Media Outlet Refuses To Run Republican TV Ad Filled With Misrepresentations Of Clean Energy Bill
Media Outlet Refuses To Run Republican TV Ad Filled With Misrepresentations Of Clean Energy Bill
This afternoon, Roanoke television station WDBJ-TV, announced they will be refusing to air a National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) ad attacking freshman Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA), citing factual inaccuracies. The NRCC had been planning to run television ads against Democratic members of Congress, like Perriello, who voted for the Waxman-Markey clean energy economy legislation that passed last week. After receiving information about the factual inaccuracies in the ad, the station pulled it from rotation.
For any objective observer, the the ad is pulled out of thin air. The ads erroneously state that the bill will “destroy jobs” and “cost middle-class families $1,800 a year.” According to a study by the Center for American Progress, clean energy economy legislation will create 1.7 million American jobs while simultaneously addressing climate change by capping carbon dioxide emissions. The $1,800 figure used by NRCC is also made of whole cloth. The Congressional Budget Office has scored the bill and found that by 2020, the annual cost would be about $175 per household — about a postage stamp a day. An EPA estimate of the bill found similar results, projecting the cost to be about $80 to $111 per a year.
Still refusing to accept reality, the Republican leadership is instructing its members to lie about the clean energy economy bill:
– Last week, Republican whip Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) posted a message erroneously claiming that clean energy legislation will amount to “a national energy tax of up to $3,100 on all Americans.”
– Republican leader Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) posted on his website that the clean energy bill will cost “$3,100 a year,” then modified that number to “$3,000 per household per year.”
– Republican conference chair Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), not to be outdone, claimed the clean energy bill would be “over $4,000 a year.”
All the numbers cited by Republicans are at least seventeen times the highest possible projection by the CBO and EPA.
Clearly, Republicans opposed to the clean energy bill seem willing to justify their opposition using outright falsehoods. But fortunately, at least some stations are not willing to propagate it.
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Kurtz: Can African-American women objectively cover Michelle Obama?
Kurtz: Can African-American women objectively cover Michelle Obama?
In his column today, Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz devotes his column today to the question of: “Does Race Play a Role in Coverage?” He readily admits that “no one raises questions when an Irish American male reporter covers a pol named Murphy,” but that doesn’t stop him from writing a 1,600-word article raising questions about black women:
Rachel Swarns of the New York Times and The Washington Post’s Robin Givhan were among those herded behind the rope Monday. They and the other main beat reporters — Newsweek’s Allison Samuels, Darlene Superville of the Associated Press and Politico’s Nia-Malika Henderson — have something in common: They are all African American women. [...]
Whether racial and gender identification produces a gauzier, more favorable portrayal of Obama is perhaps too early to judge.
As Adam Serwer observed, “You would never ever see a media critic like Kurtz questioning the ability of white men to cover other white men objectively, or for that matter the ability of white men to cover women or people of color, despite the fact that if newsroom coverage were to be affected, it would be by the prevailing cultural biases of the better represented population in the newsroom.”
Rove: Obama ‘Has Carried Pre-Packaged, Organized, Controlled, Scripted Events To A New Height’
Rove: Obama ‘Has Carried Pre-Packaged, Organized, Controlled, Scripted Events To A New Height’
Former Bush adviser Karl Rove went on Fox News this morning and attacked President Obama’s health care town hall meeting yesterday as “pre-packaged, organized, controlled, [and] scripted,” adding that the Bush administration would never have done something so audacious:
ROVE: This White House has carried pre-packaged, organized, controlled, scripted events to a new height, and they’re getting away with things that in any previous White House, the media would have eviscerated the press secretary and the White House for it.
Watch it:
ThinkProgress contacted a White House spokesperson who said that at yesterday’s health care town hall event in Virginia, half of the tickets were given out by the school (to “students, faculty, staff, as well as members of the health community from the area”) and the other half by the White House (”grassroots activists and people involved in the issue in the area”). The spokesperson then explained how questions were chosen:
The President posted a video on YouTube several days ago, saying respond to this video with questions for me on health care, and we got hundreds, and all of those are online. So in terms of the videos that were selected, anyone can look at the range and see which ones we did and didn’t select. That’s fully transparent. They’re all up on YouTube; they were all up yesterday on our website.
