Fox Nation Asks: Did Obama Violate His Oath Of Office?

Posted by Mark NC on June 18, 2012 at 1:08 am. 2 Comments :

As bad as the Fox News Channel is, it does not even come close to the irresponsible, juvenile, wildly biased, stinking heap of dishonesty that is the Fox Nation web site. A casual glance on any day of the week will reveal an endless stream of puerile and partisan propaganda that seems to have been written by fourteen year old meth fiends after experimental electroshock therapy gone awry.

Today the Fox Nationalists posted as their featured headline story one of their standard cut-and-paste jobs whose only purpose was to disparage President Obama. This particular story raised the question as to whether or not Obama had violated his oath of office by instituting a policy to suspend deportations of undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children. The article quoted a source familiar to everyone who has studied corrupt cabinet officials.

That’s right. George W. Bush’s crooked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales spoke to the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference and speculated as to whether Obama had violated his oath of office.

“To halt through executive order the deportation of some undocumented immigrants looks like a political calculation to win Hispanic votes and subjects him to criticism that he is violating his oath of office by selectively failing to enforce the law.”

This is the same man who, when being investigated for unlawful politicization of the Department of Justice, responded to inquiries from the Senate by answering “I don’t know” or “I don’t recall” at least 72 times.

Setting aside for the moment the inappropriateness of a shyster like Gonzales passing judgment on the legality of anyone else’s activities, he is displaying a profound ignorance of the facts relating to Obama’s recent decision.

First of all, it was not an Executive Order. It was merely an administrative determination by the Department of Homeland Security to employ prosecutorial discretion with regard to the specified immigrants. That’s something that is done regularly by the DOJ and every state attorney general. And even if it were an Executive Order, it would still be fully within the jurisdiction of the President to issue it.

Secondly, Obama cannot be accused of selective enforcement for a policy that applies so broadly to such a large community. And when you take into consideration that those affected are not even technically in violation of any law, then why should they be considered for prosecution in the fist place?

Gonzales was simply making a transparent attempt to pander to the audience of Teavangelicals at the conference. This is especially apparent in light of the fact that he has previously gone on record supporting the very same sort of policies that Obama enacted.

Of course, the Fox Nationalists ate this up and posted their article asking essentially if Obama was subject to impeachment. The gross partisanship and smear tactics that are evident every day on Fox Nation should disqualify Fox from being regarded as a news enterprise. Fox Nation is not some separate entity. It resides on the Fox News domain and it uses the resources of Fox News to ceaselessly bash the President and promote his opponents. If any unlawful activity is going on here, it is Fox News serving as an adjunct to the Republican Party and donating millions of dollars worth of promotion in violation of campaign finance laws.

Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Celebrity Arbiters

Posted by Mark NC on June 15, 2012 at 3:20 pm. 5 Comments :

It is becoming almost too predictable that whenever you see a headline on Fox Nation you can assume that it isn’t the truth. Case in point: Today the Fox Nationalists posted an item about President Obama’s remarks at a fundraiser yesterday. The headline on Fox Nation is “Obama Tells Celebrities They’re the ‘Ultimate Arbiter’ of America’s Direction.”

The quote cited by Fox, as lifted from the Associated Press, read, “You’re the tie-breaker. You’re the ultimate arbiter of which direction this country goes.” Guess what. That is not what Obama told the guests at the fundraiser (who were not necessarily celebrities). The full quote, which is available on the White House web site, reads:

“[U]ltimately you guys and the American people, you’re the tie-breaker. You’re the ultimate arbiter of which direction this country goes in.”

So contrary to the false impression made by Fox (and the AP) that implied the President was elevating a room full of celebrities to some sort of Politburo, the truth is that Obama was speaking broadly and including all of the American people. It was an outright expression of populism and democracy that Fox is trying to turn into some kind of elitism. The same phony characterization also turned up on Fox News with Megyn Kelly drilling home the elitist message.

The funny thing is that, even if what Fox is saying were true, I would much rather have people like Sarah Jessica Parker and George Clooney influencing public policy than Romney’s cohorts like Donald Trump and Sheldon Adelson. At least I’d know that their motives were based on their principles and aspirations for a better world, rather than on self-interest and aspirations for more power and wealth.

