Fox News Posts Review Of Glenn Beck’s Rally Before It Happens

Posted by on August 27, 2010 at 10:53 am. 5 Comments :

Fox News promos often tout the network as “The Most Powerful Name In News.” Now that power extends into the supernatural as FoxNews.com is caught publishing a story reviewing Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, DC, the day before it takes place. This demonstration of journalistic clairvoyance may just be a part of the “miraculous” occurrences that Beck promised would take place at tomorrow’s historic event. However, despite the obvious scoop that Fox could claim with this pre-porting, the story was quickly removed from the site, but not before I captured this picture of the screen:

Whether or not the event plays out as depicted in this visual account, we will just have to wait and see. But many prognosticators are laying down their bets for how the event will be portrayed after the fact. Even Glenn Beck has submitted his prebuttal to the media’s reaction:

“My prediction is that this will be covered incorrectly, they will take one line from somebody, or one thing, or they will find one person on the stage that shouldn’t have been there, and or there will be somebody in the crowd, whatever, they will focus on one thing.”

It’s not surprising that Beck would produce this prediction since it mirrors so precisely his own patented method of incorrectly covering people and events in the news.

In the weeks preceding the rally, Beck made some rather grandiose predictions concerning the impact it would have on the attendees and on America. He said to expect a miracle on 8/28; that it would be a turning point for the nation; and that it would be both the Woodstock and the anti-Woodstock of the next generation. But he said the most profound impact would be on the children who would forever remember the experience, and “will be indelibly marked. It will be marked forever. … It will be a brand on them.”

Now, I’m not a Bible scholar, but the only Biblical reference to being “branded” that I can recall had to do with the “Mark of the Beast” (aka Satan). So we may want to check the kids leaving Beck’s Rally on Sunday for the telltale “666” on their foreheads.

[Numerology Alert: The numerological summation of the phrase “Restoring Honor” is “6.” The numerological summation of the date “8/28/2010” is “3.” Hence three sixes.]

The big challenge for Beck is to manage to live up to the rhapsodic buildup he gave for his Revival meeting. In what form will the promised miracle take place. Will a Heavenly aura embrace the mall? Will tears of blood run from Lincoln’s marble eyes? Will all the toast in DC sport images of Sarah Palin in biker shorts? Will the lame be healed (good news for Beck)? Will Jesus sing the lead of Cat Scratch Fever in a duet with Ted Nugent? Who knows? But if the world isn’t wholly transformed by Sunday morning, this event will have to be perceived as a failure. Can Beck deliver?

There was a noticeable evolution in the buildup to the rally as the original announcement portrayed it as a launch party for his next book, “The Plan, a 100 year blueprint for the restoration of America.” Said Beck…

“On August 28, 2010, I ask you, your family and neighbors to join me at the feet of Abraham Lincoln on the National Mall for the unveiling of The Plan and the birthday of a new national movement to restore our great country.”

Subsequent to that announcement the affair took on several different agendas culminating with the current version that celebrates (exploits) fallen soldiers, even though Beck recently removed the reference to honoring veterans from his permit application. The press kit (pdf) still portrays the event as a tribute to veterans but, at the same time, it dismisses any suggestion that it has any political affiliations:

“The Restoring Honor Rally is neither a 9/12 nor a Tea Party rally. There will be absolutely no politics involved. This rally will honor the troops, unite the American people under the principles of integrity and truth, and make a pledge to restore honor within ourselves and our country.”

It is hard to see how an event featuring Beck along with Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent, that is sponsored by the NRA, and has as its organizational partners FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity, can be characterized as non-political. It is likewise difficult to grasp how he can claim that it isn’t a Tea Party or 9-12 rally when the 9-12 Project is explicitly cited on the permit as an organizer, and both 9-12ers and Tea Partiers are actively involved in planning and transportation activities. These distinctions are important because the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which is identified as the charity benefiting from the event, risks losing their non-profit, tax-exempt status if they engage in political activities. Although the matter of charitable contributions may be moot due to this fine-print disclaimer at the bottom Beck’s “Restoring Honor” web site:

“All contributions made to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation (SOWF) will first be applied to the costs of the Restoring Honor Rally taking place on August 28, 2010.”

