Fox Nation Follies: The “Stupid People Are Ruining America” Edition

We at News Corpse will risk life and limb to ride the rapids of the ridiculousness that emanates from Fox News, but there are times when the flow is difficult to keep up with. At times like these it may be necessary to compile some of the most significant stories into one article. But rest assured, we will always persevere in order to bring you, our readers, the critical information that you need to get through your busy day. You’re welcome.

First out of the gates is a ripe bit of nonsense from pizza magnate, and former GOP presidential front-runner, Herman Cain. Cain spoke at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference last week. This is an affair produced by Christian Coalition founder, and Jack Abramoff accomplice, Ralph Reed. The competition for “Most Ludicrous Comment” is stiff at this conference that hosted rightist luminaries like Michelle Bachmann, Ted Cruz, and Rick Santorum. It’s the classy sort of gala where one can find Obama figurines in urinals. But it was Cain who came away with the zinger of the week:

“I have even heard people say, ‘Well I don’t vote because I don’t know what’s going on.’ And I say good. Stupid people are ruining American and I’m glad some of them stay home. The solution is real simple folks. Those of us who are informed have got to out-vote the stupid people.”

Exactly! What this nation needs is more people like Herman Cain deciding America’s fate at the polls. After all this is the man whose encyclopedic knowledge of the world gave birth to the state of Uzbeckibekistanstan. And the coverage of Cain’s comedy routine at the conference provided additional examples of the not-stupid by the geniuses at Fox Nation:

Fox Nation Herman Cain

The Fox Nationalists also reached out to their ideological allies at Infowars, Alex Jones’ ultra-fringe conspiracy theory website, to find an article that alleged that border agents were resigning en masse over their objections to foreign-born gang members being allowed to freely invade our peaceful, white, Christian neighborhoods. These alleged gangsters were reputed to be coming from the ranks of the immigrant children being housed at federal facilities while awaiting deportation or unification with their families.

Fox Nation Infowars

The problem with this story is that the local newscast from which it was derived interviewed a border patrol union official who said only that some of his agents were suffering from low morale and were looking for other jobs, but that none had quit. He was also asked how many gang members he estimated were crossing the border. His answer was “A few, not too many,” thereby dispensing with the whole false premise of the article. And the photo in the Fox Nation posting is of gang members in Central America who have nothing to do with the current crisis of minor children immigrating unaccompanied into the U.S.

But what’s really troubling is that the Fox Nationalists saw fit to cite Infowars as the source for their disinformation. And this isn’t the first time. They have previously sourced articles to Infowars with similarly absurd reports. For instance:

  • Homeland Security to Purchase 141,000 Rounds of Sniper Ammo
  • Ex-TSA Screener: Officers ‘Laughing’ At Passengers’ Nude Images
  • DHS Video Characterizes Terrorists as White Americans
  • TSA Deploys Weiner Watchers at Super Bowl
  • Anarchists Plan War on Tea Parties April 15th

For more examples of Fox Nation’s lying ways…
Get Fox Nation vs. Reality. Available now at Amazon.

Finally, Fox News has shamelessly exploited the terrorist attack in Benghazi for their craven political objectives. In the process, they have tried to cast Hillary Clinton as responsible for the tragedy and uncaring about the consequences. However, it is Fox, and their right-wing cronies, who have sullied the memory of those killed in the service of their country. Fox, and their GOP pals, has even used the deaths as a means of raising money for Republican organizations.

Now another example of that callousness is on display on Fox Nation. Jason Mattera, a blitheringly idiotic wingnut who has carved a reputation out of embarrassing himself by attempting to embarrass others in foolishly contrived ambush videos, makes an appearance in a new video where he approaches Hillary Clinton at a book signing. When Clinton asks for his name, Mattera asks that she make it out to Christopher Stevens, the murdered ambassador who was also a friend of Clinton’s. Clinton refused his crass request and politely dismissed him saying “I think it would be great if you read.” the book. Mattera then made a couple of snarky remarks about Clinton’s security, who quickly ushered him away. However, he did successfully demonstrate how to disparage the memory of fallen patriots in pursuit of self-serving publicity.

And that’s today’s episode of the Fox Nation Follies. We hope you enjoyed the parade of repugnant imbeciles that populate the Fox newsroom. And with any luck, Herman Cain’s vision for America will come to pass and the sort of dimwits who make up the Fox News/Tea Party audience will stay home in November and stop wrecking the country for the rest of us.

Adventures In Right-Wing Gotcha Journalism Starring Faux Bono

Jason Mattera is the editor of the uber-conservative magazine Human Events. He is also the most ambitious aspirant to replace James O’Keefe as America’s most comically pathetic pseudo-journalist.

Yesterday Mattera posted another in his series of childish ambush videos, this one featuring the lead singer of U2, Bono. The video was quickly picked up by conservative web sites like Breitbart.com and Glenn Beck’s The Blaze. Mattera was convinced that he had the goods on a hypocritical rock star who talked a lot about charity while padding his own nest.

There was just one problem. The person Mattera ambushed was not Bono.


The video was promoted by Fox News for the Sean Hannity show, but it will probably not be making its premiere as scheduled. It has also been pulled from Breitbart and the Blaze.

Watching the video it is clear that the gentleman that Mattera was harassing was not Bono. In fact, he was being pretty obvious about that in the manner in which he was answering the questions. He could hardly be more explicit than to say that he had no control over anything the band did, which he said in an accent that didn’t have a hint of Irish. The faux Bono was later interviewed later by the Washinton Post.

For a little background on Mattera, take a look at some of his previous antics: Harassing Sen. Bernie Sanders and demonstrating his (Mattera’s) puerile ignorance; Badgering Sen. Al Franken and opposing child health and safety programs; and stalking Rep. Alan Grayson who immediately realized that Mattera was a kook, and put him in his place. In each case Mattera’s M.O. is same. He approaches his victim pretending to be a fan or supporter (a blatant violation of journalistic ethics), then launches incoherent attacks that misstate whatever issue he is trying to raise.

This guy is a serial screw up who seems to have a pretty high threshold for embarrassment. With an ability to endure such massive levels of shame, he would be an excellent partner for O’Keefe & Co.

Bernie Sanders Ambushed By Ignorant Human Events Editor

Sen. Bernie Sanders appeared at a signing event recently for his book The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class.” In accord with the neanderthal tactics of right-wing journalism, Jason Mattera showed up pretending to be an autograph seeker.

Mattera is not your run of the mill, immature, ignorant, Internet videographer (ala James O’Keefe). He is also the editor of the uber-con magazine, Human Events. Mattera proudly posted the video of his encounter with Sanders apparently with the impression that he proved some point:

In this video, Mattera embarrasses himself by asking a singularly stupid question: “How does an avowed socialist go about selling a book?” What Mattera fails to understand is that there is no prohibition on bringing books or other products to market under many implementations of socialism. Is he really so dumb that he is unaware of the thousands of books available by and about socialists? Perhaps someone should turn the tables and ask Mattera “How does an avowed capitalist go about collecting Social Security, attending college on GI or Pell grants, driving on interstate highways, or eating food that has been inspected by the USDA?”

Then Mattera lands what he seems to believe is his finishing blow by asking where the profits from the book will go. Sanders advises him that they will be donated to the children of Vermont. But Mattera snidely implies that this isn’t true because the charity hasn’t been selected yet.

All in all, Mattera’s video shows him to be uninformed and arrogantly dismissive. Yet he is so proud of his shoddy performance he posts it publicly for all to see and laugh at. The truly sad part of this is that since he is the editor of Human Events, how much more out of touch are the losers he supervises?

Why Is Andrew Breitbart Against Mothers And Keeping Kids Safe?

Once again, Andrew Breitbart has dispatched his henchman, Jason Mattera, to annoy a member of congress. This time it’s Sen. Al Franken and, just as happened when he ambushed Rep. Alan Grayson with a false assertion that the health care bill provided funds for child molesters, Mattera is made to look the fool.

In this episode of Mattera’s Morons, Jason stalks Sen. Franken to ask about an alleged provision in the health care bill that allocates $7 billion for jungle gyms. The only problem for Mattera is that nothing of the sort is in the bill. Franken is acutely aware of this and engages Mattera in this exchange:

Franken: You came up to me and said “You know the part of the bill where they give $7 billion dollars to fund the jungle gyms?” And I said “Show me that.” It doesn’t say that in the bill.
Mattera: Oh, it says infrastructure for healthy living in playgrounds for schools. What is that an army of monkey bars?

