WTG: Obama Stiffs Fox News

The Washington Post is reporting that President Obama will appear on five of the Sunday news programs this weekend. Apparently this is a notable achievement immortalized by William Ginsburg, attorney for Monica Lewinsky in 1998. It has since become known as “the Full Ginsburg.”

The difference in this instance is that Ginsburg appeared on NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and Fox. But Obama has ditched Fox and replaced it with Univision.

Obama has gone off the reservation in the past, consenting to interviews with Chris Wallace, Bill O’Reilly, and others. It isn’t to late for him to squeeze in Fox if he wants to. That would be unfortunate. This administration has already caved in to right wing pressure on too many important matters – from health care to Van Jones. This would be a good time to demonstrate that the network that is so openly hostile to the President and his agenda, the network that employs a man who has called the President a racist, does not deserve to be graced with his presence.

It would be best if no one from the Democratic or progressive communities ever appeared on Fox News. As I have written in Starve the Beast, Fox News is focused on doing as much harm as possible to Democrats. They will exploit every opportunity to make them look bad and to disparage their political goals. Fox News spends 24 hours of every day debasing the debate on vital issues and promoting incivility and even hostility. It is not a serious venue – it is a circus.

There is simply no justification for rewarding Fox with a presidential booking – or any booking at all. Obama is doing the right thing by turning his back on Fox. Let’s just hope he doesn’t change his mind.

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Glenn Beck Boycott Costs Fox News Big Bucks

The advertiser boycott against Glenn Beck has grown beyond the expectations of many, including me. Currently there are 62 major advertisers who have indicated that they do not want their brands associated with the hatred and hostility for which Beck is known. Color of Change, the group spearheading the action, is continuing to apply pressure and they are also asking supporters to thank the advertisers who have bailed on Beck.

Fox News has desperately tried to minimize the impact of the boycott by saying that, despite the exodus of advertisers, they haven’t lost any money because ads were just shifted to other programs. I never bought that argument because advertisers shifting to other programs would only displace the ads those programs already had. There is only so much inventory in TV. Therefore, at best it would neutral, assuming that Beck brought in replacement ads. But he didn’t, except for low-paying direct marketers and locals. That can’t possibly raise the same revenue as Geico and Procter & Gamble.

Now, a prominent industry analyst has compiled data that confirms the fact that Fox is losing revenue due to the boycott:

“According to the data collected, the amount of money spent by national advertisers on Beck’s program per week was at its highest at approximately $1,060,000, for the week ending August 2, 2009. ColorOfChange.org launched their campaign at the end of that week and since then, 62 advertisers have distanced themselves from Beck. Data collected for the week ending September 6, 2009 shows Beck’s estimated ad revenue at $492,000, equal to a loss of $568,000.”

Fox publicists can dissemble all they like, but a rational examination of the facts can only lead to the conclusion that Beck is a bed sore on the butt of Fox News. With his ratings increasing, Fox is incapable of converting them into dollars. At some point Fox will have to decide whether covering for Beck is worth it. Eventually the taint will rub off on the network (more so than presently). Do they want to be regarded as so committed to promoting Beck’s beastly behavior that they will do so no matter how much money they lose? The likely result of that will be that advertisers will pull back from all Fox News programming.


The 9/12 Rally Fox News Did Not Broadcast

Journalist Max Blumenthal attended Glenn Beck’s 9/12 Million (Minus 930,000) Paranoid Malcontents March on Saturday and documented a far more realistic representation of the Tea Baggers confederation than anything you would have seen on Fox News. Enjoy:

Speaks for itself. My favorite part was the English-only advocate who had a bit of a problem with English himself. Overall, Blumenthal produced an outstanding depiction of the hypocrisy and ignorance on display by the Beck Brigades. And despite boasting that the event would draw a million people, it couldn’t produce even five percent of that.

I attended a rally in Los Angeles that drew a pathetic 300-400 Fox Pods. They had the usual array of crayon-drawn signs with insulting and childish slogans, i.e. “Ted’s Dead – So is Obama Care” and “Just Say NO to Lucifer Obama.” Then there was the enterprising tea bagger with the giant poster of the President in African witch doctor attire. That was typical of the crowd that spanned the racial spectrum from Pasty Trailer Parker to Alabaster Aryan.