That’s sweet. Beck is getting the entire event paid for by people who believe they are contributing to a charity for veterans. It won’t be long now until we have the answers to these and other perplexing questions. The historic significance that Beck promised will be realized, or not, in the next 24 hours or so. Are your affairs in order?

And if the report from Fox News pictured above isn’t sufficient evidence of the event’s pivotal impact on our nations future, then make plans to watch Fox News Sunday where Beck will be the featured guest and will surely give an unbiased assessment of his monumental festival of Beck Worship. The Sunday morning news program will cap months of Fox News supposedly not being involved with the rally while promoting it incessantly.

Find us on Google+
Advertisement:

Fox News Caps Flow Of Oil Spill Stories

Posted by on August 26, 2010 at 10:45 am. 1 Comments :

A new study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism analyzed the coverage of news stories about the Gulf Coast oil spill. The results show that, while everyone else was busy trying to plug the leak, Fox News was putting a “top kill” on coverage of the catastrophe.

“CNN spent the most time on the spill story. From April 20 to July 28, nearly half (42%) of the CNN airtime studied was devoted to the subject. That compares with about one-third (32%) on MSNBC and about one-fifth (18%) on Fox.”

During that same period Fox News led the coverage of hot button issues like illegal immigration, the inept Times Square bomber, Elana Kagan’s alleged Marxism, Shirley Sherrod getting Breitbarted, the New Black Panther Party (all six of them), and now the non-mosque in Manhattan leads almost every Fox broadcast.

In addition to providing less coverage of the oil spill overall, Fox News had an interesting division of time in the coverage they bothered to present. Of the three cable news networks, Fox spent the least amount of time (17%) on issues pertaining to BP and their responsibility for the leak. And, not surprisingly, they spent the most amount of time (39%) being critical of the government’s role in the affair.

Once again Fox News demonstrates the practice of “omission bias.” This has long been a part of their effort to subvert journalism. They did the same thing during the Bush administration when the PEJ found that Fox produced less coverage of the war in Iraq than any of their competitors. And just a couple of weeks ago, Fox didn’t broadcast a single story about the million dollar donation to the Republican Governor’s Association by their parent company, News Corp.

As a result of this perversion of the press, Fox’s viewers will remain amongst the most ignorant in terms of real knowledge of news and current events. That’s a bigger problem than just the nuisance of ill-informed FoxBots wandering the streets. It impacts all of us because these news-deficient dolts vote in large numbers. And their voting decisions are driven by the disinformation they absorb from Fox News.

That’s why it remains a critical responsibility for the rest of us to pay attention to the dishonest practices by which Fox News operates. We must not only correct their mistakes (i.e. lies), but we must also expose their omissions and make certain that the public stays informed about the issues that matter most to their lives.


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.


Who Is Funding The NYC Mosque? Fox News!

Posted by on August 22, 2010 at 4:26 pm. 14 Comments :

Last week I reported that News Corp, the parent of Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and more, made a donation of $1 million to the Republican Governors Association. It’s bad enough that a major media company is bankrolling GOP campaigns and still pretending to be fair and balanced when they report on those campaigns, but things just got even crazier.

For weeks there has been a raging battle over the proposed construction of an Islamic community and prayer center a couple of blocks away from the site of the former World Trade Center. One of the most frequently repeated criticisms by opponents of the Park51 project is that they wanted to know where the money was coming from. In the absence of that information they alleged, without proof, that the center was being funded by terrorists or groups sympathetic to terrorists.

Mosque at Ground ZeroWell now we know precisely where some that funding came from. It has now been revealed that Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, News Corp’s largest shareholder outside of the Murdoch family, has donated over $300,000 to organizations run by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the principal planner of Park51. One of those organizations was the Park51 project itself.

So now that we know that a major shareholder of News Corp is providing funding to Imam Rauf to build the center, will the critics be satisfied and drop their complaints? Will they expand their attacks to include News Corp and Rupert Murdoch? Will they even hear about it on their favorite cable news network, Fox News (who never bothered to report on the million dollar gift to the GOP)?

