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Why Fox News Must Be Taken Off the Air, and How it Can Be Done (Part 1)

By Johnny Strife - Nov 23rd, 2009 at 12:18 am EST

WITH FOXES, WE MUST PLAY THE FOX

Why Fox News Must be Taken Off the Air, And How it Can Be Done

by Johnny Strife

Part One: The Problem

In the midst of America’s Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus to shut down newspapers that were fueling insurrection by printing what he considered to be seditious material. He stated his rationale for such seemingly draconian measures by asking, “Are all the laws, but one, to go unexecuted, and the government itself go to pieces, lest that one be violated?” Today, another President from Illinois (kind of), Barack Obama, is the Commander-in-Chief of a nation at war on two fronts, Iraq and Afghanistan. He might also, one might argue, be presiding over a nascent civil war at home. Granted, this civil war is now only a war of words, but in history, words have often been the genesis of real battles.

Although Obama had grand hopes of unifying a country so endemically fractured by its ideological, religious, racial and sexual differences once he took office, we are now arguably more divided than ever before. Loud, toxic voices are stirring up winds of anger, hatred and fear. The most overbearing of these voices is that of the media leviathan Fox News Channel. In America, a land where pride and greed are tacitly considered virtues, he who speaks with the loudest voice is often considered the most righteous, which might be why Fox News Channel (FNC) garners more viewers than any other news provider.

For eight long years, FNC played the cheerleader to President George W. Bush and his administration, lauding his every action as heroic and unconditionally omitting all of his mistakes and crimes. But after Fox-endorsed Senator John McCain lost the 2008 election, FNC turned 180-degrees and became a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week Obama-bashing marathon. Mere minutes after FNC aired the Presidential Inauguration on January 20, 2009, Glenn Beck, apocalyptic fear-monger and host of FNC’s Glenn Beck Program, came on the air and started to verbally tear the new President to shreds, invoking the name of the Christian God to do it. There was no grace period; the crucifixion began before the First Couple’s first dance, and it hasn’t stopped since.

From its humble beginnings in 1985 until now, FNC has promulgated a gospel of hatred and fear, degrading the level of mainstream American journalism to a nadir so abysmal and vile that it has made tabloid fluff like CNN look like a real news channel by comparison. You can usually spot a hardcore FNC viewer (and really, is there any other kind?) by their harried, distracted appearance and their almost palpable aura of barely suppressed hysteria. They have the demeanor of the doomed, as if America is on the brink of collapse. Out of nowhere, they’ll make bizarre statements with the conviction of a street preacher; stuff like: “Barack Obama said if he gets elected he’s going to throw out the Constitution.” (I actually heard that, more than twice.) Or, “Did you hear that Barack Obama promised all the black people that if they got him elected he’d give them $500 each?” And they usually have something bad to say about Oscar-winning actors and any musicians that don’t sing country or gospel.

This proposal isn’t for those people; they’re already lost. They wouldn’t read it anyway, even if they are semi-literate; they’d think it was a product of the “liberal media elite”. Fox Fans like their information disseminated with a fist and condensed to the simplest of sound bites; they don’t want to read something with a lot of big words in it. I used to have a modicum of pity for FNC viewers, akin to that which I hold for those simple folk who offed themselves back in 1938 because they believed Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” radio drama was an actual, live news broadcast. But now the hateful bile and deception spewed daily by their oracle into the national consciousness has reached a critical mass, and it’s time for those of us whose love for America isn’t limited to its straight, white, conservative, and evangelical citizens to start taking the future of our country a little more seriously. I know this is a case of preaching to the choir, but everyone else in the church seems to have fallen asleep.

FNC’s proponents vehemently deny that it is a conservative network, claiming their programming is “Fair and Balanced” (FNC’s trademark), that they show all sides of an issue, unlike all the other “media elite,” which have a hidden liberal agenda. But the fact is, FNC is the American version of Al Jazeera: a tool used by the conservative party to control the miniscule minds of the ignorant masses. The only substantive difference is that FNC isn’t motivated by religious fanaticism, but rather by greed: the more people it gets to watch its product, the more advertisers pay it to air their commercials. Rupert Murdoch, FNC’s owner, knows something about making money. He is a conservative Australian media tycoon with a Ronald Reagan infatuation and, apparently, a desire to own all media in the world. In 2004, he owned nine satellite television networks, 100 cable channels, 175 newspapers, 40 book imprints, 40 television stations, and a movie studio. His U.S. television network reached 180-million viewers, while his Asian satellite network reached 300-million. His cable channels reached 300-million homes. His magazines reached 28-milion readers. His total audience was 4.7 billion people, which is three-fourths of Earth’s population, and that was five years ago. He went on to buy MySpace in 2005.

Murdoch gave birth to Fox News when he bought Washington D.C.’s Metromedia News Channel WTTG in 1985. The man he chose to be FNC’s President, Roger Ailes, was a Republican media strategist employed by Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. His game plan for Bush Sr.’s campaign featured a preincarnation of the smear tactics of Karl Rove: he used the image of William Horton, a black convict serving a life sentence in Massachusetts for murder. While released from prison on a weekend furlough program – which Bush’s opponent, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, had supported – Horton raped a woman, pistol-whipped, stabbed and tied up her fiancé, and stole their car. Ailes used this tragic incident as the centerpiece of Bush’s campaign, painting Dukakis as a bleeding heart liberator of black rapist murderers. He said of his own strategy, “The only question is whether we depict Willie Horton with a knife in his hand or without it.”

John Moody, FNC Senior Vice President, is a stout conservative with a long career in journalism. Moody is the actual ideological force behind FNC; all of its shows and reports are basically a mouthpiece for his arch-conservative views. He controls the daily talking points that every FNC host, anchor, commentator and reporter will follow by disseminating daily memos. These memos are usually taken directly from the daily press releases of the Republican National Committee. These talking points are echoed, often verbatim, through every show in the course of a news day, beginning with the morning show, Fox Friends, and continuing through the news, punditry and business segments. There is a unity of purpose and message at FNC that exists nowhere else in American journalism, and it is a message that parallels, without the slightest deviance, that of the Republican Party. Like the Biblical demon that Jesus exorcised in The Gospel of Mark, one can almost imagine Moody intoning, “My name is Legion… for we are many.”

