Fox News on The Huffington Post

Cornyn: Dems Would Create 'Health Care Gulag' (VIDEO)

2009-12-06T18:14:09Z

Add this one to the ranks of opponents of health care reform using extreme political analogies to try to sway the debate. On Fox News Sunday Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) warned that the Democrat's plan would create "a health care gulag."

Transcript and video below:

It will limit people's choices to, in many cases, to a government-run program like Medicaid which is essentially a health care gulag, because people will not have any choices but to take that poorly performing government plan.

(h/t TPM)

Glenn Beck's "Christmas Sweater" Fails To Catch Fire In Major Liberal Enclaves... Surprise!

2009-12-04T15:04:04Z

Raw Story and ThinkProgress both relate news today that strikes me as just a little obvious. But, OK: Fox News infotainer Glenn Beck premiered his new live show, "The Christmas Sweater", based on the book, "The Christmas Sweater" last night, and in major American cities where liberals tend to dwell, very few tickets were sold: 17 in Boston, 17 in New York City and 30 in Washington, DC. That said, "sales were better in more conservative areas." In other news, a period of darkness is expected to occur tonight, upon the setting of the sun.

But, OK. yes: these same cities are packed with millions of people, and surely there are more than 20 who are Glenn Beck devotees. That's where the old adage of "why buy the cow when I can get it for free, on Fox News Channel, every day?" kicks in. I don't know what else there is to say about it, other than that.

Oh, all right, there's this:

Despite purporting to be a champion of the "little guy," Beck set tickets prices at $20 -- more than double the average ticket price.

So, BREAKING: America is in the midst of a recession, and a massive unemployment crisis.

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

James Rucker: Ministers confront Glenn Beck outside his Christmas stage show (Video & Photos)

2009-12-04T11:44:29Z

Rev. Tillard speaks out against Glenn Beck

Last night, Glenn Beck performed "The Christmas Sweater" -- a stage play that was broadcast live in theaters across the country -- inside NYU's Skirball Center. As he performed, ministers and people of faith from across New York City gathered outside the event with NYU students and ColorOfChange members, condemning Beck's attempt to cloak himself in Christian values while continuing his race baiting and fear mongering on TV and the radio. Reverends Conrad Tillard, Donna Schaper, and Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou spoke and led the gathering in song, as Beck's supporters -- many of them bussed in from out of town -- lined up outside his show.

This comes just days after the Harlem Gospel Choir canceled their participation in Beck's show.

NYU's Washington Square News covered the event:

Church groups were upset at Beck's use of Christian imagery and Christmas as a way to disseminate what they call his largely hateful message. They believe the way Beck addresses women, people of color and immigrants is incompatible with the Christian ethic.

"It is outside Biblical narrative," said Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou, senior minister at Lemuel Haynes Congregational Church. "We are a small church saying we are opposed to constant racist language."

Here are some photos from the rally:

These photos are from the Washington Square News article:

Christmas is supposed to be a holiday of love, unity, and sharing. Glenn Beck shouldn't be allowed to get away with wrapping himself in the Christmas tradition while he whips up fear, division, and hate. Yesterday, New York made sure he didn't.

Andrew Napolitano: Afghanis Think Like It's "The 12th Century" (VIDEO)

2009-12-03T22:28:46Z

Glenn Beck's substitute host on The Glenn Beck Show is working hard to fill his shoes.

In a discussion about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, Fox News senior analyst Andrew Napolitano proclaimed Afghanistan was "a mountainous region with illiterate people who still think like it's the 12th century." Therefor, Napolitano argued, we would gain nothing by leveling the country.

WATCH

Napolitano is sub-hosting while Beck is away touring with his live show, "The Christmas Sweater."

Fox News Wins Obama Afghanistan Speech Ratings

2009-12-03T08:05:05Z

Fox News handily won the cable news ratings race Tuesday night for President Obama's speech at West Point about sending more troops to Afghanistan.

Fox News beat CNN and MSNBC combined for the event in both total viewers and the A25-54 demographic — in both primetime and during the President's speech, which aired from 8:02 PM to 8:36 PM.

For the speech, Fox News averaged 4.554 million total viewers and 1.252 million A25-54 viewers. CNN came in second with 2.349 million total viewers and 669,000 A25-54 viewers, while MSNBC placed third with 1.560 million total viewers and 434,000 A25-54 viewers.

In primetime for the evening, Fox News averaged 3.791 million total viewers to CNN's 1.744 million and MSNBC's 1.281 million. In the prime demo, Fox News averaged 1.113 million total viewers to CNN's 485,000 and MSNBC's 371,000.

November 2009 Cable News Ratings: Fox News Tops For 95th Consecutive Month

2009-12-03T07:51:21Z

Fox News was tops among cable news networks in November for the 95th consecutive month, taking the top 13 programs in a month that saw every network drop year-over-year from the 2008 election surge.

In primetime, Fox News averaged 2.203 million total viewers (down 14% from November 2008) and 583,000 A25-54 viewers (down 14% from November 2008). But that's nothing compared to the drastic declines at MSNBC and CNN: MSNBC was down 53% in total viewers and 60% in the demo, while CNN fell 60% in total viewers and a whopping 71% in the demo. HLN's losses were not as severe, with the re-branded network down just 17% in total viewers and 23% in A25-54 viewers from November 2008, when it was CNN Headline News.

In total day, Fox News and HLN again suffered mild declines while CNN and MSNBC lost significant chunks of their audience. Fox News was down 4% in total viewers and 9% in the demo, and HLN was down 8% in total viewers and 5% in the demo. Meanwhile, MSNBC was down 49% in total viewers and 56% in the demo, and CNN was down 49% in total viewers and 63% in the demo.