Sorry Jason. The bill doesn’t say anything about playgrounds or jungle gyms or monkey bars. And when you approach someone who is much more knowledgeable than yourself about legislation, you ought not try to lie about what’s in the bill. What the bill says is that funds in this section can be used for…

(i) creating healthier school environments, including increasing healthy food options, physical activity opportunities, promotion of healthy lifestyle, emotional wellness, and prevention curricula, and activities to prevent chronic diseases;
(ii) creating the infrastructure to support active living and access to nutritious foods in a safe environment;

So now we see that Breitbart and his ward are just as opposed to safe schools and nutritious foods as they are to preventing child abuse. But I have to admire his tenacity. After making an ass of himself over the non-existent jungle gyms, Mattera plowed ahead with a complaint about language in the bill that provides new mothers with reasonable breaks for breast feeding. I thought Republicans were supposed to be the “family values” party. Not that they ever actually supported family values, but they have long sought to pretend that they did. But here the truth is revealed as Mattera berates Franken for supporting a bill that permits new mothers to care for their infant children.

I wonder… Would Mattera prefer it if the woman had an abortion so that she wouldn’t have to miss any work time? Should she quit her job and reduce her income and her family’s ability to provide for themselves? Maybe she should just leave the kid at home and let it fend for itself in a Randian adventure of survival. Mattera’s idiocy is illustrative of something we’ve known all along: Conservatives care very deeply about fetuses but once you leave the womb they don’t give a flying frak.

This hysterical video was, once again, featured on Breitbart’s BigGovernment web site as well as the Fox Nation. And it still amazes me that Mattera thinks he comes off looking good in it. He clearly has a perverse sense of pride. Also Jason, it only makes you look like more of an immature jerk when call Franken “Senator Smalley.” It just drives home how obvious it is that you are NOT good enough, NOT smart enough, and, doggone it, no one likes you.

[Update, 3/31/2010:] Had this been announced a day later, I would have been certain that it was an April fools joke, but no…..Jason Mattera has actually been named editor-in-chief of the uber-conservative Human Events Magazine. Human Events sees some potential in this 26 year old moron whose chief quality appears to be making himself look like an idiot. Now he will oversee the magazine as well as their Internet properties like RedState, home of the new CNN contributor, Erick Erickson.

Why Does Andrew Breitbart Support Child Molesters?

The terminally choleric Andrew Breitbart (or Boogerman as he’d prefer to be known) is featuring a story on his BigGovernment web site that illustrates a disturbing affinity for child sexual abusers.

The article is authored by Jason Mattera, who appears to be auditioning to be Bill O’Reilly’s next ambush geek. If so, he has some pretty big clown shoes to fill: Stuttering Jesse Watters and Griff Teabaggin Jenkins. But Mattera is off to a good start with a video of him pestering Rep. Alan Grayson. The video is titled: “Why would Alan Grayson want to give your money over to Native American child molesters?”

In the video Mattera is shown slyly gaining Grayson’s trust by talking about his Brooklyn upbringing. But it doesn’t take long before he reveals his psycho side – and Grayson picks it up immediately asking, in an understatement, if Mattera is a kook. But Mattera presses on undaunted in his attempt to tie Grayson to a government program that Mattera says gives money to child molesters. The source for Mattera’s allegation is this language in the recently passed health care bill that addresses…

“(2) perpetrators of child sexual abuse who are Indian or members of an Indian household.”

What Mattera leaves out is that the bill does not give any money to abusers. It funds treatment programs to prevent future incidents of abuse. In the section of the bill immediately following the one Mattera cites it explicitly describes the use of funds, including:

(5) To identify and provide behavioral health treatment to Indian perpetrators and perpetrators who are members of an Indian household–

(A) making efforts to begin offender and behavioral health treatment while the perpetrator is incarcerated or at the earliest possible date if the perpetrator is not incarcerated;
‘(B) providing treatment after the perpetrator is released, until it is determined that the perpetrator is not a threat to children.

So apparently Mattera and Breitbart are opposed to protecting children from child molesters. They are openly advocating a position wherein criminal deviants would be permitted to maintain their perversions and pose a continuing threat to kids. Perhaps Breitbart and company don’t want such treatment mandated because they might find themselves at risk of being obligated to participate in such treatment. I don’t know, I’m just asking. But it is undeniable that Breitbart is more interested in the rights of child molesters than in the child victims.