If this center is such an affront to the victims and survivors of 9/11, then isn’t News Corp and Fox News partly responsible for it? I wouldn’t be too surprised if it was all part of a plot to generate a controversy that would advantage them politically as well as boost their ratings.

Furthermore, if the insult that critics allege is due to the mosque being “near” the site where thousands of Americans were killed, then shouldn’t they also oppose any mosques being built in Iraq? More Americans were killed there than at the WTC on 9/11. Doesn’t that make Iraq “hallowed ground” as well?

I really can’t fathom why a building that is nothing more than an Islamic YMCA is causing such a ruckus. I think it is far more insulting to exploit 9/11, and to use the painful images from that day in crass political advertising. That’s exactly what Republican Roy Blunt has done here, in an ad that takes his opponent, Robin Carnahan, to task for not opposing the center. The ad features a video of the smoking WTC ruin with a voiceover of Carnahan saying…

“I’m not gonna try to tell folks in New York what to do, and I don’t want them trying to tell us in Missouri what to do. So in the end it’s gonna have to be their decision. But, you know, I think this a time when we ought to be trying to get people of all faiths to come together, not divide them.”

If I didn’t know better I would think that’s an ad for Carnahan. What’s wrong with that statement? It’s an affirmation of Missourians interests and a call for peace and brotherhood. Apparently Blunt is against those things.

Another exploitative and disturbing ad was from New York Republican Rick Lazio. In fact he has two of them here and here. Both ads urge his opponent, Andrew Cuomo, to initiate an investigation into the Park51 project. Lazio is one of those who is seeking to ascertain the funding sources. Of course now we know that all he needs to do is ask his hosts the next time he appears on Fox News.

This Just In: Not only is Alwaleed, the News Corp shareholder, a financial backer of Imam Rauf, but Rupert Murdoch’s book division, HarperCollins, is the publisher of Rauf’s book, What’s Right with Islam Is What’s Right With America. When will the right-wingers start to hold Murdoch & Co. accountable?


Fox News And Right-Wing Media Synergy

Posted by on August 21, 2010 at 2:06 pm. 14 Comments :

The Wall Street Journal published an article this morning profiling pollster Scott Rasmussen. The column was written by the Journal’s John Fund, who is also a Fox News contributor. The article’s subject, Rasmussen, is also a Fox News contributor whose surveys lean reliably to the right, which makes him a favorite of the conservative press.

So what we have here is one of Rupert Murdoch’s columnists interviewing one of Murdoch’s pollsters for one of Murdoch’s newspapers to promote contributors to one of Murdoch’s television networks. And wouldn’t you know it, the article was effusively complimentary to Rasmussen. However, it has no more significance than a Keith Olbermann editorial praising Rachel Maddow in the NBC employee newsletter. Here is how Fund leads off:

“Thanks to the shifting tectonic plates of American society, polls have come to dominate our politics as never before, and Mr. Rasmussen is today’s leading insurgent pollster.”

The reason polls have come to dominate our politics is that outlets like Fox News seek to trivialize current affairs by overdosing on horse-race data and ignoring, or misrepresenting, the more substantive issues that people really need to know about. Fox is famous for hyping tabloid fare like the current pseudo-controversy over the mosque in New York. Then they supplement their non-story with polls about the mosque in New York story that adds nothing to their viewers’ store of useful knowledge.

It is that state of polling domination that Fund praises Rasmussen for as the “leading insurgent pollster.” I have no idea why a pollster would be complimented as being an insurgent, but it does tend to certify the widely held view that Rasmussen is an activist with an agenda.

It isn’t hard to find evidence of Rasmussen’s bias. If you take a look at the RealClearPolitics aggregation of polls, Rasmussen invariably reports numbers that are far more favorable to Republicans and conservatives. That predetermined result is built into his methodology. And just to make sure he gets the results he wants, he will also skew his survey’s questions to assure a rightward slant. Markos Moulitsos of Daily Kos has done some detailed analysis on Rasmussen’s (dishonest) game And I previously documented Rasmussen’s phony index wherein he invents something he calls The Political Class, but is really just a fake metric to create artificial comparisons between groups of respondents that don’t exist.