Because YouTube doesn’t actually have a voting function, our new media staff took videos that were rated highly by other users and selected, from among those, questions that represented the range of things being asked. So a lot of people in the progressive community still want a single-payer system, so the first question was from a single-payer advocate. We took a question from a Republican member of Congress, Mike Burgess, about medical malpractice reform.
The spokesperson then noted that there were also questions taken from people who were following along on Twitter and Facebook. When asked whether these questioners or audience members were pre-screened for their political ideology or whether they agreed with the President, the spokesperson replied, “Absolutely not.”
Of course, pre-screening for political ideology is exactly what the Bush administration did.
In March 2005, people seeking tickets to a Social Security event were quizzed about their support of President Bush and his Social Security plan ahead of time. In April 2005, Bush’s security detail threw out three people from an event in Colorado because they had a bumper sticker reading “No More Blood For Oil.” White House spokesman Trent Duffy said that if there’s any evidence people might “disrupt the president,” they “have the right to exclude those people from those events.”
Bush even screened the assembled group of soldiers he would meet in Iraq during a 2003 Thanksgiving visit: Soldiers had to fill out a questionnaire asking whether they supported Bush.
Transcript: More »
Washington Post reportedly selling health care lobbyists and CEOs access to its journalists, Obama officials.
Washington Post reportedly selling health care lobbyists and CEOs access to its journalists, Obama officials.
The Politico reports that the Washington Post, for a price of $25,000 to $250,000, is “offering lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, non-confrontational access to ‘those powerful few’ — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors.” While the Politico notes that on-the-record events and conferences are becoming a trend in the newspaper industry, this type of closed, pay-for-access event raises serious ethical concerns. The flier for the event, titled “Health-Care Reform: Better or Worse for Americans? The reform and funding debate,” reads:
Underwrite and participate in this intimate and exclusive Washington Post Salon, an off-the-record dinner and discussion at the home of CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth [...] Bring your organization’s CEO or executive director literally to the table. Interact with key Obama Administration and Congressional leaders […] Spirited? Yes. Confrontational? No. [...] Annual series sponsorship of 11 Salons offered at $250,000 […] Health-care reporting and editorial staff members of The Washington Post [...] An exclusive opportunity to participate in the health-care reform debate among the select few who will actually get it done. [...] July 21, 2009 6:30 p.m.
In recent weeks, the Washington Post has editorialized against a public option as a part of health care reform. Defending the status quo of a private insurer-dominated system, the Post wrote, “A public plan is not necessary to maintain a competitive market in health insurance.”
Beck Falsely States The U.S. Bought Alaska In The ‘1950s’ So We Could Drill
Beck Falsely States The U.S. Bought Alaska In The ‘1950s’ So We Could Drill
While appearing on Fox & Friends this morning, Glenn Beck managed to make a trio of mistakes when he attacked the Waxman-Markey clean energy bill passed by the House last week. The Fox News pundit falsely asserted the legislation’s effect on our oil dependency would be “none.” Beck then pointed out, incorrectly, that the U.S. purchased Alaska in the “1950s” and that we did so because of our interest in its “resources,” a subtle way of advocating for more drilling in Alaska:
CARLSON: But nowhere in that bill is anything about reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
BECK: None. […]
You know Donald Trump, I want to talk to this guy. When he was on the show just a few minutes ago I was thinking how can you not be laughing at us? How can the world not be laughing at us? We have all these resources. Why did we buy Alaska in the 1950s? We bought Alaska for the resources. And now we say no!
Watch it:
During his weekly address on Saturday, President Obama specifically focused on how the legislation would help lift “our dependence on foreign oil.” Obama said the bill would “spur the development of low carbon sources of energy,” which includes wind, solar, and geothermal power. He added the bill would result in “new energy savings like the efficient windows,” thereby reducing “heating costs in the winter and cooling costs in the summer.”