Tony Snow, who died of colon cancer in 2005, was the host of Fox News Sunday. Before that, he was a speechwriter for the first Bush administration. He actually left FNC to replace Scott McClellan as the Press Secretary for the second Bush administration. Brit Hume, Fox’s managing editor and anchor of Special Report, used to contribute to the conservative magazines American Spectator and the The Weekly Standard. Catherine Crier, anchor of Crier Report, used to be a Republican judge.

As the years passed, FNC gradually become more flagrant in their partisanship. In 2000, for instance, Carl Cameron was FNC’s Senior Political Correspondent, covering the presidential election. Meanwhile, his wife Pauline was working for then-Texas Governor Bush’s presidential campaign. FNC didn’t even blanch at this blatant conflict of interest, though even CNN had the journalistic integrity to pull one of its top reporters from the campaign trail when it was discovered her husband was one of Al Gore’s lawyers. In a videotaped interview he conducted on June 19, 2000, Cameron blushed like a ten-year-old girl with a backstage pass to a Hannah Montana concert as he told Bush that his wife was “hanging out” with Bush’s sister, and overcoming her fear of talking before crowds. “She’s a good soul,” said Bush, nodding sagely. “She’s a really good soul.”

As if that wasn’t bad enough, it got even worse five months later. In a diabolically cynical, blatantly political move that permanently obliterated any arguments FNC might ever raise about being a non-partisan news channel, the man FNC put in charge of its Election Analysis Division, stationed in Florida, on election night, was George W. Bush’s cousin, John Ellis. It was him who made the call to FNC headquarters reporting that Bush was the next President of the United States, even though the data from the exit polls hadn’t yet been crunched. (As is now public record, when the exit polls were finally counted, Al Gore had won, but who cares now, right?) Mere minutes after FNC joyfully and “officially” announced that their man had won, ABC, CBS and NBC, not wanting to appear sluggish at getting the news out, followed suit and echoed the same faulty information. The falsehood became fact in the public’s perception, and the Democrats, as is their wont, went down without a real fight. To put into perspective just how inconceivable this farce was: in 2000, there were roughly 281-million people living in America. Is it numerically possible that out of all those souls, the man who made the call that essentially elevated Bush to the office of the most powerful man on the planet was his cousin, and the governor of the state that helped him do it was his brother? If former Vice President Al Gore, Bush’s opponent, had pulled those kind of shenanigans, FNC would have torn him a new asshole. (Actually, FNC’s goons do, still, mostly because he believes in global warming, but perhaps also because they’re jealous of him: nobody at FNC will ever, ever win a Nobel Peace Prize.)

Since that victory, FNC’s reporting has gotten exponentially more partisan and divorced from reality. Its Vice President of News, Bill Sammon, said the 2005 Hurricane Katrina debacle wasn’t the Bush administration’s fault; rather, that it was the fault of local governments for not being able to take care of their constituents.

Scrutinizing this sampling of FNC’s leaders and “news” correspondents, one can see that there is not one liberal, or even a moderate, among them. In my next segment, some examples of FNC’s “commentary” people will be presented.

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Conservative Talk Show Hosts are Killing the America People!

By Quantum Movement - Jun 13th, 2009 at 10:24 pm EDT

The science of Quantum Physics and Epigenetics has shown that negative talk and negative thougts can trigger cancer cells, tumors, and other abnormalities in the body. That right! Negative talk kills! The daily diet of negative talk fed to the America public by rightwing talkshow hosts is figuratively and literally destroying the America public. I think our country would benefit from a national discussion concerning the "physical" effects of listening to talkshow host who preach negative politics. People need to know the physical consequences of watching and listening to negative talkshow hosts on a daily basis. Based on the science of Quantum physics and Epigenetics, one can conclude that if a person wants to live and enjoy a healthier life, one should stop watching and listening to negative talkshow host. For more information about how negative talk and negative thoughts physically effect individuals, watch Ph.D Bruce Lipton's interview with Dr. Wayne Dyers at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylmwoJDYGjk

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Obama's Hamburger Hamlet - Much Ado About Mustard

By Mark Wiznitzer - May 8th, 2009 at 5:19 pm EDT

Also listed in: 10 groups

To be, or not to be medium well, that is the question!

In the most high and palmy District of Washington.
A little ere 100 days the mightiest Republicans fell,
Were storefronts now tenantless, and swine flue fright doth rule,
Did gibber of Ray's Steaks and Hell Burgers in Arlington streets.

Where Geithner and Bernanke proclaimed that
Both a borrower and a lender be;
For loan oft gains both votes and friends,
And borrowing stimulates weary economy.

Find out the cause of this effect,
Because the Commander in Chief hungereth.
Or rather say, the cause of this detect,
For this effect defective comes by cause,
So with his VP escapeth his White Castle.

Not a computer mouse stirring.
And then it started like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful summons.
But, look, the noon, in hungered mantle clad,
Obama rides o'er the slew of yon high shills.
The memory be green of Arugula farmers,
With Biden that less than kin, yet more than kind.
That it should come to this!

"Season your admiration with a spicy mustard."
The President's baked meats
Did coldly furnish forth their ratings tables.

Words, words, words.
Give thy thoughts no tongue, except on talk radio.
Why, Rush, a robustious periwig-pated fellow,
Very like a whale,
Would hang on him,
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on.

Sean cried "Thrift, thrift, Horatio Alger!
All is not well; I suspect some French socialist Dijon foul play.
Something is rotten in the state of Virginia."

