Kevin McCarthy

Kayleigh McEnany Tells Fox News She Was SHOCKED By the Violence – that Trump Incited

Posted by on March 2, 2021 at 10:41 am. 8 Comments :

On Tuesday morning the newest member of the Fox News family made her debut on the conservative propaganda network. Former Donald Trump Press Secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, sat for an interview with Fox’s Harris Faulkner. The segment was as jam-packed with the lies and worshipful adoration that was typical of her many prior appearances on Fox News and her infrequent, always hostile, White House press briefings.

Kayleigh McEnany, Donald Trump

McEnany’s interview aired while FBI Director Christopher Wray was testifying before the Senate about the January 6th Capitol riots. CNN and MSNBC were airing the hearing. Fox News apparently considered McEnany’s interview more newsworthy. Although the riots were a featured part of the interview:

“I think at the beginning of the day before everyone went to the rally, everyone was expecting peace. […] And then as those events transpired, it was disbelief, shock, somber, sad, horrified by the violence. and it was a very hard, difficult day in the White House, there was no doubt. It was a, I should say, widespread feeling, synonymous feeling, completely. A feeling that everyone felt just completely condemning the actions of that day.”

https://twitter.com/TVNewsHQ/status/1366523851300098050

If McEnany was “shocked” by the tragic events that resulted in five deaths and numerous injuries, she must have been in a self-induced coma. The FBI had issued warnings of anticipated hostilities prior to Trump’s inflammatory cult rally. According to the Washington Post…

“A day before rioters stormed Congress, an FBI office in Virginia issued an explicit warning that extremists were preparing to travel to Washington to commit violence and ‘war.'” […]

“[T]he alarming Jan. 5 intelligence document was shared ‘with all our law enforcement partners’ through the joint terrorism task force, which includes the U.S. Capitol Police, the U.S. Park Police, D.C. police, and other federal and local agencies.”

What’s more, McEnany’s assertion that there were “synonamous” [sic] feelings of disbelief and horror doesn’t align with the reality as described at the time by former Trump aides who said that “Trump enjoyed watching the events unfold. He was ‘loving watching the Capitol mob.'” Trump himself, in reluctant remarks made hours after the riots began, told the rioters that “We love you,” and that “You’re very special.” The interview continued with Faulkner asking McEnany whether she thought Trump bore any responsibility. Guess what she said:

“No, no I don’t. […] What those rioters did, you know the left says he’s responsible, he’s incited this – or even other Republicans – What I would say to them, well these rioters, if they were so inspired by what the President was saying – they left the speech early because reportedly they showed up at the Capitol before the end of his speech – and then they did the exact opposite of what he said. He said march peacefully and patriotically, and they did the opposite.”

Of course, McEnany is highlighting a few incidental seconds in Trump’s speech at the rally. She’s leaving out months of Trump’s incendiary rhetoric as well as his exhortation at the rally that “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

McEneny went on to describe some people she met months earlier during the campaign who were nice to her, as if that excused the actions of the Trump Insurrectionists. She insisted that the violence was done by people who “do not represent our movement,” despite Trump’s loving embrace of them. She also lied about the focus in the White House being on maintaining peace, contrary to reports by House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy who, in a desperate and profanity-laced phone call, begged Trump for more security, but was told by Trump that the rioters cared more about the election results than McCarthy did.

For the record, McEnany is contradicting Trump, who now says that he requested 10,000 National Guard troops prior to the rally. That, of course, is also a lie. If he had done so, they would have been there. And let’s not forget that McEnany is just as guilty of propagating the Big Lie about the election being “stolen” as Trump is. She also swore that the coronavirus would never come to the United States. Now she’s following her Trump administration colleague, Larry Kudlow, into the Fox News bubble where they can lie with impunity and get paid big bucks for it. Never mind the harm it does politically, and even physically, as we learned on January 6th.

