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Media

Fox News Seizes On Boston Bombing To Suggest Obama Is A Secret Muslim

By Hayes Brown on Apr 25, 2013 at 12:11 pm

Fox News is sounding the alarm about Muslim extremists in the aftermath of the Boston bombings and is using the tragedy to argue that President Obama is too weak or afraid to confront the threat.

A day after Fox News host Bill O’Reilly wondered why Obama refused to condemn radical Islam before the Boston bombers’ motives were known, the network suggested that Obama’s middle name might provide the answer. Radio host Bill Cunningham implied, while appearing on Sean Hannity’s program, that Obama’s upbringing in Indonesia prevents him from opposing terrorism:

CUNNINGHAM: Sean Hannity, maybe his middle name is a clue, as well as the fact that he spent his childhood practicing the Muslim faith. I think — of course he’s a Christian now, but we have to understand where he came from. He says the sweetest sound he ever heard was prayers at sunset. So with that orientation, I think it’s hard for this to say anything other than “Muslim jihadist terrorist” because it runs contrary to what he was taught as a boy in Honolulu and Jakarta, Indonesia.

Conservatives have long used Obama’s middle name to suggest that he is a secret Muslim sympathizer, but Fox’s Islamophobia following Boston extends beyond the president. Media Matters has gathered a sampling of the network’s immediate pivot to inviting on a slew of Islamophobic guests to comment on the attack. In addition, several Fox hosts and guests — including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) — have called for limiting the number of Muslims entering the U.S. on student visas as a response to the attacks, despite the fact that the Tsarnaev brothers were not in the country under such conditions.

Fox host Erick Bolling referred to Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) as a “Muslim apologist” during a segment calling for greater profiling of Muslim Americans. And just hours after the bombings hit, Fox News contributor Erik Rush was calling for the death of all Muslims. Sadly, Fox’s targeting of Muslims isn’t anything new, given their long and sordid history of doing so.

LGBT

Newest Darling Of The Republican Party Compares Same-Sex Marriage To NAMBLA, Bestiality

By Adam Peck on Mar 28, 2013 at 5:29 pm

Dr. Ben Carson, the latest apple of the Tea Party’s eye, made yet another appearance on the friendly airwaves of Fox News on Tuesday to gripe about the Obama administration, denounce the liberal media, and equate gay couples with pedophiles and proponents of bestiality.

Carson, who stumbled onto the national stage and into the Republican Party’s heart almost two months ago after he gave a speech in front of President Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast in which he called for a regressive tax system that punishes the poorest Americans, was a guest on Sean Hannity’s show yesterday, and ended the interview on the most hateful of notes:

CARSON: My thoughts are that marriage is between a man and a woman, it’s a well-established uh, fundamental pillar of society. No group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA [the North American Man/Boy Love Association], be they people who believe in beastiality, it doesn’t matter what they are, they don’t get to change the definition. So it’s not something that’s against gays, it’s against anybody who wants to come along and change the fundamental definitions of pillars of society. It has signifcant ramifications.

The segment ended shorty afterward, leaving Hannity with no time to clarify whether Carson, himself a black man, would have also been opposed to the 1967 Supreme Court ruling in Loving v. Virginia, a decision that redefined the same “fundamental pillar of society” as something that could not be inhibited by race.

Carson’s comments also puts him at odds with every major medical association in the country. Both the American Medical Association’s code of conduct and the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic Statistical Manual contain strong and unambiguous language on homosexuality as neither a medical nor psychological condition but rather a perfectly healthy and biologically-rooted lifestyle, and remain critical of anyone who suggests otherwise.

He is also far from the first Republican to equate homosexuality to things like pedophilia. Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, state lawmakers and conservatives everywhere have all sought to paint the LGBT community and pedophiles with the same brush, even as their own party is pulled in the direction of equality.

Media

Bob Woodward Agrees With Hannity: Journalists Should Ask Obama About Bill Ayers

By Igor Volsky on Feb 28, 2013 at 9:43 pm

The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward appeared on Fox News’ Hannity on Thursday evening to complain about National Economic Council director Gene Sperling’s email disputing his characterization of the White House’s role in shaping the mechanism known as the sequester — the automatic across-the-board budget cuts that will go into effect on Friday.