Alas, poor Yokels! We knew them, Ho-radio.
Tis as easy as lying.
What! Frighted with false ire?
The loonies doth protest too much, methinks.
They have a plentiful lack of wits.
More matter, with less condiments.
There is nothing either good nor bad, but thinking makes it so tasty.

"This above all: to thine own self be true,
Medium-well it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Brevity is the soul of wit:
"No ketchup" commandeth the Prince.

Lord! we know what we are, but know not what we may be.
For I am more a modern Lincoln than an FDR.
He was a man, take him for all in all,
We shall not look upon his like again.

A king of shreds and patches worthy of GQ.
Not just a rhapsody of words.
For the apparel oft proclaims the man.
Report me and my cause aright
To the unemployed.
Come, my limo!
Good-night sides;
Good night, sweet relish;
Good night.

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The originator of the "Obama is Muslim" smear is a rabid Anti-Semite

By Tal from NPR/Trinity - Oct 13th, 2008 at 9:16 pm EDT

Also listed in: Florida Jews For Obama

So now we know the genesis of the false Obama-is-a-Muslim rumor. According to the New York Times, Patient Zero in this particular epidemic which has virally spread around the nation thanks to the Internet is a fellow named Andy Martin, known for filing copious lawsuits that on occasion have contained very anti-Semitic language. After reading the NYT story that places Martin at the starting point of the unfounded rumor (Obama is a Christian) you come away with the very strong impression that Martin is a man with some serious issues, to say the least. As the NYT reports: Until this month, the man who is widely credited with starting the cyberwhisper campaign that still dogs Mr. Obama was a secondary character in news reports, with deep explorations of his background largely confined to liberal blogs. But an appearance in a documentary-style program on the Fox News Channel watched by three million people last week thrust the man, Andy Martin, and his past into the foreground. The program allowed Mr. Martin to assert falsely and without challenge that Mr. Obama had once trained to overthrow the government. An examination of legal documents and election filings, along with interviews with his acquaintances, revealed Mr. Martin, 62, to be a man with a history of scintillating if not always factual claims. He has left a trail of animosity -- some of it provoked by anti-Jewish comments -- among political leaders, lawyers and judges in three states over more than 30 years. He is a law school graduate, but his admission to the Illinois bar was blocked in the 1970s after a psychiatric finding of "moderately severe character defect manifested by well-documented ideation with a paranoid flavor and a grandiose character." There's more: He prepared to run as a Democrat for Congress in Connecticut, where paperwork for one of his campaign committees listed as one purpose "to exterminate Jew power." He ran as a Republican for the Florida State Senate and the United States Senate in Illinois. When running for president in 1999, he aired a television advertisement in New Hampshire that accused George W. Bush of using cocaine. In the 1990s, Mr. Martin was jailed in a case in Florida involving a physical altercation. Then there's this passage which gets to when Martin started the rumor: Theories about Mr. Obama's background have taken on a life of their own. But independent analysts seeking the origins of the cyberspace attacks wind up at Mr. Martin's first press release, posted on the Free Republic Web site in August 2004. Its general outlines have turned up in a host of works that have expounded falsely on Mr. Obama's heritage or supposed attempts to conceal it, including "Obama Nation," the widely discredited best seller about Mr. Obama by Jerome R. Corsi. Mr. Corsi opens the book with a quote from Mr. Martin. "What he's generating gets picked up in other places," said Danielle Allen, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University who has investigated the e-mail campaign's circulation and origins, "and it's an example of how the Internet has given power to sources we would have never taken seriously at another point in time." Here's more on Martin and anti-Semitism: Yet in various court papers, Mr. Martin had impugned Jews. A motion he filed in a 1983 bankruptcy case called the judge "a crooked, slimy Jew who has a history of lying and thieving common to members of his race." In another motion, filed in 1983, Mr. Martin wrote, "I am able to understand how the Holocaust took place, and with every passing day feel less and less sorry that it did." In an interview, Mr. Martin denied some statements against Jews attributed to him in court papers, blaming malicious judges for inserting them. It's remarkable that the originator of the rumor that has hounded Obama throughout the presidential campaign has been narrowed down to onc person. The falsity seemed like one of those items that could have had dozens of authors. As many of you already know, Sean Hannity gave Martin and his colorful fabrications major exposure last week when he had him on his show as part of a "documentary" on Obama's Chicago years. Robert Gibbs, Obama's communications director, administered a memorable beatdown of Hannity for having Martin, who many people would consider a crackpot and with much justification, on his program. It's must-see TV if you haven't watched it already. Here's a 2006 Chicago Tribune story on Martin with a few more details: Perennial candidate back for another race The self-styled consumer advocate has run unsuccessfully for office for more than 3 decades Date: Friday, February 10, 2006 By John Chase and Rick Pearson, Tribune staff reporters Dressed in a green sport coat, khakis and a beat-up pair of New Balance running shoes, Andy Martin stood on a downtown Chicago sidewalk recently for one of his numerous news conferences to deliver a message to the voters of Illinois. "The bottom line is, the momentum has shifted," the 60-year-old Republican candidate for governor told a lone reporter. "There's an awareness statewide now that I'm a fully fledged player in this race."That's a view Martin has often espoused in more than three decades of unsuccessfully running for offices ranging from county clerk and mayor to legislator on to Congress and the presidency--sometimes as a Republican, other times as a Democrat--in Illinois, Florida and Connecticut. Though his ads featuring "Stars and Stripes Forever" have aired on Chicago radio stations, political organizations, debate planners and the media usually shun Martin. More than just a perennial candidate, he bills himself as a self-styled consumer advocate willing to take on Microsoft, housing developers and other firms with legal action. "I have 40 years of exceptional public service. Successful public service," Martin said in a recent letter addressed to the Tribune. "And true integrity fighting public corruption." Yet the Illinois Supreme Court denied him a law license, saying he lacked the fitness to be an attorney. Federal courts have repeatedly sanctioned him for what judges have said is his filing of hundreds of largely meritless legal actions. He's had several stints in jail. He has repeatedly refused to answer questions from the Tribune and has in the past unsuccessfully sued the newspaper for libel. On Thursday, during a telephone news conference, he threatened to sue the Tribune over a recent poll on candidates for governor that showed he had support from fewer than 1 percent of likely Republican voters. Martin also has expressed anti-Semitic attitudes in the past. When he ran for Congress in Connecticut in 1986, the name of his congressional campaign committee included the phrase "to exterminate Jew power in America," Federal Election Commission records show. In a 1983 personal bankruptcy case, he referred to a federal bankruptcy judge as a "crooked, slimy Jew, who has a history of lying and thieving common to members of his race." In a related court filing in the case, he also expressed sympathy to the perpetrators of the Holocaust. "I am able to understand how the Holocaust took place, and with every passing day feel less and less sorry that it did, when Jew survivors are operating as a wolf pack to steal my property," Martin wrote in an April 21, 1983, personal bankruptcy proceeding. In 1973, the Illinois Supreme Court refused to allow Martin admission to the bar. The court's decision noted that Martin, a University of Illinois law school graduate who was previously known by the name Anthony R. Martin-Trigona, had a Selective Service record that showed he had a "moderately-severe character defect manifested by well documented ideation with a paranoid flavor and a grandiose character." Still, the court noted that "issues raised as to [Martin's] mental stability" did not need to be considered in light of other matters it cited in deciding that Martin lacked the qualities of "responsibility, candor, fairness, self-restraint, objectivity and respect for the judicial system" required for the administration of justice. Among issues the high court cited in denying his law license were Martin's criticism of members of a bar review panel as "emotionally ill" and "scum," his filing of a petition asking that a parking violation be lifted because it was "entered by an insane judge" and his description of an attorney as "shaking and tottering and drooling like an idiot," according to court records. A decade later, the federal court system began issuing sanctions against Martin for his filing of what one federal judge, Edward Weinfeld of New York, termed as "a substantial number of lawsuits of a vexatious, frivolous and scandalous nature." The courts eventually required him to obtain prior approval to file any legal action at any federal court. The restrictions require that judges, who are not identified to Martin, decide whether the filings have merit and should proceed. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals noted Martin's litigious conduct appeared to be an attempt to "harass persons who have unluckily crossed his path." The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago noted Martin's tendency "to exaggerate, to believe himself the victim of conspiracies where none exist, and to suspect without any reasonable basis that others are persecuting him." Martin often touts his background as an assistant to the late U.S. Sen. Paul Douglas (D-Ill.). Martin told a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 1975 that his service was as a summer intern for Douglas in 1966 and that he received $152 in pay. Martin is currently registered to vote in two locations, one in Chicago and another in Florida, according to an election official in Florida and records in Chicago. But those same sources show Martin has not cast a vote in Chicago since he registered in 2003 or in Florida since 1996. Still, Martin has run or attempted to run for public offices in Illinois and Florida numerous times since 1996, including for the U.S. Senate in Florida in 1998 and 2004, the presidency in 2000 and Florida governor in 2002. In 1998, Martin was on the ballot in Florida and received 184,739 votes, or 33.6 percent, in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate. In 1996, he was the Republican nominee in Florida for a seat in the state Senate. He received 31,919 votes, or 27.4 percent of the vote. In his current campaign, Martin has quoted from a 1978 Tribune editorial that called him "an absolutely brilliant campaigner" when he was running as a Democrat for U.S. Senate. But the rest of the editorial, which Martin does not quote, added that he "has no more business in the U.S. Senate than an elk has in a phone booth." Martin has also had run-ins with the law. In 1980, he was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison after being convicted of mail fraud. The conviction was later overturned. Federal Bureau of Prisons records show Martin has spent several stints in several federal prisons on issues related to contempt of court. Back in Florida, Palm Beach County Court officials say an arrest warrant for him remains active. Officials with the Palm Beach clerk's office said the warrant is still outstanding for Martin for violation of probation, stemming from a 1996 criminal mischief case in which he damaged a video camera belonging to a local TV station covering his campaign for state Senate. A judge ordered Martin to spend several months in jail but a paperwork glitch resulted in Martin's release after only about one month. They say he still has several months left to serve.

