, produced a video called ‘God Sent the Shooter,’ and has blamed the massacre on gay marriage.”

Hoft took it upon himself to edit the original story by striking out the phrase “right-wing Christian,” and adding “left-Wing Westboro Cult” to his headline. Then the Fox Nationalists parroted the revised content for their own story.

Clearly there is nothing on Fox that can be taken seriously. This convoluted path to a blatantly false conclusion is typical of Fox Nation’s utter disrespect for journalistic ethics or the truth. And it is further evidence that Fox News does not deserve to be regarded as a legitimate news enterprise.

Ship Of Fools: National Review’s Kruise For Konservative Kooks

National Review Magazine hosts an annual cruise where geriatric right-wingers can mingle at sea with luminaries from the conservative cognoscenti. It’s difficult to grasp why anyone would actually pay to be trapped aboard an ocean liner with the likes of Ralph Reed and Jonah Goldberg, but that’s precisely the sort of punishment to which they subject themselves.

Ship of Fools

Joe Hagan at New York Magazine made the sacrifice to get aboard and mingle with these sailors as they commiserated over the loss of the November election. It’s a fascinating read that reveals much about the passengers on this Loveless Boat.

Here are a few choice quotes from the GOP flounders to wet your appetite and demonstrate what these losers really think and say about politicians and voters with whom they disagree when they think no outsiders are listening:

  • Who sent Obama here to destroy America?
  • The people have spoken, the bastards.
  • White people didn’t get to the polls. There are far more African-­Americans voting than they expected.
  • The thing we have to understand is, these are people who don’t have any morals.
  • I actually think that Goebbels was more critical of Hitler than the New York Times is of Obama.
  • These people are so evil. They’re basically Fascists.
  • Rasmussen: “You show them [minority voters] that you really care, you talk to them as grown-ups on a range of issues, you get them involved … and you accept that you can learn as much from them as you can teach them.” Passenger (and National Review contributor) responds: “That’s bullshit!”
  • I think we’re going to go into the toilet, and I don’t think there’s anything we can do to stop it.
  • You notice none of the workers [on the boat] are white. … Well, that’s the way it should be.

What a charming collection of open-minded, tolerant Americans. Just the sort of people who can be counted on to respect democracy and work to make the country better. No wonder the Republicans in congress are so intransigent and bullheaded, even about compromises that are obvious and favored by a majority of citizens – like higher taxes on the wealthy and preserving Social Security and Medicare.

Of course, no article on “fools” would be complete without a mention of their rodent-crowned king, Donald Trump. He may not have been on the cruise, but he is nevertheless drifting with the tides of extreme ignorance. In his weekly visit with the Kindergarten Krew at Fox & Friends, Trump said…

“Look, the Republicans are sitting there with a nuclear weapon, so to speak. They have debt ceiling coming up. They can use that as part of the negotiation, and they should.”

He was referring to the upcoming debate on increasing the debt ceiling, which he said could be “devastating to Democrats if the Republicans want to play that card.” That illustrates just how poorly Trump grasps economics. Meddling with the debt ceiling would not be devastating to Democrats. It would be devastating to America. The last time the GOP tried to obstruct this process, the nation’s credit rating was downgraded. Holding the country hostage in that manner is downright unpatriotic. Especially when they lie about what the debt ceiling is. It does not increase the national debt. It merely permits the country to pay bills it has already incurred. To fail to do so would constitute a default that would cost billions in higher interest payments.

There is so much blatant idiocy on the right that is not countered by rational conservatives due to their fear of being labeled soft and challenged by Koch brothers financed groups like Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks. These cowards are propped up by the propaganda on Fox News and get affirmation on silly cruises hosted by National Review.

The result is the dumbing-down of the Republican Party and turning it into an unelectable political carcass. So maybe the news isn’t all bad.

The NRA’s Prescription For A Safer America: Assault Weapons Everywhere

After a week of silence, the NRA has finally come forward to comment on the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The spokesman for the gun manufacturer’s lobbying group was NRA executive VP Wayne LaPierre.

The speech was a rehash of familiar diversions the NRA uses to absolve themselves of any responsibility for the bloody consequences of the gun culture they advocate. Their obsession with a misreading of the second amendment (which they always ignore makes specific reference to “a well-regulated militia”) takes priority over every other right or freedom in America, including free speech and the right to life.