Fox News: Simultaneously Pandering To And Insulting Latinos

Posted by Mark NC on June 15, 2012 at 11:56 am. NO Comments :

Fox News has been at the forefront of advancing anti-Latino propaganda for years. Their coverage of issues affecting the Latino community has been as decidedly biased as … well, everything else on Fox News. And nothing is more representative of this bias than Fox’s approach to immigration. The network is relentlessly opposed to any comprehensive solution that treats immigrants like human beings.

Today Fox managed to outdo themselves in demonstrating their overt prejudice while at the same time ingratiating themselves to what they acknowledge is a large and growing audience. The following stories were posted in response to today’s announcement from the White House that certain young immigrants would be granted work permits rather than be deported.

On the Fox News Latino website the story was headlined, “Obama Administration Halts Deportations for Young Immigrants.” That’s a factually accurate description that treats the news in a neutral manner. The headline was accompanied by a sympathetic photo of a young Latina child draped with an American flag.

On Fox Nation the story was handled somewhat differently. The headline they went with was “Obama Administration Bypasses Congress, To Give Immunity, Stop Deporting Younger Illegals.” In that short sentence they managed to imply impropriety on the part of the administration, infer the controversial subject of amnesty, and insult Latinos by employing the dehumanizing label of “illegals” (even though the people affected by this initiative did not break any law). The photo accompanying this article was of adult Latinos sitting up against a wall in handcuffs.

The differences between these treatments of the same news story illustrates just how cynical and hypocritical Fox News is when dealing with issues that challenge their biases and their marketing agenda. For Fox to post an appealing, straight news article on their web site aimed at a Latino audience, but to post a blatantly derogatory piece on their web site aimed at Teabagging racists, reveals the dark side of Fox’s repulsive mission.

It is also notable that the Fox News Latino site posted the Associated Press article about the announcement in full. The Fox Nationalists posted only two paragraphs plus a video from Fox News of right-wing wacko Allen West expressing his outrage. This is further evidence that the Fox Nationalists want to avoid giving their dimwitted readers too much actual information, but prefer to throw up as much ultra-right-wing opinion as possible. Additionally, Fox Nation allows visitors to comment on the news item, while Fox News Latino does not. That decision helps to promote the sense of community amongst the wingnuts, but prevents the Latino visitors from establishing those community ties.

Not surprisingly, Fox News immediately cast the President’s proposal as an abuse of the legislative process and a backdoor to amnesty. For the record, the proposal does not offer amnesty or even immunity. It is a temporary measure to exercise prosecutorial discretion so that innocent persons are not unduly punished while a more comprehensive solution is negotiated with Congress. The plan only affects those who arrived in the U.S. before age 16, are younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, graduated from a U.S. high school or earned a GED, or served in the military.

The way the two Fox news divisions handled this event is typical of their dishonest presentation of the news. The framing on Fox Nation is pretty much how one would expect it to be – bursting with prejudice and hatred. However, the pandering ploy used at Fox News Latino is insulting and exacerbates the biases that Fox exhibits elsewhere in its reporting. Hopefully Latino audiences will look deeper than just the Fox site that is attempting to exploit them so that they see the enterprise for what it is.

Fox Nation’s Lopsided Reporting On Florida Voter Purge

Posted by Mark NC on June 11, 2012 at 9:44 pm. 3 Comments :

Threats of litigation were flying today between federal agencies and the state of Florida over Florida’s efforts to disenfranchise voters who disagree with the state’s Republican leadership. Governor Rick Scott’s plans to throw people off the voter rolls has been revealed to be a blatant attempt to illegally prevent minorities, senior citizens, and the poor from voting, constituencies that just happen to vote Democratic.

The Justice Department advised the Governor and the Secretary of State (in a detailed letter) that the methods they proposed to use to remove allegedly ineligible names from the voter registration records were both flawed and unlawful. The response from Scott was to announce that he would be suing the feds and that he intended to continue his voter purge.

Fox Nation, however, did not carry a report of this announcement for many hours after it had been made. It was not until a subsequent announcement from the Justice Department that they were planning legal action against the state that the Fox Nationalists finally posted an article on the matter. And, of course, the lede was that the federal government was suing Florida.

The intention by Fox was to portray the government as the aggressors in this litigation. That fits in nicely with their narrative of the Obama government being a dictatorial regime that is abusing its power over the sovereign states. And that’s why they didn’t bother to report that it was the state that initiated the legal action.