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Sean Hannity and The Politics of Division

By Wordman - Sep 20th, 2008 at 6:00 pm EDT

Also listed in: Obama Dallas

Really don't mean to leave out Limbaugh, Hewitt, Levin and the rest of that noisy right wing crowd, but I've had more exposure to Hannity via his talk radio and tv shows. I tune into his radio show for an hour or so so 3-4 times a week on my commute home from work. Not because I agree with hardly any of his views, but rather just to check out the daily buzz and the corresponding Republican talking points which Hannity faithfully recites. His callers routinely greet him as a "great American". And while I do not question his patriotism (as he does in response to anyone who disagrees with him or dares to engage in democratic debate) and I am sure that he is a good father, spouse, son and friend, from my vantage point, he's a pretty lousy American. You have to ask yourself if Hannity truly loves this country then why has he devoted his life to dividing it's citizens along political and cultural lines. And I guess one answer is that it's made him filthy rich. He and Limbaugh and their ilk have built multi-million dollar empires based on the politics of division. Little wonder that Senator Obama and his campaign for change and a return to civil and bipartisan politics have engendered such a ferocious and vile response from Hannity and the hate-mongers. If Obama and his supporters were to achieve their vision of a united America where politicians and citizens worked across party and cultural lines to address the serious challenges this country faces they'd be out of a job. And wouldn't that be a loss [sic].

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America, ours, through Obama-biden, not a compass quadrant for McCain-Palin-Romney-FOX viEWS spin

By Ramuel - Sep 9th, 2008 at 12:04 pm EDT

Also listed in: FRAMINGHAM FOR OBAMA | Sudbury for Obama

Obama and Biden secure our American livelihoods.

McCain & Palin shine and shimmer with their own heroic lives, but preclude the growth of the many more American heroes who are really spread all over our fifty states (World War and Vietnam veterans who have not received their due pensions and benefits), plus the deployment zones in Afghanistan, Fallujah, Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraqi-dom.

Sure, McCain and Palin both took up the Michael Moore challenge of sending their own children to Iraq, but McCain knowingly went off to California when his new Senate colleague (and Navy superior) Jim Webb of Virginia had put the Webb-authored Post-911 equal college tuition for education GI bill up for voting.

McCain and the GOP he serves to preserve mock "European ideas," building on Michael Savage's words. With the same breath, they want us to read their Bushy lips which rally:

Down with "European ideas!"

We need "Western values!"

That's the McCain and his GOP's convention stand.

Our Barack Obama foresaw this DIVIDE AND RIP-OFF strategy of McCain and the GOP he serves. Obama clarified that there is no Eastern, Southern, Western or Northern America, there is only one America.

E pluribus unum.

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Hello, America

By Ramuel - Sep 6th, 2008 at 3:27 pm EDT

Also listed in: Sudbury for Obama

Obama-Biden will help us raise our families,

not working class and middle class taxes.

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Daily Show Republican Doublespeak

By Lake Obama - MN State Delegate - Sep 4th, 2008 at 10:23 am EDT

Also listed in: 10 groups

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=184082

A little more than 9 minutes into this show is a piece on Karl Rove and 'Papabear' O'Reilly, as well as three others. First Rove talks about how qualified Palin is via talking points because she is the governor of Alaska. Of course, the Daily Show then shows a clip from a few months ago when Rove eviscerated Virginia Governor Tim Kaine by saying his choice as VP would be proof that Democrats are "not concerned first and foremost with if this person is capable of being president of the United States" because he's been the governor of a state for only 3 years and former mayor of just the 105th largest city in the USA, a city that's smaller than Henderson, NV (and he named a bunch of other cities).

In contrast, Sarah Palin is the former mayor of a town smaller than many high schools and governor for less than two years of the least populated state in the union, with the next least populated state, Wyoming, having more than 4 times the population of Alaska.

Next up is 'Papabear' O'Reilly, explaining how teenage pregnancy is "a personal, private family matter" and nothing that should be judged "as long as the family supports the decision," and he hopes things calm down because this isn't something the public should be sticking their nose into. Then, in contrast, is a clip of O'Reilly ripping up the Spears family. "Here the blame falls primarily on the parents of the girl who obviously have little control over her." This is accompanied by a photo of the Spears parents with the word "PINHEADS" emblazoned below it.

Sarah Palin has dragged her pregnant daughter onto the campaign trail and placed her front and center in every photo op. But the press is not supposed to comment on the fact (that the Republicans themselves ANNOUNCED) that their abstinence-touting candidate has a teenage daughter who is 5 months pregnant? Do I personally care that this girl is pregnant? No. It's not my business, and it should be a family matter...that was kept in Alaska vs. paraded across the national stage. Gee, the word "Pinheads" springs to mind once more.

Next up are Sean Hannity and Dick Morris, talking about the 'sexist' way the media is treating Sarah Palin because of the baby issue. And, yes, they then show Dick Morris ripping up Hillary Clinton for complaining that media coverage was sexist and asking what's going to happen when the boys in the Middle East get tough, etc., and how "This is always what Hillary does when she comes under fire; she retreats behind the apron strings."

And then last is McCain Sr. Policy Advisor Nancy Pfotenhauer in a clip from last November warning Hillary not to play the sexist victim card because that's just not what we want in a president. Yep, then she goes on to whine about how Palin has been victimized because she's a woman, and how it's the most outrageous double standard she's ever seen.

Republicans, you can't have it both ways. I really wish these side-by-side clips could be shown to every voter in the US to prove how the Republicans are trying to manipulate the media to take the focus off the real issues with their exceedingly weak VP choice, how she is just more of the McSame. These clips would make a wonderful political ad. Please. Get it out there!

To me, it seems clear their choice was to round up the Hillary supporters. Do they really think the Hillary supporters will vote for McCain/Palin, simply because he chose a woman running mate? This is a woman so far from Hillary Clinton's ideals and values that I can't believe anyone in their right mind would think that strategy would work.

President Bush also said that the Hanoi Hilton could not break McCain and the "angry left" will not break McCain, either. How dare my president call (at least) half of the US population the "angry left." How foolish of the Republicans to focus on the whiner card when the issues I want to hear about are the economy, the war, and the energy crisis. This is all the proof I need that they are so far out of touch that they have no idea that the general population is mad as hell at their "make the rich richer, and good luck to everyone else" plan, and we're not going to take it anymore.

The Republicans are master panderers. I cringe when I think about how many average Americans are going to buy into their skillfully crafted marketing machine. If John McCain is elected, he will be our oldest president, ever. The last time this happened, Regan began to show signs of Alzheimers before he even left office. There is a better than average chance that 4-time cancer survivor McCain will die in office. I could have lived with McCain as president, but I shudder at the thought of a far-right former mayor of a town with a population of less than 10,000 being in charge of our country.

We cannot let this happen.

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Why should Karl Rove go to the Convention?

By Benjamin Vos, Nashville - Aug 14th, 2008 at 11:00 am EDT

Also listed in: 8 groups

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/14/0944/37269/861/567660

I saw this blog and really appreciated the idea:

"Sean Hannity and Karl Rove have made it clear that they intend to go to the Democratic Convention and harass delegates. They do not intend to go there in a journalistic capacity but plan to start fights on the convention floor, bring a so called security entourage with them to intimidate others, harass delegates, and basically cause trouble. Therefore, the DNC should take their press passes and not let them onto the site. The same might be suggested for Bill O'Reilly. These people are not journalists, they are right wing smear merchants without an ounce of integrity in them."

I hadn't thought of it before. It's obvious to me that Hannity and Rove are not serious journalists. They are editorialists who are committed to promoting the Republican agenda. Not only that, but they have been engaging in lies, distortions, and smear attacks for decades.

One basic principle of journalism is a commitment to reporting the news, not creating the news. So, why should these so-called journalists be allowed to receive press credentials to attend the Democratic National Convention?

The Democratic Convention Committee ought to invest more in supporting serious journalists - especially citizen journalists - rather than these highly-paid talking heads from Fox News Channel.

Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. I'd really appreciate your feedback about this idea.

Thanks!

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What's so wrong?

By Vegas - Jul 19th, 2008 at 9:49 pm EDT

I'm so tired of hearing some people, like Lou Dobbs always being so critical of Barack Obama. There is nothing wrong with him. They make everything Obama does sound like it's incorrect. After seeing several stories like this reported on the news, I thought I should write down my take. The latest reports I've been hearing are the ones about Obama's overseas trip. Everyone is saying, "Oh my gosh, it will turn Americans off if he goes to France and he is received well there. It will look bad and Americans won't like it if the people of France and others in Europe show their support, love, and enthusiasm of Obama." First of all, when is it negative for human beings to show a liking for another human being? I think it's a good thing. It's great to see that Senator Obama is showing us, not only can he cross party lines, but he can also bring people together from other nations. Isn't that one of the things a president should be able to do? It's not the job of a president to make people the world over "hate" us. I think what Obama has, in this ability to bring people together, it's a blessing. I believe it's a lost art. Americans have a reputation for embracing hate. It's easier for people, even in their daily lives to say they hate or dislike someone than for them to say they like or love someone. It's easier to be a complainer and always be negative, it's also more accepted. When somoene like Obama comes along and shows everyone something positive, the claws come out on people like Sean Hannity, Bill O., and Lou Dobbs. What? People in Europe like him? They act shocked. If the same thing was to happen for their candidate, say John McCain, and people who supported Obama were saying some of the negative things about McCain, then they would be upset. I think they are angry and jealous that Obama is popular and people are open to him. Why can't they accept it and use it to America's benefit? He's restoring the prestige we've lost over the years. What's the harm in that? It's just sickening to hear them reporting about how Americans will be "rubbed the wrong way" if other human beings who happen to live in France, like another human being, an American, named Barack Obama. Well, I am all for it. He's trying to do nothing but good for the USA and he has my staunch support.

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Food For Thought !!!

By BrotherJR - Jun 26th, 2008 at 3:19 am EDT

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1. After listening to Focus On The Family Founder James Dobson go off on sen. Obama about a speech on religion and faith from 2006, a few thing comes to my mind. Mr. Dobson is not a preacher, minister, or real theologian. So A) What or who does think he his to believe that he has the authority to claim what is right or wrong in regards to religion B) Why is automatically held up a influential Christian/Evangelical leader and C) Given the fact that he says that he's not a preacher, minister, or theologian why do we necessarily care or pay so much attention about his views.

2. Sean Hannity is one of the bigger hypocrites on cable news. How can "That Little Ball of Hate" (as CNN contributor and radio talk show host Roland Martin often refers to him by) sit there an call out senator and Mrs. Obama for so called divisive, inflammatory, and racial remarks on one segment, then in the next segment, chum it up with the likes of divisive and questionable figures like Pat Buchanan, Jesse Lee Peterson, and Ann Coulter. That's hypocricy run amuck. Mr. Hannity blasts Mrs. Obama about her college thesis when she expressed some frustrations about being black in an IVY League university and calling for black unity (and nothing is wrong with that). However, when Clarence Thomas expressed those similar uncomfortable feelings about his time at Yale in his recent book as well as in an interview with Steve Croft on 60 minutes earlier this year, and in an one on one interview with Mr. Hannity, Sean praises him for being honest, forthcoming, and open. You can't blast somebody on the left for questionable comments and at the same time give Ann Coulter a pass when she on your telivision show refers to sen. Obama "a two bit Adolf Hitler" and claims that "America needs to be wary of Obama in the same way that the jews were wary of Hitler" or say nothing to Pat Buchanan about his racist March 21 column "A Brief For Whitey" that he wrote in response to sen. Obama's speech on race. But I guess that kind of double standard is O.K. with Faux (Fox) News.

3. What in the heck is wrong with Ralph Nader. sen. Obama in not trying to play to white guilt. He's trying to bring a coalition of americans together irregardless of race, sex, religion. Sadly, Mr. Nader has completely lost his way.

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TRUTH TO POWER !!!

By Sue - Jun 3rd, 2008 at 9:22 am EDT

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Let's get the truth out and take on the power-monger hate spreaders before they even begin.

Everyone's out there whispering about a tape of Michelle Obama saying "whitey." Let's spread truth

to power beginning right now and nip it in the bud. What Michelle said was "Why'd he", not "whitey."

Spread this everywhere you can, get the truth out asap and as much as possible.!

Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Karl Rove, Bill O'Reilly, et al, your time is done. We're not going to take it anymore! The truth shall be told!!

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James Baker flummoxes Hannity rips Bush/McCain foreign policy

By Craig from Dalton, MA - May 18th, 2008 at 7:33 am EDT

Also listed in: Massachusetts Action Team

BAKER FLUMMOXES HANNITY: RIPS BUSH FOREIGN POLICY .
Oct. 5, 2006, FOX NEWS, Hannity & Colmes, 9:00 PM EST
Click Baker Video Part II (two)
http://www.foxnews.com/hannityandcolmes/index.html Part II (two)

James Baker, the globally accomplished diplomat and former GOP Secretary of State under Reagan totally flummoxed the cartoonish GOP bagman, Sean Hannity.

Point blank, Baker said that given the choice between waging a war or a foreign policy solely restricted to establishing a new democracy in the Mid-east or alternatively pursuing policies of stabilizing the region, including negotiating with foes, policies of stabilization were preferable.

Hannity tried to parry this heretical bashing of Bush's core foreign policy talking point with the usual GOP gobbledygook propaganda such as "this is "World War III" and "this is a fight against Islamo Fascists." Baker seemed uninterested in Sean's offer of GOP red meat talking points and he continued.

Read More »

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MAKES NO SENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By Richard J. Hutchins - Apr 29th, 2008 at 2:53 pm EDT

Ok. Lets look at whats happening right now. this Rev Wright situation seems problematic for our hopes for Barack to win the presidency. How do you hold on to the words that One man says as the words of another. I can't say that Rev wright said anything wrong other than trying to peg Sen. Obama as just another polititician saying what politicians have to say to get elected. even he knows barack is not th average candidate/politician. Wright is as we heard a very intelligent man, yet he didnot use the wisdome that he should have as one of our community elders. I admit I admire him for his wealth of knowledge, yet am disappointed that he seems to be leading one of his sheep out to slaughter. He had every right to defend himself, because he has been unfairly charactorized,yet he is supposed to use discression, especially when is comes to protecting one of your own as Sen. Obama did for him. It would be a shame if we loose the hope that GOD provided for us as he has provided in times past and will continue to do so. Now is the time to actually cut ties. America deserves a president with Sen. Obamas values, beliefs, and plans to bring unity for once in this country. I'm not foolish, thinking that everyone will fall in line with the nations coming togather. Rush limpbaugh, sean hannity, quin and rose, have hearts of stone and are incapable of unifying for the overwhelming hate that they contiue to preach that talk radio continues to promote. they are nothing short of being the perfect examples of modern day racism at it's best. you can disagree with a mans platform without slander, misrepresentation of the facts. Hopefully the nation will pull together to have them all arrested for ' opperation chaos. it's evil and these are the people that accuse democrats of voter fraud. They have not looked in a mirror. although Penn has already voted, I will continue to work hard for Sen. Obama. After all he's been through in the latter part of this campaign; He deserves us to fight against those that seek to destroy his good name, and intentions, so he can take his rightful place in the White House.

WE WANT NO MORE DRAMA!

VOTE FOR OBAMA!!!

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Sean Hannity - An Elitist Candidate?

By Donald - Apr 18th, 2008 at 3:31 pm EDT

Also listed in: WA 45th LD for Obama | Washington Action Team

This is an e-mail sent to Sean Hannity and other Fox news mail addresses as well as CNN Thursday, 2008-Apr-17, after Sean Hannity and Newt Gingrich discussed the Pennsylvania Democratic debate the evening of Thursday, April 18, 2008.

I have generally ceased to waste my time watching the Hannity & Colmes show because it quite obviously does not live up to Fox standards of “Fair and Balanced” reporting. If we want to see a picture of ‘elitism’ we can watch the expressions and comments of Newt Gingrich diminishing the parentage of Barack Obama while elevating his own upbringing in Pennsylvania and conveniently ignoring Barack Obama’s childhood and service on the south side of Chicago and to this country.

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Fox News Unfair And Unbalanced

By Candace N. - V.O.B - Apr 16th, 2008 at 7:17 pm EDT

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All of Senator Obama's supporters need to send fox news a clear message about their claim to be fair and balanced. They are not sticking to their claim, therefore misleading viewers and making false statements. Sean Hannity especially devotes a huge portion of his shows bashing Senator Obama. They are suppose to report the news, giving equal and fair coverage to all of the candidates, and that is not being done.

I urge everyone to send either an email or written letter to fox news enforming them that you want them to uphold their claim to have fair and balanced coverage of this election and that you want Sean Hannity to use his show to report the news and not focus on bashing Senator Obama.

Thank you in your support of this effort. YES WE CAN !!!!!!!!

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The Media, ESPECIALLY FOX IS TEARING OBAMA APART

By LuAnn in Indiana - Apr 15th, 2008 at 1:57 am EDT

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Well, I started out this evening and watched MSNBC. The main topic of each show was about Barack either being an elitist or Barack insulting Pennsylvania and all rural, small town voters.

This was all bad enough, but then I switched to FOX (YOU KNOW, THE UNFAIR AND UNBALANCED) CHANNEL!

O'REILLY WAS HIS TYPICAL SELF AND OF COURSE HAD TO BRING UP REV, WRIGHT AND MICHELE BEING ASHAMED OF BEING AN AMERICAN UNTIL NOW.

BUT THEN CAME HANNITY AND COLMES AND THEY NOT ONLY HAD KARL ROVE ON THERE TRASHING OBAMA AND SAYING HE WAS DEAD IN THE WATER, BUT THEN HANNITY WENT ON AND ON ABOUT HOW OBAMA HAD PLAIN INSULTED EVERY PENNSYLVANIAN AND MADE FUN OF THEIR RELIION AND THEIR GUNS AND HE HAD BASICALLY ENDED HIS CHANCE OF EVER BEING ELECTED PRESIDENT.

I CAN FEEL MY BLOOD PRESSURE (WHICH RUNS LOW) CREEPING UP TO THE BOILING POINT! OF COURSE, SINCE I LIVE HERE IN INDIANA, I AM ALSO GETTING TO WATCH ALL OF HILLARY'S NEWEST COMMERCIALS(ATTACK ADDS) AND I THINK I HAVE HAD ENOUGH FOR ONE NIGHT.

I HOPE AND PRAY THE THE GOOD PEOPLE OF PENNSYLVANIA THINK ABOUT ALL OF THIS AND REMEMBER JUST WHO WAS IN CHARGE OF STARTING NAFTA WHICH TOOK MOST OF THEIR JOBS AND WHAT A JOHN MCCAIN PRESIDENCY WOULD BE LIKE.