The one truthful statement that McEnany made in this interview was that Trump “changed the Republican Party forever.” Curiously, she portrayed that in a positive light, despite his having presided over the loss of the House, the Senate, and the presidency, and being the lowest rated president in history. He even failed to impress the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Cult (CPAC), where he drew support for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination from only 55% of the attendees. And if that’s the best he can do in a made-for-Trump crowd, he’s looking at losing again in 2024, if he’s dumb enough to run (which he is).

UPDATE: McEnany has already been promoted to co-host of Fox’s Outnumbered>

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

Frightened GOP Traitors Are Suffering From PTSD – Post-Trump Sedition Disorder

Posted by on January 10, 2021 at 2:18 pm. 9 Comments :

The failed Trump Insurrection was only four days ago. However, the devoted enablers of Donald Trump are are already attempting to distance themselves from the sedition they were advocating. In the wake of the tragedy that has resulted in at least five deaths so far, they are frantically seeking to bury their own complicity and present themselves as uniters.

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Trump Fear

Sorry. That isn’t going to fly. You don’t get to beg for mercy and togetherness after you spent months fomenting animus, hatred, and flagrant lies aimed at suppressing the will of the American people. After someone has plowed through your rose garden and poisoned your dog, he can’t make a plea to be good neighbors now that he’s facing charges for felony arson because he was also caught setting fire to your house.

There have to be consequences for unlawful acts. The perpetrators must be punished in order to serve justice and to deter others. You can only achieve real unity by honestly applying the law without favor or bias, not by forgiving the heinous crimes of the privileged. That, however, is precisely the dead end path that guilty Republicans are scurrying along. For instance…

  • Kevin McCarthy: Impeaching the President with just 12 days left will only divide our country more.
  • Ted Cruz: We must come together and put this anger and division behind us.
  • Lindsey Graham: I firmly believe impeachment would further destroy our ability to heal and start over.
  • And of course, Trump: We must revitalize the sacred bonds of love and loyalty, that bind us together as one national family.

None of these hypocrites have any standing to cry for unity. They have been unity’s enemies for pretty much… ever! Typical among them is ultra-rightist Rep. Jim Jordan. He made his own appeal to forgive and forget the right’s abhorrent criminality, and was firmly in lock-step with his confederates:

“Impeachment is for a sitting president. And the President, if the Democrats pursue this, could not have a trial until after he has left office. So I think it’s got real constitutional problems. But most importantly, it’s not healthy for the nation. We’re at an important point. I’m very concerned about where we’re at. I hope we can begin to come back together.”

Jordan is helpfully demonstrating what a horrible source he is for constitutional law. There is nothing in the Constitution or subsequent legislation that requires a president to be currently serving in order to be impeached. Congress could impeach Calvin Coolidge now if they chose to. And Jordan is hardly the right person to advocate for unity when his whole career in Congress has been dedicated to creating partisan hostility and division. What’s more, appointing himself as the magistrate of morality is a humongous stretch considering how he covered up sexual abuse when he was a student wrestling coach at Ohio State.

With regard to the seditious acts of the Trump Insurrection, it is necessary to impeach Trump in order to establish a legal record of his conviction for inciting his violent cult disciples. It is also necessary to prevent him from running for office in the future. It is also necessary to prohibit the government from paying for his pension, healthcare, office, staff, and security, for the rest of his life. It is also necessary as notice to Trump’s enablers (Pence, Cruz, Hawley, Pompeo, Haley, and even Tucker Carlson) that their servile bootlicking earned them no political benefit.

These backsliding hypocrites are exhibiting the cowardice for which they are famous. Now that they face some legal peril they are anxious to sue for peace. They are feigning a desire for harmony, but only after their vicious assault failed and they’re too scared to suffer the consequences. But it’s not their choice anymore. The law must prevail. And they’ve been caught red-handed because of all the blood on their hands.

NOTE: Twitter recently suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. And you can follow my alternate Twitter account here. Thanks for your support.