That’s not all that Fox failed to report. The substance of the dispute between Florida and the DOJ concerns the state’s unlawful purging of legitimate voters. The Tampa Bay Times conducted a review of the state’s proposed list of ineligible voters and found a total of forty non-citizens. Out of those, they identified at most six who “might” have voted. Conversely, they found more than 500 people who were determined to be actual citizens entitled to register and vote. Yet Scott continues to assert a justification for stripping the right to vote from 500 (mostly Democratic) citizens in order to block a half dozen ineligible voters.

The Justice Department is not the only party suing Florida. The ACLU has also filed a suit over the same issues. If you want to help you can sign this petition from MoveOn.org calling on AG Eric Holder to “to block Gov. Scott from illegitimately kicking Floridians off the voter roll.”

On a side note, I wasted a little time perusing the comments attached to the Fox Nation article. In the process I observed some pretty revolting language and overt racism. Here is a representative example of the sort of people who populate the Fox community:

Judging from the context of the reply, my guess is that the first comment was just a well-reasoned defense of Holder and Obama. The FoxPods, not capable of tolerating that, pounced on it by clicking the “Flag” button to get the comment removed, but not before one disgusting reply was posted. Later, the entire comments section was closed and removed. There were about 300 comments when I was there, but now they are all gone. That tells you something about both the Fox community and the managers of the site.

Fox Nation Revives ACORN Phobia While Mitt Romney Hires Corrupt Consultant

Posted by Mark NC on June 8, 2012 at 10:33 am. 4 Comments :

It’s been two years since ACORN closed up shop after being falsely accused of voter fraud. But right-wing obsessives refuse to abandon their neuroses once they latch onto them. Never mind the fact that ACORN was exonerated by numerous independent investigations and that the only criminal conviction to result from the harassment was that of James O’Keefe, who produced the dishonestly edited videos that slandered ACORN’s reputation.

Fox Nation, nevertheless, persists in fear mongering about the defunct organization as if it had zombie-like powers of reanimation. Yesterday they featured an article that sought to renew the dread that conservatives still harbor in their hearts for an enterprise that mainly helped people to participate in their democracy and guided them through complex federal mortgage assistance programs.

The article relied on a report from the conservative Judicial Watch, who alleged that a former ACORN director was the recipient of federal funds for an Illinois program that helps struggling homeowners make their mortgage payments. It refers to ACORN as “scandal-plagued” and a “corrupt leftist community group.” Of course, neither of those assertions are true and both Fox Nation and Judicial Watch know it.

The problem, as explained by Judicial Watch, is that a “sub-component” of the Illinois Housing Development Authority received a federal grant, and that a director of the program, Joe McGavin, had performed the same role at ACORN. Which simply means that he has experience with helping people with federal assistance and is, therefore, well qualified for his job. But to the Fox Nationalists it means that he is a “suspect candidate,” despite never having been associated with any impropriety.

Meahwhile, at Mitt Romney’s campaign, someone with an actual record of dirty dealings has been added to the team. According to Lee Fang at the Republic Report, Nathan Sproul is “a political consultant with a long history of destroying Democratic voter registration forms and manipulating ballot initiatives.” With a new company name, Lincoln Strategies, Sproul is on the Romney payroll presumably to engage in activities similar to these:

In Oregon and Nevada, Sproul and Associates was investigated for destroying Democratic voter registration forms. The Bush-Cheney 2004 presidential campaign paid Sproul $7.4 million for campaign work. [CNN, 10/14/04; KGW News, 10/13/04; East Valley Tribune, 09/07/06]
In Nevada, people who registered as Democrats with Sproul and Associates found their names absent from the voter registration rolls. [Reno Gazette-Journal, 10/29/04]
During the 2006 midterm elections, Wal-Mart banned Lincoln Strategies for partisan voter registration efforts in Tennessee. The Republican National Committee had hired the firm. [Associated Press, 08/24/06]
In Arizona, Lincoln Strategies employed a variety of deceptive tactics — including systematically lying about the bill — to push a ballot initiative to eviscerate the state’s clean elections law. [Salon, 10/21/04]
Lincoln Strategies, then employed by the Republican Party, was behind efforts to place Ralph Nader on the ballot in states such as Arizona. [American Prospect, 06/25/04]

Fox News and their conservative comrades have been hyperventilating about voter fraud for months, although they have never been able to cite actual examples of it. But they continue to raise it as an issue in order to push legislation that has the purpose of disenfranchising legitimate voters who just happen to lean Democratic.