Cable News Programs
Fox News took the top 13 programs in total viewers and the top 10 programs in the A25-54 demographic.

"The O'Reilly Factor" won the top slot with 3.669 million total viewers. "Glenn Beck" came in second (2.671 million total viewers); "Hannity" (2.639 million total viewers) and, interestingly, Fox News' two signature evening news programs — "Special Report with Bret Baier" (2.321 million total viewers), and "The Fox Report with Shepard Smith" (2.101 million total viewers) — rounded out the top five. MSNBC's "Countdown" was the top-rated non-Fox cable news program, averaging 1.067 million total viewers.

Several Fox News programs also stemmed the tide of massive year-over-year losses against Election 2008 coverage and actually increased their ratings in the demo. "O'Reilly" was up 12% while "Countdown" and "Campbell Brown" were both down 62% at 8PM, and "Hannity" was up 4% while "Larry King Live" was down 59% and "Rachel Maddow" was down 63% at 9PM. Earlier in the evening, "Special Report with Bret Baier" was up 5% and "The Fox Report with Shepard Smith" was flat. "Special Report" and "The O'Reilly Factor" actually had their best months of 2009 in both total viewers and the demo, and the "Fox Report" had its best month of 2009 in total viewers.

CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" had a particularly rough November, placing second in total viewers with 672,000 but crashing in the demographic. "AC 360" was down 70% over November 2008 in the A25-54 demographic, averaging 209,000 A25-54 and coming in behind repeats of MSNBC's "Countdown" and HLN's "Nancy Grace."

November 2009 Program Rankers -

Cable Network Rankings
ESPN won the month in primetime on the strength of "Monday Night Football," but Fox News came in third behind USA. MSNBC placed 26th and CNN placed 27th.

In total day programming, Fox News placed 5th, behind Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, USA, and ESPN. CNN placed 26th, while MSNBC did not place in the top 30.

Cable Time Period Rankers -

Eric Burns: If I Still Worked at Fox News...

2009-12-02T12:08:45Z

I am not the Eric Burns who heads Media Matters, the liberal watchdog group. I am the Eric Burns who used to host Fox News Watch on the right-wing partial-news-but-mostly-opinion network. In the past year and a half, since departing from Ailes and friends, I have been much more silent about media matters than my namesake.

I speak out now because it is the time of year when one is supposed to count blessings. I have several. Among them is that I do not have to face the ethical problem of sharing an employer with Glenn Beck.

Actually, Beck is a problem of taste as well as ethics. He laughs and cries; he pouts and giggles; he makes funny faces and grins like a cartoon character; he makes earnest faces yet insists he is a clown; he cavorts like a victim of St. Vitus's Dance. His means of communicating are, in other words, so wide-ranging as to suggest derangement as much as versatility.

He is Huey Long without the political office.

He is Father Coughlin without the dour expression.

He is John Birch without the Society.

He is an embarrassment to all true conservatives, men and women who believe sincerely, thoughtfully and sensibly that the role of government in American life should be limited.

Of course, Beck does not call himself a conservative; he is, rather, a libertarian, which may be defined as a conservative-squared, a person who wants the feds to collect no money in taxes, spend no money on programs, but make available all services that the libertarian deems necessary for his own convenience and safety.

It is remarkable that Beck has attracted the amount of attention he has. Remarkable because, every night, Fox's Sean Hannity and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann stage a duel of one-sidedness in political commentary that would have been the talk, and the shame, of a more civil era.

Remarkable because, every night, Fox's Bill O'Reilly stages an exhibition of contentiousness, mean-spiritedness and self-aggrandizement that would similarly have affronted civil viewers of the past.

Remarkable because, every night, CNN's Campbell Brown stages an exhibition of a different kind, one of honorable pugnacity, an exhibition that would have stimulated viewers of the past but instead makes her a part of her network's continuing decline in prime-time ratings.

Yet Glenn Beck surpasses them all. He is the talk of the talkers. It is he who causes commentators to comment, fans to swoom, foes to fulminate. And it is he who has motivated me to burrow up from my literary researches to opine on journalism one more time.

I ask myself what I would have done if I worked at Fox now. Would I have quit, as the estimable Jane Hall did? Once a panelist on my program, Hall departed for other reasons as well, but Beck was a particular source of embarrassment to her, even though they never shared a studio, perhaps never even met.

I think . . . I think the answer to my question does not do me proud. I think, more concerned about income than principle, I would have continued to work at Fox, but spent my spare time searching avidly for other employment. I think I would not have been as admirable as Jane Hall. I think I would not have reacted to Beck with the probity I like to think I possess.

But, in my defense, I would never have gone out in public without wearing those funny black eyeglasses with no glass, bushy eyebrows and a fake nose.

Eric Burns's next book is Invasion of the Mind-Snatchers: Television's Conquest of American in the Fifties, to be published in the spring of 2010.

James Rucker: Harlem Gospel Choir Says No To Glenn Beck

2009-12-01T12:58:13Z

The Harlem Gospel Choir just cancelled their performance as part of Glenn Beck's The Christmas Sweater, a live performance that's scheduled to be broadcast in movie theaters across the country this Thursday.

The Harlem Gospel Choir has backed out of a holiday performance with controversial conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck, the Daily News has learned.

The famous choir, which has performed for Nelson Mandela and Pope John Paul II, was set to appear in the simulcast film of Beck's novel The Christmas Sweater -- A Return to Redemption, which opens Thursday in theaters nationwide.

The choir canceled the appearance Monday, citing financial reasons.

James Rucker, executive director of Color for Change -- which has helped persuade more than 80 advertisers to ditch Beck's show -- said the group did an about-face after he called the choir.