Fund cites Rasmussen’s Political Class index and seems to be impressed with its fantasy results. But Fund is no better at math than Rasmussen. He says that…

“Before the financial crisis of late 2008, about a tenth of Americans fell into the political class, while some 53% were classified as in the mainstream public. The rest fell somewhere in the middle. Now the percentage of people identifying with the political class has clearly declined into single digits, while those in the mainstream public have grown slightly.”

What I’d like to know is how an index with just two options adds up to only 63% (10% Political Class plus 53% Mainstream)? there is no “Other” in the survey. It seems that 37% of respondents fell into a black hole. What’s more, the change Fund cites where the political class has “clearly declined into single digits,” would only have had to move down 1 point. That corresponds to his assertion that the mainstream grew slightly. However, in most polls, that minute a change would be regarded as statistically insignificant and within the margin of error. So what is Fund’s point?

It is also worth noting that the Political Class in Rasmussen’s index constitutes a mere 7% of the total group polled. This makes the comparison even less worthy of consideration. It means that in a poll of 1,000 people, 50% of the Political Class is only 35 people, or 3.5% of the total. Nevertheless, Fund eagerly cites a series of additional results based on this nonsense that Rasmussen says “has real significance.”

Rasmussen has little credibility amongst his peers in the polling game. His entire reason for being is to pump out polls that put Republicans and conservatives in a positive light and to disparage Democrats and liberals. The goal is not to inform, but to influence and shape public opinion. That’s why he is such a frequent guest on Fox News.

And that’s why his reputation is getting polished by his colleague John Fund and the Wall Street Journal. It’s also why Murdoch has gone to such great lengths to own all his own newspapers, TV networks, and pollsters.

Find us on Google+
Advertisement:

Fox News: Terrorist Command Center

Posted by on August 21, 2010 at 10:31 am. NO Comments :

The increasingly surreal debate over the non-mosque that is not at ground zero took another turn with Jon Stewart’s insightful and hilarious analysis.

After establishing that right-wing mosque opponents have devolved into overt Islamaphobes who regard Islam as a faith of “women-stoning, suicide bombers” (Media Matters has more on this), Stewart documented the absurdity of their position which centered on there being a threat that the Park51 project must not be allowed because it would become a “Terrorist Command Center.” Stewart’s pithy response:

“Just for the record, I’m against establishing a terrorist command post at 9/11 and ground zero…or really anywhere in the city.”

The rightist argument against Park51 seems to be that a terrorist command center near ground zero is unacceptable, but somewhere in Chelsea or the Upper East Side would be fine.

Stewart went on to ridicule conservative pundits on Fox News like Eric Bolling who, through the use of high-tech 4×6 index cards, “proved” that Park51 was directly linked to Hamas and Iran. So Stewart used his own index card and highlighter pen to prove that Fox News is a clandestine terrorist cell with Rupert Murdoch as its leader. Stewart could have gone one step further to note that Murdoch donated $1 million dollars to the Republican Governor’s Association, which means that the GOP is funded by terrorists.

Funny stuff. Watch it here:

Update: Not only is the GOP funded by terrorists, but the terrorists are funded by agents of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. It has now been revealed that Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, News Corp’s largest shareholder outside of the Murdoch family, has donated over $300,000 to organizations run by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the principal planner of Park51. Amidst the outcry from the right about the Park51 project, one of the things they most feverishly demanded was to know who was financing it. Now we know it was an owner of Fox News. Where is the outrage?


Fox Nation Affirms Commitment To Fake News

Posted by on August 20, 2010 at 12:04 pm. 5 Comments :

In an affirmation of their opposition to truthful reporting, Fox Nation posted an article to complain that other news providers have the audacity to strive for truthfulness. The headline on Fox Nation said…

AP Orders Staff to Stop Using Phrase ‘Ground Zero Mosque’.

