Fox Reporter Contradicts Fox: DHS Report On Right Wing Was ‘Requested By The Bush Administration’
Fox Reporter Contradicts Fox: DHS Report On Right Wing Was ‘Requested By The Bush Administration’
Yesterday, a Department of Homeland Security report about the rising radicalization of “rightwing extremists” was leaked. The right wing was immediately incensed, viewing the report on radical “extremists” as an attack on “conservatives.” MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, for example, tried to suggest it was a report about Republican “loyalists.”
However, this morning, Fox News’s Catherine Herridge revealed that the report, along with an earlier report on radicalized left-wing groups, was actually “requested by the Bush administration” but not completed until recently:
HERRIDGE: Well this is an element of the story which has largely gone unreported. One looks at right-wing groups, as you mentioned. And a second is on left-wing groups. Significantly, both were requested by the Bush administration but not finished until President Bush left office.
Herridge’s reporting undermines her network’s own “reporting” over the past 24 hours. Since news of the DHS assessment broke yesterday, Fox anchors and guests have been seizing upon the report as evidence that the administration is trying to intimidate tea party goers or “stifle speech”:
– ANDREA TANTAROS: It’s free speech and the Obama administration is trying to shut it down.
– JAY ALAN SEKULOW: The Obama administration here under Department of Homeland Security has allowed a new regime to come into place that basically says this: Our focus is going to be on the right-wing groups.
– SEAN HANNITY: What do you think of that interpretation, especially coming from a guy that started his political career in the home of an unrepentant terrorist who bombed the Pentagon and capital and sat in Reverend Wright’s church for 20 years?
– DANA PERINO: If Bush had done that we would be having a very different conversation. It wouldn’t have taken a week to find it out. There would have been a special prosecutor. We would have had to come out and apologize.
Watch a compilation, ending with Herridge’s report:
To recap, the Obama administration was apparently following the lead of the Bush Homeland Security Department in assessing the very real threat of violent right-wing extremism. Indeed, Bush appointees such as FBI Director Robert Mueller have acknowledged the threat of right-wing extremism multiple times.
Of course, we can always trust Fox News to jump to conclusions before fully weighing the facts.
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The problem with pathological lying is that it gets hard to keep the lies straight.
April 15th, 2009 at 3:46 pmGOP = Epic Fail
April 15th, 2009 at 3:46 pmFox “Proganda” Channel lying blatantly about the Obama administration?
How is that news?
Silly Rethug Losers and thier Penchant for Lying about Obama.
April 15th, 2009 at 3:47 pmY;know… you’d think that wild claims about the administration moving to “stifle dissent” would be disproved by the “massive protests” the right wing claims are taking place today.
Has any clinical research agency studied the elements of the right-wing brain that allow it to maintain two such contradictory thoughts at the same time?
April 15th, 2009 at 3:47 pmFOOLS!
Bush/Cheney IS the Reich-wing!
April 15th, 2009 at 3:49 pmIt’s amazing to me that these people jump to the defense of people clearly labeled as “racists, white-supremacists, and violent militias.” I’m as crazy left as anybody else who has a job and pays taxes in this country, but I don’t think it’s right to blow up research labs or plot attacks against members of The Heritage Foundation. This seemed like a gift on a golden platter, an opportunity for truly moderate Republicans to join the President in decrying racism, anti-semitism, and anarchy. But instead, they say nothing while the lunatic fringe equates seamlessly all conservatives with radical right-wing extremists. Incredible.
It must take so much energy to be so paranoid all the time. When they talk about left-wing extremists, I know they don’t mean me. When they talk about right-wing extremists, apparently every conservative in the country thinks they’re talking to them and them alone.
April 15th, 2009 at 3:49 pmAs a matter of fact, ralph, there’s a fascinating book available online about authoritarianism and it has quite a bit about “compartmentalization”. I highly recommend it.
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/
April 15th, 2009 at 3:52 pmDo you mean to tell me that an administration viewed the reports from the previous administration as important enough to follow thru?
What an original idea.
April 15th, 2009 at 3:54 pmwhen’s achor-baby tokyo rose malkin going to issue and apology? afterall, yesterday she went on record saying it was an obama administration hit job on conservatives.
April 15th, 2009 at 3:54 pmWhen has Fox ever weighed the facts?
April 15th, 2009 at 3:54 pmOf course, we can always trust Fox News to jump to conclusions before fully weighing the facts.
Facts? Facts make Faux Snewz talking heads get hives.
April 15th, 2009 at 3:56 pmFake News Network is the gift that keeps on giving! Keep it up because I don’t EVER want the rethuglican party running shyte in this country. The GOPers have got the right station working for them. Keep the GOP out of business! ROTFL!
April 15th, 2009 at 3:58 pmdasm Says:
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When has Fox ever weighed the facts?
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Sorry, Limpballs broke the scale. Hence, the diet.
April 15th, 2009 at 3:58 pmOf course, we can always trust Fox News to jump to conclusions before fully weighing the facts.
They didn’t “jump to conclusions”, they lied. And regardless of the facts, they will continue to lie. None of them will pay any attention to what Catherine Herridge reported, and she’ll be lucky if she keeps her job.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:00 pmDoes anybody else find it somewhat weird that these conservatives identify so strongly with violent right-wing extremists so much that they feel personally targeted by this report? Do they really feel kinship with the likes of Timothy McVeigh, Eric Rudolph, David Koresh, the KKK, and various white supremacist groups?
That makes about as much sense as me (a progressive whose politics lean left) identifying with the Symbionese Liberation Army.
I am a big fan of the First Amendment, and I will always defend the right of people to say what they want, publish what they want, worship the way they want, and assemble peaceably for whatever message they want to convey — whether I agree with them personally or not. However, people who advocate violence upon our government for political reasons (or for any other reason, for that matter), or who actually commit acts of said violence are threats to our security and must be dealt with accordingly. No matter which end of the political spectrum they’re on.
I don’t condone such behavior, and I don’t identify with those who do. I would think that most Americans feel the same way, but I guess when it comes to the wingnuts, I’m wrong.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:00 pmHope Ms. Herridge and whatever copy editor allowed those words into the script have their resumes up to date.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:01 pmSince when has Scarborough ever been accurate about anything? Just this morning he was ranting about this and how his own network and the elites would have reacted if it had been them instead, yada, yada, yada…….well, dopey Joe, you weren’t paying attention for the last 8 years.
What passes for journalism at Fox is a joke….just like Scarborough……why the hell he has that 6-9 am. time slot is beyond me, because he is anything but enlightening or enjoyable to listen to. Actually, he’s a simpering ass.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:03 pmSEAN HANNITY: What do you think of that interpretation, especially coming from a guy that started his political career in the home of an unrepentant terrorist who bombed the Pentagon and capital and sat in Reverend Wright’s church for 20 years?
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Geez — you’d think Hannity could come up with something new once in awhile. These are very stale talking points. And even when they were fresh, they were wrong or wildly misleading.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:04 pmHA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Life’s pretty good these days, ain’t it – the right keeps walking into walls of their own creation . . . I think I’ll go drink me some tea.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:05 pmAt lunch today, I switched to FOX “News” to see what the lunatic fringe was hyped up on. They had on some blowhard who, alongside Andrea Tantaros (conservative and batty as hell but I’d like to make out with her someday), convinced themselves that anyone who believed in the First Amendment or was pro-life was to be targeted and locked up in a secret Obama prison for being a threat to the country.
This is how conspiracy theories start. It goes from “neo-nazis and white separatist groups are growing and targeting veterans” to “anyone who believes in the First Amendment or who doesn’t believe in abortion will be locked up forever in a secret Obama prison.” What concerns me the most is that I think these people over on FOX “News” actually believe this stuff. I think they by-and-large legitimately believe that this Administration is going to march into people’s homes, ask them how they voted, and start carting them off to secret prisons in Montana or something. And we’re only 3 months in. Imagine how bad things will get over there if it looks like Democrats are poised to pick up another Senate seat or two in 2010…
April 15th, 2009 at 4:06 pmAs do I.
All time. Unfortunately, their scale is ‘fair and balanced’, so “facts” from the wingnutosphere are given equal weight as the facts from reality, if facts based in reality are given any weight at all.
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Freeman, did the Washington Monthly answer your concerns regarding extraordinary rendition?
April 15th, 2009 at 4:06 pmmisscoleopteramolly Says: Does anybody else find it somewhat weird that these conservatives identify so strongly with violent right-wing extremists so much that they feel personally targeted by this report?
They love it. It strokes their psychotic narcissist egos and makes them feel important and worthy of the attention by proxy. They get to feel hunted, persecuted, watched… feeding the high of paranoia.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:07 pmThanks, pete, you’ve mentioned that book before and I checked it out briefly. Maybe I’ll explore it more deeply.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:09 pmVery interesting the report was started by Bush. Makes sense the Government couldn’t get such a thing done in 3 months, so Obama could not have done it. The right steps on it again. If they keep this up, the righties will have retreat to the backwoods with their automatic weapons.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:09 pmtanglewood@17, wish I could recommened this post more than just once. Joe needs to go to faux, cause we all know that it is where he really wants to be. And take Mika with you, joe.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:10 pmBrian Crooks Says: What concerns me the most is that I think these people over on FOX “News” actually believe this stuff
It’s been my experience that yes, the viewers at least genuinely believe what they’re fed. I’m guessing Hannity and O’Reilly are True Believers too. Beck… lol… I think he’s laughing all the way to the bank. As are the Fox execs who have no shame, but obviously know how to generate ratings and revenue.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:11 pmDamn those facts and their liberal bias!
April 15th, 2009 at 4:14 pmIts Hannitea-bag.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:14 pmralph the wonder locust Says:
It’s also right there in 1984, that section which describes how one needs to know that two plus two equals four, but be able, at a moments notice to KNOW in the depths of your being that two plus two equals FIVE, or whatever other number the party deems it to be.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:21 pmYesterday, a Department of Homeland Security report about the rising radicalization of “rightwing extremists” was leaked. The right wing was immediately incensed, viewing the report on radical “extremists” as an attack on “conservatives.” MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, for example, tried to suggest it was a report about Republican “loyalists.”
I have to agree with Joe Scarborough. There is no difference between radical “rightwing extremists” and Republican “loyalists.”
April 15th, 2009 at 4:22 pmIt says something that they’re so incredibly scared that we might start to treat them the way they’ve been treating us for the last eight years.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:25 pmKateWords Says:
Brian Crooks Says: What concerns me the most is that I think these people over on FOX “News” actually believe this stuff
It’s been my experience that yes, the viewers at least genuinely believe what they’re fed. I’m guessing Hannity and O’Reilly are True Believers too. Beck… lol… I think he’s laughing all the way to the bank. As are the Fox execs who have no shame, but obviously know how to generate ratings and revenue.
Undoubtedly, the viewers totally believe it. Hannity for certain, but Billo probably not. He’s like Beck: they’re in it for the money and that’s all. The execs just want the money and will do whatever they have to to get it (hence the new show on FOX called Someone’s Gotta Go). But I’m talking about the actual anchors of the daily newscasts. The people who aren’t supposed to insert opinion and are supposed to be just reading the news with a few funny comments here and there (Contessa Brewer on MSNBC nails her job every time). The FOX “News” anchors are often worse than the opinion guys. At least the opinion guys know that they’re taking poetic license and so do their viewers. But the anchors are supposed to be straight up and down like 6 o’clock and instead they just spew sophomoric versions of Hannity and Billo and Beck’s headlines.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:28 pmIf conservatives are worried this report targets them as a threat to national security….
April 15th, 2009 at 4:40 pmIf the DHS made one report on left-wing extremists, and one on right-wing extremists, that’s nuts, in my opinion.
Are there no “independent” extremists, or do they escape investigation because they don’t fit in a DHS category?
What about Islamic extremists who triggered America’s fears of terrorism…are they left-wing, or right-wing?
Why doesn’t DHS investigate “extremists”…period?
April 15th, 2009 at 4:42 pmMan! This clip is the best! FOX FOOLS! they thought they could use a news network to rule the world! Hahahaha!
April 15th, 2009 at 4:42 pm– DANA PERINO: If Bush had done that we would be having a very different conversation. It wouldn’t have taken a week to find it out. There would have been a special prosecutor. We would have had to come out and apologize.
Well….we’re still waiting.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:44 pm@15
“Does anybody else find it somewhat weird that these conservatives identify so strongly with violent right-wing extremists so much that they feel personally targeted by this report?”
Somewhat disturbing, yes indeed. I don’t think a psychologist would find it exactly wierd though, of coarse.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:46 pmIt isn’t a report that should alarm the right, but the secret extra-legal surveillance of the Executive branch they thoroughly cheerled for the previous administration. The report merely points the direction the lidless eye of Government should look–and why would they be uncomfortable if it aims at right-wing extremists? Do they aide and abet extreme radicals, or do they suffer from Obama derangement syndrome? Isn’t it cushy nestled protectively between state secrets and sovereign immunity, and why do they whine so?
April 15th, 2009 at 4:47 pmThe GOP should be labeled a terror group. It should be banned for sedition.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:49 pmChuck U. Farley Says:
If the DHS made one report on left-wing extremists, and one on right-wing extremists, that’s nuts, in my opinion.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
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No, it’s really not. It’s two reports talking about two distinct categories of domestic terrorism. It doesn’t mean they’re not looking into other types of terrorism, foreign and domestic.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:51 pmSo according to Scarborough, it was Bush that was attacking veterans then?
April 15th, 2009 at 4:52 pmFox News has some interesting characters, doesn’t it? I was watching it just a little while ago and they were all acting like this report was the beginning of the end of the world. They said that “right-wing radicals” was an ambiguous term and could mean any conservative…
April 15th, 2009 at 4:55 pmYeah, if they’d read the report they would know that the terms in the report are very carefully, very precisely defined.
It’s clear what this is: Fox News is deliberately obfuscating the nature of this document in order to confuse people listening to them who will more than likely not check the facts to see if Fox News is reporting this accurately. This sort of falsification is terrible because it causes a huge mess in the information stream–but then, that’s the whole idea–confuse people, make them angry, and then direct that anger at the government.
Now, I’m not naive enough to think that all reporting in the news is accurate–of course you have liberal reporters as well as conservative and each will bend the material towards their own side of the spectrum–after all, it’s impossible to be completely objective. But this kind of duplicity is simple unacceptable.
The fox anchor on the left looks like he just pooped himself.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:56 pmSo why can’t someone organize a F**k Fox day…demonstrations against the Fox Fascist Hate Network? Would be fun!!
April 15th, 2009 at 5:05 pm#40 My point is that it sounds like extremists must fit into a category before they are investigated, or at least before their potential threat can be reported.
April 15th, 2009 at 5:18 pmFor example, if I learned that I was a target of gangs, I’d like one report about all danger to which I might be exposed, not separate reports linking the threat to this or that gang.
I think that an all-inclusive report would better serve the interest of security, and would have avoided the friction generated by this left-wing, right-wing approach.
tanglewood Says:
“Since when has Scarborough ever been accurate about anything?”
Well, he was giving President Obama the benefit of the doubt (up until recently) but it definitely somehow seemed forced.
I think he was laying the groundwork for “credibility” so that he could later say “hey, look. I used to support the President, you can look at the transcripts, but…”.
But, then again he’s probably not that smart… at least not without some kind of coaching.
April 15th, 2009 at 5:33 pmJust last week we had a secret list of socialists in Congress.
This week we get a public list of the fascists.
Ain’t America grand?
April 15th, 2009 at 6:06 pmDru @ 21
April 15th, 2009 at 6:09 pmThe wa monthly goes alot further in easing my concerns , so I will give you a CAUTIOUS yes . Thanx again for the link .
It’s so obvious that these reports must have been initiated under the former administration. There’s no way that this kind of thing could be ordered by the Obama administration and delivered in this time frame. Of course, Fox News isn’t interested in determining facts, but in spinning their audience.
April 15th, 2009 at 6:30 pmSomeone has blundered. Catherine Herridge was apparently never brought up to speed on the operational rules at Fox News. There’s occasionally news presented based on facts as they are found but more importantly and frequently, there’s news based on facts as Fox rearranges them.
April 15th, 2009 at 6:38 pmI guess the GOP’s ears were burning.
April 15th, 2009 at 7:08 pmTe he he. That’s what happens when you start your spin before the facts are in.
What a bunch of classless morons at FOX. Is it just me, or do they seem increasingly desperate these days?
April 15th, 2009 at 7:39 pmThese conservatives are using the right wing groups. Just as they manipulated and used the Religious Right. This is a concerted effort to whip up the ignorant masses. Bring on virulent Rush Limbaugh spouting poisonous lies- aired for free 3 hours a day in the backwater towns where these groups thrive- talk about brainwashing.
April 15th, 2009 at 8:29 pmWe saw these Right-wing radicals at the Republican Campaign stops – and since Obama’s election the tempo has picked up- many more Repubs spouting their hateful lies, the radical right groups are becoming riled & the media frenzy inducers are hoping for a very bloody battle.
These media connected conservatives. will continue to whip the radical right into a “rightous rage”, using them to fight the “conservative” battle, spill their blood and when the left is crushed (killed?) the “elite” Repubs will rule- without having had to dirty their hands.
I suspect Bu$h thought everything would break down before he left office and wanted to know what groups he could expect to confront and have to commit federal troops to keep them at bay – one step short of a coup de grâce. I suspect he was surprised and relieved the country didn’t slide off into the abyss while he was still President.
April 15th, 2009 at 8:30 pmdrago Says: GOP = Epic Fail
I’d say: GOP = Going Over Precipice
April 15th, 2009 at 9:26 pmIs it just me or is pretty much all the anchorwomen on FoxNews GD gorgeous (escluding Gretchen who looks like a man)!!! I guess it makes sense when the owner of Fox is that womanizing, marry-30-year-old asians, Aussie COCKadile hunter Rupert Murdoch!!! Anyone else see this??