Before we contacted the Harlem Gospel Choir about Beck, they didn't know much about him. After learning more about Beck and his history of race-baiting, the choir quickly came to the right decision and canceled their appearance with him.

The choir told the Daily News that their reasons for canceling with Beck were financial, and it's understandable that they would want to avoid getting involved in what could be seen as a political fight -- the choir is about faith and music, not politics. And it's hard to blame them for wanting to avoid starting a fight with Glenn Beck -- he is a powerful man with a large megaphone and a large audience that includes some very hateful people (based on some of the email we've received after launching our campaign against Beck, we know this first-hand at ColorOfChange).

The Christmas Sweater is part of Beck's effort to present himself as someone who represents mainstream American values. His desire to work with the Harlem Gospel Choir serves that goal, and it would have helped him position himself as embracing black people while his rhetoric works against the interests of not only black folks but most Americans.

That's what makes the Harlem Gospel Choir's refusal to perform with Beck so important -- they are world-famous for spreading a message of peace, love, unity and respect. They've performed for Nelson Mandela, in honor of Dr. King, and before Pope John Paul II. They have proudly represented one of black America's oldest musical traditions around the world, and now they have refused to allow their name and their legacy to be used by someone like Glenn Beck.

Deborah Jaramillo: Protesters and War: An Excerpt from Ugly War, Pretty Package: How CNN and Fox News Made the Invasion of Iraq High Concept

2009-12-01T09:22:42Z

When I started to research Ugly War, Pretty Package in 2004, I didn't realize how taxing it would be to re-watch CNN and Fox News coverage from the first week of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It was taxing enough the first time around. This time, however, I took comfort in the fact that a detailed analysis of the coverage would simply allow the news to expose its own flaws that, at times, bordered on criminal.

The point of Ugly War is to disabuse people of the notion that television news somehow embodies and tweaks HBO's old tagline. It's Not TV. It's News.

Television news is absolutely television, and extended, uninterrupted war coverage is one of the best examples of how the cable news networks have embraced the values of "high concept" entertainment.

In the following excerpt I look at how CNN and Fox News covered the huge anti-war demonstrations after the start of the invasion. If you've only seen coverage of the right-wing tea-party protests, this excerpt will remind you of how cable news handles dissent coming from the left.

Excerpt

[...]The typing of U.S. antiwar protesters is an example of striking difference between the two networks. [...] In late March 2003, antiwar protesters appeared multiple times on both CNN and Fox News Channel. Both networks reported on the U.S.-based antiwar protests in relation to seven primary topics: the significance of the rallies in a democracy, the size of the antiwar rallies, polls about public support for the war, the rationale for protesting, pro-war or pro-troop rallies or sentiment, protests that the networks characterized as "violent" or "disruptive," and the troops in Iraq. Each network's coverage used these topics to type the protesters, and Fox News Channel specifically used each to reject the premise that protesters were heroic in their exercise of democracy and freedom of speech.

According to Fox journalists, the protesters hated the United States and therefore did not practice democracy. The Fox reporters constructed a storyline that said that the number of protesters was minimal and that they represented the minority in public opinion about the war. They had no reasons for protesting other than to overthrow the U.S. government. They were violent and encouraged violence, which contradicted their verbal appeals for peace. They said they wanted democracy but they supported Hussein--not the U.S. troops--and did not believe in bringing democracy to the oppressed Iraqis. They claimed to speak truth to power heroically, but they merely represented another evil power. According to Fox journalists, the U.S. citizens who exercised their democratic right to oppose a war they considered unjust were no less than traitors.

CNN journalists also disagreed with the actions of the protesters, but they handled their coverage of antiwar events much differently than the Fox network did. Instead of vilifying the protesters, they co-opted their message by emphasizing how antiwar activity demonstrated the tolerance of U.S. democracy. Aaron Brown asserted that he and his colleagues at CNN were "great believers in the right to demonstrate," and both he and Judy Woodruff gave small speeches on the superiority of U.S.-style democracy, of which protests were a vital part (CNN March 20-22). Guest commentator Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison stated that the right to protest was "in line with freedom of speech" (CNN March 21). Fiske notes how statements made in support of protesters illustrate the process of "inoculation" in news programming, an incorporation of radical voices into an official narrative so that the opposition actually fortifies the status quo. In this process, journalists first accord the oppositional speech minimal importance so that the rhetoric can subvert the dominant ideology without exacting any real damage. In addition, the representatives of the news media "[speak] the final 'truth,'" an act that frames oppositional speech from a specific viewpoint (Fiske 1987, 290-291). CNN journalists allowed protesters to have their sound bites and then defused the power of antiwar speech by applauding a tolerant democracy.

CNN's practice of "ideological containment" was just as problematic but less combative than the tactics presented on Fox News Channel. The Fox network did not feature the protesters as much as CNN. By way of explanation, Shepard Smith announced that Fox News Channel was keeping coverage of the antiwar protests "limited" in order to keep the network's overall coverage "fair and balanced" (Fox News Channel March 20). However, when the network did focus on the protesters, its journalists failed to uphold the right of U.S. citizens to protest in a time of war. Although guest commentator Mayor Rudolph Giuliani called the protests "a necessary part of democracy," an exchange between Fox's John Kasich and Congressman Greg Meeks became heated when the subject of democracy arose. In response to Kasich's "stunned and mystified" reaction to the protests, Congressman Meeks expressed his hopes for a democracy in which people had the right to dissent. Kasich responded by telling the protesters to "shut up," prompting Congressman Meeks to accuse him of not believing in democracy (Fox News Channel March 22). Alan Colmes, the self-identified "liberal" of the program Hannity & Colmes, voiced the most prominent defense of free speech on Fox News Channel with this remark: "People have the right to [protest], and certainly that's not in debate, but I think some of these people feel they have to prove they have the right, but they don't have the obligation" (Fox News Channel March 24). If Fox journalists gave any attention to the antiwar protests at all, it was only to imply or even to insist that they should not be speaking. The network gave no time to the real news of the antiwar protest stories, which would necessarily have focused on the issues the protestors were raising and the points they were making.

[...]

However, Fox News journalists quickly decided that the protests were indeed newsworthy as reports of violence and disruption became part of the story. The issue of disruptive protests led the network's personnel to label the demonstrators a "safety hazard," further discrediting their intentions. Journalists consistently declared that the protests were a danger. Rebecca Gomez claimed that protesters "nearly attacked" her and her crew; she interpreted this as evidence that the protesters "seemed to want to take their anger out on someone" (Fox News Channel March 22). Reporting on a protest in Washington, D.C., Shepard Smith said the demonstrators were "making a mess of the morning commute" and were keeping firefighters "from answering emergency calls." He also declared San Francisco to be in a state of "absolute anarchy" (Fox News Channel March 20). Brian Kilmeade said protesters were "out of control" and were "breaking the law" (Fox News Channel March 21). Bill Cowan called Market Street "ground zero" in the protesters' "mission to paralyze downtown" Chicago and frustrate "innocent drivers" (ibid.). Bob Sellers highlighted arrests in San Francisco and police chasing protestors at a New York City rally (Fox News Channel March 22). Rebecca Gomez called the crowd at the rally she covered in New York "out of order" and raised the concern that marchers "diverted limited resources from stopping possible terrorist strikes" in a "city already hurt financially by 9/11" (Fox News Channel March 22). John Kasich, Miami police commissioner John Timoney, Brian Kilmeade, and Linda Vester all argued that protesters diverted resources from homeland security (Fox News Channel March 22-24). According to Fox News Channel, the protesters were violent and posed dire threats to the safety of the United States--a claim that linked the protesters to terrorists.

CNN's reporting of the protests was much more balanced. It reported that 1,000 arrests and various run-ins with police had occurred at protests in New York City and San Francisco, but both Aaron Brown and Wolf Blitzer pronounced the protests "peaceful" (CNN March 20 and 21). Blitzer even prefaced a story about the protesters in New York City with the line "Freedom of speech led to urban gridlock," emphasizing the disturbance but linking it to a constitutional right (CNN March 22).

Fox News Channel journalists insisted that the "disloyalty" of protesters was particularly disturbing a time when they perceived unity to be the true sign of patriotism. Personalities on Fox News Channel achieved this by characterizing protesters as opposed to the troops, freedom, and democracy and supportive of terrorists. The issue of supporting the troops was less black and white on CNN. Aaron Brown stated that one result of the Vietnam War was that "we don't blame soldiers" for policy decisions (CNN March 21). With that, Brown defended the protesters by distinguishing anti-troop sentiment from anti-policy sentiment. Fox News Channel journalists were unable to tolerate any distinction between criticism of government policy and criticism of the troops. Guest commentator Scott O'Grady, a former Air Force Captain who had been shot down over Bosnia and later rescued, suggested that the protesters realize "that there are evil people in this world, and this is a just war, and we need to be supporting" the troops (Fox News Channel March 23). Guest Jeffrey Zaun, a former POW of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, took this a bit further, claiming that the protesters were "insulting" the troops (Fox News Channel March 23). Rebecca Gomez summed up the tone of Fox News Channel by saying, "Some of the protesters claim they do support the troops, they just don't support the war, and they seem to think that they can do both" (Fox News Channel March 22). Her statement reflected the kind of consciously uncomplicated logic that Fox News Channel typically used when speaking of the protesters.

Accusations that the protesters were disloyal grew increasingly severe on Fox News Channel over the course of the first five days of the invasion. By claiming that the protesters stood "against any war for the liberation of Iraq," Bob Sellers simultaneously supported the Bush administration's official reasons for the invasion and typed the protesters as obstacles in the quest for freedom (Fox News Channel March 22). Shepard Smith hinted at an insidious conspiracy when he declared that the antiwar protests were "part of a synchronized movement to stage protests" (Fox News Channel March 20). His statement was in keeping with the network's numerous attempts to link antiwar protesters to organizations that Fox journalists deemed to be subversive--a tactic similar to the network's typing of France and Russia as disloyal to the United States because they criticized the war. [...] David Asman argued that the protesters were vulnerable to Iraqi propaganda, and one guest claimed that the protesters' rhetoric "play[ed] into the hands of our enemies" (Fox News Channel March 22 and 24). In addition to calling "most" of the protesters "stupid," Fred Barnes accused them of being "objectively . . . pro-Saddam"; in disgust, Tony Snow replied, "Enough of them" (Fox News Channel March 22).

[...]

In short, in Fox News Channel's estimation, the protesters were not to be trusted. Fox journalists and guests typed the protesters as false heroes with even more fervor than they exhibited when typing France and Russia. In contrast, CNN reporters and guests did not resort to the type of inflammatory rhetoric that was a mainstay on Fox News Channel; CNN's approach was to contain the message of the protestors by pointing to the right of citizens in a democracy to free speech rather than focusing on the issues the protestors were raising.

Works Cited

Fiske, John. 1987. Television Culture. London: Methuen & Co.

Deborah L. Jaramillo is Assistant Professor of Film and Television at Boston University. She is author of Ugly War Pretty Package: How CNN and Fox News Made the Invasion of Iraq High Concept.

Linda Milazzo: Teflon Dick: How Cheney Uses Media For Protection

2009-11-30T04:52:15Z

On January 29, 2001, just nine days after taking office, Dick Cheney created The National Energy Policy Development Group, commonly known as the Cheney Energy Task Force. The task force was charged with the critically important task of designing America's national energy policy. Although the group's efforts would directly impact the entire nation, the new Vice President refused to divulge the names of its members or their specific activities, claiming the Executive Branch's right to confidentiality.

To challenge Cheney's claims of privacy and acquire the names and activities of the task force members, the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits, but the courts denied their initial requests and subsequent appeals. On July 18, 2007, the Washington Post revealed the names of members of the task force, which included executives of major conglomerates Enron, Exxon, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, the National Mining Association, and more.

Cheney's refusal to divulge the identities of the members of his task force was the earliest indication of the absolute power America's 46th Vice President presumed. His refusal demonstrated the covert nature of his Vice Presidency and his belief that transparency was not a requirement of the Executive Branch. The policies and practices predicated upon Cheney's presumption of confidentiality remained constant for the full eight years of his Vice Presidency. They ushered in the era of the Bush/Cheney Imperial Presidency that exercised sweeping authority, bypassed established law, and caused widespread concern amongst scholars and average citizens for the future of our democracy.

On August 27, 2004, future Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman wrote the following criticism of Mr. Cheney's pursuit of privacy and power:

"Mr. Cheney's determination to keep his secrets probably reflects more than an effort to avoid bad publicity. It's also a matter of principle, based on the administration's deep belief that it has the right to act as it pleases, and that the public has no right to know what it's doing.

As Linda Greenhouse recently pointed out in The New York Times, the legal arguments the administration is making for the secrecy of the energy task force are "strikingly similar" to those it makes for its right to detain, without trial, anyone it deems an enemy combatant. In both cases, as Ms. Greenhouse puts it, the administration has put forward "a vision of presidential power . . . as far-reaching as any the court has seen."

From January of 2001 right through today, Dick Cheney has committed unconstrained, and as yet unprosecuted offenses, that include circumventing the Constitution, sanctioning unlawful torture, contributing to the outing of a CIA agent, concealing information from Congress, and lying the nation into war. The tragedy of Cheney's unrestrained lawlessness is further compounded by his unprecedented authority to preside over economic and foreign policies so calamitous that they drove this nation financially, militarily and morally into the ground. Despite his constant international and domestic catastrophes, for his first six years in office Cheney's crimes were supported by an ideological Republican legislative majority and a weak Democratic minority, both of whom succumbed to Bush and Cheney's Unitary Executive.

After the 2006 election, when Democrats took control of both Houses, Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to abide by her Constitutional duty to investigate Bush and Cheney's crimes. Irrespective of public clamor for backbone and accountability, the Democratic majority rolled over for Bush and Cheney. They financed their plunder and allowed America to decay from within. Structural chasms in bridges, roadways, pipelines, and schools were matched by ideological chasms over religion, economics, politics and war. As Americans battled each other, Bush and Cheney bombed and tortured on, comforted by knowing there would be no repercussion. For a full eight years, they wreaked havoc on America and the world, and today, post administration, both men remain free.

Bush and Cheney understand that they're vulnerable to prosecution. Bush, for the most part, has stayed out of the limelight, though he's recently become more visible, perhaps inspired by Cheney's success at using THE BIG TOOL - the media - for protection. Since the beginning of the Obama presidency, Cheney has used the media full on. He's commandeered its major outlets, newspapers, cable and network TV, and the most caustic outlet of all, talk radio, to attack the very sources he knows could bring him down - the President and Attorney General. Cheney's best defense is his mass media offense and he knows exactly how to use it.

Dick Cheney has used the complicit American media, his most powerful anti-prosecution tool, to near Machiavellian perfection. He understands implicitly that American media employs no ethical standards that would prevent it from promoting him despite the atrocities he has caused. Regardless of his catastrophic failures, the shameless complicit media freely provides Cheney the platform to attack the President and Attorney General and advance his standing as their fiercest political critic. Because of this granted visibility to pummel Obama and Holder, Cheney is more able to establish himself as a victim of partisanship should Obama and Holder try to charge him for his crimes. Through widely broadcast speeches, like the one below of Cheney bashing Obama on Afghanistan, the complicit media is helping to immunize Cheney - and it's doing so knowingly.

It's baiting for ratings and justice be damned!

Cheney's transparent media offensive places him squarely, frequently and loudly in the public eye attacking Obama and Holder, and setting the stage for an adversarial relationship from which he can claim that he's their target. He's banking on the theory of American exceptionalism to keep his contrived "adversaries" from taking him down. American exceptionalism implies that America as a nation is superior to the rest of the world. In lesser nations, political rivals are targeted and imprisoned. Exceptionalism presumes that superior America, with its highly evolved democracy, would never do the same. Exceptionalism presumes that political targeting only happens in undeveloped and undemocratic nations led by unsavory leaders; Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Museveni of Uganda, Nkrumah of Ghana, Putin of Russia, have all imprisoned their opponents. Cheney's calculus has determined that American exceptionalism would prevent America's leaders from publicly engaging in tactics they condemn - like imprisoning political opponents.

Last week, Cheney's Machiavellian strategy reached a whole new level when his daughter Liz raised his status from political adversary to political opponent by floating the prospect of candidate Cheney in 2012. Brilliant! Behold Dick's calculating progeny doing his bidding on Fox TV:

What better protection from legal worries than planting the notion of a presidential run, elevating Cheney from harsh critic to political rival. It's the epitome of legal immunity in exceptionalist USA. Of course, there's little probability that Cheney would actually run. His approval ratings are dismal and he battles for breath whenever he speaks. But this is media manipulation - not political reality. Truth rarely imposes itself on TV.

Then there's the blogosphere, and the Keep America Safe website, created by scions Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol to propagandize for Cheney. The Cheney cabal is in full media combat when it comes to protecting Dick Cheney.

Notice the front page attack on Attorney General Holder - though Cheney's attacked Holder for a while.

On August 30th on Fox News, Cheney characterized AG Holder's decision to conduct a review of CIA interrogations as 'politically motivated,' laying the groundwork for Cheney's future claim of partisan targeting should the AG investigate him. Recognizing that Cheney and his "BFF" Donald Rumsfeld are thought to have instigated and sanctioned the interrogations, there is strong indication that CIA investigations would lead the AG directly to Dick Cheney. Here's Cheney's politicization of Holder's decision, broadcast on Fox TV:

Could the Cheney media strategy be any more obvious than it is in this video?

The saddest and perhaps most despicable irony in this symbiotic relationship between Cheney and the all encompassing media is the manner in which the media permits itself to be the tool to thwart justice. I recognize that in this article I've reproduced the messages Dick Cheney wants to send. But I've done so in the context of revealing Cheney's manipulations. It's my sincere hope that all media stop providing Cheney the wherewithal to immunize himself from prosecution. But sadly that won't happen. American media thrives on the point-counterpoint model, and Cheney has fashioned his offense perfectly to fit it.

Mike Huckabee Leaning Against Presidential Run In 2012

2009-11-29T17:38:20Z

WASHINGTON — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says he's leaning slightly against running for president in 2012 but says it's far too early to say what he will do.

Huckabee says how the 2010 congressional elections turn out will affect his decision. He also will be looking at whether the Republican Party is willing to unite behind him as a candidate.

Huckabee Granted Clemency To Maurice Clemmons, Person Of Interest, In Ambush That Killed 4 Cops

2009-11-29T12:54:36Z

A man with an extensive criminal past -- whose 95-year prison sentence was commuted in Arkansas nearly a decade ago by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee-- was being sought Sunday as a "person of interest" in a deadly ambush on four police officers who were gunned down inside a coffee shop.

Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer told reporters that Maurice Clemmons, 37, was one of several people investigators want to talk to and that he could not be called a suspect at this point.

In a news release, the sheriff's office said Clemmons has an extensive violent criminal history from Arkansas, including aggravated robbery and theft. Clemmons was also recently was arrested and charged in Pierce County, Washington state for third-degree assault on a police officer, and second-degree rape of a child.

According to The Seattle Times, Clemmons was released from the Peirce County Jail last week, despite facing eight felony charges. Clemmons posted $15,000 with a bail bondsman, who paid the remainder of the man's $150,000 bail.

In 1989, Clemmons, then 17, was convicted in Little Rock for aggravated robbery. He was paroled in 2000 after then-Gov. Mike Huckabee commuted Clemmons' 95-year prison sentence. Huckabee, who was criticized during his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 for the number of clemencies and commutations he granted, cited Clemmons' age at the time of the sentence.

After his release from prison, Clemmons violated his parole and was returned to prison in July 2001. He was released March 18, 2004, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper

Huckabee has released a statement regarding Sunday's attack. He does not directly address his decision to grant Clemmons clemency (click here to read Huckabee's statement in its entirety):

Should [Clemmons] be found to be responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington State. He was recommended for and received a commutation of his original sentence from 1990, making him parole eligible and was paroled by the parole board once they determined he met the conditions at that time. He was arrested later for parole violation and taken back to prison to serve his full term, but prosecutors dropped the charges that would have held him... Our thoughts and prayers are and should be with the families of those honorable, brave, and heroic police officers.

Officials in Washington state have not issued a statement explaining why a prisoner facing eight felony charges was able to post bail. Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said she was "shocked and horrified" by the killings.

The four officers were with the 100-member police department of Lakewood, Wash. The city identified the victims as Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39; Ronald Owens, 37; Tina Griswold, 40; and Greg Richards 42.

Huckabee, who served as governor of Arkansas from 1996-2007, has a history of supporting pardons and commuting sentences of violent offenders. According to ABC News, Huckabee granted pardons and commutations to approximately 12 convicted murderers.

A study by the Arkansas Leader showed that between 1996 and 2004, Huckabee helped to free more Arkansas prisoners than were freed from all of Arkansas' six neighboring states--combined.

In 2004, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette concluded that "9 percent of the prisoners who benefited from Huckabee's clemencies ended up in prison again."

Huckabee's pardons and commuted sentences as governor earned him extra attention during his bid for the Republican nomination in the 2008 presidential race. In 2007, Huffington Post published documents that contradicted Huckabee's story about the release of convicted serial-rapist Wayne Dumond in 1999. After Dumond was released from prison, he raped and murdered a 39-year-old woman and allegedly raped and murdered a pregnant 23-year-old woman before he was arrested and returned to prison.

While on the campaign trail, Huckabee has claimed that he supported the 1999 release of Wayne Dumond because, at the time, he had no good reason to believe that the man represented a further threat to the public. Thanks to Huckabee's intervention, conducted in concert with a right-wing tabloid campaign on Dumond's behalf, Dumond was let out of prison 25 years before his sentence would have ended.

"There's nothing any of us could ever do," Huckabee said... "None of us could've predicted what [Dumond] could've done when he got out."

But the confidential files show that Huckabee was provided letters from several women who had been sexually assaulted by Dumond and who indeed predicted that he would rape again - and perhaps murder - if released.

[Click here to read more Huffington Post campaign coverage of Huckabee's pardons]

In 2007, ABC News reported on the role that Huckabee's religious beliefs may have played in his decisions to support early release of so many prisoners:

"None of the prosecutors were ever told why Huckabee felt compelled to have a hand in freeing so many prisoners, though all of them speculate that his deeply religious nature led to a strong belief in repentance and forgiveness. In some cases, prosecutors say, evangelical leaders attested that a prisoner had found Jesus and that seemed to influence the governor's thoughts."

Huckabee is currently the host of the Fox News show Huckabee. On Sunday the AP reported that Huckabee was leaning "slightly" against a run for the US presidency in 2012.

Hannity Ousts O'Reilly As Top Cable News Telecast Of Week

2009-11-27T09:09:31Z

"Hannity" ousted "The O'Reilly Factor" as the top cable news telecast of last week.

Sean Hannity's Wednesday interview of Sarah Palin averaged 4.200 million total viewers, enough to crack the top ten telecasts in all of cable last week. And while Bill O'Reilly had five telecasts in the top 25, his best — his Thursday interview with Palin — averaged 4.120 million total viewers, landing at #14.

ESPN's "Monday Night Football" contest between the Ravens and the Browns was the top telecast on cable, averaging 10.196 million total viewers.

USA took the top spot in the cable network primetime rankings for the week, averaging 3.078 million total viewers on the strength of programs like "Monk," WWE Raw," "White Collar," and "NCIS." ESPN placed second with 2.933 million total viewers, and Fox News came in third with 2.435 million total viewers.

Elsewhere in cable news, MSNBC placed 25th with an average of 692,000 total viewers, while CNN placed 28th with an average of 627,000 total viewers.

Top 30 Cable Networks of the Week, 11/16-11/22

Cable Time Period Rank - Week of 11-16-09 _Live+SD_ -

Top 40 Cable Telecasts of the Week, 11/16-11/22

Cable Program Rank - Week of 11-16-09 - Live + SD -

Spill O'Reilly! Sesame Street Talking Head Meets Fox News Host (VIDEO)

2009-11-25T02:11:16Z

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly has been parodied on shows like Saturday Night Live and the Colbert Report. Now add Sesame Street to the list.

Earlier this month, O'Reilly aired a clip from a two-year-old episode of the popular PBS children's show featuring a character switching allegiances from the "Grouch News Network" to "Pox News," declaring, "Now there's a trashy news show!"

O'Reilly signed off, "We may have to ambush Oscar."

On Tuesday, O'Reilly was joined on his program by a new character, Spill O'Reilly, who has been added to the ranks of Sesame Street's Walter Cranky, Dan Rather-Not, Meredith Beware-a and Diane Spoiler.

WATCH:

Ed Begley Jr. Flips Out On Fox: Climate Change Is Real (VIDEO)

2009-11-24T22:16:11Z

On Tuesday afternoon on Fox News, actor and environmental activist Ed Begley Jr. got into a heated shouting match with Fox News contributor and substitute Neil Cavuto show host Stuart Varney about the "hacked climate emails."

The conversation started out civil enough. "Does this change things at all, these emails," Varney asks Begley. "Do you ever think that maybe you're wrong about global warming?" The GOP has now opened a probe into the emails, and the Drudge Report is calling the emails "the greatest scandal in modern science."

"I think the science is very clear on global warming." Begley responds. His point, in short, is that the newly leaked emails do not call into question the existence of global warming. Begley adds firmly, "don't get your information from me folks, or any newscaster. Get it from people with Ph.D. after their name."

At this point, Varney and Begley begin to talk over each other, in the manner of a school yard fight.

"The science is not in," Varney insists.

"It is in! Stuart, quit saying that. It is so in!" Begley interrupts.

"The debate is not over, sir."

From there, the show devolves into an all out shouting match. Begley accuses Varney of "spewing nonsense" and "lies," while Varney repeats loudly: "nothing to do with global warming" over and over again.

Watch the video below.

O'Reilly Interviews Lawyer For 9/11 Defendant: 'You're A Weasel, You Know People Hate You' (VIDEO)

2009-11-24T13:36:40Z

On Monday night, Bill O'Reilly grilled Scott Fenstermaker, a lawyer for accused 9/11 terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali in a habeas corpus case challenging Ali's detention, about his role in the case during a heated interview on "The O'Reilly Factor".

O'Reilly began by asking if his client's defense is to hurl anti-American propaganda in the courtroom. Fenstermaker said no, explaining that Ali and his co-defendants would make a "justification" defense for their role in 9/11. The interview quickly got personal as O'Reilly pressed Fenstermaker on his own views: "Is there any justification on this earth to murder thousands of innocent people?" "Are you sitting here as a human being telling me the people on 9/11 weren't murdered?"

Fenstermaker insisted that that was for the jury to decide, and he is not a juror. This answer did not sit well with the host.

O'Reilly: Don't you think people watching you, and millions are right now, counselor, and I don't mean this with any disrespect, think that you're a weasel?

Fenstermaker: They might. That's fine.

O'Reilly: Cause I do. And you seem like a nice guy, but I'm saying this guy sitting in front of me doesn't think these people were murdered on 9/11 when we saw what happened; if he won't say they were murdered or not, he's a weasel.

O'Reilly repeatedly tried to draw out the defense strategy from the attorney but Fenstermaker kept dodging or rephrasing the host's questions in a more innocuous way, much to the annoyance of O'Reilly.

O'Reilly: You know people hate you. Do you care?

Fenstermaker: No, I'm honored that they hate me.