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

HUH? Trump Backers Oppose Impeachment Because It Would Upset Trump Backers

Posted by on January 8, 2021 at 2:42 pm. 19 Comments :

The calls for Donald Trump to be removed from office are coming faster and more furiously with each passing hour. A solid majority (57%) of the American people want Trump booted out of office immediately. There are even Republicans who have stated publicly that they support Trump’s impeachment or removal by the 25th Amendment of the Constitution. Clearly the nation has had enough. They don’t believe he is mentally fit to captain the ship of state, and they want him thrown overboard.

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Donald Trump Walking the Plank

Trump, meanwhile, has bunkered in the White House watching Fox News and tweeting incoherently. He is likely seeking out support from any quarter that can still stomach his madness and destructive behavior.

Sadly, there are some factions of anti-democratic cult disciples who continue to worship Dear Leader no matter how heinous his betrayal of America. Some of them are member of Congress who haven’t the courage to defy him. Take House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who told reporters that “Impeaching the President with just 12 days left in his term will only divide our country more.”

That is typical of the arguments being made now on Trump’s behalf. It is hardly logical, but it’s all they have left. They are saying that pursuing impeachment or the 25th Amendment would only create more division and inflame Trump and his cult. They say that Trump should get a free pass in order to facilitate healing and unity. The problem is that that suggests that unity is only possible by giving in to Trump in order to appease his supporters who are a distinct minority.

Why can’t we achieve unity instead by prosecuting Trump in order to appease the majority of the American people? It makes no sense whatsoever to accept the argument that the Trump side must be pacified or their feelings will be hurt and they’ll become even more violent. Succumbing to that bullstuff is, in effect, succumbing to the threat of violence. It would be like declining to prosecute Charles Manson because it would have upset Manson’s family. And after all, don’t we all want unity?

There is really only one path to heal the nation in the post-Trump era. We must hold the wrongdoers – especially Trump – accountable. There must be consequences for unlawful acts and deliberately seditious incitements to violence. That’s the only way the perpetrators can be constrained. And it’s the only way to deter future criminal demagogues and aspiring tyrants. It is, in fact, the best course for healing and unity because it brings everyone together in support if the democratic principles that America is supposed to stand for. Hopefully President-Elect Joe Biden will see it this way. There is some indication that he does. In a press briefing on Friday he said that…

“I was told on the way up here that [Trump] indicated that he is not going to show up at the inauguration. One of the few things he and I have ever agreed on. It’s a good thing him not showing up. […] Because he exceeded even my worst notions about him. He’s been an embarrassment to the country, embarrassed us around the world. He’s not worthy, not worthy to hold that office.”

Biden added that removing Trump from office is not his role. It is the business of Congress. So Congress, bring on the impeachment of Trump. And bring on the invocation of the 25th Amendment. Make Trump pay a price for his crimes. And make his accomplices regret having been so cowardly and servile and/or self-serving. Once Trump has been indicted, tried, and convicted, the nation can be proud of having lived up to its promise of justice for all, and the creed that no one is above the law.

NOTE: Twitter recently suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. And you can follow my alternate Twitter account here. Thanks for your support.

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

The GOP News Network (aka Fox News) Is SHOCKED that Billionaires Donate to Democratic Campaigns

Posted by on October 14, 2018 at 1:41 pm. 4 Comments :

It’s just about three weeks until the midterm elections that are forecasting a massive Blue Wave. Most campaign analysts agree that Democrats will secure a majority in the House of Representatives, and some believe the Senate is in play as well. Consequently, Fox News is pulling out all the stops to obstruct that outcome by loading up their schedule with Republican politicians and pundits sermonizing on the urgency of saving the Trump regime’s grip on unchallenged power.

Fox News, Maria Bartiromo

Republicans have abdicated their constitutional role as a check and balance on the other branches of government, particularly the executive branch. Instead, they have been brazenly shielding Trump and company from any legal accountability for their many crimes. And Fox News is aiding and abetting that betrayal of American values. Fox host Maria Bartiromo secured her status as the chief Sunday morning Trump-fluffer with an “interview” of Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy. The segment was pretty much a monologue by the GOP hack intended to boost Republican voter turnout and malign Democrats.

However, one subject dominated the discussion more than the typical gaslighting we’re accustomed to by Republicans. McCarthy raised his “real concern” about former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s donations to Democratic candidates (video below):

“There is a real concern that I have though, because Michael Bloomberg, if you watched who recently registered a Democrat, he is trying to buy the Democrat nomination to run against President Trump. So he has put in $80 million to try and win the House.”

Bartiromo, naturally, agreed with McCarthy. She went on to misstate the truth about which party is getting the most donations from average Americans, and she complained about “a handful of big, deep pocketed donors like a Michael Bloomberg, like a Tom Steyer.” McCarthy took that handoff and ran with it saying that:

“Just think the three individuals who are funding the Democratic Party. George Soros. You’ve got Michael Bloomberg, is not just $80 million into the House, he put another $20 million to try to win the senate. Then Tom Steyer. More than $120 million trying to win. But his main goal is trying to impeach President Trump. He brags that his impeachment list is bigger than the NRA list. Those three individuals are trying to buy our government in this process. It’s very disturbing.”

Why McCarthy correctly noted that there are more people supporting Trump’s impeachment than there are members of the NRA is puzzling, but appreciated. But more to the point, he itemized the contributions of some wealthy Democratic donors and noted how disturbed he was by it. And was it just a coincidence that all three of the rich Dems are Jewish?

What McCarthy didn’t bother to mention is that just one single wealthy donor to the Republicans, Charles Koch, is spending $400 million, more than the total McCarthy said was being donated by all of the Democratic supporters combined. And that isn’t even counting all the other GOP big money donors like the Adelsons and Uihleins. For some reason McCarthy and Bartiromo don’t find that disturbing.

Bartiromo goes on to praise a GOP campaign slogan saying “Build the wall, enforce the law. Yeah.” Then she gives McCarthy an open ended question about where Republicans are running close races with Democrats. And McCarthy took that baton and launched a two minute sprint of races that he wanted to promote on national television to an audience of obedient cult worshipers. It could not have been a more obvious contribution of valuable TV airtime to a political party than if it were branded with a big GOP elephant in place of the Fox News logo.

And this political assist to the Republican Party comes at just the right time. With the midterms approaching, Trump’s frequent cult rallies were boring the Fox News audience so much that Fox cut back on airing them live. The network was also losing a ton of ad revenue because Trump’s speeches could not be interrupted for commercial breaks. So to compensate for the loss of that TV exposure, Fox News is increasing their donations of airtime to GOP shills who will proselytize the right-wing doctrine in a more profitable, TV-friendly format. All in a desperate effort to stave off an electoral bloodbath next month that they probably can’t avoid. Well, as long as Democrats stay focused and turn out at the polls.

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

With Nothing To Pin On Hillary Clinton, Fox News Furiously Spins The Benghazi Panel’s Pointless Report

Posted by on June 28, 2016 at 8:00 pm. 1 Comments :

After two years and seven million dollars, the Republican Committee on Politicizing Benghazi finally issued a report on their findings. And, to no one’s surprise, the result of this lengthy and expensive charade reveals absolutely nothing of significance that wasn’t already known or reported by one of the seven other congressional committees that wasted taxpayer dollars on this transparently political witch hunt.

Almost immediately following the release of committee’s report Fox News shifted into offense in an effort to hurl mud at Clinton. The absence of anything substantive to report didn’t deter them from their mission. As an indication of how the media reported this news event, take a look at the on-screen graphics of the three cable news networks:

Fox News

Both CNN and MSNBC correctly reported that committee failed to deliver on their promises of criminality by Clinton. Fox News, on the other hand, tweaked their reporting to refer to the GOP’s press conference rather than the contents of the actual report. So their graphics faulted the Obama administration because that’s what the Republicans at the press conference were predisposed to discuss. Never mind that their own committee’s report did not support their criticisms. Even the Fox News crawl, during this segment, noted that “Clinton never personally denied requests for added security.”

Fox News spent much of the day slandering Clinton with innuendos that had nothing to do with the report. On Outnumbered Jedediah Bila said that “It doesn’t bother her that people died.” Fox’s national security analyst, K.T. McFarland, said that Clinton has “blood on your hands.” Dana Perino of The Five inexplicably called for yet another Benghazi investigation. Notice that none of these comments addressed any of the report’s actual findings, preferring instead to fling insults and malicious opinions.

Republicans had long ago exposed themselves as the perpetrators of a partisan assault on Hillary Clinton in advance of her campaign for the presidency. Their Speaker-in-Waiting, Keven McCarthy, bragged about his anti-Clinton plot to Sean Hannity saying that “Everybody thought that Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today?” Well, since you asked, Clinton’s numbers today put her twelve points ahead of Donald Trump, and McCarthy was bumped from his speakership path and replaced by Paul Ryan.

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

The Benghazi investigation lasted longer than any previous congressional investigation, including the JFK assassination, the Nixon Watergate affair, and 9/11. It’s budget exceeded that of the House Intelligence Committee and the Veterans Committee combined. Yet it found not a single bit of evidence of any wrongdoing by Clinton or the Obama administration. So Fox News chose to ignore the report’s conclusions and instead engage in ad hominem smear tactics. That is, after all, what they were created to do.

How Fox News Proved That Hillary Clinton Won The Benghazi Games

Posted by on October 23, 2015 at 12:44 pm. 23 Comments :

The long awaited battle between Hillary Clinton and the Republican’s Committee to Politicize Benghazi is now in the history books. It was a marathon eleven hour affair that featured the top names in partisan propaganda as they tried in vain to wear down Clinton and force an error.

Trey Gowdy Hillary Clinton

The details are hardly relevant because even the committee’s chairman, Trey Gowdy, admitted that nothing new was learned from the inquisition. When asked by reporters what the hearing had achieved, he said that “In terms of her testimony? I don’t know that she testified that much differently today than she has the previous times she testified.”

In other words, this committee has been just as incapable of manufacturing a scandal as the seven other committees before it. And even though Gowdy, in his opening statement, vilified his fellow Republicans on prior committees by repeatedly maligning their efforts as not being “serious and thorough,” he was unable to achieve anything more than they did, by his own admission.

Meanwhile, Clinton held up impressively well for the entire hearing, even though she was the only person involved who had to be aware and engaged throughout. The committee members all got to rest between each of their five minute question periods, but Clinton had no such relief. Kinda puts into perspective Donald Trump’s wimpy whining about standing for a three hour debate where he would only be required to speak for about fifteen minutes.

But the real indication that this hearing was a total bust for the Republican scandal machine was that Fox News cut out long before it was over. Both CNN and MSNBC covered the eleven hour hearing wall-to-wall, but Fox News bailed after only seven hours, when they flipped back to their regularly scheduled programming (The Five). So they left out fully one-third of the proceedings. Do you think they would have done that if they thought that Clinton was bombing? Of course not. They were more worried that she looked strong, confident, knowledgeable, and (gasp) presidential. That was something they didn’t want their viewers exposed to, so the decision was made to ditch the live hearings and return to their panel of wingnut pundits on whom they could rely for continued Clinton bashing.

To underscore the significance of this editorial cowardice, we must remember that Fox News has always been the network most obsessed with Benghazi. They even celebrated their own reporting, and particularly their CEO Roger Ailes, for being the “driving force” pushing to “keep Benghazi alive.” After devoting that much effort to turn a tragedy into political theater, Fox wouldn’t even stick with the live broadcast of the headlining act.

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

What viewers who watched the whole session would come away with is that GOP inquisitors were mainly concerned with emails from Clinton friend Sidney Blumenthal (whose transcripts the GOP committee members voted not to release), and the administration’s references to an anti-Muslim video following the attacks in Benghazi. Both of those were purely political subjects and neither could possibly shed any light on how the attacks occurred or what could be done to prevent similar attacks in the future.

So Gowdy and his cohorts can cite at least one thing that this hearing succeeded in achieving: That Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy was correct when he said that the committee’s purpose was to bring down Hillary Clinton. And they even failed on that score. Congratulations.

Fox News Admitted The Benghazi Probe Was A Political Sham Years Before McCarthy

Posted by on October 1, 2015 at 2:24 pm. 4 Comments :

Last night the Republican Majority Leader in the House of Representatives (and prospective future Speaker), Kevin McCarthy, revealed what many people already knew about the GOP’s investigation into Benghazi. And contrary to some characterizations in the press, it was not a gaffe. McCarthy openly bragged to Sean Hannity of Fox News that he helped to orchestrate an anti-Hillary Clinton campaign by forming a Select Committee To Politicize Benghazi. It was, and still is, a repulsive endeavor that dishonors the dead and exposes the self-serving immorality of the Republican Party.

Fox News

However, McCarthy wasn’t the first to proudly disclose the rank partisanship of the phony Benghazi probe. Two years ago Fox News congratulated themselves on their dishonest Benghazi coverage with particular praise for Fox CEO Roger Ailes. Steve Doocy of Fox & Friends said that…

“Fox News has been doing this story from the get-go. And the mainstream media, the Daily Show, has mocked us for covering Benghazi. And now everybody else is catching up. It’s been a story they’re realizing. One of the reasons we’ve followed it is Roger Ailes, our chairman and CEO. […] Had Roger and Fox News not pushed this story the White House would have just left it in the dust.”

As News Corpse wrote last year:

“Roger Ailes spent decades as a professional Republican consultant before being tapped by Rupert Murdoch to run Fox News. Ordinarily media executives do not interfere with the operations of their editorial departments, but such journalistic ethics have never been a part of the Fox News mission. Thus we see their CEO openly shaping news coverage, even influencing policy, and getting praised for it on the air by his employees.”

And in a separate article on the same subject:

“Neither Boehner nor Gowdy have any interest in getting to the bottom of anything. Their statements and actions for the past year and a half show that they are only interested in politicizing a tragic loss of American lives. Having failed to uncover even a sliver of evidence of any wrongdoing, Boehner is, in effect, insulting his own colleagues in Congress (i.e. Darrell Issa) who have been conducting pseudo-investigations without producing the hoped for “smoking guns” with which they could continue their campaign of political slander. […]

“It is a desperate attempt to dig up some political mud to throw, to tarnish the prospective presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton in 2016, and to salvage Boehner’s sinking reputation with the far-right fringe of his party whom he needs if he wants to be Speaker in the next session of congress.”

So McCarthy didn’t actually reveal anything new. He was merely corroborating what Fox News had admitted years ago: That they were the driving force keeping Benghazi alive. The arrogance they display with on-air graphics confessing that they “made terror attack a story” in response to a “push” by their CEO, is unprecedented.

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

Furthermore, that arrogance is matched by Republicans in Congress who obediently complied with the demands by Fox News to impanel a select committee. To put it in perspective, Republicans allocated more money to the phony Benghazi Committee (over $3 million) than to either the Intelligence Committee or the Veterans Committee, which deal with matters that have much more far-reaching impact on the nation’s citizens and security.

Three Degrees Of GOP Crazy: From Benghazi To Planned Parenthood To ACORN

Posted by on September 30, 2015 at 4:21 pm. 13 Comments :

The Republican Party is showing signs of desperation after virtually every attempt to manufacture scandals that they can blame on Democrats has failed. Rather than developing some policy initiatives that might find favor with the American people, or conducting outreach to voter groups, the GOP is diving deeper into unfounded allegations and conspiracy theories. Just yesterday three of their top players engaged in some Olympian nuttiness that produced nothing but embarrassment for their floundering team.

GOP Crazy

Let’s begin this three degrees of separation journey with an appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program (video below) by the man projected to be the next GOP Speaker of the House of Representatives. Kevin McCarthy may have thought that he would have a genteel Tea Party with the GOP-friendly host, but he wasn’t prepared for the level of animosity that wingnuts like Hannity have for establishment conservatives. Hannity took McCarthy to task for not having done more to monkey wrench the Obama administration’s agenda. He assailed McCarthy and the House GOP for presiding over budget deficits, funding ObamaCare, amnesty for immigrants, and not shutting down the government over Planned Parenthood. Having been caught off guard, McCarthy carelessly revealed the real, not-so-secret purpose of the House Select Committee to Politicize Benghazi as he tried to defend his record.

“Everybody thought that Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable. But no one would have known any of that happened had we not fought to make that happen.”

So McCarthy admitted on TV that the true aim of the Benghazi hearings was to damage Clinton’s reputation and electability. To which Hannity graciously replied “I agree, that’s something good. I give you credit for that.” McCarthy later let slip that he intends to form another pointless select committee on Planned Parenthood. Under Republican control, this congress has held an unprecedented number of flagrantly partisan hearings that have produced nothing of value to their party, much less the nation. The Benghazi investigation has now officially lasted longer than any previous congressional investigation, including the JFK assassination, the Nixon Watergate affair, and 9/11, yet has not found a single bit of evidence of any wrongdoing.

The Benghazi Committee is chaired by Rep. Trey Gowdy (SC-Tea Party), which brings us to the second degree of separation. Gowdy is also a member of the committee investigating Planned Parenthood for misconduct alleged by an anti-abortion group’s videos that have been proven to be edited in a deliberately deceptive fashion. When it was Gowdy’s turn to question Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards he asked whether she had an understanding of those who oppose abortion. Richards said that she appreciates that “people have a lot of different views on the issue of abortion,” then dismissed the condescending premise saying that Planned Parenthood “trusts women” to make decisions about their own bodies.

That provoked Gowdy to accuse Richards of wanting to “frame the issue” to say that she is “the reasonable one, and those of us who have a contrary position are not reasonable.” Which, of course, she did not say. Gowdy actually conceded that she didn’t say that, but then, using his supernatural power to read minds, told her that “It’s not always what you say, sometimes it’s just what you mean.” But he still could not explain how anything she said could be interpreted to mean what he asserted. It’s plain that he was intent on mischaracterizing her remarks no matter what she actually said.

The chairman of the Planned Parenthood committee was Rep. Jason Chaffetz, which conveniently moves us to the third and final degree of separation. During the same hearing, Chaffetz made some glaring blunders. For instance, he displayed a highly distorted and prejudicial chart that Richards had to tell him was provided by Americans United for Life, a virulently anti-abortion group. But his worst gaffe may have been uttered after the hearing when he went on Fox News to spin the event for the media. In an effort to drive home his slanderous perception of events, he said that “Planned Parenthood is the new ACORN. That’s who they are. Remember when we talked about ACORN? That is Planned Parenthood as far as I can see it.”

You know, he’s actually right. ACORN was an organization that helped people, but was smeared by liars who produced false videos that eventually led to Congress defunding them. Sound familiar? There was never any evidence that ACORN did anything wrong. To the contrary, James O’Keefe, the producer of the videos, lost a lawsuit and was ordered to pay a former ACORN staffer $100,000. But, unfortunately, that was after ACORN lost their funding and had to close up shop. Now the same sort of liars are trying to do the same thing to Planned Parenthood despite several state investigations that have already cleared them of any wrongdoing.

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

What all of this adds up to is the brazen dishonesty of a desperate Republican Party trying to invent scandals and exploit their congressional power to bring down their political foes. With McCarthy we have an admission that their efforts are partisan. With Gowdy we see how blinded they are by their own biases. And with Chaffetz a clear connection is made to a previous effort to sabotage an honorable public service organization.

Ironically, the GOP is whining about taxpayers having to pay for Planned Parenthood and women’s health care services, but most Americans support Planned Parenthood. So the real question is why are Americans forced to pay millions of dollars for congressional hearings that are nothing more than partisan witch hunts based on proven lies?

Here is the video of McCarthy on Hannity: