Trump-Fluffing Fox News Host Actually Says ‘There Are No Allegations Against the President’

The Age of Alternative Facts is in full swing. Donald Trump’s administration has ushered in era that unabashedly traffics in verifiably false information and deliberate deceit. They are literally proud of their ability to disseminate lies and they do so even after the lie has been revealed.

Maria Bartiromo Fox

However, they could not do it alone. Fortunately for Trump et al, they have an alleged “news” network that is just as brazen in its embrace of falsehoods as Trump. Fox News recently fortified its already ultra-biased lineup with known Friends of Don who are happy to distort reality on his behalf. The network appears to be digging in as a response to the clouds of doom hovering over the White House in the shape of Russia.

Fox also has another propaganda spewing channel that serves the interests of the President. The Fox Business Network pretends to be a financial news outlet, but its programs are just as politically slanted as anything you’d see on the Fox News mothership. A crystal clear example of that came on Friday during a segment on Mornings with Maria featuring the “Money Honey” (her own promotional tag that she sought to trademark), Maria Bartiromo (video below). In this exchange with former Deputy Secretary of Labor, Christopher Lu, Bartiromo gives Trump absolution for his past sexual crimes and misdemeanors:

Lu: As your own network has reported there are now, I think, eight or nine women who have made allegations against Roy Moore. There is probably an equal number who have made allegations against the President. […]
Bartiromo: Just to be clear, there are no allegations against the President.
Lu: There are allegations against Donald Trump from an earlier time.
Bartiromo: He said during the campaign that wasn’t true. In fact, didn’t he say also that, you know, all of this will come to light and there will be a lawsuit? I mean… we’re talking about a situation where we have a picture with the guy’s hands on her breasts.

No allegations against the President? Has she been in a coma? There are at least sixteen women who have come forward with credible allegations of Trump’s sexual harassment and/or abuse. See this video that features many of them describing his misconduct in their own words. Even Trump’s press secretary acknowledged the allegations. Although she bizarrely claimed that they should not be investigated because he denied them. That’s a peculiar legal position that implies that once a suspect denies the charges, the matter should be dropped.

Bartiromo seems to be taking the same position with her remarks about Trump’s denials. And what point she is trying to make with her reference to Trump’s threatened lawsuits is a complete mystery. It certainly doesn’t prove innocence. Especially since Trump chickened out and never followed through on the threat. Also notable is Bartiromo’s assertion that there is a picture showing Sen. Al Franken’s hands on a woman’s breasts. However, the picture clearly shows that he is not touching her, but pretending to and mugging for the camera.

Bartiromo then literally stutters through an attempted justification of her ludicrous denial of documented events. She ends up awkwardly complaining that it’s an apples to oranges comparison. And she’s right. There is a single accuser against Franken, who has been a frequent guest on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, and whose charges mainly describe bad attempts at humor. While there are at least sixteen accusers against Trump who all describe behavior that is abusive and probably illegal. Apples and oranges.

Bartiromo was once considered a credible financial journalist. But since her move from CNBC to the Fox family she has transformed into just another right-wing shill. Her recent interview of Trump was widely ridiculed as an embarrassing exercise in sucking up. And now she has taken her hackery to the next level with comments that totally contradict reality.

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

Hillary Clinton Gets The Most Bizarre Endorsement Ever From A Fox News Douchebag

And now, as the 2016 presidential campaign consumes its final hours, the evidence of its historic peculiarity becomes unmistakable. Fox News has spent the past year and half trying to package Donald Trump as a reasonable choice to lead the free world. At the same time they have been blistering Hillary Clinton with vicious attacks, many made up out of thin air. But nothing could have prepared us for the segment Monday on Stuart Varney’s Fox Business program.

Fox News Ralph Peters

Varney hosted Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, one of the most wild-eyed, vitriolic members of the Fox Contributor Corps. Peters is notable for his unhinged tirades against America’s bitterest enemy, Barack Hussein Obama. One especially deranged Obama rant (also on Varney’s show) saw Peters become hopelessly overcome with loathing. In mid harangue he blurted out that “This guy is such a total pussy it’s stunning.” That earned him a mild rebuke from the host and a two week suspension.

However, on Monday Peters made a shocking announcement with regard to the presidential election (video below). Despite his radically right-wing views, Peters affirmed that he will be voting for Hillary Clinton for President of the United States. Of America! But his endorsement was somewhat, let’s say unconventional:

“I think Hillary Clinton is despicable. She has committed criminal acts. And she’s greedy. She’s corrupt. And yes, I’m going to vote for her. I’m voting for Republicans down the ballot, but I’m voting for Hillary Clinton because it’s a vote against Donald Trump.”

OK, so it’s more of an anti-endorsement of Donald Trump than an endorsement of Clinton. But his explanation of what he finds so objectionable about Trump is worth noting:

“I don’t want Moscow’s man in the White House. I know I could be a lot more popular this morning if I said ‘Trump’s the Messiah, I’m gonna vote for him.’ This is about the future of our country, it is about our security. And here’s a guy who apologizes for everything Vladimir Putin does and makes crazy remarks about NATO, about Syria, about nukes, about the Mosul offensive. And, oh by the way, about foreign trade. Do you want a global recession? Do you want to see your portfolio really tank? Sure, just walk away from all our trade deals.”

Peters’ sacrilege clearly bothered Varney, who made a valiant effort to bring him back into the Fox fold. Varney tried to explain his reasons for being a Trump supporter. Let’s just set aside the impropriety of an alleged “news” anchor announcing that he’s a supporter of a political candidate. His reasons rest on his desire for an economic growth plan that will spur prosperity. So he ought to be supporting Clinton, whose continuation of Obama’s expanding economy, and record eighty consecutive months of job growth, is what he professes to want. Peters responded accordingly by asking with regard to Trump:

“Where is the plan? Show me the plan. Of course we want growth. He is lying to the American people. He is lying to blue collar workers and that is the background I come from. The village blacksmith shop is not coming back. People need skills for the jobs of the future and this cult of Trump is going to lead a lot of places.

“Look, Hillary Clinton’s domestic policies repel me. She is awful, but she is safer for this country’s security than Donald Trump. And I think Vladimir Putin has a deep hold on Trump and we should all be much more alarmed than we are.”

To reiterate, Peters is the guy who thinks Obama is a pussy. But he’s supporting Clinton because she’ll keep us safe and Trump is Putin’s puppet. If it weren’t on video it would be easy to dismiss as a prank or a lost SNL sketch. As it is, it may be the best Clinton endorsement we’re gonna get from a Fox News pundit. And it seems fitting to end the campaign season with an arch-conservative blowhard throwing Trump under the bus and backing up a couple of times to make sure he’s thoroughly flattened.

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

Hate Mongering Fox ‘News’ Anchor Tweets Trump Victim’s Home Address And Phone

The continuing saga of Donald Trump’s sexually predatory behavior is emboldening more victims to come forward with harrowing tales. Consequently, Trump’s apologists in the media are taking bolder steps to excuse his indefensible misogyny. When Fox isn’t maligning them as liars, they are insulting them as too ugly to assault. This is precisely what to expect from a network that was founded and run for twenty years by Roger Ailes. Ailes, you recall, was forced to resign this year after numerous accusations of sexual harassment by his staff and others.

Lou Dobbs

Now we may have a new low from Fox’s Lou Dobbs. He is the host of a prime access program on the Fox Business Network. Yesterday Dobbs re-tweeted the address and phone number of Jessica Leeds, one of Trump’s groping victims. Ironically, the text of his tweet said:

“This is the Dirtiest Campaign in our History: #MAGA #TrumpPence16 #AmericaFirst https://twitter.com/MichaelDelauzo”

— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) October 13, 2016

Indeed it is. Mainly due to cretins like Dobbs whose irresponsible actions can literally endanger the lives of innocent people. The tweet to which Dobbs linked has since been deleted, but not before it was re-tweeted over 800 times. Dobbs own Twitter account has more than 799,000 followers.

The tweet that contained Ms. Leeds’ personal information was filled with false accusations. It asserted that she was connected to the Clinton Foundation and shared the same phone number. Neither of which were true. Which raises the question: Why would a prominent Fox host attest to the authenticity of something so easily proven to be false? The answer, of course, is that this is the standard practice for news gathering by Fox News. Accuracy is never as important as partisan propaganda.

According to Talking Points Memo, Dobbs later tweeted an apology saying:

My Retweet,My Mistake,My Apology to Jessica Leeds Lou Dobbs tweets Trump accuser’s address and phone # https://t.co/iOP6MJvCEx #MAGA #Dobbs

— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) October 13, 2016

However, that “apology” tweet has also been deleted. What’s more, the sincerity of an apology in which Dobbs includes Trump’s campaign slogan #MAGA (Make America Great Again) has got to be questioned. At the very least it’s tone deaf and insensitive to promote the accuser while pretending to apologize to his victim.

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

Dobbs is purported to be a financial expert on Fox, but somewhere along the way he assumed the role of an immigrant basher. He is also a proponent of the racist notion that all terrorists are Muslim. And to sweeten the pot, Dobbs joined the Birther Brigade by repeatedly demanding that President Obama produce his “real” birth certificate. In light of that, his “accidental” tweeting yesterday just seems like business as usual for the business network host. Anything that is harmful to Democrats or liberals is fair game, whether or not it’s true. And any defense of conservatives is acceptable, no matter who it hurts.

That Time Fox News Punished An Analyst For Calling Obama A P*ssy

The video that revealed that Donald Trump is a repulsive, misogynistic, sexual predator has upended his campaign. While many people already knew this, the visual evidence has caused some Republicans (but not nearly enough) to finally accept the obvious and repudiate their nominee. The spectacle of having a major party candidate talk about “grabbing the pussy” of random women at will is as nauseating as it is unprecedented.