NRA Safer America

According to LaPierre, the real killers in America are the producers of movies and video games. And while LaPierre advocates regulating these forms of entertainment, he is adamantly opposed to the sensible regulation of the actual weapons that cause actual fatalities. This is consistent with the hypocrisy of right-wingers who claim to want government off their backs, unless it is to enforce some aspect of their theocratic morality. They chafe at federal efforts to rein in predatory bankers, but are thrilled when government keeps gays from getting married.

The NRA’s core argument against stricter regulation of the most dangerous types of firearms is that “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” The problem with that argument is that it requires everybody have a gun. And, of course, having guns did not help Adam Lanza’s mother. What’s more, statistics show that people with guns in their homes are more likely to be victims of gun violence than those without guns. Often the gunowners weapon is used against them by their assailant.

The only constructive suggestion in LaPierre’s remarks was to hire and station armed guards at every school in America. Aside from turning all campuses into war zones, that would not come close to solving the problem of violence in our society. There are also children at the beach, in shopping malls, at church, in restaurants, and parks, and playgrounds, and libraries. Would LaPierre propose to have armed security at every Chuck E. Cheese and Disney movie?

At one point in his speech LaPierre spun an absurd hypothetical asking what would have happened if there were an armed guard at Sandy Hook. His presumption is that the tragedy would have been averted. However, it might just as likely have resulted in the murder of the guard along with everyone else. Common sense tells us that the killer would be expecting the guard, but the guard would be surprised by the killer. Plus, would the guard be armed with equivalent firepower? If so, that means that all of the guards at the sites we decide to protect would be carrying assault weapons. Seriously? Assault weapons at Chuck E. Cheese and Annie’s Day Care and Toys ‘R’ Us? Surely, nothing bad would come of that.

The NRA approach to public safety would be a throwback to the wild west when everybody was packing heat and there were shootouts in the street. It would turn our society into a battle zone with frightened citizens scrambling to insure that their mode of protection was superior to any other they might encounter. There would be innumerable George Zimmermans patrolling our neighborhoods and slaughtering the innocent.

The NRA manages to find fault in everything but guns. LaPierre cited movies, video games, mental health, and even hurricanes, as the causes of “a recipe for a national nightmare of violence and victimization.” So we are victimized by hurricanes, but not by rapid-fire rifles with 30 round magazines? And at the top of his list was the media about whom he said…

“Throughout it all, too many in our national media, their corporate owners, and their stockholders, act as silent enablers, if not complicit co-conspirators.”

On this point I may have to agree with him. The media has been far too timid about addressing the practical issues surrounding gun policy in America. They are cowed by charges that it is “not the right time” to engage in this debate. But according to the NRA it is never the right time. Even now, LaPierre said that “There’ll be time for talk and debate later. This is the time, this is the day for decisive action. We can’t wait for the next unspeakable crime to happen before we act.” Let the absurdity of that statement sink in. He is saying that this issue is so important that we should act without any deliberation. We should just do something, but we must not, under any circumstances, talk about it first.

Always happy to do its part, Fox News has already signed on to LaPierre’s dictate of silence. It was recently disclosed that a Fox executive sent a memo to their producers ordering them to refrain from discussing gun control. And today, Fox is apparently still operating under that edict. They broke into the LaPierre speech late and left it before it concluded, cutting out a full third of the speech. Then they followed the aborted speech with a fiscal cliff panel. While they didn’t have time to show all of LaPierre’s remarks, they did broadcast in full remarks to the press by three GOP senators on a Benghazi report that was released two days ago.

I feel safer already knowing that Fox News and the NRA are aggressively campaigning for the rights of all Americans to live in a society awash with weapons designed for combat. Heavily armed guards in schools and bookstores can only serve to move this country closer to the utopian models of Somalia or Beirut sought by right-wingers where freedom reigns above all and government is small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Fox Nation vs. Reality: Beauty Queen-a-Cide

The ignorant fables spun by the Fox Nationalists have frequently coasted off the rails of sanity. But none have diverted nearly as far off course as this article, linked to a story by CBS News, about how “Mexican beauty queen Susana Flores Maria Gamez and four others died in the brutal gun battle between Sinaloa cartel members and the Mexican military in November.”