There were less than a handful of minority protesters in attendance. Yet when a counter-protester showed up asserting that the event was racist, one of the organizers complained that he was offending the African Americans in the crowd (all four of them). But the same organizer didn’t seen to think that the witch doctor poster would be the least bit offensive to anyone.

The speakers were a parade of nobodies spouting memorized talking points. Each was announced with a flowery introduction touting their talent and notoriety. That was followed by blank stares, furrowed brows, and whispering to neighbors in a vain attempt to recognize the honored guest.

This was the best they could do. And this was not some charming little agricultural village in the plains states. This was the megalopolis of Los Angeles with a population of more than eight million. This was the entertainment capital of the world, but not one celebrity of note. And there were no local politicians either. I counted four buses with a capacity of 100 passengers. That means that it’s possible that the entire crowd was bused in, rather than being a spontaneous aggregation of locals.

That’s a grassroots movement as done by Fox-driven, Beck-ified, commie-fearing wingnuts.


David Frum: GOP Surrenders To Beck’s Mob Rule

In a column that portends a possible recovery by Republicans from their lunatic stupor, David Frum, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and erstwhile conservative icon, has composed a defense of sanity over the “recklessness and political cowardice” represented by the Glenn Becks of the world. Frum’s commentary is supportive of the Cass Sunstein nomination (confirmed yesterday by the Senate) that has drawn attacks from Beck despite being hailed by respected conservatives and free-market economists. Here are a couple of excerpts:

“Glenn Beck is not the first to make a pleasant living for himself by reckless defamation. We have seen his kind before in American journalism and American politics, and the good news is that their careers never last long. But the bad news is that while their careers do last, such people do terrible damage.”

~~~

“We conservatives are submitting our movement to some of the most unscrupulous people in American life. This submission disgraces conservatism, discredits Republicans, and damages the country. It’s beyond time for conservatives who know better to join us at NewMajority in emancipating ourselves from leadership by the most stupid, the most cynical, and the most truthless.”

Well said, David. But on this morning, when much of the conservative rabble is applauding the childish antics of Rep. Joe Wilson (who heckled President Obama’s speech on Wednesday), it may be tougher than you think to wean these wankers off of their adulation of clowns like Beck, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, and Joe the Plumber. But good luck to you.


Prostitution And Criminality Rampant At Fox News

The big story on Fox News yesterday was the undercover video of ACORN employees improperly advising a couple of conservative activists, posing as a pimp and a prostitute, on how to deceive the IRS and acquire funds to operate their illegal business. The video was featured throughout the day on just about every program on the Fox network.

It was a pretty revolting spectacle. The ACORN workers were utterly unethical and outside any standard of decency. This is the sort of behavior that ought to get someone fired. And that’s exactly what ACORN did. Both of the women who appeared in the video were terminated the same day as it was exposed. But that didn’t stop Fox News from exploiting and sensationalizing the story.

So far anyone has been able to determine (including Fox) the events depicted in the video were limited to the two people caught up in the sting. Of course, everyone from Glenn Beck to Sean Hannity implied that the the video documented what they alleged was the rampant corruption of the entire ACORN organization. The facts, however, reveal just the opposite. One fact that Fox News neglected to report (so that their audience could decide) was that the sting operation attempted to snare at least three other ACORN offices but came up empty. The phony journalists (James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles) who sought to entrap ACORN just kept running the scam until they got a bite. Nothing wrong with that, really. The problem is that they didn’t report that most of their targets proved to be honest and uncorruptable. They deliberately left the false impression that all of ACORN was a sewer of sleazeballs.

It should be noted that O’Keefe and Giles are not journalists, but conservative activists. O’Keefe has plotted scams aimed at Planned Parenthood, and Giles is a Yaffie (a member of the uber-rightist Young Americas Foundation). Also, despite the pathetic behavior of the two women in the video, no actual crime took place. There is no reason to assume that more senior ACORN officials would not have been appalled by this and turned in these women themselves if the episode had progressed up the chain of authority. Indeed, that has been the norm within ACORN.

It is standard procedure at Fox to misrepresent news events, that is, when they aren’t inventing them entirely. Just yesterday, Fox News ran another ACORN story under an intentionally misleading headline that read “ACORN INSULT.” So did the Fox Nation, whose version of the same story said “Arrest Warrants Issued for 11 ACORN Workers.” But what actually happened was that ACORN had discovered evidence of fraud and reported it to the state attorney’s office. So while Fox portrayed ACORN as crooked, it was ACORN who turned in their own people and were praised by law enforcement for their diligence.

When Fox News goes out if its way to create scandals based on intellectually dishonest conclusions that everyone in an enterprise is guilty if anyone in it commits a crime, they are leaving themselves wide open. Following the Fox model of culpability it would be easy to declare Fox News guilty of numerous abhorrent crimes.

Earlier this year, Fox News producer Aaron Bruns was arrested for trafficking in child pornography. Another Fox Newser, Don Broderick, committed hit-and-run on a bicyclist. Fox News contributor Dick Morris was famously caught with a hooker, whom he let listen in on phone calls with the White House. And Bill O’Reilly himself was the subject of a sexual harassment case that he settled privately for millions of dollars.

With evidence like this it is pretty clear that Fox News is a venal criminal enterprise, steeped in the most repulsive sorts of violence and sexual assaults. That is, if we use the Fox criteria for establishing guilt. And while ACORN fired their offending employees, three of the four Fox felons above still report there for work.

This is all reminiscent of another case where Beck accused ACORN of having a criminal culture because a few employees were found to have filled out forms improperly. Beck analogized that no one would ever eat at Burger King if it were found that BK employees were as criminally prone as he alleged ACORN’s were. Unfortunately for Beck, it was easy to show that Burger King employees were indeed a rather lawless bunch that made ACORN look like a Sunday school.

Therein lies the fallacy of this variety of guilt by association. Burger King, ACORN, and even Fox News, have thousands of employees. And since they are, for the most part, human, some of them will behave poorly. That does not mean that the rest of the enterprise is similarly prone to misbehavior. Unless, of course, you’re Fox News and it is your intention to slander your political enemies. Fox News, and the whole of the Rupert Murdoch empire, is by design a vicious smear machine and ought not to be taken seriously by anyone interested in the truth.


Tell President Obama: Glenn Beck Doesn’t Speak For Me

America is presently undergoing a sort of devolution that is unprecedented in its history. The Tea Party fanatics who are disrupting town halls and appearing at rallies with signs associating the President with socialism, fascism and Hitler, are contributing to a hostile political environment that pits neighbor against neighbor and divides families and all citizens. This advances the premise that those with whom you disagree are traitors and enemies, as opposed to fellow Americans with a different point of view.

The deep divisions in our nation that are ripping at the seams of democracy are being exacerbated by a rightist media that is more interested in its own welfare than that of the nation. It is becoming ever more critical that Americans speak out against this propaganda crusade and make certain that our elected representatives don’t take the bait.

It is already too late for Van Jones, who was hounded by a manic Glenn Beck into resigning, despite the fact that the allegations against him were ludicrous smears that were demonstrably untrue. Beck has already set his sights on his next targets for his mudslinging. They include respected and effective public servants like Cass Sunstein, Carol Browner, and Mark Lloyd. And of course, ACORN will be drudged up along with irrelevant players like Rev. Wright and Bill Ayres.

Leading this crusade is Fox News who have abandon any pretense of impartiality as they have literally boarded the Tea Party Express, reporting its progress as it rambles across the nation inciting phony dissent and worse. This bus tour is wholly sponsored by lobbyists and powerful partisan enterprises like Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works. Yet the media has been ignoring a bus tour by Health Insurance Reform Now that has been attracting crowds just as big.

And rising to the helm of Fox’s crusade is certifiable nutcase, Glenn Beck. His ravings have riled up a pitifully uninformed audience of frightened political outcasts. And worse, he is beginning to have an impact outside of the padded halls of Fox News.

Now, FreePress.net has initiated a real grassroots campaign to collect signatories to a statement alerting the president to the fact that Glenn Beck and his ilk do not speak for us. The press release announcing this project reveals how uniquely dangerous the current situation is:

“At Free Press, our focus is on structural media policy, not on media content. But we take this extraordinary step because what’s happening is so poisonous to American political discourse.

“That Fox News Channel lets Beck use its media megaphone to stir up hatred and fear of others is repulsive, divisive and beyond all common sense or decency. By giving Beck a nightly platform for such McCarthy-esque witch hunts and smear campaigns, the national news network undermines our democracy. But Fox News is not alone. Unfortunately, this kind of rant is endemic to a media system that cares about ratings far more than about the truth.”

In the wake of Beck’s attacks on Van Jones and others, this is an important campaign that deserves the support of the country. Beck has promised to escalate his witch hunts and to continue his assault on anyone he deems an enemy. At the center of all of this is a brazen disregard for the truth in pursuit of a conservative coup. They want to derail the health care, environmental, and economic reforms that the American people have been fighting for. These media megaliths want nothing less than to destroy the presidency of Barack Obama. They have said so explicitly. This is an attempt to reverse the results of a fair and historic election. They must not be allowed to succeed.

Please visit FreePress.net and voice your support.

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Glenn Beck Loses This One: Cloture Vote On Cass Sunstein

For almost as long as Glenn Beck has been attacking Van Jones, he has also been smearing Cass Sunstein, President Obama’s nominee for Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. However, this afternoon the Senate passed a cloture vote cutting off debate and permitting a final vote on Sunstein’s confirmation.

The 63-35 vote for cloture included Republicans Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Robert Bennett (R-UT), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Richard Lugar (R-IN), Susan Collins (R-ME), Olympia Snowe (R-ME). Democrats voting against: Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), James Webb (D-VA).

Beck has been bashing Sunstein as another dangerous radical who is bent on destroying America. He has taken out of context remarks by Sunstein that Beck characterizes as insane (well, Beck should know). For instance, Beck says that Sunstein wants animals to get lawyers to represent them in cruelty cases against humans. Beck also said that Sunstein is in favor of forced organ donations. The truth is very different. Sunstein is an academic who has written on many issues from a theoretical perspective. That’s what academics do. But Beck isolates these professorial musings and recasts them as zany plots to impose some sort of tyrannical dictatorship that exists only in Beck’s diseased mind. And the funny thing is, Sunstein had been favorably received by many conservatives when his nomination was announced.

Beck seemed so dejected when announcing the results of the cloture vote. It was as if he couldn’t quite comprehend that the world wasn’t bending to his will. When the vote passed, Beck told his audience that their lives had changed FOREVER! Beck described the office Sunstein will hold as the most powerful position anywhere. He said that Sunstein will be able to tweak any and every law to pursue whatever ends he desires – and those desires, you can rest assured, are evil. Listening to Beck you would think that Sunstein’s post was even more powerful than Obama’s.

But this is just the typical hyperbole that Beck employs to scare the bejeebus out of his slack-jawed viewers. If whatever Beck is talking about at the moment isn’t the most fearsome thing of all time, his audience will become distracted by a leaf fluttering outside the window and it will take half an hour to get them worked up again. Beck was even downplaying the Van Jones matter, saying that while everyone wanted us to focus on Jones, the real threat was Sunstein. Of course it was Beck that was blathering incessantly about Jones for some sixteen programs. Now he accuses “someone” of using Jones as a diversion while the Senate secretly pushed Sunstein through.

Don’t expect Beck to loosen his grip. He will certainly resume his attack on Sunstein. But the truth is that Sunstein will shortly be confirmed by the Senate, which means he is not actually a “czar” at all (actually, there no czars. The whole concept was developed to deceive and frighten ignorant wingnuts). And Beck will expand his smear campaign to bash Mark Lloyd and Carol Browner and whoever else Beck thinks he spread his lies about. That is, if we let him.


Inside The Disgusting Mind Of Mark Foley

A North Palm Beach, Florida radio station has announced that they will be testing a new program to be hosted by congressional sexual predator, Mark Foley.

As a refresher, Foley was the Republican representative of the 16th district of Florida. He resigned his seat after it had been revealed that he had engaged in sexually explicit communications with Congressional pages, some of them underage.

Now WSVU is preparing for broadcast what may be the first episode of “Inside the Mind of Mark Foley.” Now there’s a place I surely would not want to go. The selection of that name suggests a certain tone deafness by the folks at WSVU. But the irony couldn’t be any worse than the station’s call letters themselves, which mirror the name of the television crime drama “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” How appropriate is it that the station that presently airs Don Imus, and is seeking to put Foley on it’s roster has call letters that bring to mind sexual perversity and assault?

Joe Raineri, the show’s producer, when asked about the project being syndicated said “I don’t see anything stopping it.” Really? Not even the fact that the host is a sleazeball who was forced to resign from Congress in disgrace? I suppose that in the world of talk radio, that may not be an impediment to success. After all, convicted felons Ollie North and G. Gordon Liddy haven’t been hurt by their malfeasance. And the number one talk radio personality, Rush Limbaugh, is still riding high (pun intended) after getting caught in an Oxy-Contin scandal.

Here’s a taste of the program from a promotional snippet:

“So do you want to know what’s inside the mind of Mark Foley? A real insider’s view into the inner workings of Washington, D.C.”

No I don’t. And this is just what we need – more bloviating from Washington insiders. There certainly isn’t enough of that in the media.


Fox News Insults ACORN With Blatantly False Headline

Fox News is reporting its distinctly dishonest version of a story concerning voter registration fraud in Miami. The article on the Fox News home page features a blaring headline and photo that declares an “ACORN INSULT” has been made against the late Paul Newman in commission of voter fraud. Clicking the link to the full article delivers Fox’s story about eleven ACORN workers for whom warrants have issued in conjunction with an investigation. Only here does Fox reveal at least part of the truth with a headline that reads “ACORN Turns in Florida Workers on Voter Fraud Charges.”

That’s right, ACORN turned in the fraudulent registration forms and the employees responsible for them. How does that square with the sensationalistic rhetoric about “insults” that Fox attributed to ACORN?

But the gesture Fox made after clicking the false headline still did not repair the error. The case against the ACORN employees was not one of voter fraud. It was voter registration fraud. The distinction is significant because the former can produce an improperly cast ballot. However, in these cases of registration fraud, there was no possibility that fake votes could occur. What’s more, the actual victim of the crime is ACORN itself, as they were being duped by personnel attempting to receive payment for work they did not do.

Another problem with Fox’s reporting is that it took them until halfway through the story to address the fact that it was ACORN who turned in the false registrations and employees. In a terse, single sentence, Fox conceded that a spokesperson for the Florida state attorney’s office told Fox that it was ACORN who alerted the authorities to the crimes. Fox didn’t bother to go further and report that the state attorney’s office praised ACORN for their diligence, saying…

“We’ve been very aggressive about a lot of these cases. But we would not have known about these workers unless ACORN brought it to us.”

Finally, Fox closes their article with a reprise of insinuations against ACORN for fraudulent activity during last year’s presidential campaign. Once again, those accusations were brought to the attention of authorities by ACORN. But Fox merely reports that “ACORN’s activities were frequently questioned…” Fox does not report that it was Fox, and the conservative organizations they front for, who were doing the questioning.

This is just another in the endless stream of bias that is part and parcel of the “fair and balanced” pseudo-news enterprise that is best known for how it Fakes News.


Van Jones Defeats Glenn Beck

That’s right, you heard me. Van Jones defeats Glenn Beck.