For Fox News however, the profane language has been made the focus of their coverage. That isn’t nearly as disgusting as the behavior it described, but it’s Fox’s way of diminishing the episode on Trump’s behalf. The problem for Fox is that even the language was considered indefensible last December when their military analyst, Ralph Peters, used it to insult President Obama. Apparently this language is unacceptable for Fox News, but just fine for the presidency. This is what happened at that time and the punishment dealt out.

Fox News Ralph Peters


December 7, 2015

Foul-Mouthed Fox News Obama-Hater Is Given Time-Out By Puppet/Anchor

The seething hatred of President Obama by Fox News came gushing out this morning by one of the network’s most notorious hatchet men. Lt. Col Ralph Peters (whose name translates to “vomiting penises” in Slanglish) appeared on Stuart Varney’s Fox Business program to discuss/bash Obama’s Oval Office speech on terrorism last night.

Peters was virtually spitting teeth (video below) as he was unable to control his most primitive tendencies. In an otherwise mundane response to Varney’s inquiry as to “What was your commentary as the President’s speech unfolded?” Peters launched into a profane rant that barely addressed anything about the speech itself.

Peters: Well, first of all, he keeps speaking about “We can’t give in to our fears. Don’t be afraid.” Look Mr. President, we’re not afraid. [shouting] We’re angry. We’re pissed off. We’re furious. We want you to react. We want you to do something. You’re afraid. I mean this guy is such a total pussy it’s stunning.

Really? The President who presided over the capture and execution of Osama Bin Laden; who as Commander-in-Chief as ordered more than 8,000 airstrikes against ISIS; whose military missions have dropped more than 20,000 bombs on enemy targets; who has killed thousands of ISIS fighters, including many of its leaders; this president is a pussy? What Peters, and every right-winger, are too ignorant to acknowledge is that Obama has been executing a plan that has had much success. Yet his critics keep blathering about irrelevancies. Is it because he refuses to send more Americans onto a battlefield where they would become sitting ducks for a guerrilla insurgency? Or because he expects the people of the region to take responsibility for the ground war against an enemy that is murdering them?

Peters goes on to lambaste Obama in the fashion that birthers have long used to “otherize” him as an alien creature saying that “The American people, whom he does not know in any sort of intimate manner,” want action. He then rattles off s a series of assertions that the President cares more about our enemies than ourselves. Eventually, Varney steps in to daintily scold Peters for his potty mouth.

Varney: I can tell you are super-angry, and I asked you what your reaction was, but I gotta call you, you can’t use language like that on the program. OK. I’m Sorry.

He’s sorry? What for? Peters comes completely unglued with an offensive rant and Varney apologizes for chastising him, while excusing the outburst due to Peters’ anger. What makes this even more ridiculous is that Varney allows Peters to continue for a bit and then…

Varney: Ralph, I’m sorry. I’ve got to interrupt again. You used some very strong language there about the President of the United States, and I’m the anchor of Varney & Co. and I have to ask you, either you should apologize for that or take it back.

Peters chose only to apologize. But you have to wonder what happened in between Varney’s first redress of the foul language and his subsequent request for an apology. It seems likely that someone in the control room pulling Varney’s strings gave him a directive to force a more formal atonement. While Fox’s audience likely shares Peters’ crude disgust for all things Obama, the network may have to tread lightly so as not to offend their glassy-eyed, Christianist viewers.

For the record, Peters has proven to be one of the most repugnant individuals to ever appear on Fox News (and that’s saying something). The Ralph Peters Story is one of truly nauseating notions that include: advocating military strikes on the American media; that there aren’t enough civilian casualties in war; that the U.S. should be more like ISIS; that the Taliban should have been allowed to execute an American soldier; and many more horrendous pronouncements. Consequently, this frothing tirade is not particularly surprising. And it is typical of the irrational loathing that is broadcast on Fox News every day.

Fox News later issued a press release stating that Peters has been suspended for two weeks due to his “inappropriate and unacceptable” comments.


This is hardly an isolated event. On another occasion Fox News posted an article on their Fox Nation website with the headline “Press Pussies Soft On Obama.” And Donald Trump called Ted Cruz a “pussy” at one of his rallies. But you can count on Fox to adjust their outrage meter so that it goes off the scale when they are afraid of offending their wingnut audience, but barely registers when it might harm their candidate for president. It’s called hypocrisy, and Fox has got it down to a science.

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

Trump And Fox News Buy Into Batsh*t Crazy Clinton Conspiracy Theories – Again

Here’s more evidence that the right is falling into an abyss of desperation. Donald Trump is clinging feverishly to national polls showing him as competitive. Never mind that they have no bearing on who wins presidential elections. It’s the states that deliver electoral votes and the presidency. On that scale Hillary Clinton is way ahead. The Trump camp knows this, though they will spend the next few weeks frantically trying to divert attention from it.

The latest diversions qualify as certifiably insane. Let’s begin with a charge that emanated from the bowels of Alex Jones’ InfoWars. Jones, you will recall, is a Birther, a 9/11 Truther, and believes that the children murdered at Sandy Hook were all actors. This morning he posted a story alleging that Clinton wore an “earbud” during the Commander-in-Chief Forum last night. She was supposedly being coached with answers from unseen aides off stage. The story was picked up and propelled by the Drudge Report and even Fox News who said that:

“[T]he buzz Thursday morning was more about a report claiming Clinton relied on a ‘micro’ earbud as she fielded questions about national security — a claim her campaign vigorously denied.”

Donald Trump, Jr. tweeted “We cant let Hillary get away with wearing an ear piece during tonights Veteran Forum#HillarysEarPiece#NBCNewsForum” And Fox’s Sean Hannity joined in with a post on the subject as well.

There is just one problem with this crackpottery. The video of the event contains numerous shots of both of Clinton’s ears that plainly have nothing in them. The entire fantasy was born from a single video still that had a random reflection. That was sufficient to set the wingnuts to drooling over the discovery of Clinton’s evil plot. But, see? No earbud!

Hillary Clinton

If that wasn’t enough, Fox News sought to invent another fantastical scandal involving Clinton. This one was from the warped imagination of Stuart Varney, anchor of Varney & Company on the Fox Business Network. He introduced a segment that anxiously wondered “Who is Clinton’s ‘mystery man?’” The report featured video of a well-dressed gentleman accompanying Clinton on the campaign trail. Varney asserted that social media was blowing up over who he might be. He expressed skepticism that he might simply be one of Clinton’s Secret Service agents:

“If he’s actually a member of the Secret Service detail guarding Hillary Clinton, why is he touching her, because he did, he came up on the stage the other night and put his arm around her, and then said ‘Keep talking.’ Surely that is not what the secret service is supposed to do is it?”

Varney’s guest was former Secret Service agent and frequent Fox contributor, Dan Bongino. He offered a theory from way out in right field suggesting that the “mystery man” was “responding to the stage when [Clinton] is in what may have been some kind of a medical crisis.” Varney joined in the wild speculation asking “Is he supporting her during a medical crisis?”

Judging from the video that Varney showed, the man was undoubtedly with Clinton’s Secret Service detail. And he and other agents sprung into action when something occurred in the audience. Clinton, the agent, and others on stage were all looking in the same direction into the crowd. No one appeared to be concerned with Clinton’s health by any stretch of the imagination. See for yourself:

By the end of the segment both Varney and Bongino were dismissing the whole thing as a conspiracy theory that they had just debunked. Which was nice of them after having also just invented it and broadcast it to an audience thirsty for scandal. Both surely knew there was nothing to this before they began, but they considered it too juicy not to plant in the minds of gullible Fox viewers.

Expect to see more of these nutcase studies in Clinton intrigue before the election is over. Fox and Trump will surely uncover evidence of Clinton’s involvement in the Kennedy assassination. Not to mention the Hindenburg crash and fake moon landing. This is all they have left since they nominated a narcissistic ignoramus who can’t go twenty minutes without embarrassing himself and his party.

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

Watch Ben Stein Reject Trickle-Down Theory And The Raving Trump Surrogate Defending It

The 2016 presidential race has been most notable for the Republican candidate’s utter refusal to bring anything of substance to the debate. Donald Trump pointedly avoids nearly all policy details in favor of childish insults, empty sloganeering, and lately, deranged outbursts. In the past week alone he called President Obama “the founder of ISIS,” and suggested that “the Second Amendment people” were the only ones who could stop Hillary Clinton.

Ben Stein

That’s what makes it so surprising when a prominent spokesman for the right-wing agenda says something that actually makes sense. This happened Friday on the Fox Business Network during a discussion on the “Dueling Economic Visions” of Trump and Hillary Clinton. Host Charles Payne introduced the segment and turned to economist Ben Stein to give his opinion of the Trump economic plan. What happened next was completely unexpected:

Stein: Well I don’t think Mr. Trump’s plan is going to work very well. I don’t think we need that tax cut when we’re running deficits the size we are running. I think the evidence that tax cuts stimulate business in any kind of meaningful way, at least not sufficient to overcome the tax revenue loss, is extremely poor to put it mildly. I think the idea of cutting taxes on the rich in a time when there is so much concern about inequality is not a good idea. I do think his idea of greatly lessening environmental regulation is absolutely necessary and even brilliant and very brave of him.

Exempting that anti-environment nonsense at the end, Stein delivered a coherent explanation for why giving the wealthy a tax cut makes no sense. In fact he argued that such favoritism for the rich was never a stimulant to the economy and would only exacerbate deficits. Add to that his expression of concern for income inequality and you have a truly astonishing display of wisdom from a right-wing economist.

Fox of course would not be satisfied with that blasphemy. Therefore, Payne turned to Betsy McCaughey, the woman who coined the term “death panels,” for rebuttal. McCaughey was just named to Trump’s team of wingnut economic advisers. She ranted:

McCaughey: First of all, Donald Trump’s tax plan will produce an enormous amount of economic growth. The key factor is slashing the corporate tax rate, currently the highest in the world, down to fifteen percent. Companies in the United States are being taxed to death. And that’s why so many of them are leaving or retrenching their business investments.

