Day: 9/21/2013

More Anti-Latino Bias On Fox Nation

Posted by on September 21, 2013 at 1:47 pm. 1 Comments :

The Fox News community web site (and Fib Factory) Fox Nation, has a long record of insulting Latinos and lying about about issues that affect them. This was documented in my article last year: Fox News Flim-Flam: Conning Latinos For Politics And Profit. The marked difference between articles on Fox Nation, and articles on the same subjects by Fox News Latino demonstrate that Fox is deliberately trying to exploit Latinos, the fastest growing television market.

For instance, Fox News continues to refer to undocumented immigrants as “illegals” even when the person was brought into the country as a child and, thus, committed no crime. Many news outlets have abandoned the use of the term “illegal immigrant” because it is both inaccurate and insulting. Fox News Latino is among those who have officially banned its use. Fox News, on the other hand, uses it frequently. Fox is also a vigorous opponent of the Dream Act, that offers undocumented immigrants who were brought here as children, finish school or enlist in the military, and have no criminal records, the opportunity to become legal residents and eventually citizens.

Another example of Fox’s overt prejudice was displayed yesterday with an article on Fox Nation that announced that the “Amnesty Bill In House Collapses.” Of course, there is no amnesty bill in the House. There is an immigration reform bill that includes a pathway to citizenship after paying fines and meeting other rigorous conditions that may lead to eligibility for citizenship after some fifteen years. And since amnesty is a forgiveness of criminal behavior and a waiving of punishment, this bill is the opposite of amnesty. But this story isn’t about amnesty at all. It is about the breakdown of the legislative process. It was that angle that was addressed in the Fox News Latino article titled, “House Republicans Quit Bipartisan Immigration Group, Weakening Chance Of Legislation.”

Fox Nation
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Notice that the Fox News Latino article properly describes the substance of what took place without resorting to pejoratives, as opposed to Fox Nation’s version. The Fox Nationalists also didn’t bother to point out that the Republican exodus from the working group was based entirely on politics rather than on the best interests of the nation. Only in the Fox News Latino article was it pointed out that the GOP representatives who bailed on the reform effort said that “We want to be clear. The problem is politics.” They went on to admit that their objection is not to the substance of the law, but that it would be enacted under the administration of President Obama:

“If past actions are the best indicators of future behavior, we know that any measure depending on the president’s enforcement will not be faithfully executed. It would be gravely irresponsible to further empower this administration by granting them additional authority or discretion with a new immigration system. The bottom line is – the American people do not trust the president to enforce laws, and we don’t either.”

Contrary to the delusional claim by these Republicans, polls show that a significant majority of the American people back the President’s view on immigration reform. What’s more, it is idiotic to assert an opposition to a law due to who occupies the White House rather than the efficacy of the law.

But that’s just how the modern GOP works. Hating Obama takes precedence over everything else, including responsible governing, the economy, the welfare of Americans, even questions of military engagement. And you can always rely on Fox News to be right there advancing the obstructionist right-wing hatefest, because Fox doesn’t care anymore about the American people than the Tea-publican extremists in Congress.

Dumbass Doocy: Fox News Still Doesn’t Understand What The Debt Ceiling Is

Posted by on September 21, 2013 at 10:58 am. 23 Comments :

As the nation approaches another showdown over the raising of the debt ceiling, Fox News continues to prove that either they don’t understand economics or they are dedicated to misinforming their gullible viewers – or more likely, both.

On Friday’s episode of Fox & Friends, Steve Doocy and his couch potato pals reacted with surprise to President Obama’s remarks about raising the debt ceiling. The President correctly described the function of this routine economic procedure by telling the Business Roundtable what it actually entails.

“Obama: Raising the debt ceiling, which has been done over a hundred times, does not increase our debt; it does not somehow promote profligacy. All it does is it says you’ve got to pay the bills that you’ve already racked up, Congress. It’s a basic function of making sure that the full faith and credit of the United States is preserved.

Concerned that a succinct and coherent explanation might make Fox viewers aware of a small bit of reality (something Fox works diligently against), Doocy stepped up to make sure that his audience remained blissfully ignorant. He played two videos of Obama, one talking about the risks of high debt and the other advocating raising the debt ceiling. Doocy then said that Obama was talking about the same thing and had flipped his position. However, the debt is not the same thing as the debt ceiling. But this is a subject that is apparently way over Doocy’s head.

Doocy: So the first sound bite was from the president a couple of days ago at the Business Roundtable where he really got people thinking, “Did he just misspeak?” because he said essentially that raising the debt ceiling does not increase our debt. I know he studied law, and not economics, but increasing the debt ceiling indeed raises the debt.

Well, I know Doocy studied journalism at the University of Kansas and not economics, while Obama got a B.A. in political science from Columbia University and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law School, but Doocy clearly knows nothing about either economics or journalism. Raising the debt ceiling does not raise the debt one penny. Just as the President said, it merely authorizes the government to pay bills that Congress has already incurred.

Allow me to spell it out. Let’s say the national debt is $10 trillion and the debt ceiling is $9 trillion. If the ceiling is raised to $11 trillion so that it can accommodate the outstanding obligations, the debt is still $10 trillion. There is no change except for the fact that bills can now be paid which, ironically, would have the effect of lowering the debt. Failing to raise the debt ceiling would result in default which would cause the ratings services to lower the nation’s credit worthiness. That would increase the interest that we pay on the debt which, of course, increases the debt. Which is exactly what happened last year.

So Doocy, and most of the Tea Party right, have everything exactly backwards – as usual. There is only one real reason that Fox and the GOP are obstructing the debt ceiling increase, and that is to harm Obama by attempting to blame him for the economic debacle that would ensue following a default. And they regard the devastation that the American people would suffer as merely collateral damage. As evidence, take a look at this chart that I created a couple of years ago illustrating the Republican support for raising the debt ceiling until a certain event occurred:

Debt Ceiling

And the same dishonest, partisan, hackery is in full effect today.