The Fox Nationalists linked to a memo from Tom Kent, AP’s Deputy Managing Editor for Standards and Production, that said in part…

“We should continue to avoid the phrase ‘ground zero mosque’ or ‘mosque at ground zero’ on all platforms. (We’ve very rarely used this wording, except in slugs, though we sometimes see other news sources using the term.) The site of the proposed Islamic center and mosque is not at ground zero, but two blocks away in a busy commercial area. We should continue to say it’s ‘near’ ground zero, or two blocks away.”

Oh my heavens. AP is ordering their staff to publish accurate accounts of news events. What are these totalitarian, lamestream, fascists trying to do? Do they want to infect the media with honesty and factual analysis? Don’t they know that there is no place for facts in the press as envisioned by Fox News? AP is suggesting that reporters instead use far-fetched phrases like “mosque near ground zero.” It’s a travesty!

Fox News is not going to take this laying down. They have made their reputation (and their fortune) on misrepresenting the truth and misleading their readers and viewers. They have worked hard to advance the cause of propaganda and remain committed to their mission of turning as much of the public as possible into ignorant, rightist zombies. And they aren’t about to let a decades old upstart like the AP interfere with their plans to pervert reality and drive Republican talking points.

Fox News will continue to lie about the non-mosque that is not at ground zero, and they will promote this non-story incessantly to the exclusion of irrelevancies like the economy, jobs, Iraq, Afghanistan, Climate Change, health care, etc. In fact, stay tuned for a special edition of Sean Hannity’s program tonight on the “Mosque at Ground Zero,” proving that Fox News isn’t afraid to call it what it isn’t.

Bonus Fox Nation Fakery: Photo-ops, Fundraisers, and Vacations: Is That All This Pres. Does?

Never mind that Fox has repeatedly castigated President Obama for doing too much. They have regaled against him for addressing reforms of health care, Wall Street, and environmental policy. They attack him for his initiatives in Iraq and Afghanistan. They complain that he has taken on Gay marriage and civil rights. According to Fox this is the busiest president in generations. That is until he takes a vacation and then that’s all he does. Well, if that’s all he does then I suppose that Fox and their right wing constituents will stop complaining about all the harm being done by the projects that he apparently isn’t working on.


Glenn Beck Drops Veterans From 8/28 Rally

Posted by on August 19, 2010 at 7:06 pm. 32 Comments :

Glenn Beck Deploring HonorIn a notice posted today at Congress.org, Glenn Beck finally got the permit for his 8/28 rally approved. It was also noted that he changed the purpose of the rally from a “demonstration to honor veterans” to simply a “restoring honor rally.”

Why would Beck alter the purpose to something so generic it that it doesn’t have any real meaning? Could it be that his little scam was revealed and he could no longer pretend that this event was for charity? It was previously revealed that the Special Operations Warrior Foundation would not receive any money until after all of Beck’s expenses had been covered. So the possibility exists that there will no donation at all.

With this more vague description of purpose, Beck can turn the affair into the evangelical revival meeting that he always wanted it to be. It can be the celebration of his “Divine Destiny” which, by the way, is the name of his event to be held the night before where he promises to “heal your soul.” We already know that he believes this event will be a turning point in history, and he said today that it will be this generation’s Woodstock (?). And don’t forget that he was told by “someone” in the Vatican that what he is doing is “wildly important.”

This isn’t the first time that Beck has changed the purpose of the event. At one time the purpose was to launch the publication of his next book, “The Plan,” a 100 year blueprint for the restoration of America. Here is how he described it in his original announcement:

“On August 28, 2010, I ask you, your family and neighbors to join me at the feet of Abraham Lincoln on the National Mall for the unveiling of The Plan and the birthday of a new national movement to restore our great country.”

After that he claimed that God had chosen the date:

I believe in divine providence. It was not my intention to select 8-28 because of the Martin Luther King tie. It is the day he made that speech. I had no idea until I announced it and I walked off stage and my researchers said, New York Times has already just published that this is Martin Luther — and I said, oh, geez. We were going to use 9-12 but 9-12 is a Sunday. I’m not going to ask anyone to work on the Sabbath. I’m not going to ask anybody to honor God on a Sunday.