Beck’s attempt to rewrite history to fit his talking point is also troubling. For clarification, Alaska was purchased in 1867 for $7.2 million and soon became known as “Seward’s Folly,” named for Secretary of State William H. Seward, because at the time it was widely regarded as foolish to spend so much money on remote tundra. (Perhaps Beck was thinking of Alaska becoming the 49th state in 1959.) The resources the U.S. was after in 1867 weren’t oil, but fish, furs, and the prospect of closer proximity to Russia from the North American continent.
Bachmann has no plans to appear on controversial radio show.
Bachmann has no plans to appear on controversial radio show.
Radio host Alex Jones has stirred up considerable controversy over the years, talking about FEMA concentration camps, promoting 9/11 conspiracies, and comparing President Obama to Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Yesterday, several media outlets reported that Jones said Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) would soon be appearing on his show. “She’s on next week,” he said. Watch it:
The City Pages in Minneapolis/St. Paul contacted Bachmann spokesman Dave Dziok, who said that the rumors weren’t true, and she has no plans to go on the show. “I can tell you unequivocally that she is not scheduled, nor ever was,” he said in an e-mail response.
Fox Nation Pushes ‘Satire’ Site’s Article About Ridge Attacking Limbaugh As Fact-Based Truth
Fox Nation Pushes ‘Satire’ Site’s Article About Ridge Attacking Limbaugh As Fact-Based Truth
Last Thursday, while appearing on C-Span’s Washington Journal, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R) was asked about former Vice President Dick Cheney’s statement that “Rush Limbaugh is Republican and Colin Powell is not.” “Colin Powell was a Republican as far as I’m concerned,” said Ridge, adding that “it’s that mindset” displayed by Cheney that is hurting the GOP’s “unity.” Watch it:
On his radio show, Limbaugh responded to Ridge, saying, “I must have missed something, because I remember that Colin Powell endorsed the Democrat, Barack Obama, at a strategic point in the campaign in 2008.” The blog, Elective Decisions, which features “the satire of Chris Davis,” then wrote up a post saying that Ridge responded to Rush by challenging him to a fight:
So this morning, Ridge went back on Washington Journal, responding to Limbaugh’s rhetoric. “I’m so sick of Rush Limbaugh. He’s the reason we lose elections. He needs to get the hell out of the Republican Party. As far as I’m concerned, he isn’t a Republican anymore. The man’s running. The man’s hiding. He’s too scared to face me!”
Ridge continued his rant, threatening Limbaugh. “Meanwhile, he sits there in his ‘Southern Command Post,’ and destroys the Republican Party! I’d like to just have three rounds in a boxing ring with that guy so I could shut him up! I’m caling (sic) you out, Limbaugh. Let’s see if you have a big enough set of marbles to back up your crap!”
Though the “Elective Decisions” blog is clearly marked as “satire,” the Fox Nation linked to the post and promoted it as if it were based on reported facts:
This isn’t the first time Fox News has promoted a parody as truth. In 2007, the network aired at least eight segments on a purported “news” story that was actually a parody article.
The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank calls Nico Pitney a ‘dick’ after heated debate on CNN.
The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank calls Nico Pitney a ‘dick’ after heated debate on CNN.
Last week, the Huffington Post’s Nico Pitney (who is also a former member of ThinkProgress) found himself in the center of controversy after President Obama called on him at a press conference. One of the harshest pieces came from the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, who called Pitney a “planted questioner.” Today the two faced off on Howie Kurtz’s “Reliable Sources” segment on CNN. Pitney called some of Milbank’s past reporting “pathetic,” and Milbank claimed that Nico had “worked in collusion with an administration.” Watch it:
The discussion was evidently so heated that Milbank called him a “dick” at the end of the segment, as Pitney writes on Huffington Post:
The only thing that surprised me was when Dana turned to me after our initial sparring and called me a “dick” in a whispered tone (the specific phrase was, I believe, “You’re such a dick”). Howie Kurtz wrote on Twitter that he didn’t hear it, which is understandable — he was doing the lead-in for the next part of the segment on the ABC White House special. But it happened (I urge Howie to watch the video of the panel during the ABC intro) and it was frankly pretty odd.
Shep Smith responds to right-wing critics: ‘I do belong here’ at Fox News.