The big news of the night is that Van Jones, the President’s advisor on green jobs and the economy, has resigned under pressure from far-right brownshirts. On the surface this is disappointing, to say the least. Jones has proven himself to be a creative and effective advocate for environmental reform. His book, “The Green Collar Economy,” became a best-seller despite having little support from the conventional publishing circles. But after weeks of battling rightist slander and disinformation, Jones issued this statement:

I am resigning my post at the Council on Environmental Quality, effective today.

On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide.

I have been inundated with calls – from across the political spectrum – urging me to “stay and fight.”

But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future.

It has been a great honor to serve my country and my President in this capacity. I thank everyone who has offered support and encouragement. I am proud to have been able to make a contribution to the clean energy future. I will continue to do so, in the months and years ahead.

The near-term downside to this is that the residents of the Beck Asylum for Paranoid Thumb Suckers are going to be celebrating triumphantly for a while. That will be annoying but bearable. Beck himself will feel emboldened and anxious to take aim at a new target. He has already laid the ground work for post-Jones assaults on Valerie Jarrett and Mark Lloyd. (Do I need to point out that Jones, Jarrett and Lloyd are all African American members of the Obama administration?)

My personal regret is centered on what I consider to be a flaw in the administration’s strategy. I suspect that they view this matter as a distraction and want to focus on health care. That is a worthy goal. However, to the extent that this is a distraction, it will not be alleviated by jettisoning Jones. For the rightist bullies Jones was not really the issue. He was a symbol and, with him out of the way, they will just find another symbol to attack. Consequently, Obama will not be relieved of the so-called distraction. It will just have a new face attached to it. The question is, how will he respond to the next contrived controversy? How many qualified and capable advisors will be hung out to dry in a vain search for comity – an outcome for which Republicans have zero interest.

But Beck and his ilk may rue the day they set Jones free. As a private citizen he will not be constrained by diplomacy and the political fear of controversy. He will be able to speak with conviction and take aim at the real villains in our midst. The organization he co-founded, Color of Change, was largely responsible for Beck losing 57 advertisers (so far). And, let’s face, Beck’s obsession with Jones was driven by vengeance for that association, even though Jones has not been affiliated with the group for over two years. Clearly Beck is afraid of Jones, hence the incessant coverage. But Beck has made a serious strategic error, because Jones is a far bigger threat to Beck outside of government than inside of it.

The effectiveness of the advertiser boycott can now be expanded upon by an unfettered Jones, who can bring his skill, experience, and passion to a new field of battle. He will be joined by an invigorated community of reform-minded Americans who believe that aggressive advocacy will lead to social, political, and legislative victories. Beck has given Jones a gift of sorts, in the form of valuable and hard to procure media attention. If Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber can parley their media notoriety into national prominence, despite their abundance of ignorance and deficit of charisma, just imagine what Jones can do. This fight has only just begun, and progressive activists are committed to principle, not President or party. We will not be cowed by demagogues and fear mongers.

If Glenn Beck is proud that he was able to demonize an honest and patriotic man like Van Jones, he may soon discover that he is not immune from the hardball tactics he employed to tarnish this man’s reputation. There is plenty of video evidence of Beck’s repulsive commentaries wherein he…

  • agreed that America’s only hope is for Bin Laden to blow us up.
  • fantasized about choking Michael Moore to death.
  • advocated beating Rep. Charles Rangel with a shovel.
  • declared that he hated the families of 9/11 survivors.
  • declared that he hated Katrina victims, whom he called scumbags.
  • incited people to commit tax evasion.
  • accused Obama of having a deep seated hatred of white people (but isn’t a racist?).

Glenn Beck hates America. He has said so explicitly. He proves it everyday with his hate-filled screeds and his promotion of anti-American rhetoric. His show is a compendium of insults, provocations to violence, secession, and revolt. It is imperative that his treasonous ravings be exposed so that the people can make an informed judgment of him. And Fox News must be held accountable as well for their complicity in this abomination of truth and justice. Even though the inanity of Fox News has done more to hurt the Republican Party than anything the Democrats have done, they must still shoulder the responsibility for the harm they produce to civil discourse and honest journalism.

If you believe this country is great but it is suffering from a tiny but virulent infection of hatred and stupidity, then stand up and, come on, follow me.

Update: Beck responds to Van Jones resignation – and proves my point:

“The American people stood up and demanded answers. Instead of providing them, the Administration had Jones resign under cover of darkness. I continue to be amazed by the power of everyday Americans to initiate change in our government through honest questioning, and judging by the other radicals in the administration, I expect that questioning to continue for the foreseeable future.”

As I said above, this distraction will not be alleviated by Jones’ resignation. Beck will continue to make mischief for “the foreseeable future” regardless of what Obama does. Therefore, Obama should just Ignore Beck and Fox News altogether.