Fox News Ignores Judicial Analyst’s Criticism Of Bush’s Warrantless Spying
Fox News Ignores Judicial Analyst’s Criticism Of Bush’s Warrantless Spying
In a Los Angeles Times op-ed last week, Fox News senior judicial analyst and former New Jersey Superior Court judge, Andrew Napolitano, asserted that President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program “illegally” spies on Americans and warned against further efforts to broaden his spying powers:
The so-called Protect America Act of 2007, which expired at the end of last week, gave the government carte blanche to spy on foreign persons outside the U.S., even if Americans in the United States with whom they may be communicating are spied on — illegally — in the process. [...]
Those who believe the Constitution means what it says should tremble at every effort to weaken any of its protections.
Yet it seems Napolitano’s bosses at Fox News aren’t interested in hearing him criticize the right-wing wiretapping position on their televsion network. Napolitano has appeared on Fox News at least twice since Monday, and in both appearances, Napolitano was never asked to comment on Bush’s wiretapping. (He did, however, get to remark upon the death of Princess Diana.)
Discussing the Supreme Court’s recent decision to reject the ACLU’s challenge to Bush’s eavesdropping program would seem like a perfect opportunity for Fox News to turn to its premier judicial expert for an opinion. But in the one and only discussion of the decision last night, Fox host Bill O’Reilly instead brought on daytime anchor Megyn Kelly, who said the ACLU’s case is “like first-year law student fodder.”
Fox News is happy to let Napolitano appear regularly on Fox News — until he criticizes the administration.
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FUX Snooze: We decide what you report.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:11 pmFOX should take down those fair and balanced banners as they are starting to hurt its ratings.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:18 pmHe did appear on the Colbert Report last week to talk about this, if I remember correctly.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:20 pmIf Napolitano keeps this up, he’ll get called back as frequently as Larry Johnson was when he started criticizing the Bush adminstration’s illegal activities. Clearly Fox News Channel thinks it’s more important to support tyranny than it is to obey the rule of law.
Roger Ailes – go to Hell.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:21 pmFaux Snooze – we decide, you go shopping.
Well, I have Faux blocked at my house so the relatives can’t tune in to it.
Gotta get a door matte that says, “Republicans are not welcome here.”
Buck Fush
February 20th, 2008 at 5:28 pmHe did appear on the Colbert Report last week to talk about this, if I remember correctly.
Comment by toasterhead — February 20, 2008 @ 5:20 pm
Maybe Jon Stewart could ask him to appear on his show as well, and they could discuss this. Interestingly enough, while I was on a cruise a couple of weeks ago, the Daily Show was shown…on CNN International!!
February 20th, 2008 at 5:33 pmIt isn’t only Fox doing this kind of thing, they’re just the most blatent about it. Dis Fox all you like, ALL of the MSM is working in lockstep with the government against average Americans.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:36 pmWell, I have Faux blocked at my house so the relatives can’t tune in to it.
Comment by Buckie Boy — February 20, 2008 @ 5:28 pm
Got all Faux channels blocked on mine.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:36 pmThat parental control feature is a wonderful thing, heh
I agree CNN, MSNBC and ABC should get this guy to talk about THIS issue.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:37 pmI was reading a Paul Craig Roberts article today [counterpunch site] and these warrantless taps began 6 months BEFORE 911.
That means this warrantless stuff was:
A: Not against foreign citizens/terrorists
B: Was against terrorists
Either way it failed to protect America from the attacks on 911
February 20th, 2008 at 5:41 pmEither way it failed to protect America from the attacks on 911
Comment by Xisithrus — February 20, 2008 @ 5:41 pm
proving, really, that they were wiretapping US citizens for political purposes, pure and simple.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:44 pmOT
February 20th, 2008 at 5:44 pm3968. That’s the total of dead soldiers in Iraq to date. Few mentions of this in the news. Muqtada Sadr is reconsidering his cease-fire.
This is increasingly foreboding news from Iraq.
And of course , anchor Megyn Kelly , an Albany Law School alumnus , would know way more about the Constitution and Constitutional Law than a former New Jersey Superior Court judge and graduate of Princeton University and Notre Dame Law School………………………..
That’s like allowing an X-Box player to comment upon the recent Super Bowl than a former NFL player and/or Super Bowl participant……..
Only at FAUX.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:46 pmI doubt the networks will have Napolitano interviewed in prime time. Look for him on the Daily Show, or on Frontline, even Bill Maher, but the msm is intimidated by its corporate owners, influenced by the bottom line, and too reluctant to upset Bush&Co.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:47 pmproving, really, that they were wiretapping US citizens for political purposes, pure and simple. Comment by Lefty Patriot
I cant provide that proof, George may have been spying on his daughters boyfriends/friends, however the logic still stands that warrantless wiretaps abrogate citizen rights.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:57 pmWE can make an inference that he has been, considering his attitude towards dissenters and political opponents.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:57 pm***abrogate citizen rights and failed to prevent attacks on America.
Should have posted.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:59 pmComment by ucsbclassics53
Agreed.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:00 pmNow Napolitano knows what it feels like to be on Murdoch’s bad side. Even if you’re a favorite on their network, you will be suppressed if you fail to follow the right-wing talking points.
By the way, O’Reilly is in Los Angeles this week and is speaking at a Veteran’s Administration theater. The same VA that he thinks is lying about homeless veterans whom he doesn’t believe exist.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:05 pmWhy the fu(k would anyone with Napolitano’s credentials even WANT to work for a sleazo operation like Fox?
February 20th, 2008 at 6:07 pmThe same VA that he thinks is lying about homeless veterans whom he doesn’t believe exist.
Comment by Mark @ News Corpse
Of course he is, I am betting he will still never apologise for his intentionally controversial remarks made at anothers expense…is this his way of apolgising? Fine, then place it on his show.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:17 pmGot all Faux channels blocked on mine.
That parental control feature is a wonderful thing, heh
Comment by Wayne — February 20, 2008 @ 5:36 pm
I take it one step further. I refuse to subscribe to “cabal TV” until such time as one can order “ala carte” service. I refuse to monetarily support ANY cable news network. I have a, relatively, good local paper and the rest of my news comes from the net and PBS.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:20 pmIt’s not just Fox ignoring the FISA story.
CNN, MSNBC (other than Olbermann), NBC, CBS and ABC are NOT covering this story.
They’re all disinformation/isinformation/propaganda spreading entities.
It’s easy to focus all our rage at Fox.
But we can’t let the other networks off the hook.
Google “Operation Mockingbird”. It has returned in new form and is bigger than ever.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:21 pmI agree CNN, MSNBC and ABC should get this guy to talk about THIS issue.
Comment by Xisithrus
I am really surprised that Olbermann hasn’t had him on his show. I suspect that part of his contract with Fox says that he can’t go on any competing news network.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:37 pmIt’s not just Fox ignoring the FISA story.
CNN, MSNBC (other than Olbermann), NBC, CBS and ABC are NOT covering this story.
Comment by 2MillionLightYearsToAndromeda
Excuse me but Olbermann IS NOT ignoring the FISA story. He did one of his special comments about the FISA story and called Bush a liar and a fascist. So, get your facts straight before you start slamming Olbermann and Countdown.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:39 pmFox pundit, Bill Olielly, has said he’s not ready to “lynch Michelle Obama.” I am sure he believes he is being magnanimous.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:44 pmLynching, spoken in association with a black person is a volatile word, and Bill-o knows it. He has again shown that he is a POS.
Excuse me but Olbermann IS NOT ignoring the FISA story. He did one of his special comments about the FISA story and called Bush a liar and a fascist. So, get your facts straight before you start slamming Olbermann and Countdown.
Comment by bilbobaggins — February 20, 2008 @ 6:39 pm
Having trouble reading tonight? I said…other than Olbermann.
I was also first to post on TP about Keith’s Special Comment.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:02 pmExcuse me but Olbermann IS NOT ignoring the FISA story. He did one of his special comments about the FISA story and called Bush a liar and a fascist. So, get your facts straight before you start slamming Olbermann and Countdown.
Comment by bilbobaggins — February 20, 2008 @ 6:39 pm
Here is my post on the morning of Feb. 15 on Olbermann’s Special Comment:
If you’re not still standing and cheering you didn’t hear Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment last night.
An outraged Keith called Bush a Fascist and Liar.
In a commentary that was specifically aimed at his cowardly, lazy and brain-dead associates in the corporate media Keith sent the message loud and clear…We are no longer afraid!
Did they hear Keith? Will they join him? Will they leave him twisting in the wind alone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAArNJj8puA
Comment by 2MillionLightYearsToAndromeda — February 15, 2008 @ 9:02 am
February 20th, 2008 at 7:18 pmWe focus our rage on Fox because they’re so completely biased. The other outlets ignore stories like this but Fox doesn’t even try to hide it. They spent all day parsing Michelle Obama’s comments about her pride of country. “She’s a lib’rul, maybe even an ARCH lib’rul” mumbled Brit the Basset Hume.
I look forward to the day when “conservative” becomes as much of an epithet as “liberal”.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:17 pmHopefully, you realize that Napolitano is very conservative.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:33 pmWe focus our rage on Fox because they’re so completely biased. The other outlets ignore stories like this but Fox doesn’t even try to hide it.
Comment by Cal Malenky — February 20, 2008 @ 8:17 pm
Isn’t a network that censors a story as bad as a network that intentionally reports it inaccurately? They just use different techniques to achieve the same ends…to control the understanding/awareness of their viewers.
We get enraged because Fox’s technique is so obvious, gross and in your face. When a network censors a story you don’t get upset unless someone points it out to you. Most people don’t have anyone to point it out to them.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:41 pmHaving trouble reading tonight? I said…other than Olbermann.
I was also first to post on TP about Keith’s Special Comment.
Comment by 2MillionLightYearsToAndromeda
I’ve been having trouble reading all week. I think it may have something to do with extreme fatigue. Maybe I should quit posting for a while.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:44 pmIsn’t Rupert Murdoch’s son-in-law Sigmund Freud’s grandson?
Isn’t Sigmund Freud’s nephew the Father of Modern Propaganda…Edward Bernays..?
Nothing like keeping mind control on a mass scale in the Zionist family, is it?
February 20th, 2008 at 9:06 pmI look forward to the day when “conservative†becomes as much of an epithet as “liberalâ€.
Comment by Cal Malenky — February 20, 2008 @ 8:17 pm
I think we’re pretty much there, Cal. Funny, it took a couple of decades of dedicated, coordinated effort to make “liberal” such a toxic word, and now the righties have destroyed the word “conservative” all on their own, in just a few years. Notice how many new “independents” there are around?
February 20th, 2008 at 9:37 pmi see – a judge that tells the truth and can make a decision on the spot – seems like a good choice for attourney general
February 20th, 2008 at 9:46 pmFox has dropped even lower from a corporate propaganda tool to a plain and simple tv version of a tabloid ala the NY Post or a political version of the National Enquirer.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:06 pmThe necklines on the female’s have been steadily dropping lower while the skirts are getting shorter and the “news” stories more irrelevant and filled with more omissions and mistruths.
No literate, intelligent adult would consider them news.
I have Fox on without the sound and I see they have another missing coed or couple or some shit like that.
Why do i have to be subjected to 24 hours coverage of irrelevant crap, in the case of murders it’s relevant to the families and to the law enforcement agencies, but I do not need 24/7 coverage of it… or need to know everytime Britney goes to the 7-11 to by Twinkies and doesn’t buckle her kids in or Lindsey Lohan gets drunk and stumbles outside a club
Nor did I need 24 hours coverage for weeks on end of a doped out bimbo goldigger pillhead ANNA Nicole. I DON”T WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THESE PEOPLE.
I WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE MISSING BILLIONS WENT IN IRAQ.
I WANT TO KNOW WHERE THAT DRAFT DODGER, DRUNKEN, SHOOT PEOPLE IN THE FACE, WAR PROFITEER, CHENEY IS AND WHAT HE IS UP TO AND WHAT WAS THAT SECRET MEETING WITH OIL COMPANY EXECS ABOUT?!
On the day of the 2008 State of the Union address, 5 US soldiers were killed in Iraq. I was kind of curious as to who they were, I was curious where they were from, about who they left behind, wives, children, parent, etc.
Just curious about who they were.
Not one story in the media, but they had to let me know Britney was spotted with menstrel stains.
F*** the US corporate media
February 20th, 2008 at 10:25 pm.
America The Great;
Where…
… Up is Down
… Lies are truths
… War is Peace
… Yellow ribbons(made in China) support the troops
… Patriotic acts are about undermining the Constitution
… It’s not torture when the “DECIDER” says it ain’t
Yep, pretty great alright…
.
February 21st, 2008 at 3:08 am