Fox Nation

On the basis of information that a gun that had once belonged to an ATF official was found at the scene of this gun battle, Fox Nation asks “Did Holder’s Crew Kill A Beauty Queen?” That’s the sort of deliberately offensive and juvenile question that turns Fox viewers into raving ignoramusi. In their purposeful attempt to deceive, the Fox Nationalists failed to provide any details of what actually occurred, including the fact that the alleged “beauty queen” Gamez was reported to have been armed and fighting with the criminals in the drug cartel and was likely killed by the Mexican military.

Nevertheless, Fox portrays her only as a “beauty queen” and not as a drug trafficker, and accuses Attorney General Eric Holder of murdering her. There is no evidence that any gun associated with the ATF or “Fast and Furious” was responsible for her death, particularly in light of the fact that any such weapons would have been in the possession of her drug-running accomplices, not the law enforcement agents they were fighting.

So to answer Fox’s question: No, neither Holder nor his “crew” killed a beauty queen. However, a more accurate version of the story might have said that a shootout with the Mexican military may have resulted in the death of a female drug trafficker and her comrades.

Fox really had to stretch reality to turn this into an assault on Obama’s Attorney General. And they also had to turn a member of a drug cartel into a sexy fallen hero. But that’s what Fox does. It’s only purpose is to malign their ideological enemies and decorate their distortions with lechery and melodrama. I can almost see the next Fox headline about the Sandy Hook killer, Adam Lanza: Obama Attacks Recently Deceased, Mentally-Challenged, 20 Year Old Orphan.

Sarah Palin Drips With Envy Over Obama’s Selection As Time Magazine’s Person Of The Year

Last night Sarah Palin once again appeared on her old pal Greta Van Susteren’s show on Fox News. She was asked to comment on Time Magazine’s selection of President Obama as “Person of the Year.” And, what a surprise, the ego-driven Queen of the North could only find nasty things to say about Obama, who was chosen, not as an endorsement of his agenda, but as recognition of the reelection victory that illustrated the changes in America’s identity. Time wrote…

“We are in the midst of historic cultural and demographic changes, and Barack Obama is both the symbol and in some ways the architect of this new America. In 2012, he found and forged a new majority, turned weakness into opportunity and sought, amid great adversity, to create a more perfect union.”

Sarah Palin

Perhaps Palin was upset that the article accompanying the choice never mentioned her by name, but did note that her characterization of Obama’s tenure as “hopey/changey” was passe. Her sour grapes session criticized Time Magazine’s choice due to some vague, unspecified allegation that Obama doesn’t support the Constitution. She complained that he wants to change the Constitution, which is, of course, constitutional and is provided for in the document. It has been done twenty-seven times already. But she concluded with a statement I agree with wholeheartedly:

“Time Magazine, you know, I think there’s some irrelevancy there to tell you the truth. I mean consider their list of the most influential people in the country and in the world, some who have made that list – yours truly – that ought to tell you something right there regarding the credence that we should give Time Magazine and their list of people.”

She is referring to her place on the Time 100 back in 2010. The tribute to her was composed by washed-up schlock-rocker Ted Nugent, who continues to embarrass himself in public with demented, anti-American rants. And not to be outdone, Palin also embarrassed herself with Van Susteren in a discussion about the newly released report on the State Department’s handling of security in Benghazi, Libya.

Van Susteren and Palin both complained that there was no accountability for security failings, despite the fact that three State Department officials resigned shortly after the report’s release. And they both knew of the resignations because they mentioned them in the segment. Palin also asserted without support that “Americans were lied to.” She went on to whine…

“For the President even to get out there on a national stage and tell Americans untruths about this situation in Benghazi really begs you to ask the question, what else does he say and do that would be deceptive. I believe that it’s many, many things that he would say and do being deceptive.”

Neither Palin nor Van Susteren gave a single example of anyone being less than truthful. And neither did the report, which addressed the security situation in Benghazi, not the subsequent media frenzy Fox tried to incite.

It’s a little sad to see the pathetic scratching on the screen door by Palin who has all but vanished from public view. She is probably milking these appearances with Van Susteren because there is a high probability that her contract with Fox will not be renewed when it expires next year. And who else would have her? Her books don’t sell, her reality TV shows fail, and her own party is so ashamed to be associated with her that she wasn’t even invited to the Republican convention this year.

It may be fair (and balanced) to say that Palin is over – you betcha!