Over the weekend Woodward claimed that the White House was trying “to move the goalposts” by replacing sequestration with a deficit reduction package that includes new revenues, a notion Sperling disputed in emails with the famed Watergate journalist. “I do truly believe you should rethink your comment about saying saying that Potus asking for revenues is moving the goal post,” Sperling wrote to Woodward. “I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim.”

During his interview with Sean Hannity, Woodward claimed that he had been “roughed up” by Sperling and agreed with the host’s characterization of the Washington journalists as liberals who are disinterested in challenging the president with Bill Ayers, an education advocate who was part of the group the Weather Underground:

HANNITY: The fact that the president was never asked a lot about the 6 trillion in debt that he accumulated prior to this election, in this first election wasn’t asked about his association with Bill Ayers was troublesome to me, I think we’ve got a media that’s not as critical as perhaps it once was in, for example, the days of Watergate.

WOODWARD: Well, I agree with that. We need to be very aggressive and it’s one of the judges that said democracies die in darkness and I really think that’s true.

Watch it:

Obama’s alleged connections to Ayers were covered extensively throughout the 2008 presidential campaign. Obama was even asked about the story during the Democratic Party primary debate in Philadelphia on April 16, 2008 by moderator George Stephanopoulos. “This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who’s a professor of English in Chicago who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from,” Obama said. “He’s not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis. And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was eight years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn’t make much sense, George.”

Hannity continues to tout Obama’s relationship with Ayers, which Woodward apparently sees as the mark of a real journalist. “I get calls and e-mails from people telling me I’m insane to come on your show,” Woodward said. “I say, now, wait a minute, you let me say what I want. You dig into things. You — there is no bleep out button.”

Security

1,387 Days Later, Hannity Insists Waterboarding Isn’t Torture, Still Won’t Try It Himself

By Ben Armbruster on Feb 8, 2013 at 10:36 am

Fox News's Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity is still insisting that waterboarding isn’t torture, just days after ThinkProgress confronted him about his 2009 pledge to be waterboarded for charity, a promise the Fox News host has yet to follow through with.

When ThinkProgress’s Scott Keyes asked about the 2009 pledge on his radio show last week, Hannity got a little agitated. “Here I am bringing you on the program and give you an opportunity to give your pretty radical left-wing point of view, that’s kind of the way you treat me,” Hannity said, later calling Keyes on the telephone to complain about the question.

But Hannity isn’t backing down, at least from his contention that waterboarding isn’t torture. The issue came up during an interview on Thursday with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC):

HANNITY: Last question, you’re against enhanced interrogation and you and I had a disagreement on that.

GRAHAM: I’m against torture.

HANNITY: I don’t believe the three people water-boarded were torture, not to digress.

GRAHAM: OK.

Watch the clip:

There’s bipartisan consensus that waterboarding is torture. A large majority of Americans think it’s torture. The U.S. military has no use for waterboarding and the practice is illegal under international law.

But if Hannity continues to insist waterboarding isn’t torture, why won’t he follow through on his pledge to be waterboarded for charity?

Security

Hannity Explodes After Being Confronted By ThinkProgress About Previous Offer To Be Waterboarded For Charity

By Scott Keyes on Jan 31, 2013 at 10:30 am

Fox News host Sean Hannity is so adamant that waterboarding is not torture that he once offered to be waterboarded at a charity event and donate the proceeds to soldiers’ families. Four years later, a yet-to-be-waterboarded Hannity did not take kindly to being called out about it on his own radio show.

On April 22, 2009, Charles Grodin appeared on Hannity’s Fox News show and asked Hannity, if he doesn’t believe waterboarding is torture, would he agree to be waterboarded. “Sure,” Hannity said. “I’ll do it for charity. I’ll let you do it. I’ll do it for the troops’ families.” But four years later, Hannity has yet to follow through on his offer.

When ThinkProgress brought up the matter at the beginning of an appearance on his radio show on Wednesday, Hannity’s displeasure was palpable. “I’m not getting into your five-year-old issue,” Hannity grumbled. We pressed on when he was planning to hold the event, the Fox host lost it. “Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. I get to ask the questions on the program,” Hannity said:

SCOTT KEYES: Before we get started I wanted to say one quick thing. Back in April 2009, you’d made a very generous offer. To prove that it’s not torture, you agreed on your television show to be waterboarded for charity and to donate the proceeds to the troops’ families.

HANNITY: I said Charles Grodin could do it.

KEYES: Now I know you’re an honorable guy Sean, when are you planning to hold the event?

HANNITY: You’re obviously taping this. I’m not getting into your five-year-old issue. Here I am bringing you on the program and give you an opportunity to give your pretty radical left-wing point of view, that’s kind of the way you treat me. But that’s all right.

KEYES: Sean, I’m just curious because you don’t think this is torture.

HANNITY: Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. I get to ask the questions on the program.

Listen to it:

Hannity gave no indication that he was planning to follow through on his promise to be waterboarded for charity.

Immediately following the show, Hannity was so incensed that he personally called ThinkProgress to complain. He accused ThinkProgress of being “fixated” on the matter, baffled that we brought up an issue that he said hasn’t been news for years. After we respectfully disagreed and explained that it was disingenuous for him to offer to be waterboarded in order to prove that it’s not torture, only not to follow through on the offer, Hannity sighed, “what you’re doing here is really stupid.” He insisted, though, that it wasn’t a sensitive subject.

Waterboarding is still an extremely important, and undercovered, story today. It still exists, it’s still torture, and the only American who’s been sentenced to prison over the matter is a former CIA agent and vocal torture opponent who spoke out about the practice. Waterboarding is now part of the mainstream with the help of defenders like Hannity who insist that it’s not actually torture.

NewsHounds and Reddit have kept a running tally of how long it’s been since Hannity first offered to be waterboarded for charity. January 30 marked 1,379 days since Hannity reneged on the promise.

Security

Fox News Continues Swift Boat Attacks On John Kerry

By Hamed Aleaziz on Nov 16, 2012 at 1:22 pm

Last night, Fox News’ Sean Hannity continued the network’s Swift Boat attacks against Sen. John Kerry (D-MA). Since Tuesday, immediately following rumors that Kerry is a potential nominee to replace Leon Panetta as Secretary of Defense, the network has re-upped the oft criticized and debunked attacks that were first utilized in 2004 against Kerry, then the Democratic presidential nominee. Last night Hannity actually replayed a Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad, hosted a member of the group on his show, and even added his own supportive commentary to the ad and the attacks against Kerry.

Hannity interviewed John O’Neill, a conservative activist and Swift Boat Vets for Truth member. During the course of the interview, Hannity not only lauds O’Neill for the work he did in 2004 but even asks if the group will come back. Hannity also slams liberals for their criticism of the ad. Here’s one telling portion of the interview:

HANNITY: If in fact Barack Obama wants to nominate [Kerry] for Secretary of Defense or State, will the Swiftboat Vets for Truth come back?

O’NEILL: We’ll do the very best we can, Sean. I was contacted today, I spoke today with three different people that won the congressional medal of honor, who will do the very best we can. Heck, I mean, we’ve got hundreds of thousands of kids that have been engaged in combat, or in the armed forces, can you imagine them counting on John Kerry to protect their back…I mean, we already have got a problem….with Benghazi…

HANNITY: I know for the left it’s a pejorative, they give your and your fellow veterans, by the way, war heroes people who served their country honorably that, challenged lies that he told about other Vietnam vets, they use it as a pejorative. But this ad that you guys ran was very effective.

Media Matters has the clip:

Even Republicans like Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who’s now on his own mission to tank Susan Rice’s career, criticized the ad in 2004, saying:

I think the ad is dishonest and dishonorable. As it is none of these individuals served on the boat (Kerry) commanded. Many of his crewmates have testified to his courage under fire. I think John Kerry served honorably in Vietnam.

The money trail on the Swift Boat ads leads back to well-known conservative operatives. Indeed, The New York Times found that the group “received the bulk of its initial financing from two men with ties to the president [Bush] and his family.” What’s more, in 2004, the Washington Post went further and dug up the fact that the “the group has raised $17 million, which includes more than $1 million each from T. Boone Pickens and Bob Perry, two Republican donors from Texas. The group has spent $1.2 million to mail anti-Kerry literature.”

Update

Media Matters has more on dishonest Swift Boat campaign against Kerry.

Justice

Top Republicans Suddenly Back Immigration Reform After Latinos Overwhelmingly Back Obama

By Amanda Peterson Beadle on Nov 9, 2012 at 9:01 am

When Democrats tried to get the DREAM Act and a path to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants through Congress in 2010, Republicans blocked the immigration reform measure in the Senate. But after a campaign in which GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney staked out harsh anti-immigration positions, and with President Obama winning 75 percent of Latino voters, several key leaders in the Republican party are coming out in favor of immigration reform:

  • House Speaker John Boehner (OH): Saying the issue has been around for far too long, Boehner said in an ABC interview that “I’m confident that the president, myself, others can find the common ground to take care of this issue once and for all.”
  • Former Gov. Haley Barbour (MS): Haley argued on the “Today” show that Republicans need to be in favor of good policy. “And good policy on immigration in the United States is, we are in a global battle for capital and labor, and we need to have what is good economic policy for America on immigration because we do need labor,” he said. “We not only need Ph.Ds in science and technology, we need skilled workers and we need unskilled workers. And we need to have an immigration policy that is good economic policy, and then — and then the politics will take care of itself.”
  • Radio host Sean Hannity: On his radio show Thursday, Hannity told his listeners that he has “evolved” on immigration policy and now supports a “pathway to citizenship.” The problem can’t go on, he added. “It’s simple to me to fix it,” Hannity said. “I think you control the border first. You create a pathway for those people that are here — you don’t say you’ve got to go home. And that is a position that I’ve evolved on. Because, you know what, it’s got to be resolved. The majority of people here, if some people have criminal records you can send them home, but if people are here, law-abiding, participating for years, their kids are born here, you know, first secure the border, pathway to citizenship, done.”

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), who is running for the chairmanship of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told Politico that Republicans will have to change how they reach out to Latino voters. “In some fashion, the way we have dealt with immigration gives us a black eye. And we need to figure out how to talk about issues and pursue policies that matter to Latino, Hispanic voters,” he said. And that’s clear from the exit poll results. Among Latino voters, immigration was the second most important issue behind jobs. Sixty percent of Latinos in the U.S. know someone who is an undocumented immigrant, and 90 percent are within two generations of immigrating to the U.S. After Romney spent most of his campaign embracing harmful immigration policies, most Latino voters reported that they thought Romney was “hostile toward Latinos,” while 66 percent said they believe Obama “truly cares about Latinos.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Senate Immigration, Refugees and Border Security Subcommittee, described it as a “breakthrough” that Boehner is willing to work on immigration reform, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) has vowed to pass an immigration law. But other GOP congressional members have been resistant to reform in the past — House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) previously has promised to not hold a hearing on the DREAM Act — so it has yet to be seen if more Republicans will come around on immigration reform as well.

Update

Fox News parent company owner Rupert Murdoch also publicized his support for immigration reform after the election. “Must have sweeping, generous immigration reform,make existing law- abiding Hispanics welcome,” Murdoch tweeted. “Most are hard working family people.” Murdoch has long advocated for immigration reform.

Security

McCain Fights With Sean Hannity On Foreign Policy: ‘You Were Wrong About Libya’

By Ben Armbruster on Sep 14, 2012 at 5:13 pm

John McCain

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Fox News host Sean Hannity got into a bit of a spat last night after Hannity pushed a set of right-wing talking points on President Obama’s foreign policy that even McCain thought went to far. Hannity said Obama “apologized” for the attackers that killed four American foreign service officers but McCain pushed back. “I’m not sure there was an apology,” McCain said.

Hannity then attacked Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi for meeting with Iranian leaders. “President Morsi did go to Tehran and condemn Bashar Al-Assad, which was a pleasant turn of events,” McCain again pushed back. But Hannity wouldn’t budge and McCain then had enough, criticizing Hannity and his network for being “wrong” about Libya:

HANNITY: How is it that Sean Hannity and a few others of us out here predicted with pin-point accuracy that the Muslim Brotherhood would be in charge in Egypt? Their first task when they took over the parliament was to declare Israel, our closest ally, an enemy, their number one enemy. How is it that the administration with all their intelligence and the CIA — how is it that they didn’t see this coming?!

And they kept telling the American people, this is democracy. I don’t think the Muslim Brotherhood is democracy. They want Sharia Law implemented now in Egypt.

MCCAIN: Well, first of all. It is not clear that that’s true. It was and you people on Fox that said in Libya, we didn’t know who they were and let’s not help these people. They had an election and they elected moderates and rejected Islamists and yes, there are al Qaeda factors and there are extremists in Libya today. But the Libyan people are friends of ours and they support us and they support democracy — so you were wrong about Libya.

HANNITY: I don’t think I was wrong about Libya at all.

MCCAIN: Yes, I do. I know you were.

Moments later, as McCain was speaking, Hannity cut him short, saying, “Senator, thanks for being with us.” Watch the clip:

(HT: Crooks and Liars)

Justice

George Zimmerman Says He Wouldn’t Do Anything Differently: ‘It Was God’s Plan’ For Me To Kill Trayvon Martin

By Judd Legum on Jul 18, 2012 at 9:54 pm

Tonight, George Zimmerman — who is currently facing second degree murder charges for killing Trayvon Martin — participated in a highly unusual interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity.

Hannity asked Zimmerman if he regretted getting out of his car to follow Trayvon, carrying a gun, or anything at all about the night he killed Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman said he regretted nothing because he believed “it was all God’s plan.” He also said there isn’t anything he would do differently in retrospect.

Watch it:

Earlier, Zimmerman did reiterate his apology to Martin’s family, which he first made during his first bail hearing. He added he would like an apology from Spike Lee and other critics, stating “if I did something wrong I would apologize.”

Update

At the very end of the interview, Zimmerman went back to the question and said, “I do wish there was something, anything I could have done that would have put me in the position where I didn’t have to take his life. And I do want to tell everyone…that I’m sorry that this happened.”

Update

Trayvon’s father responds:


Security

Hannity Cites Allegedly Faked Egypt President Interview With Iranian News To Bash Obama

By Ali Gharib on Jun 26, 2012 at 11:03 am

A screenshot of Fars from RFE/RL

Fox News host Sean Hannity, during an interview with Liz Cheney, cited an allegedly faked interview with newly elected Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi in an attempt to attack President Obama for supporting Egypt’s first free election.

Morsi raised eyebrows with the alleged interview on Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency by saying Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel needed to be reevaluated and calling for robust ties to Iran. But it turns out the whole interview — supposedly only hours before election results were announced — might have been faked.

Fars duped some international news outlets, like Reuters, which scrubbed the original story and issued a new story where a top Morsi aid denied that he was even interviewed by Fars.

The reissued Reuters story came out just after 5 p.m., nearly four full hours before Hannity’s show took the airwaves. But that didn’t stop the right-wing host from citing the disputed interview:

HANNITY: But just who is this administration relieved to have as the Egypt’s next leader? Well, for starters. He’s no ally of Israel. Morsi in the past has called Israelis, quote, “vampires and killers.”

And today in an interview with an Iranian news agency, he is quoted as saying he intends to reconsider the Camp David accord. Yet despite these outrageous comments, the White House is relieved?

Watch the video:

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, of which Morsi was formerly a leader, has said it would, according to the AP, “seek changes to Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel without canceling it.” Furthermore, in his first speech after being declared president, Morsi announced: “We will preserve all national and international agreements” — a clear nod to the Israeli peace deal. And the White House was “relieved” not because the Muslim Brotherhood won a free election, but because last week it looked as if Egypt’s transition to democracy might be faltering under the weight of a soft-coup by transitional military leaders.

Fox News even reported hours before Hannity’s show that “a Morsi spokesman denied he did an interview with the Iranian news service who quotes Morsi promising to renew ties between the two countries.”

At RFE/RL, Golnaz Esfandiari pointed out that even fellow Iranian state media got in on the action of doubting the veracity of the Fars interview. So Hannity was duped by the Iranian propaganda even longer than the Iranian government itself.

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