I have no idea what he means by not honoring God on a Sunday. And apparently he isn’t expecting any Jews to attend his rally because for them (and many Christians for that matter), Saturday is the Sabbath.

Beck’s next explanation for the event was that he was doing it all on behalf of our brave fighting men and women and their families. That didn’t last long. Now he has dropped the reference to the veterans from his permit application, though I’m sure he will continue to exploit them.

One other amendment to the permit application concerns the attendance. He raised the projected figure from 150,000 to 300,000. He must be feeling pretty confident. Which is funny because he said on his radio program today that he was discussing the event with Bill O’Reilly who guessed that between 10 and 15 thousand people show up. Beck was obviously surprised by O’Reilly’s estimate so O’Reilly asked him how many people he thought would be there. Beck said modestly, “I don’t know. Over a hundred thousand I hope.” This seems like false modesty from someone who just doubled his official projection to 300,000.

Apparently O’Reilly is not as optimistic as Beck. According to Beck, O’Reilly told him that if that many people showed up that Beck could take over the O’Reilly Factor. Now that would be fun. I bet Beck would hold O’Reilly to this. I would love to see the two of them go at it for the primetime slot. We’ll see how that unfolds in a couple of weeks.


The Ever Irrelevant Fox Nation Slams Sheryl Crow

Posted by on August 19, 2010 at 3:23 pm. 9 Comments :

Sheryl CrowToday on Fox Nation the editors featured a story that further demonstrates how out of touch they are and how desperately dishonest. The Fox Nationalists decided to go after the beautiful and talented Sheryl Crow for her audacity to exercise her First Amendment rights. The headline in their entertainment section was “Increasingly Irrelevant Sheryl Crow Sings Anti-Palin Tune.”

For the record, Crow is a nine-time Grammy winner. Her last album, “Detours,” debuted on the billboard charts at number two and received another Grammy nomination just last year. Her just-released “100 Miles From Memphis” is presently #10 on Amazon’s overall music listings and #1 on Amazon’s Adult Contemporary list.

For a news enterprise that repeatedly features Ted Nugent, Jon Voight, and Victoria Jackson, they have a pretty funny definition of “irrelevant.” Especially since Crow’s new album is getting a lot of buzz and she is making high-profile appearances around the country and on national television programs like Letterman and Leno. Her anti-Palin song only reinforces her relevance. Plus, it’s a great song:

I think what the Fox Nationalists may really be upset about is that Crow speaks her mind, and does so effectively. A previous article on Fox Nation referenced an interview of Crow by Katie Couric in Glamour Magazine. In that interview Couric asked Crow what she thought of the Tea Party.

“My main concern is that it’s really fear-based. What’s coming out of the Tea Party most often, especially if you go onto YouTube, and you see some of the interviews with these people who really don’t even know what the issues are, they’re just swept up in the fear of it and the anger of it. They’re not sure what they’re angry at; They don’t understand what’s happening on Wall Street. They haven’t educated themselves, but they’re just pissed off. And I understand that, I’m pissed off too. But knowledge is power, and anything less than that when it comes to anger is dangerous.”

Those remarks led the right-wing media machine to condemn Crow for calling Tea Partiers angry, uneducated, and dangerous. I don’t know what they’re complaining about, it seems fairly accurate to me. Now her new song is getting blasted by the same wingnut crowd, and even though they call it an anti-Palin song, it is much broader than that. In fact there is only one reference to Palin via her notorious Tweet asking her disciples to “reload.” There’s your angry, uneducated, and dangerous, right there.

The central theme of the song addresses the noisy bickering of cable news shoutcasters. It is more a critique of the media than a hit on Palin. In one line she laments that, “Ignorance is patriotic. Reasons are so idiotic.” That pretty much describes the state of debate amongst the right-wingers who inhabit Fox News. They glorify ignorance and revile reason. All the better to exploit emotion and propaganda. And if that’s not relevant, I don’t know what is.

Get Sheryl Crow’s new album here: