Hannity: Snow Storms ‘Seem To Contradict Al Gore’s Hysterical Global Warming Theories’
Hannity: Snow Storms ‘Seem To Contradict Al Gore’s Hysterical Global Warming Theories’
Last night on his Fox News show, Sean Hannity claimed that the recent spate of winter snow storms in the Washington, D.C. region clearly means that the planet isn’t warming. He then attacked Vice President Gore, calling his anti-global warming advocacy “hysterical”:
HANNITY: And tonight’s “Meltdown” is brought to you by the D.C. snow storm, you know, the storm that dumped about two feet of snow on the Washington area over the weekend causing thousands of power outages and keeping many people home from work today. And it’s the most severe winter storm in years, which would seem to contradict Al Gore’s hysterical global warming theories. [...]
Pretty unbelievable. I bet the snow even kept Al Gore’s jet from taking off.
Watch it:
Because of the recent snow storms in the Northeast, many conservatives like Hannity have taken the opportunity to take cheap shots at Gore. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and his family mocked the former Vice President by building an igloo on the National Mall and calling it “Al Gore’s new home.” And Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) joined in as well, tweeting today that, “It’s going to keep snowing in DC until Al Gore cries ‘uncle.’”
As the Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson has explained, “winter snows do not invalidate the reality that the planet just experienced the hottest decade on record. Scientists have been warning for decades that global warming would increase the severity of winter storms.” And a recent National Wildlife Federation report has found that winter storms are getting fiercer even as the season gets warmer.
Climate expert Dr. Jeff Masters notes, “It’s not hard at all to get temperatures cold enough for snow in a world experiencing global warming. … Global warming theory predicts that global precipitation will increase, and that heavy precipitation events…will also increase,” he said, adding that this “occurs because as the climate warms, evaporation of moisture from the oceans increases, resulting in more water vapor in the air.” Indeed, the IPCC has said that atmospheric moisture has increased 5 percent over the last century.
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Rep. Blackburn touts Social Security privatization.
Rep. Blackburn touts Social Security privatization.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), one of the cosponsors to the radical budget proposal authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), went on Fox News yesterday to float one of the budget’s key components. Heralding “personal [Social Security] accounts” for “younger earners,” Blackburn touted Social Security privatization as the only way “you could get some of this under control”:
BLACKBURN: You know, people forget Medicare is a program that individuals have paid into every single year with their Medicare and their Social Security beneifts the federal government has first right of refusal on that paycheck. And this is one of the reasons we need to make sure individuals get the money out that they have placed in. This is one of the reasons we have had the discussion over and over for our younger earners of having accounts that have their Social Security number and their information on that — personal accounts.
VARNEY: You’re right, but it was roundly rejected when President Bush suggested doing just that. Didn’t fly. [...]
BLACKBURN: I was just going to say, and it’s interesting to me the number of people now that are coming to town hall meetings and are saying ‘you know what, if you were to scale back some of this bureaucracy and you began to look at some options for younger workers, you could get some of this under control.’
Watch it:
While Varney seemed supportive of the idea of subjecting the retirement safety net to the whims of the stock market, he rightly noted that President Bush’s attempt was “roundly rejected.” Indeed, if Bush were successful at his push to do what Ryan and Blackburn are proposing now, seniors would have lost tens of thousands of dollars in the 2008-2009 market plunge.
Fox News: Palin’s ‘Telepalmer’ Notes Were A Clever Plot To Call Attention To Obama’s Teleprompter
Fox News: Palin’s ‘Telepalmer’ Notes Were A Clever Plot To Call Attention To Obama’s Teleprompter
As ThinkProgress reported on Saturday night, paid Fox News contributor Sarah Palin was caught using “hand”-written notes during a Q & A session at the National Tea Party Convention this weekend. Ironically, during the appearance, Palin also criticized President Obama for using a teleprompter during speeches.
On Fox & Friends this morning, the hosts defended their colleague’s Telepalmer notes. Carlson suggested that it was a brilliantly clever plot to draw attention to Obama’s use of a teleprompter:
CARLSON: I think she did it on purpose. I think she did it on purpose, yeah. Because it’s an exact opposite of reading off the teleprompter with a script written for you with every word in a sentence and here’s she’s just taking crib notes on her hand. It makes her look like she can just talk off the cuff and she just jotted down a few couple notes before she went out to give a big long speech.
DOOCY: I think she did it because she probably does it a lot. I do that all the time. [...]
KILMEADE: But to sit there and look at, and do the interview and look down at her hand, I think that is — like you said before, Gretchen — folksy, absolutely, down-to-earth, I can identify. But if you’re going to write on your hand, why not just say, ’staffer, hand me a card.’ And then it would be okay.
CARLSON: Nah, like I said, I think it was on purpose. But anyway, we we may never know.
Watch it:
Event organizers admitted the questions were “pre-screened,” but a Palin spokesperson said the former VP candidate had not seen the questions ahead of time. Still, as Huffington Post’s Stefan Sirucek points out, Palin’s “extra help” in front of a friendly crowd is especially ironic because Obama wasn’t using notes of any kind during a recent unscripted Q & A with House Republicans. Obama has also recently held several town halls, where he took questions from the audience and spoke at length without notes.
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Palin: Obama could win reelection if he ‘played the war card’ and declared ‘war on Iran.’
Palin: Obama could win reelection if he ‘played the war card’ and declared ‘war on Iran.’
This morning on Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace conducted a 25-minute interview with Sarah Palin, a paid contributor to Fox News. Palin told Wallace that she doesn’t think President Obama will win reelection in 2012 if he “continues on the path he has America on.” However, Palin indicated that his chances of winning would dramatically change if Obama simply declared war on Iran:
WALLACE: How hard do you think President Obama would be to defeat in 2012?
PALIN: It depends on a few things, say he played — I got this from Buchanan — say he played the war card. Say he decided to declare war on Iran or decide to really come out and do whatever he could to support Israel–which I would like him to do. That changes the dynamics of what we can assume will happen between now and three years. Because I think if the election were today, Obama would not be elected.
WALLACE: You’re not suggesting that Obama would cynically play the war card?
PALIN: I’m not suggesting that, I’m saying if he did, things would dramatically change if he decided to toughen up and do all that he can to secure our nation and secure our allies. I think people would shift their thinking a bit.
Watch it:
Palin appears to be fine-tuning her position on Iran. Late last year, Palin mistook Iraq for Iran when she suggested that the U.S. has to crack down on Iraq to prevent nuclear war in Iran. In 2008, Palin appeared to claim that the U.S. needs to “win” the non-existent war with Iran. During her interview with Wallace, Palin also confirmed that she would consider running for President in 2012 and that it would be “absurd” not to.
Fox News Military Analyst Endorses DADT Repeal, Criticizes McCain For Flip-Flopping
Fox News Military Analyst Endorses DADT Repeal, Criticizes McCain For Flip-Flopping
This morning, Fox & Friends Weekend hosted Col. David Hunt, a Fox News military analyst, to discuss whether to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
According to his bio on the Fox News website, Hunt is a retired colonel with “over 29 years of military experience including extensive operational experience in special operations, counter terrorism and intelligence operations.” Hunt generally adheres to the conservative line on national security matters. For instance, he was an advocate for attacking Iraq. And instead of encouraging dialogue with Iran and Syria, Hunt said in 2006, “I think we can talk to them when we line them up and kill them.”
This morning, however, Hunt sided with progressives who are advocating repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Hunt called the discriminatory law “an abject failure” because “we’ve lost somewhere between 11 and 14,000 soldiers.” He continued:
Being brave in the battlefield has nothing to do with how you go to the bathroom or how you have sex. … If you volunteer to serve this great country, we should welcome you, not push you away because of some arcane attitude about sex.
Even Fox host Clayton Morris agreed. “Yeah, it’s like a civil rights issue. I find it absolutely absurd,” Morris said. Then Morris and Hunt took a swipe at Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who claims to heed the views of military leaders (except those with whom he disagrees):
MORRIS: On the campaign trail, then-Sen. John McCain said, look, when I hear from the military brass that they want to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, I’ll get right in line with them. That’s what happened — we heard from Admiral Mullen, we heard from Defense Secretary Gates. … Why is John McCain flip-flopping here?
HUNT: It’s just too damn convenient for McCain to be doing this. … He’s just wrong on this. We’re in a war. We’ve got guys deployed for 8 years in Afghanistan, almost 7 years in Iraq. And somebody says, I want to serve this country. And McCain wants to say, if you’re homosexual, you can’t serve. It’s wrong. We need these kind of people. We need all of them.
Hunt said that the repeal of DADT won’t be “easily accepted” by the military because “it’s a conservative organization,” but it’s still the right thing to do in the long-run. Watch it:
Over the past few days, Fox has given ample airtime to those who defend DADT. Bill Kristol called it a “success.” Ollie North derided repeal as a harmful “social experiment.” Bill O’Reilly opposed repeal because “it’s a morale issue.”
A review of Fox News shows over the past month indicates that Hunt – generally, a regular contributor on Fox News – had not been called upon prior to this morning to offer his views on the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Will Hunt be invited on other Fox News shows to discuss his views?
Wallace awkwardly tries to defend his ‘hope’ that Palin will sit on his lap during their interview.
Wallace awkwardly tries to defend his ‘hope’ that Palin will sit on his lap during their interview.
Yesterday during an interview with Don Imus on Fox Business, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace was promoting his interview this week with former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. When Imus randomly asked whether she will “be sitting on your lap” during the interview, Wallace replied, “One can only hope.” This morning, Fox and Friends host Steve Doocy asked Wallace about his comment. Co-host Gretchen Carlson was flabbergasted by the exchange between Wallace and Imus, and asked, “Would you ask that of a man?” Wallace was silent for a few seconds before stumbling over a response and changing the subject to whether she would sit on Brad Pitt’s lap during an interview:
WALLACE: What happened was I was on Imus, which was my first mistake…and he said to me at the end — just kidding around — “So when you do the interview, will she be sitting on your lap?” And I said, “One can hope.”
CARLSON: Why would he ask such an inane question?
DOOCY: I think it’s a great question. (CROSSTALK) But you said yes.
CARLSON: Would you ask that of a man?
WALLACE: Would he have asked me if a man?
CARLSON: Yeah, would sit on your lap.
WALLACE: I don’t know. Let me ask you a question. Would you do an interview with Brad Pitt, with you sitting on his lap, Gretchen?
CARLSON: Absolutely not. I find nothing hot about Brad Pitt.
Watch it:
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McCain On DADT: ‘I Will Be Glad To Listen To The Views Of Military Leaders’
McCain On DADT: ‘I Will Be Glad To Listen To The Views Of Military Leaders’
In October 2006, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that “the day that the leadership of the military comes to” and says the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy “ought to change,” he would “seriously” consider changing it. In an interview with the Washington Blade in 2008, he said he would “defer to our military commanders” on the issue.
But in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday, McCain bristled when the Pentagon’s top military and civilian leaders, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, announced they were in favor of overturning the policy. “I’m happy to say we still have a Congress of the United States that would have to pass a law to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, despite your efforts to repeal it in many respects by fiat,” said McCain.
In an interview on Bill Bennett’s radio show today, McCain claimed “the policy is working” and repeated his opposition to repealing, but claimed that he would “be glad to listen to the views of military leaders”:
MCCAIN: Look, the policy is working. I talk to military all the time. I have a lot of contact with them. The policy is working and the president made a commitment in his campaign that he would reverse it and the president then made the announcement that wants it reversed. And it is a law. It has to be changed. So Admiral Mullen said, speaking for himself only, he thought it ought to be reversed and of course Secretary Gates said that. I do not. I do not know what the other military leadership wants. I know that I have a letter signed by over a thousand retired admirals and generals that said they don’t want it reversed. And so, I will be glad to listen to the views of military leaders. I always have. But I’m not changing my position in support of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell unless there is the significant support for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. And I would remind you that we’re in two wars. You know that and our listeners know that. And do we need, don’t we need a serious assessment of the effect on morale or battle and combat effectiveness before we go forward with a reversal in a campaigning, carrying out an Obama campaign.
Listen here:
On Fox News last night, McCain also said that he was hoping “to get the opinion from our military leadership,’ saying that “If they can show me the evidence that it needs to be changed, obviously, then I would give that serious consideration.” McCain says that he has “respect” for Mullen’s view, but he dismisses it as simply an “individual opinion.”
But McCain has previously said that the “individual opinion” of military leaders for whom he has “respect” influenced his views on military policy. In June 2009, he told Ana Marie Cox that he originally supported the policy because General Colin Powell had “strongly recommended” it and he hadn’t “heard General Powell or any of the other military leaders reverse their position.” Powell released a statement yesterday saying he now opposes the continuation of DADT because “attitudes and circumstances have changed.”
So basically, McCain is willing to “listen” to military leaders on DADT — he’s just not going to let their expert opinions get in the way of what he already thinks.
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Chris Wallace on whether Palin will sit on his lap during their interview: ‘One can only hope.’
Chris Wallace on whether Palin will sit on his lap during their interview: ‘One can only hope.’
This week, former Alaska governor and Fox News contributor Sarah Palin will be on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, in his first Sunday show appearance ever. This morning, Wallace spoke with Fox Business host Don Imus about how excited he is for the segment:
WALLACE: We’re going to be down in Nashville with her at the National Tea Party Convention, and I’m excited. First of all, I’m excited to finally meet and interview Sarah Palin. We’ve been chasing her like Captain Ahab and the great white whale for the last year and a half. [...]
IMUS: When you interview her, will she be sitting on your lap? (LAUGHTER)
WALLACE: One can only hope. (LAUGHTER)
Watch it:
In September, Wallace went on Mike Gallagher’s radio show and mentioned his upcoming interview with right-wing activist James O’Keefe and said that he wished he was also going to have his partner Hannah Giles — who played the prostitute in the ACORN scheme — on the show because “she’s pretty cute.” (HT: Michael Calderone)
Hannity Claims Bush Never Played Golf During Wartime: He Was ‘Far More In Touch’ Than Obama
Hannity Claims Bush Never Played Golf During Wartime: He Was ‘Far More In Touch’ Than Obama
Last night on Fox News, Sean Hannity criticized President Obama for inviting famous guest chefs to cook at the White House, claiming the President is “out of touch” with regular Americans. “He’s jetting around to Broadway on vacations on our dime!” Hannity complained. “He is so far out of touch with what is going on,” said former Bush adviser Nicolle Wallace.
Both then reminisced about the days when a president was in office who was “far more in touch” with regular folks: President George W. Bush:
HANNITY: George Bush who you worked for did not play golf while this country was at war. He didn’t want the families of loved ones serving, well, that they may have lost the loved ones seeing him on a golf course.
WALLACE: Yes, I mean…
HANNITY: He seemed to be far more in touch.
Watch it:
Toward the end of his presidency, Bush said that he had given up golf to show “solidarity” with the troops. But Hannity’s assertion that Bush never played golf “while this country was at war” just isn’t true:
Bush claimed he quit playing golf on Aug. 19, 2003, when U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello was killed in Iraq. Yet, the AP reported two months later that Bush had spent a “cool, breezy Columbus Day” playing “a round of golf with three long-time buddies.” And during the 2008 presidential campaign, Bush attended a high-dollar golf fundraiser for John McCain to “greet the foursomes.”
Then-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice wasn’t willing to give up her golf game for the troops. Perhaps Hannity thinks she’s also out of touch.
Rush Limbaugh: ‘I love the women’s movement — especially when walking behind it.’
Rush Limbaugh: ‘I love the women’s movement — especially when walking behind it.’
Last week, hate radio host Rush Limbaugh judged the Miss America pageant. Today he went on Fox and Friends and spoke to host — and former Miss America winner — Gretchen Carlson to respond to the criticism he has been receiving. He insisted that he isn’t anti-women. But in the few sentences he used to make his case, he still managed to make a sexist joke:
CARLSON: So for those who were critics of you in judging this pageant, and saying that you haven’t been a supporter of women in the past —
LIMBAUGH: Oh, I’m a huge supporter of women. What I’m not a supporter of is liberalism. Feminism is what I oppose, and feminism has led women astray. I love women. I don’t know where all this got started. I love the women’s movement — especially when walking behind it. This idea that I don’t like women is absurd. This is Miss America. And if there’s a Mr. America out there, it’s me.
Watch it:
Not that many women really like Limbaugh either. A poll last year found that only 37 percent of women held a favorable opinion of him, compared to 56 percent of men. (To figure out how he could “own women,” Limbaugh then had a “Female Summit.”)
Joe Klein Tells O’Reilly: ‘Glenn Beck Is Peddling A Lot Of Hateful Crap’
Joe Klein Tells O’Reilly: ‘Glenn Beck Is Peddling A Lot Of Hateful Crap’
Last night on Fox News’ The Factor, host Bill O’Reilly asked Time Magazine’s Joe Klein to comment on a recent poll showing that Americans trust Fox News more than all other television news networks. “I don’t place all that much faith in many polls,” Klein said. After O’Reilly boasted about Fox’s ratings, Klein noted that there are some Fox journalists “who actually bring you the news,” but then went on to note that Fox also has more incendiary and “hateful” voices, like Glenn Beck, whom O’Reilly defended as “funny”:
KLEIN: I think that your pal Glenn Beck is peddling a lot of hateful crap. I mean, you know —
O’REILLY: But he’s funny. He’s doing it in a funny way. What’s hateful about it? [...] Look, he is every man sitting on a bar stool. Why shouldn’t every man have a show?
KLEIN: No, no, no. He’s Father Coughlin trying to delude and entertain the American [people].
O’REILLY: Oh, that’s such bull.
“I don’t think he’s a threat to the union,” Klein later added. “The union has always been too strong for nutters like Glenn Beck.” Watch it:
Just last night on his Fox News program, Beck aired a clip from his “Bold & Fresh” tour with O’Reilly in which he displayed his vaunted humor by mocking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
BECK: Nancy Pelosi I swear does anybody else think that Nancy Pelosi is beginning to look a little like Skeletor? [...] Is it just me? Am I remembering her more fondly or has she had like massive plastic surgery lately? And every time she blinks it’s getting so stretched and I feel like it must hurt when she blinks. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.”
Watch it:
O’Reilly must think that’s really funny.
(HT: Raw Story)
ABC Panelists Criticize Ailes’ Evasion Of Why Fox News Cut Away From Obama-House GOP Conversation
ABC Panelists Criticize Ailes’ Evasion Of Why Fox News Cut Away From Obama-House GOP Conversation
As ThinkProgress reported last week, Fox News was the only major cable news network to not show the entirety of President Obama’s conversation with House Republicans at their annual retreat. Fox cut away from the event 20 minutes early and instead began attacking the President for “lecturing” to the lawmakers.
Yesterday on ABC’s This Week, Arianna Huffington challenged Fox News President Roger Ailes about this decision:
HUFFINGTON: Roger, you clearly are in ratings, but if you are in ratings, can you explain to me why FOX went away from the meeting the president was having in — why did you go away, 20 minutes before the end?
AILES: Because we’re the most trusted name in news.
Guest host Barbara Walters cut off the conversation though, since the show was over. However, discussion on the topic then continued in the green room, even though Ailes wasn’t present. Both Huffington and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman criticized the network for its hypocrisy:
HUFFINGTON: Their framing of the President is that he’s radical, that he’s taking us down a dark, fascist or Bolshevik future — depending on the day. And there he was, rational, charming, and in full command of his facts. So the narrative fell apart and so the cameras stopped showing what was happening.
KRUGMAN: Yeah, I mean it’s — I thought it was actually quite funny except it has real consequences. There you have Roger Ailes, with this powerful, popular news network, whining about how the media are unfair to Republicans. I mean, he is a powerful person in the media — and of course, you know, “Fair and Balanced” is truly Orwellian and we know that. So it’s clear that Fox — I felt like yelling to him, “you can’t handle the truth,” because that was what was actually happening on the Fox coverage.
Watch it:
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Ailes Defends Beck’s Incendiary Rhetoric: ‘He’s Talking About Hitler And Stalin’ Killing People, So It’s ‘Accurate’
Ailes Defends Beck’s Incendiary Rhetoric: ‘He’s Talking About Hitler And Stalin’ Killing People, So It’s ‘Accurate’
Shortly after President Obama’s inauguration, Fox News anchors and media personalities began attacking his administration and its policies. The White House fired back, calling Fox the “communications arm of the Republican Party.” Today on ABC’s This Week, host Barbera Walters asked Fox News CEO Roger Ailes if the White House and his network have “kissed and made up.” “We’re fine,” he said but added one caveat. “Well I’ll pick a fight if you want. I’d be happy to get into one.”
Arianna Huffington then called out Ailes, particularly because of Fox News host Glenn Beck’s radical rhetoric, talking about people “being slaughtered.” But Ailes dismissed the criticism, saying Beck was “probably accurate”:
HUFFINGTON: But Roger it’s not a question of picking a fight and aren’t you concerned about the language that Glenn Beck is using which is after all, inciting the American people. Three’s a lot of suffering out there as you know and when he talks about people being slaughtered, about who is going to be on the next killing spree.
AILES: He’s talking about Hitler and Stalin slaughtering people so I think he was probably accurate.
HUFFINGTON: No he was talking about this administration.
Watch it:
For months, Beck has been linking progressivism to both communism and fascism. But more than just highlighting the atrocities committed by Hitler and Stalin, Beck has directly linked them to the progressive movement. “Progressives want you dead,” Beck said just this month. Beck once said that progressive “vampires” have the “taste of blood” and are going to “start getting more and more violent.”
Beck also recently aired a “documentary” on “the atrocities of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara — ‘the true unseen history of Marxism, progressivism and communism’ as Beck described it.” It turns out the film wasn’t all that “accurate,” as Ailes claimed. History professors called it a “complete lie” and that Beck “lives in a complete alternative universe.”
Indeed, Beck also once likened himself to “Israeli Nazi hunters,” saying that “to the day I die, I am going to be a progressive hunter.”
Fox Cuts Away From Obama-GOP Conversation In Order To Get A Head Start On Attacks: He Was ‘Lecturing’
Fox Cuts Away From Obama-GOP Conversation In Order To Get A Head Start On Attacks: He Was ‘Lecturing’
President Obama held a candid, face-to-face conversation with House Republicans today at their annual retreat in Baltimore. After Obama gave his remarks, he had to answer tough questions from Republican lawmakers about health care, the budget, taxes, and other issues. Although the riveting exchange lasted over an hour, both CNN and MSNBC aired the entire event.
However, at 1:11 p.m. ET — when there was still 20 minutes left to go — Fox News decided to cut away and begin its commentary. Anchor Trace Gallagher’s immediate reaction was that Obama was being too “combative” and “lecturing” — like he was at his State of the Union address. Correspondent Bret Baier agreed, saying there was “a little bit of that,” but conceded that there was a “decent…give-and-take on the specifics.” Watch it:
Unsurprisingly, Fox is echoing a Republican talking point. Several Republicans complained that Obama was lecturing them in his State of the Union speech:
– “I felt like he was admonishing Congress and certainly lecturing Republicans, accusing us of being an obstructionist party, when what it is we’re about is trying to focus on the issue, which is control the spending and let’s go about creating an environment for jobs.” — House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA)
– “The address was ‘more of a lecture, I thought, in tone,’ [Cornyn] said, but Obama ‘gives a great speech.’” — Rep. John Cornyn (R-TX)
– “In a word, ‘lecture’ [is what I thought of Obama's State of the Union speech]. I think there was quite a bit of lecturing, not leading in that, as opposed to Governor McDonnell’s follow-up comments, quite inspiring his connection with the people. He absolutely gets it, he understands government’s appropriate role.” — Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, 1/27/10, Fox News
Not only did Fox cut away from the Obama-GOP exchange, but the network then brought on Rep. Peter King (R-NY) — who was still in New York “because of the whole 9/11 controversy with the trials” — about 10 minutes later to start commenting on Obama’s performance. A look at what was happening on all the networks at that time:
Beck condemns O’Keefe’s operation: ‘If they were doing that — that’s Watergate. Insanely stupid and illegal.’
Beck condemns O’Keefe’s operation: ‘If they were doing that — that’s Watergate. Insanely stupid and illegal.’
On his radio show today, Fox News host Glenn Beck condemned James O’Keefe — the young conservative activist who posed as a pimp in undercover stings targeted at ACORN — for trying to bug the phones in Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) office:
BECK: If they were doing that — that’s Watergate. Insanely stupid and illegal. … I haven’t heard his side, but you don’t do anything illegal, that’s Watergate territory. You just don’t do that. And besides that I don’t think you go dressed up — I mean it’s a senator. For the love of Pete, it’s a senator.
CO-HOST: First of all, it’s different than an ACORN office. Because you’re talking about a U.S. senator here! [...]
BECK: It’s exactly the same thing I said for the state dinner. You must not allow — the Secret Service must come down on these peoples in the White House like a box of rocks. You don’t do anything to hurt security for the president or for a senator or anybody else. You don’t mess around with it. Ever, ever, ever, ever. … We have enough [evidence] to, I believe, condemn.
Listen here:
As ThinkProgress first noted, Fox News appeared devastated over the news that the FBI had arrested O’Keefe. Fox reporter Tim Gaughan tried to downplay the news yesterday, saying, “[It's a] very weird story that probably needs a lot of context and a lot of looking into.” And as Media Matters pointed out, Beck and fellow Fox host Sean Hannity — who have promoted O’Keefe’s videos and scolded the media for ignoring them — didn’t mention the incident on their shows last night. Fox host Bill O’Reilly ignored the incident as well.
Earlier today, CAPAction launched a twitter petition calling on Fox News to apologize for their roles in promoting O’Keefe. Sign it here.
Fox News executive attacks rival networks for focusing too much on Haiti and ignoring ‘big stories in America.’
Fox News executive attacks rival networks for focusing too much on Haiti and ignoring ‘big stories in America.’
Last week, the Massachusetts Senate race boosted Fox News to a major ratings win, beating out the USA Network, the longtime top-ranked basic cable network in prime time. The LA Times’ Matea Gold notes that “in prime time, the network’s focus was on politics far more than Haiti.” Fox News Executive Vice President for Programming Bill Shine responded by attacking other networks, especially CNN, for covering Haiti at the expense of “big stories in America”:
But in prime time, the network’s focus was on politics far more than Haiti. According to a news analysis by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, Fox News devoted 44% of its airtime to the Senate race and 16% to Haiti.
That was the case for MSNBC’s left-leaning prime-time commentators as well: The network spent 51% of its airtime on the Senate race and just 11% on Haiti. CNN chose the opposite route, devoting 67% of prime time to Haiti and 19% to the election.
“Look, what happened in Haiti was just horrific,” said Shine, who said the network devoted significant resources to covering the story and showcased the coverage throughout the day. “But there are also some big stories in America that we chose not to ignore the way that other networks seemed to.”
Fox News was one of the few networks that chose to not broadcast the Hope for Haiti Now benefit concert. Instead, Bill O’Reilly aired a segment about Sarah and Bristol Palin’s “body language” during their Oprah interview and Sean Hannity conducted an interview with Karl Rove on the Obama administration’s approval ratings and health care reform.
O’Reilly Gripes That Haiti Benefit Organizers Are Ignoring Him — After His Network Refused To Air The Event
O’Reilly Gripes That Haiti Benefit Organizers Are Ignoring Him — After His Network Refused To Air The Event
Last night on his Fox News show, Bill O’Reilly bashed the Hope for Haiti Now global benefit, which aired live on Jan. 22. The telethon has so far raised $61 million in donations from the general public for Haiti relief efforts. O’Reilly said that he had concerns about how the money was going to be distributed, and the fact that the telethon “could not or would not supply us a spokesperson” to go on his show was “not a good sign”:
O’REILLY: Factor Follow-up segment tonight, getting charity to Haiti. As you may know, a TV telethon last Friday raised nearly $60 million to help the folks at Factor, but now comes the hard part: getting the money to the people who are suffering. Now, we tried to get someone attached to the telethon to speak with us tonight. We were not successful, and that is not a good sign. [...]
I want to be very careful in this discussion. I want Americans to be charitable to the Haitian people. I think they need it. I, myself, have given money to that island nation for a long time. We called up the telethon, which was based out of MTV, and said, Look, we just need somebody to just run through the process where the money goes, how it’s distributed, what the time frame is, all of that. We’ve got DVD albums in play. We’ve got all kinds of stuff coming in.
They could not or would not supply us a spokesperson tonight. And that just worries me.
Watch it:
As Crooks and Liars points out, O’Reilly griping that the Hope for Haiti organizers are ignoring him rings hollow, considering that Fox News was one of the few networks to not air the benefit concert; both CNN and MSNBC did. Ironically, today on Fox News, Neil Cavuto did a whole segment praising the benefit, saying that it made him wonder whether “the best way to raise aid for all the disaster victims is from celebrity-hosted television shows and not from the government trying to get it from taxpayers.” Too bad his network didn’t agree.
Fox News Devastated Over Arrest Of ACORN Pimp, Says The Story Probably Needs ‘A Lot Of Context’
Fox News Devastated Over Arrest Of ACORN Pimp, Says The Story Probably Needs ‘A Lot Of Context’
Fox News has been one of the biggest supporters of James O’Keefe, who is infamous for dressing up as a pimp and videotaping ACORN staffers offering to help the supposed pimp and his prostitutes secure funding for a brothel. The network constantly replayed coverage from his operation. In September, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace named O’Keefe his “Power Player of the Week,” calling him an “undercover reporter” and a “fascinating character.”
Yesterday, the FBI arrested O’Keefe and three others — “charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony” — saying that they were plotting to wiretap Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office (D-LA). One of the other men, Robert Flanagan, is the son of William Flanagan, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. Two of the men “dressed as telephone company employees” and showed up to Landrieu’s New Orleans office, saying they had to “fix phone problems.” O’Keefe was already there and was “positioning his cell phone in his hand to videotape the operation”:
After being asked, the staffer gave Basel access to the main phone at the reception desk. The staffer told investigators that Basel manipulated the handset. He also tried to call the main office phone using his cell phone, and said the main line wasn’t working. Flanagan did the same.
They then told the staffer they needed to perform repair work on the main phone system and asked where the telephone closet was located. The staffer showed the men to the main General Services Administration office on the 10th floor, and both went in. There, a GSA employee asked for the men’s credentials, after which they stated they left them in their vehicle. The U.S. Marshal’s Service apprehended all four men shortly thereafter.
Fox News aired a report about the arrests shortly after the news broke. However, reporter Tim Gaughan tried to downplay the news:
GAUGHAN: [It's a] very weird story that probably needs a lot of context and a lot of looking into, which is what we’re going to do here. I just wanted to get it on the record with it right now.
SHEP SMITH: So, they’re saying basically, they’re in there — It sounds as if what they’re saying is, they’re looking for some ACORN hanky panky and they try to tap into Mary Landrieu’s telephone to get it.
GAUGHAN: That could be one way of looking at it, yes.
Watch it:
Ironically, at the end of the Power Player segment in September, Wallace said, “O’Keefe says he wants to do more undercover films, and he has some targets in mind. He says his friends always tell him the next sting will never work.” “I disagree with them,” replied O’Keefe. “I think that I’ll come up with a new strategy and I’ll get them to say yes.” Looks like O’Keefe’s friends were right.
Right-Wing Fringe Rebels Against Palin Over Her Endorsement Of ‘RINO’ McCain
Right-Wing Fringe Rebels Against Palin Over Her Endorsement Of ‘RINO’ McCain
Since she was picked as Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) running mate, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has been one of the right’s most beloved political figures. But when Palin announced last week that she would campaign for McCain in his reelection primary battle against ultra-conservative former congressman J.D. Hayworth, some of her most vocal supporters were outraged that she would endorse McCain, who they see as a Republican in Name Only (RINO).
On Friday, Paul Streitz, the co-founder of the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee — a group trying to get Palin to run for president in 2012 — sent out an e-mail slamming Palin for supporting McCain:
She has now chose to align herself with several bad actors. What should this be called, the Rinoization of Sarah Palin. [...]
She is certainly entitled to write a book and make money for her and her family, but other than what has she has done to support Republican and patriotic candidates. … Perhaps, Sarah was too busy talking to her agent about her Fox deal. Where the hell was Sarah?
Streitz is no longer involved with the Draft Sarah Committee, which condemned his e-mail, but he is not alone in his view. Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin wrote on her blog that “Tea Party activists are rightly outraged by Sarah Palin’s decision to campaign for McCain, whose entrenched incumbency and progressive views are anathema to the movement.”
On his radio show yesterday, Fox News host Glenn Beck told a caller upset by Palin’s move that “This Sarah Palin thing really bothers me.” “I am absolutely no fan of John McCain,” Beck said. “I want to have another sit down with her. How does she believe he is a good man when everyone in his organization trashed her?”
Thomas Lamb at Red Country called the endorsement Palin’s “political Waterloo.” He added that “by Palin supporting McCain, she is supporting an enemy to [the Tea Party] movement and by de facto, becomes the enemy.” In a post titled “Yes, Sarah Palin is a RINO” on the Christian-right blog RealityCheck, ZbigniewMazurak called McCain “a despicable traitor” and wrote that by endorsing him, “Palin has proven that she IS for sale.” “I was a fan of Palin myself,” he added. “But I’m now convinced that she’s not a conservative, nor is she a politician qualified for the Presidency of the United States. … No real conservative would ever endorse McCain for the Senate.”
Moreover, nearly every comment on Palin’s Facebook post announcing her endorsement of McCain is negative. Some examples:
– Sarah has made it clear that her loyality to a Liberal RINO Duck McCain, is more important then her loyality to the Stability of the country and the Conservative Folk.
– I am so sorry to hear that you are supporting John McCain. He is the ultimate RINO that the Tea Party movement is trying to expose. How can you accept $100k from the Tea Party movement and support John McCain?
– I would NEVER vote for John McCain. Why are you endorsing him, Sarah? I like you, but on this, I must question your motives.
– YOU had my FULL support, but now – NO!!! ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!! If you support [McCain] – forget about it!!!!
Will Palin bow to the right-wing fringe and cut and run from the man who plucked her from relative obscurity?
Ingraham: Americans Are Saying ‘Maybe That Bush Guy Wasn’t Quite As Bad As We Thought’
Ingraham: Americans Are Saying ‘Maybe That Bush Guy Wasn’t Quite As Bad As We Thought’
This morning, the Fox & Friends crew whined about how the Obama administration “continues to bash President Bush.” It’s a “tactic that has apparently run out of gas,” co-host Steve Doocy said, likely referring to a recent Politico article titled “Democrats’ Bush-bashing strategy goes bust.” Fox then invited contributor Laura Ingraham to comment on the matter:
INGRAHAM: You know when it looked really ridiculous is when President Bush was standing so graciously next to President Obama and President Clinton at the White House. He couldn’t have been more gracious, he couldn’t have been more kind, couldn’t have been more generous.
After everything they’ve said about him and after all the times they’ve trashed him in the past several months, that shows you the character of that man. And I think that’s why a lot of people in these polls are now saying, “Well, maybe that Bush guy wasn’t quite as bad as we thought.”
Watch it:
Ingraham is living in a fantasy world. According to the latest polls released this month, Bush’s job approval ratings have hovered consistently in the low 30s, only a tiny bit above the high 20s he left office with.
Moreover, according to a Rasmussen survey conducted earlier this month, a majority of Americans (51 percent) still blame Bush for our nation’s economic woes. A separate Quinnipiac poll said voters blame Bush more than Obama (55-20 percent) for the current economic conditions. And, in the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, 67 percent of respondents said Bush deserves a “great deal” of blame for the country’s economic situation.
And of course, while it’s inconvenient for the right wing to acknowledge this, the reason the American public holds such a consistently negative view of President Bush is because his policies did in fact sink this nation into a fiscal mess.
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