The controversy surrounding ACORN involved allegations of phony names on voter registration applications. However, it was ACORN who alerted officials to the presence of those improper forms and, in any event, they could not, and did not, result in any fraudulent voting. In fact, ACORN itself was the victim of that activity because they were paying registration gatherers per form and the gatherers were falsifying them in order to earn more money. It did not serve any purpose of ACORN to submit forms that did represent actual voters.

On the other hand, Sproul’s corruption had the effect of preventing Democrats from being able to exercise their right to vote by deceiving them into believing that they were registered. But when they got to the polls they discovered that their registrations were never submitted.

And the man responsible for that is now a consultant to Mitt Romney’s campaign. Where is the story on that by Fox News?

IDIOT ALERT: Fox Nation Reports Eyewitness To Voter Fraud In Wisconsin

Posted by Mark NC on June 5, 2012 at 3:28 pm. 3 Comments :

There are times when you hear some Tea Party birther spew nonsense that is just plain delusional and you think, “How can anyone believe that?” Then there are times when what you hear is so astonishingly stupid that you’re afraid that your jaw will never reset and remain permanently disjointed from having dropped so hard.

On today’s radio broadcast of conservative Chris Plante, a caller named “Mike” spun a tale that would have made for a great parody, except that he is being taken seriously by wingnuts and conservative media. He told Plante that he was on a bus, one of four buses, that were on their way from Michigan to Wisconsin. He said that the purpose of the convoy was to transport out-of-state Michiganders to Wisconsin so that they could illegally cast votes for Democrat Tom Barrett for governor. Mike said, however that he was planning to voter for Scott Walker.

There was absolutely no proof that any of what was said by this anonymous caller to a talk radio show was true. However, there are some pretty good reasons to dismiss his allegations as cheap theatrics and lies. Not the least of which is the fact that these alleged phony voters would not be able to cast ballots in Wisconsin without having previously registered and provided ID with proof of residency. They could register at the polling place and cast provisional ballots, but they would not be counted until after the voter returned with the required residency ID. So Mike’s account of this road trip, if it were true, could not be anything more than an expensive boondoggle to blow a pile of cash on four chartered buses and, according to Mike, food and other “freebies,” so that a bunch of dopes from Michigan can waste a few hours on the highway.

Additionally, Mike’s assertion that he was calling from one the phantom buses was debunked briefly by Plante himself. Plante wondered how Mike, who could not be listening to the radio show while on the bus, knew that Plante was talking about the Wisconsin election when he called in. Mike’s stumbling attempt at an answer was that Plante always talks about that. It would also be pretty difficult for Mike to have this conversation with a right-wing radio host while sitting on a bus full of Democrats who were on their way to break federal laws. And, by the way, that is what Mike confessed was his intent as well. So he was admitting on the air that he was a co-conspirator in a plot to commit felony voter fraud.

It would have been bad enough if this foolishness ended right there on Plante’s radio program, but no such luck. Fox News picked up the story and posted it at the top of their Fox Nation web site with a headline that doesn’t question the veracity of the “eyewitness:” EYEWITNESS ALLEGES DEMOCRAT UNION VOTE FRAUD IN WISCONSIN.

The Fox Nationalists don’t bother to put a qualifying adjective in front of the word “eyewitness,” but they have no problem accusing Democrats and unions of voter fraud, even though the only evidence of any fraud was via the confession by a Republican named Mike.

In all likelihood this call originated from the flea-infested sofa on the back porch of Mike’s mother’s trailer somewhere in rural Mississippi. Mike probably spun this story while chugging a Bud and waiting for his cousin/wife to let him know the next batch of meth was ready. And Chris Plante bought it. And Fox News bought it. And who knows how many dimwits who pay attention to those pathetically dishonest sources went right along with whatever they were told.

This is one of those moments of idiocy that will stand out when the Idiocy Hall of Fame makes their next round of nominations. For Fox News to treat this a credible content, and to report it as if it were news, really says all that is needed to be said about Fox. They are not merely a collective of partisan liars, they are blithering ignoramuses who probably should not be allowed to use kitchen utensils unsupervised. And their audience…..oh forget it. It hurts to think about it.

Not So Breitbart: Pathetic Vetting Of Obama’s BBQ With Bill Ayers

Posted by Mark NC on June 4, 2012 at 1:12 pm. 11 Comments :

The “vetting” of Barack Obama continues at Breitbart News and, true to form, serves only to embarrass the juvenile efforts of Breitbrat Joel Pollak and his childish pals who suffer an acute case of Obama Derangement Syndrome. Today’s banner headline at the Breitbrats sandbox blares: “Exclusive – The Vetting – Senator Barack Obama Attended Bill Ayers Barbecue, July 4, 2005.”

OMG! Barack Obama has been caught at a clandestine socialist assembly of treasonous celebrants of America’s independence. These subversives were observed igniting fires (in BBQ grills) and launching explosives (fireworks). They may even have been imbibing beer and other alcoholic intoxicants.

Breitbrat Joel is clearly proud of the shocking revelation he has uncovered that puts Obama in the backyard of his neighbor, Bill Ayres, for an ostensibly patriotic party. The “proof” that so excites Pollak is an ancient blog post by another neighbor of Ayers that describes a third-hand witness to Obama sharing a picnic table at a Fourth of July gathering. The author said…

“Guess what? I spent the 4th of July evening with star Democrat Barack Obama! Actually, that’s a lie. Obama was at a barbecue at the house next door (given by a law professor who is a former member of the Weather Underground) and we saw him over the fence at our barbecue. Well, the others did. It had started raining and he had gone inside be the time I got there. Nevertheless.”

Well then, that settles it. The author of the post never saw the then-senator, but some unnamed person claims to have seen him. And there couldn’t be any possibility of this mysterious party guest making a mistake, could there? The post goes on to note that despite keeping a watch out for a confirmation siting, there were no other Obama spottings. The only corroboration was “another source” quoted by Pollak who was also not identified.

Even if true, Pollak’s unrestrained glee over this “discovery” means nothing. It stems from his false contention that Obama’s socializing with Ayers contradicts a statement his campaign issued in 2008. However, the quote that Pollak himself posted says…

“Mr. LaBolt said the men first met in 1995 through the education project, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, and have encountered each other occasionally in public life or in the neighborhood. He said they have not spoken by phone or exchanged e-mail messages since Mr. Obama began serving in the United States Senate in January 2005 and last met more than a year ago when they bumped into each other on the street in Hyde Park.”

Of course, there is nothing in that statement that conflicts with an account of Obama encountering Ayers at a neighborhood party. In fact, it explicitly affirms that Obama had such contacts “in the neighborhood.” Where’s the controversy?

Pollak is plainly obsessed with smearing Obama for having had a relationship with a neighbor who was also a respected university professor and education consultant. But Pollak’s pea-brain can only contain information about Ayers that portrays him as the “radical, domestic terrorist” of his youth some forty years ago. Pollak cannot see past his hostility toward Obama, and the result is hysterical conspiracy tantrums like this. It’s the same sort of dementia that produces absurd postings on Fox Nation like today’s article that proposes that Obama had an “unpresidential” past:

The past to which the Fox Nationalists refer is his adolescence when he did unpresidential things like play basketball and wear hats. Seriously? This is the best they can do?

Fox Nation vs. Reality: Coming To Blows

Posted by Mark NC on June 3, 2012 at 2:52 pm. 1 Comments :

Here is another made up headline from Fox Nation:

The Fox Nationalists really enjoy cooking up headlines that totally misrepresent the content of the story they are reporting. It often doesn’t matter in the least if the headline has any relevance to the article at all. And at other times the headline is an outright contradiction of the underlying story. The only criteria for Fox is that the headline give as negative impression of Obama as possible whether or not it is true.

In this example the Fox Nationalists assert that Obama’s political aide David Axelrod and Attorney General Eric Holder “Nearly Come To Blows.” That would be a juicy story if there were any truth to it. However, the accompanying article refers to an upcoming book by Daniel Klaidman that says nothing about a physical altercation. It does describe a heated argument, but Fox took it upon themselves to falsely escalate the matter to impending fisticuffs. Here is the full excerpt from Klaidman’s book:

“After the session ended, Axelrod made a beeline for the attorney general. Obama’s senior adviser was incensed. It had gotten back to him that Holder and his aides were spreading the word that he was trying to improperly influence the Justice Department.

Axelrod, who knew all too well that even the hint of White House meddling with Justice Department investigations could detonate a full-blown scandal, had been careful not to come close to that line. ‘Don’t ever, ever accuse me of trying to interfere with the operations of the Justice Department,’ he warned Holder after confronting him in the hallway. ‘I’m not Karl Rove,’ he added, referring to George Bush’s political consigliere, who had been accused of pressuring Justice to fire politically unpopular U.S. attorneys.