Mosque Arsonist Tells Judge: “I Only Know What I Hear On Fox News”

Here is a disturbing report from a local news broadcast in Toledo, Ohio. An Indiana man pleaded guilty to arson for having set fire to an Islamic Center in Toledo. He was sentenced to 20 years today and, in an exchange with the judge, revealed his motivation.

The judge asked him if he knew any Muslims or what Islam is. He said “No, I only know what I hear on Fox News.”

Fox News

The producers at Fox must be so proud of the prejudice they inspire with their overtly hateful coverage of any subject that deals with Muslims. Their scandal mongering a couple of years ago about the Park51 Islamic Center in Manhattan was evidence of just how biased the network is against Muslims. And numerous Fox anchors and guests have engaged in the slander that all Muslims are terrorists, or that all terrorists are Muslim.

This is a particularly interesting display of prejudice considering that the largest shareholder of News Corp outside of the Murdoch family (and a financier of Park51) is the Muslim Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia. However, there are numerous examples of Fox News taking positions that are in stark contrast to CEO Rupert Murdoch’s publicly stated views. Either Murdoch’s control has been usurped by Roger Ailes or he has become senile and incognizant – or both.

It should not be surprising that one of their loyal viewers decided to commit what he thinks is an act of patriotism. After driving into their heads the notion that Muslims are America’s enemies, even when they are American citizens, congressmen, or soldiers, Fox’s audience has become indoctrinated by the prejudice that gushes from the network’s broadcasts. Now we know that a member of that audience has taken the next step in manifesting the hate that Fox manufactures. And it cannot be explained away as a legal tactic to avoid responsibility because he already pleaded guilty.

This is not the first time something like this has happened either. There was the story about a woman who threatened to fire all of her black employees if they voted for Obama, and she wrote “KKK” on their time cards. Her excuse? “I think I got crazy with FOX News, watching too much FOX News.” And there were at least two maniacs inspired by Fox’s Glenn Beck (here and here).

This is the predictable result of the feverish rantings that occur daily on Fox News. The anchors, producers, and advertisers are responsible for the harm that is done by people they knowingly incite to violence. This does not mean that Fox is directly responsible for the violence itself, but that they have some culpability for having infected their audience with the hateful lies that can lead to these measures. Hopefully someday one of their victims will be courageous enough to hold Fox accountable and make them pay a price for their hate speech.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Ted Nugent’s ‘Culture of Contempt’ Is Repsonsible For The Newtown Massacre

Just when you thought you’ve heard it all, the sickening blather of the right-wing nuthouse crowd manages to scale to new heights of idiocy and hypocrisy.

Following one of the most horrific mass murders in this nation’s history, Republicans have rushed to the TV cameras and talk radio mics to blame the Newtown massacre on the absence of God in the classroom, the violence of video games, and/or too few firearms in the hands of teachers. The call for turning your child’s faculty members into an elementary school SWAT team has come from GOP leaders, congressmen and NRA spokespersons.

Now Ted Nugent, not surprisingly, has joined the fray. Nugent is on the board of the NRA and has a long history of worshiping weaponry. He was the host of a Discovery Channel special called “Ted Nugent’s Gun Country” (which Discovery just announced will have no further episodes). In his latest column for the “Moonie” Washington Times, Nugent, of all people, blasted what he called a “culture of contempt.” Adding that…

“The ugly and dangerous truth is that we live in an embarrassing, politically correct culture that exalts and rejoices in the bizarre.”

I couldn’t agree more. And Nugent is the perfect example of what is most embarrassing and bizarre in our culture. For Nugent to criticize the alleged contempt in society is something like Hitler criticizing anti-Semitism. Nugent is the guy who recently said…

Ted Nugent

“I vow that I will use our freedom to get these dirty c*ck-suckers out of the White House. The president is a bad man. The vice president is a bad man. They’re all bad people. If you don’t get that, you’re a dead motherf*cker.”

And…

“If Barack Obama becomes the President in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.”

And…

“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.”

Now Nugent thinks he can lecture other Americans on morality and virtuous culture? Nugent is a loathsome and hate-filled misanthrope whose wretched perception of reality is tainted by an all-consuming and diseased ego. He has no standing to judge other people or society in general. It is demented souls like his that contribute to what is worst in our society. And we would be far better off if he were to keep the promise he made a few weeks ago about being either dead or in jail. The sooner the better, Ted.