Shep Smith responds to right-wing critics: ‘I do belong here’ at Fox News.
On June 10, Fox News anchor Shep Smith made headlines with his response to the shooting by a white supremacist at the Holocaust Memorial Museum. He said the incident showed that the much-maligned DHS report on violent, right-wing extremists was a “warning to us all,” even though “the right went absolutely bonkers” in response to it. The right quickly went after him, calling for his resignation from Fox News. In a new interview with the New York Times, Smith responds:
“When a crazy man has walked into a Holocaust museum and shot the security guard, maybe that’s an appropriate time to warn people: you’ve got a crazy person in your life, keep an eye on him,” he said in an interview in his Manhattan office last week.
Mr. Smith said he fully anticipated one result of those comments: the nasty e-mail increased.
“Thousands of them,” Mr. Smith said. “And I know they don’t mean the things they say. I know they don’t hate me and want death on my family.”
What they mostly say, he explained, is: “You don’t belong there.” Mr. Smith paused a moment before adding: “I do belong here.”
Smith said that his colleagues, such as Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, are “fascinating, terrific entertainer,” but that he tries to provide the “news” in Fox News.
33 journalists jailed in Iran.
33 journalists jailed in Iran.
The media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders reports today that Iran is now the “world’s biggest prison for journalists,” with “a total of 33 journalists and cyber-dissidents in its jails.” At least 20 journalists have been arrested since June 12. The New York Times adds that the Iranian government continues to “block all coverage of protests and the security crackdown” and has ordered the BBC’s reporter to leave the country. “[O]ther news organization said they were ordered by the authorities not to report on events on the streets.”
Rove: I’m Horrified That A News Network Would Be A ‘Cooperating Partner’ Of The White House
Rove: I’m Horrified That A News Network Would Be A ‘Cooperating Partner’ Of The White House
On Wednesday, Fox News’ Sean Hannity brought on former Bush White House adviser Karl Rove to gripe about ABC’s upcoming “Questions for the President: Prescription for America,” which will feature President Obama answering “questions offered by audience members ’selected by ABC News who have divergent opinions‘” on health care. Rove called it “unprecedented access to the White House and more importantly an unprecedented use of the White House.”
Last night, Rove was back on Fox News — this time with Greta Van Susteren — and argued that it was improper for ABC to get the access, considering that former ABC reporter Linda Douglass is now working in the White House:
ROVE: If it’s not crossing a line, it’s getting comfortably too close to a line of where a news network becomes a cooperating partner of and an adjacency to the White House communications shop. And I think the presence of a former ABC reporter as the communicator-in-chief inside the White House on this issue also raises questions about how it ended up in the hands of ABC.
Watch it:
It’s hard to take Rove’s outrage seriously. After all, Fox News’ Bret Baier received “unprecedented access” to the White House (as well as Air Force One and Bush’s ranch in Crawford, TX) in February 2008 for a “documentary” on President Bush. Baier said that the piece offered “a President Bush you’ve never seen before.”
In October 2007, Baier also hosted a special titled “Dick Cheney: No Retreat,” which was “a rare glimpse into the life of the vice president.” Of course, in the period leading up to Fox gaining such extraordinary access, who was the White House press secretary?
Tony Snow…who had previously worked for Fox News.
Transcript: More »
Perino laughs at idea of Fox News getting unprecedented access to the Bush administration.
Perino laughs at idea of Fox News getting unprecedented access to the Bush administration.
Appearing on the Washington Times’ America’s Morning News radio show today, former Bush press secretary Dana Perino jumped on the conservative bandwagon and criticized ABC News’ upcoming special “Questions for the President: Prescription for America.” Asked by right-wing host Melanie Morgan what the reaction would be if Fox News had similar access at the Bush White House, Perino laughed and said that “there are a lot of double standards“:
MORGAN: I just keep wondering, you know, what would be the reaction of these same people in the mainstream media if President Bush had allowed, say, Fox News to turn over their entire broadcast from the Blue Room at the White House.
PERINO: Well, you know…
MORGAN: Hahaha, I think we both know the answer that question.
PERINO: Yeah, look, I think there are a lot of double standards. Both, maybe you know, from the right and the left. And so I try not to use it as an excuse or a grudge.
Listen here:
As ThinkProgress noted earlier today, the Bush administration regularly gave Fox News “unprecedented access” to the White House, allowing the network to produce hagiographic documentaries for both President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Who was press secretary when those documentaries aired? Dana Perino.
Jim Cramer: ‘I think everybody wishes that Obama would just kind of go away for a little bit.’
Jim Cramer: ‘I think everybody wishes that Obama would just kind of go away for a little bit.’
Today on MSNBC, CNBC commentator Jim Cramer discussed a New York Times poll that shows many Americans want the Obama administration to address the growing budget deficit. Cramer claimed that Americans aren’t buying into health care reform right now because “it just means tax increases, and there’s got to be someone who pays for it.” According to Cramer, the solution that “everybody” wants is for Obama to “go away”:
But until we get the economy moving again, I think everybody wishes that Obama would just kind of go away for a little bit.
Watch it:
If Cramer looked closer at the poll, it also shows that 57 percent of the American public approve of what Obama is doing on the economy overall. Of course, Cramer is someone who claimed that Obama’s policies have resulted in “the most, greatest wealth destruction I’ve seen by a president” and is known for his irresponsible financial cheerleading (e.g. “Bear Stearns is not in trouble“). Maybe it’s not Obama who Americans want to “just kind of go away for a little bit.”
Transcript: More »
Major Media Headlines Pretend That Latest Polls Show Obama’s Policies Are Unpopular
Major Media Headlines Pretend That Latest Polls Show Obama’s Policies Are Unpopular
Today, two new national polls were released, one by the New York Times and CBS, the other by the Wall Street Journal and NBC. News headlines quickly settled on a theme: The polls showed that President Obama’s policies were suddenly unpopular:
“Sticker Shock — Obama still popular; his policies, not so much” [ABC's The Note]
“Polls find rising concern with Obama on key issues” [Reuters]
“Polls Show Declining Support For Obama Decisions” [U.S. News & World Report's Political Bulletin]
“Obama’s popularity: Problems testing it” [Chicago Tribune's The Swamp]
“Is ‘Smooth Sailing’ Over for Obama?” [Washington Post]
The headlines have little to no relation to the actual data in the polls, both of which found broad approval for Obama’s foreign policy and economic agendas. From the New York Times/CBS poll:
5. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling the economy? 57% approve, 35% disapprove
8. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling the threat of terrorism? 57% approve, 27% disapprove
16. So far, do you think Barack Obama’s policies have made the economy better, made the economy worse or haven’t his policies had any effect on the economy yet? 32% say better, 15% say worse
And from the Wall Street Journal/NBC poll:
4b. Do you generally approve or disapprove of the job that Barack Obama is doing in handling the economy? 51% approve, 38% disapprove
4c. Do you generally approve or disapprove of the job that Barack Obama is doing in handling foreign policy? 54% approve , 36% disapprove
9. Which ONE of the following statements best describes your feelings toward Barack Obama?
Like personally and approve most policies…………… 48%
Like personally but disapprove of many policies ……27%12. And how confident are you that Barack Obama has the right set of goals and policies to improve the economy––extremely confident, quite confident, only somewhat confident, or not at all confident?
Extremely confident………………………. 20%
Quite confident …………………………. 26%
Only somewhat confident ………………….. 24%
Not at all confident …………………….. 29%
Similarly, 68 percent agree with Obama’s view that Guantanamo detainees should be charged with a crime or released back to their home countries, as opposed to only 24 percent who think they should be detained indefinitely. As Glenn Greenwald notes, “The view that detainees should be charged with crimes or released is often depicted as the fringe ‘Far Left’ view. Like so many views that are similarly depicted, it is — in reality — the overwhelming consensus view among Americans.”
Perhaps the most bizarre headline came from USA Today’s blog, The VAL: “Poll: Obama down, cousin Cheney up.” The poll cited showed that 60 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Obama. By contrast, only 27 percent viewed Cheney favorably — while 30 percent viewed him “very negatively.”
Hannity: Only Fox News Deserves ‘Unprecedented Access’ To The White House
Hannity: Only Fox News Deserves ‘Unprecedented Access’ To The White House
Last night on Fox News, Sean Hannity interviewed Karl Rove about ABC’s upcoming special “Questions for the President: Prescription for America,” which will feature President Obama answering “questions offered by audience members ‘selected by ABC News who have divergent opinions in this historic debate’” on health care. Hannity and Rove — echoing a recent Washington Times piece — raised questions about what they called the “unprecedented access to the White House” granted to ABC for their “infomercial” on health care reform:
HANNITY: Karl, it seems rather unprecedented. You were there in the White House for the better part of eight years. Did this ever happened while George W. Bush was president?
ROVE: You know, look, it’s normal for the networks to want to come in and do an interview inside the White House or to get a glimpse behind the curtain as to what goes on there. This is an unprecedented access to the White House and more importantly an unprecedented use of the White House. I can’t remember a time when the network came in and was going to devote a significant block of time to covering an issue that was on the president’s agenda.
As Media Matters first noted, when Fox News’ Bret Baier was granted “unprecedented access” to the White House in Feb. 2008, the network billed it as a “documentary,” not an “infomercial.” Further, Fox was not only welcomed into the White House, but aboard Air Force One, to Bush’s ranch in Texas, and into the Oval Office. Baier introduced the “documentary” saying, “Fox News has been granted unprecedented access inside the President’s world. … It’s a President Bush you’ve never seen before.” Watch a compilation of Hannity last night and Baier’s special:
Prior to airing the Bush special, Baier hosted a special on the famously-reclusive vice president entitled “Dick Cheney: No Retreat.” Fox billed it as “a rare glimpse into the life of the vice president” and aired the program Oct. 13, 2007. Similarly, on Oct. 30, 2007, Fox’s Greta Van Susteren was granted what she called “unprecedented access” to First Lady Laura Bush’s tour of the Middle East.
In the period leading up to Fox gaining such access to the Bush White House, former Fox News Sunday host Tony Snow was serving as White House Press Secretary, leaving office just weeks before Baier’s first documentary aired.
Krauthammer concedes Fox News is the ‘voice of opposition’ to Obama ‘in the media.’
Krauthammer concedes Fox News is the ‘voice of opposition’ to Obama ‘in the media.’
In an interview with CNBC this week, President Obama noted the constant criticism he receives from Fox News, saying, “I’ve got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration.” Some Fox regulars, like Bill O’Reilly, adamantly objected to Obama’s claim. But on Special Report yesterday, Fox contributor Charles Krauthammer admitted that Fox News can “accurately” be described as the “voice of opposition” to Obama:
KRAUTHAMMER: But what’s really interesting, the president yesterday has said, he complained about FOX, and he said, I think accurately, that it is the one, only voice of opposition in the media.
And it makes us a lot like Caracas where all the media, except one, are state run, with the exception that in Hugo Chavez-land, you go after that one station with machetes. I haven’t seen any machetes around here, so I think we are at least safe for now.
Watch it:
Krauthammer isn’t the only person at Fox who views the network as working in opposition to Obama. In March, Bill Shine, Fox News’ Senior Vice President for Programming, told NPR that the network views itself as “the voice of opposition on some issues” with Democrats in power in Washington, DC.
Transcript: More »
Obama: ‘I’ve got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration.’
Obama: ‘I’ve got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration.’
During an interview with President Obama that aired on CNBC yesterday, chief Washington correspondent John Harwood said, “When you and I spoke in January, you said — I observed that you hadn’t gotten much bad press. You said it’s coming.” Harwood added that since then, Obama still hasn’t received much critical press and wondered if his administration isn’t being “sufficiently held accountable.” Obama, however, disagreed:
OBAMA: It’s very hard for me to swallow that one. First of all, I’ve got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration. I mean, you know, that’s a pretty…
HARWOOD: I assume you’re talking about Fox.
OBAMA: Well, that’s a pretty big megaphone. And you’d be hard pressed if you watched the entire day to find a positive story about me on that front.
Watch it:
Seeming to undermine the premise of his question, Harwood said after the interview that Obama has “gotten slapped around pretty good on our network for a while” too.
Angered By His Holocaust Museum Shooting Coverage, The Far Right Goes After Shepard Smith
Angered By His Holocaust Museum Shooting Coverage, The Far Right Goes After Shepard Smith
On Wednesday, Fox News’ Shepard Smith responded to the tragic shooting at the Holocaust Museum by a white supremacist by saying that it was time to re-think the Homeland Security report on right-wing extremism that conservatives disparaged. “The right went absolutely bonkers!” said Smith, adding that the report was a “warning to us all” and that DHS was “warning us for a reason.”
Later in the day, Smith said that the e-mail he’s been receiving from viewers has become “more and more frightening.” “It’s been happening over the last few months,” said Smith. “There are people now who are way out there on a limb.” Watch it:
As Media Matters noted yesterday, the right-wing has now turned its fire on Smith. On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh mocked Smith’s “whining and moaning and complaining about e-mails”:
LIMBAUGH: As for Shepard Smith whining and moaning and complaining about e-mails, nobody needs to tell me about hateful e-mails, for crying out loud. I get the most vile, sick e-mails attacking me as a “Jew lover” that you can imagine. I don’t read ‘em. I hear about them. They’re in a public account, of course, as you know — and I’m a conservative. Who do you think these hate e-mails from coming from? Where are they coming from? Yeah, I get people, “You Jew lover, you Jew lover!” because I am faithful to Israel and a number of other things.
So, Shep, you got nothing on anybody out there. The vile hate that was 24/7 in most of the American media for the eight years of Bush — and particularly from 2003 on after the Iraq war — nobody, nobody at this point in time has ever done, in our society, anything comparable to the kind of hate that we got from mainstream sources.
Allahpundit of Michelle Malkin’s Hot Air wrote that if Smith truly believes his viewers are “would-be presidential assassins,” then “why doesn’t he quit?” Further out on the fringe, conservative blogger Pamela Geller, who writes at Atlas Shrugs, titled a post, “Please Shepard Smith Out the Door!” She followed it up with a post saying, “Shepard Smith has got to go.” Geller’s call for Smith to be fired is beginning to get traction with some conservatives online.
Fox News poll: ‘Do you think Obama is still sneaking cigarettes at the White House?’
Fox News poll: ‘Do you think Obama is still sneaking cigarettes at the White House?’
Huffington Post’s Sam Stein highlighted an eye-catching question in the Fox News poll that was released yesterday. Noting that President Obama “says he quit smoking,” Fox’s poll asked whether people believed he was “still sneaking cigarettes.” Thirty-seven percent said that they did:
As ThinkProgress has previously noted, Fox News polls are known for often including a few loaded and misleading questions. In May, a Fox poll asked, “Who do you think the White House will put in a muzzle first — Vice President Joe Biden or First Dog Bo?”
Megyn Kelly claims that the only reason people consider Fox News conservative is because of Sean Hannity.
Megyn Kelly claims that the only reason people consider Fox News conservative is because of Sean Hannity.
Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, who was hired because she believed there is “a left bias in the news,” tells Haute Living that she thinks the network’s conservative reputation is unfounded. Claiming that Bill O’Reilly is “all over the board” politically, Kelly claimed that people only think Fox is right-wing “because of Hannity”:
When asked about her employer’s reputation for being conservative, she attributed those perceptions to the network’s primetime host lineup, not its news coverage. “There is no question that Hannity is a conservative,” she says. “But I can tell you from personal experience after having worked with O’Reilly for years now, you never know where he is going to come out on an issue. He definitely leans right when it comes to certain social, traditional value issues, but he’s all over the board on certain other issues. And Greta-nobody knows exactly what her stripes are. I think [the conservative reputation is] really because of Hannity.”
Kelly is wrong. Fox is considered “the most biased name in news” for much more than just Sean Hannity. Not only does Fox regularly parrot right-wing talking points and promote right-wing events, but its executives want the network to be the “voice of opposition” to the Obama administration. Kelly also neglected to mention Fox’s rising star, Glenn Beck, who proudly calls himself a conservative.
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