Holder did not appreciate being publicly dressed down by the president’s most senior political adviser. Determined to stand his ground against Tammany Hall, the A.G. ripped into him in full view of other White House staffers. ‘That’s bull—-,’ he replied vehemently.

The two men stood chest to chest. It was like a school yard fight back at their shared alma mater, Stuyvesant, the elite public high school for striving kids from New York City. White House staffers caught in the crossfire averted their eyes. Jarrett, whose office was nearby, materialized as things got hot. Petite and perfectly put together as always, she pushed her way between the two men, her sense of decorum disturbed, ordering them to ‘take it out of the hallway.'”

So it was just a couple of guys arguing in close proximity to one another with no raised fists or threats. It was interrupted by a “petite” Valerie Jarrett, which suggests that it could not have been all that dangerous. And the belligerents were not told to cool off or stop fighting, they were not separated, they were merely told to take their argument to a more discreet location.

Ironically, the right-wingers at Fox, and elsewhere in the conservative media who are hyping this story, ought to be impressed with Holder’s position. Conservatives are convinced that Holder is an Obama toady who does everything with a political goal. However, in this affair, he was adamant that his Justice Department not be used as a dumping ground for political operatives. That would seem to prove that the right has Holder all wrong. In fact, Holder and Axelrod are both fiercely concerned with maintaining their integrity with regard to the execution of their duties. That’s what the whole argument is about.

Every presidency should have people who fight to defend the ethical administration of their offices. You can rest assured that in the Bush administration the fights involved people who were unwilling to cross ethical lines as ordered by Rove and Dick Cheney.

Fox News Produces An Anti-Obama Video – Then Scrubs It, Sanitizes It, And Scrubs It Again

Posted by Mark NC on May 30, 2012 at 5:32 pm. 2 Comments :

This morning on Fox & Friends, the program’s hosts, two couch potatoes and one couch tomato, introduced a video that purported to examine “Four Years of Hope and Change.” What it was in reality was a four-plus minute campaign video attacking President Obama that presented a variety of soundbites by the President accompanied by ominous graphics and eerie music that falsely implied that his campaign promises were unkept. The video addresses subjects such as…

The national debt (which ballooned as a result of Bush’s tax cuts for the rich, bailouts for banks, and two wars).
The unemployment rate (which Fox failed to note has fallen from 10.1 to 8.1, and which was the result of an economic collapse precipitated by Bush’s pandering to, and deregulation of, Wall Street).
The price of gas (which at $3.63 a gallon is still lower (and falling) than at the height of the Bush administration when it reached $4.12).
And a variety of statistics that one would expect in a recession that were caused by the economic mismanagement enumerated above.

The video (which Media Matters thoroughly debunks here) could not have been a more pro-Romney, anti-Obama attack had it been produced by the Republican National Committee. When critics observe that Fox News is the PR arm of the GOP, it is precisely because of brazenly biased political activism like this. If there were ever a time for Fox News to be investigated by the Federal Elections Commission for improper political contributions, it is now.

Apparently Fox News has also recognized the gross inappropriateness of their anti-Obama attack ad. Minutes after the video was posted online it was removed from every place it had been posted. On Fox Nation a reader would have been greeted by a “Lost at Sea” page indicating that the content was no longer at that address. On the Fox & Friends site the video was replaced by an error message saying that they “were unable to play the media you selected.” What could have prompted Fox to bury their own video that had already been broadcast on the air?

Approximately an hour later the video reappeared on Fox Nation. However, it had been edited to remove all of the footage of the Fox & Friends crew introducing it and summing up at the conclusion. It’s almost as if Fox were trying to destroy any evidence of their involvement with the video.

Unfortunately for the propagandists at Fox, the evidence persists. Media Matters captured the whole production and made it available for all to see:

It was nice of the Fox Friends to credit the video’s producer, Chris White, for the fine job of partisan obfuscation he had done. Steve Doocy beamed, “No kidding. He remembered everything everybody said over the last three and a half, four years.” Well, actually he only remembered to piece together random bits from Obama’s speeches juxtaposed with negative graphics and false conclusions.

This should put an end to any talk that Fox News has been trying to moderate their bias, as some pundits suggested last year. Fox hasn’t changed at all. They are just as committed to falsifying their reporting, promoting their far-right agenda, and making imbecilic drones of their audience, as they ever were. This video would be ample evidence of that all by itself, but add to the mix Fox’s attempt to surgically excise their responsibility for it and you know all you need to know about their deceitful and dangerous intent.

Update: 2:30: The video has mysteriously disappeared again from the Fox web sites.
Update: 3:40: Now information is emerging that Fox News has been taking considerable heat for their bad behavior. It appears that the video has been disappeared by Fox. A weaselly statement was issued by Fox EVP Bill Shine who said…

“The package that aired on FOX & Friends was created by an associate producer and was not authorized at the senior executive level of the network. This has been addressed with the show’s producers.”

One has to wonder what happened to Fox’s “Zero Tolerance” policy that was instituted after a series of stupid mistakes. Now it seems that Fox is merely scapegoating an underling despite the glowing treatment that the Fox Friends gave the video and their effusive praise for the producer. The New York Times is reporting that Fox CEO Roger Ailes “was not aware of the video” even though he has previously taken a keen interest in the program. However, a lot of people were aware of this video because it was not only broadcast on air, it was posted to several sites online.

A few weeks ago a couple of NBC employees misleadingly edited an audio tape of George Zimmerman’s call to 911. NBC fired them and announced it publicly. Don’t expect the same from Fox. They don’t bother with trivialities like journalistic ethics. All they will do is say that it’s been addressed and then probably give the producer a bonus. That’s how Roger Ailes can make the ludicrous claim that “in 15 years we have never taken a story down because it was wrong.”

There is no way that Fox can avoid responsibility for this atrociously unethical affair. By now it is so obvious that Fox exists to promote Republicans and bash Democrats that this video fits squarely within their mission. The only difference this time is that they got caught crossing a line that they obviously weren’t worried about. That’s because they are so comfortable wandering across it that they’ve lost all cognizance of the line’s existence.

Fox Nation vs. Reality: Reviving Trump Birther Charges To Attack Romney

Posted by Mark NC on May 29, 2012 at 2:09 pm. 5 Comments :

Talk about desperate…

The Fox Nationalists have posted this article asserting that a desperate Obama campaign is “Reviving Trump’s Birther Charges.” And it is a devious strategy that Obama is plotting by somehow managing to get Donald Trump to reiterate his lunatic position on Obama’s citizenship. Last week, without any noticeable provocation from the Obama camp, Trump volunteered that “It’s very simple. He said [Obama] was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia.” Imagine the sophistication of the Obama Machine that can revive the Trump Birther charges straight from the mouth of Trump without anyone, including Trump, catching on.

And now that the charges have been revived, Obama can use Trump’s delusional extremism to attack Mitt Romney. This is also evidence of just how complex the Obama strategy is. After successfully manipulating Trump into making idiotic statements, Obama’s team has somehow maneuvered Romney into embracing Trump and forcefully declining to repudiate Trump as his chief surrogate. Romney responded to criticism of his association with Trump by saying…

“You know, I don’t agree with all the people who support me and my guess is they don’t all agree with everything I believe in. But I need to get 50.1% or more and I’m appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people.” [Note that Fox Nation excised the part in bold from their article]

How on earth did Obama get Romney to say publicly that he is willing to abandon his principles in order to get a majority and win the election? Then again, perhaps that wasn’t the hardest part of the plan since Romney’s principles are fairly malleable to begin with. It’s true that Romney may not agree with all of his supporters. On most issues he has taken positions in stark disagreement with himself.

Trump, it should be noted, has not been cowed by this controversy. He tweeted today that…

“@BarackObama is practically begging @MittRomney to disavow the place of birth movement, he is afraid of it and for good reason. He keeps using @SenJohnMcCain as an example, however, @SenJohnMcCain lost the election. Don’t let it happen again.”

Jeremiah Wright If directing criticism at Romney for his connection to the birther movement is evidence that Obama is afraid of it, then Romney’s criticism of Obama’s campaign for raising Bain Capital as an issue is evidence that Romney is scared Mittless of that. The difference is that Bain Capital is real and birtherism is a manifestation of acute mental decay. And that makes it all the more remarkable that Trump believes the reason McCain lost in 2008 was that he didn’t latch onto birtherism. While everyone else knows that the real reason Mccain lost was because he wouldn’t hit harder on Rev. Wright.

Only Fox Nation could look at this situation and come to the conclusion that it was Obama’s campaign that revived Trump’s inane attack. But that’s the purpose of Fox Nation – twisting reality into unrecognizable pretzel bits in order to to keep their audience as ignorant as possible. How else could their candidates win?

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