There is so much wrong with that it’s hard to know where to begin. Let’s start with the fact that there is no evidence that Trump’s plan would produce any economic growth. In fact. Moody’s scored his plan and concluded that it would result in a “lengthy recession,” 3.5 million job losses, and “very large deficits and a much higher debt load.” Plus, every independent analysis of Trump’s plan has affirmed that it benefits the rich far more than the lower and middle classes.

Then there is McCaughey’s assertion that U.S. corporate tax rates are “the highest in the world.” That is patently and provably false. It’s a recurring right-wing trope that has been debunked innumerable times by non-partisan analysts. McCaughey and other conservatives deceptively cite the statutory corporate tax rate rather than the effective tax rate (what is actually paid after deductions). When reviewed with real numbers the U.S. corporate rate is actually slightly lower than the average of our international competitors. Often it is zero, or close to it.

[Note: These facts make it even more important for Trump to release his tax returns so that we can see just where in the range his tax rate lies.]

The truth is that American companies are not leaving the the U.S. for lower taxes. They are leaving for lower wages, cheaper distribution in foreign markets, evasion of fair labor and environmental regulations, and other reasons unrelated to taxes. McCaughey also claimed that the U.S. is on the brink of a “business recession” despite this being one of the longest periods of growth in decades. But then she trotted out a real whopper:

McCaughey: And let me just point out in response to Ben’s comments about the poor and tax reductions for the rich – slashing the corporate tax rate and producing growth will benefit the poor the most.

That foolishness hardly merits a response. At this point host Charles Payne steers the conversation to “the debate over whether trickle-down economics really work.” He asked Harvard Kennedy School Professor Leah Wright Rigueur “If the same tide lifts all ships, wouldn’t that include the poor?” She responded that “You would think, but history has shown us that that doesn’t include the poor.” When Stein was asked to comment he poignantly noted that a rising tide “does not lift those boats that are under water.” Which led to this epic exchange:

Stein: And if I may say to my friend the Lt. Governor, there simply is no evidence that slashing the corporate tax rate produces growth. There’s a lot of allegations, but…

McCaughey: [interrupting] That’s ridiculous.

Stein: Did you say ‘That’s ridiculous’?

McCaughey: I said ‘That’s ridiculous’!

Stein: With all due respect, I’m the one that’s studied this. You’re the politician. You can say whatever you want as a politician. There simply is no evidence of that. […] You don’t know that. You have no idea of that. You can say it but there’s never been any data connecting those two.

Watching a devoutly conservative economic expert smack down the right’s sacred trickle-down doctrine on Fox’s own business network is both shocking and satisfying. But watching him also humiliate a Trump adviser, and one of the most extreme GOP partisans, at the same time is an event more rare than Halley’s Comet. It will be interesting to see if Stein is invited back to Fox News any time soon.

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

All-Woman Panel On Fox News Defends Donald Trump’s Disrespect For Women

A couple of weeks ago Hillary Clinton correctly observed that Donald Trump has a “penchant for sexism.” He has demonstrated that repeatedly with his personal attacks on Megyn Kelly, Carly Fiorina, Rosie O’Donnell, and others. What’s more, he is a fierce opponent of a woman’s right to choose, and prohibiting pay and job discrimination based on gender. He is also on his third wife and wants to bang his daughter. In light of that record of misogyny, Clinton was actually pretty mild in her criticism.

What transpired next was a tirade of extraneous attacks from Trump directed at Bill Clinton’s decades-old infidelities that, while improper, do not in any way absolve Trump of his past and current repulsive behavior. It is merely an attempt by Trump to deflect attention from himself. And for that he has been getting plenty of help from Fox News. The network has endeavored to keep the focus narrowly on Clinton’s affairs with frequent stories dredging up the former president’s past, while ignoring Trump’s nauseating present.

Now a new poll conducted by Fox News shows that the result of this propaganda blitz may not be exactly what they intended. When women were asked who they thought was “more respectful of women” – Bill Clinton or Donald Trump – they responded overwhelming that it was Bill Clinton (55% to 31%).

Fox News

Despite all the hard work by Fox and Trump, American women still prefer Clinton over Trump by a wide margin. So what is Fox to do now? Well, of course, they will assemble a panel of conservative women to refute their own poll.

All four of the women called upon for this Fox Business Channel segment are hard-core wingnuts. They include a Tea Partier, a conservative columnist, a former Bush aide, and even Donald Trump’s national spokeswoman. With four opinions represented, Fox somehow could not manage to include a single Democrat or Clinton supporter who might actually have agreed with their poll. The “fair and balanced” network made sure that only one point of view was supplied. And the results would be comical if they weren’t so sad. Here are some of the highlights as these right-wing spinners attempt to roll back what America’s women actually think:

Katherine Timpf (National Review): It can’t just be about ‘Oh Bill Clinton’s a bad guy.’ It’s what does it have to do with Hillary? It has to do with, if you look back at the way that Hillary treated these women who were accusing her husband of sexual assault, so far beyond the opposite of this new liberal feminist idea of they have a right to be believed, rather she called them names that I could not say on TV without getting suspended. So we need to look at that, and do put the focus on Hillary, but how she’s related to what happened then because she played a direct active role there. It wasn’t just Bill. She did some things that make me sick. It all makes me sick.

That comes very close to infringing on Sarah Palin’s “Word Salad” copyright. Timpf has virtually implicated Hillary in her husband’s affairs. She also doesn’t bother to include a single bit of truthful commentary, particularly the assertion that Hillary used language that could not be used on TV. Although I will agree that Timpf does appear to be sick.

Katrina Pierson (Trump spokeswoman): You’ll recall that this didn’t come up until she called him a sexist. She was thumping that woman’s card very hard. […] When you’re looking at who is being respectful or disrespectful to women if you’re in the media today, then you’re probably not gonna think so much of Trump because people don’t really remember everything that happened with Bill Clinton. We’ve got an entire generation of people who are still trying to figure out what this discussion is.

If she thinks that people in the media today are not exceedingly well-versed about the controversies of the Clinton years, she’s acutely delusional. Obviously the women responding to the poll didn’t have any trouble figuring out what the discussion is, and they recognize a cad when they see one.

Gina Loudon (Tea Party): People have short memories, first of all, so there’s the psychological component of that. But also, like Katrina said, there are generations of people that don’t even know what happened, but if you ask them who’s more trustworthy, the numbers on Hillary not being trustworthy are terrifying. And this is the other thing – Donald Trump hasn’t even begun to campaign against Hillary Clinton. […] My guess, Charles, is that the minute he starts to unleash on Hillary, she won’t even know what hit her.

So Loudon’s position is that it’s the people who are too ignorant to realize how horrible Clinton is and how awesome Trump is. The young ones never learned and the old ones have forgotten. What a bunch of idiots these women voters are, according to Loudon. Furthermore, Trump has been campaigning against Clinton for months. He has called her the “worst Secretary of State in history” (although he used to think she was a “terrific woman” and said that “I really like her and her husband both a lot”).

Cathy Taylor (GOP strategist and former George W. Bush advisor): I think we’re gonna see the tide shift quite a bit as we see Donald Trump continues on his path and starts to campaign as more of a general presidential campaign versus a primary campaign. Let’s remember that he has not really focused on women yet. He’s been very good to women as a businessman. And when you look at policies and policy recommendations, because policies are going to be more favorable, as with any of the GOP candidates, than Hillary Clinton. And let’s remember, there’s good guys and there’s nice guys. Bill Clinton may be a nice guy, Donald Trump is much more of a good guy.

Ms Taylor may need to wipe a bit of the drool off her chin. Trump actually has focused a great deal on women in this campaign, and it’s all been derogatory. Especially his policies, which are pretty much the same as the rest of the GOP and firmly rejected by majorities of women. As for the distinction between a “nice guy” and a “good guy,” I can only respond – WTF? Is this a political campaign or high school?

The video of this discussion (below) opened with a clip of Republican pollster and self-proclaimed “Word Doctor,” Frank Luntz, saying that “Trying to tie Bill Clinton into Hillary doesn’t make sense,” and that “You cannot win this election without getting at least 45% of the female vote.” But Republican candidates are doing everything they can to alienate women (and Latinos and African-Americans). And Fox News is making a desperate effort to clean up after them. The problem is that their efforts are so ham-handed that no one is going to be convinced by the ultra-partisans who are clearly acting as Trump’s surrogates. What’s most revealing about this is that Fox will hold nothing back when their conservative principles are being challenged. The challenger must be destroyed, even if it’s themselves and their own poll.

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

Foul-Mouthed Fox News Obama-Hater Is Given Time-Out By Puppet/Anchor

The seething hatred of President Obama by Fox News came gushing out this morning by one of the network’s most notorious hatchet men. Lt. Col Ralph Peters (whose name translates to “vomiting penises” in Slanglish) appeared on Stuart Varney’s Fox Business program to discuss/bash Obama’s Oval Office speech on terrorism last night.

Fox News Ralph Peters

Peters was virtually spitting teeth (video below) as he was unable to control his most primitive tendencies. In an otherwise mundane response to Varney’s inquiry as to “What was your commentary as the President’s speech unfolded?” Peters launched into a profane rant that barely addressed anything about the speech itself.

Peters: Well, first of all, he keeps speaking about “We can’t give in to our fears. Don’t be afraid.” Look Mr. President, we’re not afraid. [shouting] We’re angry. We’re pissed off. We’re furious. We want you to react. We want you to do something. You’re afraid. I mean this guy is such a total pussy it’s stunning.

Really? The President who presided over the capture and execution of Osama Bin Laden; who as Commander-in-Chief as ordered more than 8,000 airstrikes against ISIS; whose military missions have dropped more than 20,000 bombs on enemy targets; who has killed thousands of ISIS fighters, including many of its leaders; this president is a pussy? What Peters, and every right-winger, are too ignorant to acknowledge is that Obama has been executing a plan that has had much success. Yet his critics keep blathering about irrelevancies. Is it because he refuses to send more Americans onto a battlefield where they would become sitting ducks for a guerrilla insurgency? Or because he expects the people of the region to take responsibility for the ground war against an enemy that is murdering them?

Peters goes on to lambaste Obama in the fashion that birthers have long used to “otherize” him as an alien creature saying that “The American people, whom he does not know in any sort of intimate manner,” want action. He then rattles off s a series of assertions that the President cares more about our enemies than ourselves. Eventually, Varney steps in to daintily scold Peters for his potty mouth.

Varney: I can tell you are super-angry, and I asked you what your reaction was, but I gotta call you, you can’t use language like that on the program. OK. I’m Sorry.

He’s sorry? What for? Peters comes completely unglued with an offensive rant and Varney apologizes for chastising him, while excusing the outburst due to Peters’ anger. What makes this even more ridiculous is that Varney allows Peters to continue for a bit and then…

Varney: Ralph, I’m sorry. I’ve got to interrupt again. You used some very strong language there about the President of the United States, and I’m the anchor of Varney & Co. and I have to ask you, either you should apologize for that or take it back.

Peters chose only to apologize. But you have to wonder what happened in between Varney’s first redress of the foul language and his subsequent request for an apology. It seems likely that someone in the control room pulling Varney’s strings gave him a directive to force a more formal atonement. While Fox’s audience likely shares Peters’ crude disgust for all things Obama, the network may have to tread lightly so as not to offend their glassy-eyed, Christianist viewers.

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

For the record, Peters has proven to be one of the most repugnant individuals to ever appear on Fox News (and that’s saying something). The Ralph Peters Story is one of truly nauseating notions that include: advocating military strikes on the American media; that there aren’t enough civilian casualties in war; that the U.S. should be more like ISIS; that the Taliban should have been allowed to execute an American soldier; and many more horrendous pronouncements. Consequently, this frothing tirade is not particularly surprising. And it is typical of the irrational loathing that is broadcast on Fox News every day.

[Update:] Fox News has issued a press release stating that Ralph Peters has been suspended for two weeks due to his “inappropriate and unacceptable” comments. Fox also suspended contributor and fill-in cohost on Outnumbered, Stacey Dash, for saying that the President “doesn’t give a shit” about terrorism. It should be noted that these two contributors are often not on the air for two weeks or more, so this “punishment” is purely symbolic.

Also notable is that Fox has not reported the news of these suspensions and they have not posted video of Peters’ appearance on Varney & Co. It’s too bad that Fox will punish people for bad language, but not for bad information. Let’s see if they suspend Donald Trump who has been saying “bullshit” and “chickenshit” in his stump speeches lately.

GOP Debate Lowlights Featuring Donald Trump’s ‘Sarah Palin Moment’

Fox Business Network is patting itself on the back for pulling off the most boring primary debate to date (transcript). They led the candidates through what amounted to a two hour Republican infomercial. The moderators were so detached that when Donald Trump flew off on a tangent about China in response to a question about the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, they failed to inform him that China was not a party to the deal. Rand Paul stepped in to correct the record, but they never followed up to get a straight answer from Trump.

And speaking of Donald Trump, he contributed some of the most hair-brained comments of the evening. Most notably, Trump may have delivered what will become his “Sarah Palin Moment.” He was asked what he would do in response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, Trump said “I got to know [Vladimir Putin] very well because we were both on 60 Minutes.” That’s about as delusional as Palin’s belief that her geographical proximity to Russia gave her insight into the region’s labyrinthine complexities.

The Republican Foreign Policy Dream Team:
Donald Trump Sarah Palin

Furthermore, Trump never actually met Putin who taped his 60 Minutes segment in Moscow. Trump was interviewed in his Manhattan penthouse. So what he meant by being “stablemates” is incomprehensible. It’s impossible to avoid the conclusion that he was being deliberately misleading.

In addition to his fudging a close relationship with Putin, Trump came out against raising the minimum wage because he thinks that people “have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum.” He continued saying that if wages were higher it would make the U.S. less competitive. In other words, he expects American labor to compete with the slave-wage earners of China and other nations that abuse their working class. That should make a good campaign bumper sticker.

But a Trump rant wouldn’t be complete without his descending into rancid bigotry. And Trump didn’t disappoint. While answering a question about his utterly ludicrous proposal to round up and deport eleven million undocumented residents, Trump sought to validate his approach by comparing it to a program implemented by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1952. And as if to put a sunny disposition on the controversial program, Trump introduced the comparison with a reminder of Eisenhower’s chummy campaign slogan, “I like Ike.” What Trump left out is that Eisenhower’s Operation Wetback (yes, that was what it was called) resulted in dozens of fatalities and a taint of racism. Approximately 1.2 million people were deported to rural areas of Mexico with none of their possessions or other resources necessary to survive. Trump is calling for ten times as many deportations and still won’t explain how he will do it.

Now we don’t want to pick on Trump exclusively. Ben Carson also indicated his opposition to raising the minimum wage saying that “Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases.” Once again, Carson is pulling data out of a human body part far removed from area that he generally operated on. There is ample evidence that raising the minimum wage has no negative impact whatsoever on job creation. But not satisfied with merely misstating reality, Carson went on to actually call for lowering the minimum wage for some workers.

Marco Rubio weighed in on the matter of wages and education. Apparently he is not too anxious to encourage Americans to seek higher education. Consequently, he advocated for vocational training as opposed to college. Of course, there isn’t anything wrong with vocational schools, which may be superior alternatives for some students. But Rubio reduced the argument to “Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers.” However, Rubio’s argument is not based in reality. The median salary for philosophy professors is almost $64,000. The median salary for welders is about $37,400. And philosophy majors (who often go into many other lines of work where an understanding of people and society is required) command higher average salaries throughout their careers. We need both welders and philosophers, but no one should be persuaded based on dishonest applause lines from self-serving politicians.

Rand Paul’s breakout moment in the debate came during a discussion on income inequality when he said that “If you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor.” Not surprisingly, this is another Republican distortion of the truth. Of the ten states with the worst income inequality gaps, six are run by Republicans. Do these people ever get tired of being wrong?

Apparently not. Because Carly Fiorina joined the parade in a rant against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She inexplicably said that “We’ve created something called the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that’s digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud.” What Fiorina considers a “vast bureaucracy” is a relatively small agency with fewer than 1,000 employees. For comparison, the IRS has about 90,000. What’s more, it has the same measure of congressional oversight of almost every other federal agency. It’s director must be confirmed by the Senate, and it is subject to budgetary constraints imposed by Congress. Finally, you’ll have to ask her what she finds so offensive about uncovering fraud and protecting America’s consumers.

To give credit where it’s due, there some questions that where genuinely probing and worthwhile. Sadly, not one of them got a direct answer. The candidates exercised the old debate strategy of not answering the question you are asked, but the question you wish you were asked. And the moderators did nothing in the way of follow ups to attempt to get a responsive answer. Here are three outstanding, and unanswered, questions:

Gerard Baker, Wall Street Journal: Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you’ll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans?

Maria Bartiromo, Fox Business: [Hillary Clinton] was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office?

Baker: Income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening?

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

This debate was a peculiar creature from the start. The Fox Business Network has program ratings so low that Nielsen doesn’t even publish them. The only explanation is that it was a gift from the Republican Party to Rupert Murdoch and the Fox News family. As it turns out, it was a generous gift in that the debate drew a record number of viewers (13,500,000) for the tiny network. Although it was still the smallest audience of any of the debates held so far this election cycle. The next debates are scheduled for November 14 (Democrats on CBS) and December 15 (GOP on CNN).

GOP Debate On Fox Business Wants To Know: Whose Plan Would God Endorse?

The rancorous aftermath of the Republican debate a couple of weeks ago on CNBC laid the foundation for a comparison to what Fox News would do when they hosted their second GOP debate on their sister network, Fox Business. The hype prior to the FBN affair was all about how they would show the rest of the press how a debate should be run.

Fox Business

Well now we know. Rather than questions about whether Donald Trump is a cartoon candidate (which deserves further scrutiny), Fox’s Neil Cavuto, the Glenn Beck of business news, sought to ascertain the candidates’ positions on tax policy. And opening that segment of the program, Cavuto turned to Ben Carson and asked

“I think God is a pretty fair guy. So tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair, that wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it’s a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then doctor?”

Seriously? That was the first question asked on the subject of taxes. And it was rather contentious framing that pitted Carson against Trump, something Republicans railed against after the CNBC debate. And yet, following this debate Fox will undoubtedly spend untold hours exalting themselves as superior debate hosts and praising how they put on a more serious, less combative candidate forum.

It may indeed have been a program more closely in tune with their audience who likely support the notion of a faith-based tax policy. Perhaps the next Republican debate can be an American Idol spin-off called “God’s Favorite,” where candidates compete to see who gets voted out of Heaven.

Anyone who has researched the tax plans of the GOP field, however, will not be surprised by the reliance on faith. They all create varying degrees of additional debt with Trump’s topping out at more than $10 trillion over ten years. The Rev. Ted Cruz continued sermonizing with a comparison of the IRS tax code to the bible. You’ll never guess which one he preferred. But the sin of lying was given short shrift. PolitiFact examined recent representations by some of the candidates and rated them all less than truthful.

So did Fox achieve their goal in presenting a less antagonistic debate that focused on the issues and served the interests of voters? Well not if disseminating real information is the standard of judgment. At no time during the debate was it brought up that these candidates were pitching tax plans that exploded the debt. That seems like something that voters would want to know.

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

In the end, though, if the voters were not served, the candidates were. They got pretty much exactly what they wanted: A forum to articulate their views without any serious challenge. The debate was more of an extended infomercial for the candidates who were permitted to spin, lie, and even promote their websites in a brazen appeal for cash. Which actually is kind of a perfect synergy for a GOP (Greedy One Percent) debate on Fox’s money-media network.