IF THEY THINK ABOUT THOSE THINGS, I DO NOT SEE HOW THEY COULD POSSIBLY VOTE FOR HILLARY. THE REPUBLICANS WANT TO RUN AGAINST HER. I FEEL THAT OBAMA WAS TRYING TO DEFEND THEM AND MAYBE HE DIDN'T USE THE PROPER WORDS, BUT ANY PENNSYLVANIAN WOULD BE SO MUCH BETTER OFF WITH OBAMA IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

THEY WERE TALKING TONIGHT ON ONE OF TE SHOWS OF HOW MCCAIN KNEW HOW TO HANDLE HIMSELF AGAINST HILLARY, BUT IF OBAMA GOT THE NOMINATION, MCCAIN WOULD BE TOTALLY LOST AS TO WHAT TO DO OR SAY.

I GUESS I WILL CALL IT A NIGHT, BUT SOMEHOW I DON'T SEE MYSELF GOING TO SLEEP YET. I JUST GET SO UPSET WHEN I SEE THE MEDIA STIRRING UP ANY OF THESE STORIES IN ORDER TO GET BETTER RATINGS.

ALL OF US WHO ARE OBAMA SUPPORTERS NEED TO GET ON THE BLOG SITES OR PHONE LINES AND START THE CONVERSATION GOING IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION.

THERE IS SO MUCH AT STAKE IN THIS COMING ELECTION AND AFTER WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE DEMOCRATS IN THE LAST 2 ELECTIONS WE JUST HAVE TO MAKE SURE WE DO NOT LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN.

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The Swiftboating That Never Worked

By Herman - Mar 29th, 2008 at 3:37 am EDT

Sean Hannity thought he would swiftboat Obama with the Wright story by disingenously keeping it on the air for almost a year. I wonder what he is saying now that Obama weathered teh storm and surfed his way throught it?

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Let Us Not Be Distracted by Cosmic Debris....

By Nick from Cliffside Park, NJ - Mar 25th, 2008 at 12:49 am EDT

(This is cross posted from BlueJersey.com) http://www.bluejersey.net/showComment.do?commentId=29552

We've had nearly eight years of Bush dumming down the intellectual capacity of the American people and numbing down our capacity for healthy emotions (like hope and faith and charity). If we stay on the Bush/Hannity track we will have become a soul dead people.

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McCarthyism

By Jim Dietz - Mar 24th, 2008 at 10:45 am EDT

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This past week, one of the advisors to Barack Obama accused Bill Clinton of being McCarthyist. Representatives of the Clinton campaign went overboard to declare the assertion outrageous, mean-spirited, etc. Being members of Clinton's staff--if anyone would know about outrageous and mean-spirited, those people should!

But was the general who made the comments incorrect?

McCarthyist tactics get their name from Senator Joe McCarthy, a man from Wisconsin who served as senator for 10 years until his death in 1957. Indeed, so vile was McCarthy and his tactics that after his presidency, Eisenhower listed his one real regret as not having dealt directly with McCarthy and his bullying ways and his hurtful allegations.

So what is McCarthyism? It is the use of outrageous statements for maximum political gain. In all cases, the statements cannot be substantiated and when pressed to provide concrete evidence, the accuser waffles, says he was misrepresented, or makes new accusations. In the beginning, there were a couple of instances of truth to the allegations and that allowed McCarthy to gain popularity/credence. McCarthyism is a lot like 'The Big Lie' used by Hitler's propaganda machine--if you repeat the same outrageous comments all the time (--the Jews were responsible for losing WW1 for Germany, etc), then sooner or later most people will move their views in your direction--not a ton, but enough to guarantee they won't resist future radical actions.

So--is the general right? Has Bill or the Clinton campaign engaged in McC arthyist tactics?

**Insinuations of race being the deciding factor --starting way back with the South Carolina primary. This has continued lately with Ferraro's comments about blacks having it easier than white women. Hah! (I guess she missed the first couple hundred years of this nation's history)

**Clinton representatives insinuated that Barack Obama was a drug dealer (because he admitted to doing more w/drugs than 'I didn't inhale it') and that he is still (so the insinuation goes) using stuff stronger than nicotine.

**Clinton officials claim that Obama was educated and trained in a madrassa in Indonesia. This was followed up by Hillary denying it saying Obama wasn't Muslim "As far as we know...." (never mind Obama's long history of working with Chicago south-side churches). These same people now criticize Obama for his loyalty to the same church. It astounds me how cynical/hypocritical this is--to lie and say Obama is Muslim and then immediately turn around 60-90 days later and hammer him for his loyalty to a CHRISTIAN church. (Just as sad is how many people don't notice this contradiction and change their mind based on the scaremongering tactics)

**The 3 a.m. phone call advertisement.

Sadly, the list goes on. All of the comments are either provably false or are things impossible to know about ANY non-incumbent candidate. The general is right--the Clintons ARE using McCarthy's tactics.

With that said, Obama deserves respect for maintaining the high ground and not getting into an insinuation fight with the Clintons. Don't get in a pissing match with a skunk because only one of you is going to mind the smell and its not the skunk. I wish the Obama campaign would play up that aspect of the campaign--that given the numerous opportunities to mention the infidelities and questionable ethics of the Clintons, that he has chosen not to.

Heck, I wish Bill Clinton would act like an ex-president should. He can look at Bush I or Carter for that--or even further back to Nixon or Truman (though I haven't forgotten Clinton's veiled insults in his funeral speech for Nixon a long time ago either...)

*****

Finally, I am always stunned by the hate that spews from the radical fundamentalists on both sides of the political aisle. I had never gone to DailyKos before--and won't again. All there was was a bunch of 'witty' insults of John McCain based on his age, etc --there was no attempt at a dialogue, just ways to be insulting. But that paled with the neo-nazi comments of Sean Hannity who said that Obama's speech proved he was anti-American and anti-Semite. What the heck??? I'm not even sure how to comment on something like that. All I know is that in Iowa, we're brought up to behave a bit better than that.

As always, I am a Republican and make no effort to hide that. I believe in limited government, a strong defense (not Iraq), and a balanced budget. (Yes, there ARE real Republicans left out there...we're just a bit difficult to hear over the neo-Nazi yelling....)

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