April 15th, 2009 at 9:47 pmHey gang, this is what you get when you cheerlead the massive esxpansion of the Executive branch just because your guy happens to be warming that chair in the Oval Office – after a few years, the other side gets to put a guy in there, and he has all the extra powers that you gave to the Presidency. Oops!
It’s an important lesson for both sides. Rein in your champion, because anything he gets away with, his successor will get too.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:29 pmMelospiza30 Says:
Is it just me or is pretty much all the anchorwomen on FoxNews GD gorgeous (escluding Gretchen who looks like a man)!!!
It’s not like they’re getting hired for their brains. It is FOX, after all.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:29 pmSo why not publish the report on left wing extremists, i.e., both. And clearly this report was completed after the Obama administration had taken office, unless someone was clairvoyant
of the election results. Technically the DHS had about 2 months to plug in the details for this report. It specifically mentions 2009 in the first key point under “Key Findings”.
Just to keep tabs :)
April 15th, 2009 at 11:56 pmJust got done reading the report on left wing extremists…just a bunch of computer nerds hacking into computer infrastructure.
They don’t even qualify for a mention under the “Reporting Notice:”, as at the end of the right wing extremist document.
Boy, is this going to polarize the country even further?
April 16th, 2009 at 12:27 amFahrenheit 451 anyone? All please step onto your front lawns…
plato Says:
So why not publish the report on left wing extremists, i.e., both.
As has been pointed out many times before, the DHS has issued multiple such reports during the Bush years.
.
plato Says:
And clearly this report was completed after the Obama administration had taken office, unless someone was clairvoyant of the election results.
Are you suggesting that with the number of problems Obams has to deal with right now, his administration took the extra time to interfere with DHS reports? Because that would be totally awesome/funny.
April 16th, 2009 at 3:15 amCertainly not interfere. More like give it just the right spin.
April 16th, 2009 at 5:28 amIt’s like a thermometer. Dip it into the masses and see how much heat they can take, :)
misscoleopteramolly Says:
SEAN HANNITY: What do you think of that interpretation, especially coming from a guy that started his political career in the home of an unrepentant terrorist who bombed the Pentagon and capital and sat in Reverend Wright’s church for 20 years?
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Geez — you’d think Hannity could come up with something new once in awhile. These are very stale talking points. And even when they were fresh, they were wrong or wildly misleading.
Well its real HARD to think clearly with corporate in your ears!!! Thats Sean’s argument anyways
April 16th, 2009 at 8:56 amHey it left off my corporate gizz in your ears comment
April 16th, 2009 at 8:58 amAh thats better!!!!!
April 16th, 2009 at 8:58 amMs. Perino’s statement is particularly scurillous coming from someone with her resume. It is certainly reasonable to expect that her press secretary stint was of sufficient longevity to have learned that a report of this kind would have a turn-around time which made it logistically impossible to have been ordered by the Obama Administration. Ms. Perino betrays her corruption and/or incompetence by ignoring this obvious truth.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:55 pmTahut, “coup de grace” is a mercy killing on a mortally wounded soldier. I think you were trying to say, “coup d’etat”.
Now that you mention it, though, the mortally wounded Republican/right wing should be put out of _our_ misery.
April 16th, 2009 at 7:19 pmhmm, This from FOX News? How can that be?
I think the big picture that most are missing is quoted from Fox News…excuse me, “rightwing Fox news”
“”Their leftwing assessment identifies actual terrorist organizations, like the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front,” House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said in a statement issued Wednesday. “The rightwing report uses broad generalizations about veterans, pro-life groups, federalists and supporters of gun rights. That’s like saying if you love puppies, you might be susceptible to recruitment by the Animal Liberation Front. It is ridiculous and deeply offensive to millions of Americans.”
April 17th, 2009 at 12:37 pmOK Pat obviously senile dementia has set in. Time to see the nice young men that will need to take care of you soon.burun estetigi rent a car arac kiralama
April 18th, 2009 at 5:14 amsac ekimi
I have to admit, I am absolutely amazed that you folks on here accept out of hand a claim that the Bush Admin. ordered the report in spite of the fact that the report cites that we have a “African American President”. Folks, this is a Left Wing website and they have a vested interest in claiming this, yet other than making the claim they have NOTHING THAT BACKS IT UP and you folks accept it without so much as a second thought…thus proving Liberals really don’t think for themselves.
April 19th, 2009 at 11:21 amIt couldn’t be more obvious that this blog hates Fox News.
April 30th, 2009 at 10:24 am