WATCH:

Glenn Beck As Political Organizer: Fox News Host Sponsoring 7 Conventions

2009-11-21T22:32:11Z

Glenn Beck, the popular and outspoken Fox News host, says he wants to go beyond broadcasting his opinions and start rallying his political base -- formerly known as his audience -- to take action.

News Corp. Begins Keeping Tabs of All Its CO2 Emissions

2009-11-20T08:25:41Z

News Corp. - owner of Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and numerous other media properties - is adding software to help manage its environmental impact and energy use.

Susan J. Demas: Sarah Palin's Lady Gaga Tour of Michigan

2009-11-19T14:05:08Z

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Sarah Palin blew in here Wednesday with all the stagecraft (and subtlety) of Lady Gaga, pulling up in a luxury tour bus ensconced with the cover photo from her book, right down to her glossy lips and heavenward gaze.

Camera-waving paparazzi were there to capture Palin bounding out in her trademark red blazer with baby Trig in her arms, blessing the frenzied throngs of more than 1,000 with a 60-second speech.

"It's like a campaign event without the depth," a veteran political reporter muttered to me.

Which is saying something.

"I couldn't wait to get back to Michigan," the former GOP vice presidential candidate announced outside Barnes & Noble. "Michigan is so much like Alaska with the huntin' and fishin' and the hockey moms. This is the heart of industry in America."

That stereotypical mush would be condescending, except for the fact that Sarah Palin is quite the looker. So therefore, anything (former) Gov. Gorgeous utters automatically comes off as genuine and dare I say, genius.

This observation, of course, makes me Sexist -- as Sexist as the Neanderthals at Newsweek who made the unprecedented move to put the leggy lady on its cover to sell magazines. Feminist pioneers like Sean Hannity -- who has never, ever noticed the fact that Mrs. Palin is a babe (insert trademark Sarah wink) -- were outraged, because, well, that's the only emotion God grants right-wing talk show hosts.

For goodness sake, even Grand Rapids artist Mark Vainner -- who proudly had Palin sign his jacket next to signatures from Hannity and G. Gordon Liddy -- saw the marketing ploy for what it was.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know if you show a guy a picture of a girl with boobs and say, 'Does this bother you?' the answer is going to be no," he told the local paper.

Why conservatives comically insist that Sarah's sex appeal isn't, well, part of her appeal, is beyond me, but it seems to be a fascinating psychological blend of cynicism and repression. Sorry, but it's not her impressive reign as mayor of the Iditarod capital of the world (population 6,700) that lured screaming fans to a half-empty mall on a rainy weeknight.

This is America. We like pretty people. Let's move on.

Kicking off her book tour in Michigan was no accident, of course. For one thing, greater Grand Rapids evidently meets Palin's all-important "Real America" litmus test, evidenced by the preponderance of flannel and "Don't Tread on Me" shirts in the crowd. It was a diverse group, ranging from Twilight-toned onlookers like myself to a few folks savvy enough to know their way around a spray tan.

Alas, even in Real America, there's still a velvet-roped VIP area. Wonder what the poor souls who had waited for 16 hours thought of GOP luminaries like state House Minority Leader Kevin Elsenheimer (R-Kewadin) and Rep. Dave Agema (R-Grandville) being whisked right up to bask in Palin's glow while they glowered in the cold.

The Mitten State stop was intended to be the ultimate kiss-off to the John McCain campaign, as Palin made clear in her score-settling, factually challenged memoir. There's no doubt that the operation blew Michigan, culminating with its bumbling pullout five weeks before Election Day. That's when the veep-to-be "went rogue," striking back at the McCain meanies.

In the world according to Palin, she alone would have saved Michigan, making the irrefutable argument that she was tied to us through the unbreakable bond of hockey.

Yeah, you betcha.

Certainly her coming-out party underscores the fact that Republicans are itching to turn the Mitten State red next year. With a decade-long recession and an unpopular Democratic governor, it's fertile ground.

But forget the spin that Sarah Barracuda is running for president. Real candidates don't quit the first real political job they've earned after two years or trash a host of longtime, loyal GOP players within months of a campaign. They demonstrate some seriousness about policy and a modicum of class.

Palin, however, will have to keep the buzz alive long enough to keep filling bookstores (and the coffers of her political action committee), so she can provide her family with the kind of hoi-polloi lifestyle Real Americans can only dream of.

Last year, Tina Fey-as-Palin on "Saturday Night Live" confessed her goal was to be "the white Oprah." That's probably not far from the mark, given her Hollywood-style debut, replete with soft-focused interviews with Barbara Walters and, of course, the real Oprah.

Although given Palin's penchant for disemboweling fellow Republicans, she would probably be best-suited to host a glib talk show on Fox News. Her gleeful ignorance of basic economic policy, political history and international relations -- and disdain for eggheads who believe these are serious matters for leaders to contemplate -- can be worn as a badge of honor on the Know Nothing network.

So would her reckless quest to divide the country, whether she's accusing the president of "palin' around with terrorists" or trying to kill her Down syndrome baby (really) with health care "death panels."

In the end, that's what's truly disturbing about the Sarah-as-Savior phenomenon. And why it is stomach-churning to hear so many intelligent Republicans blather that she gets the base "fired up," so it's all good.

No, it's not. There have to be some basic qualifications and standards of decency for our leaders.

This is about the future of America. It ain't the Video Music Awards.

Suzanne Sena, Former Fox News Anchor, Now On Onion News Network (VIDEO)

2009-11-19T12:14:08Z

Suzanne Sena, who anchored primetime and late-night breaking news on Fox News from 2006-2008, has found a new home: the Onion News Network (h/t TVNewser, CCInsider).

Sena now portrays Onion News Network newsreader Ana Gentry.

Ex-CNN anchor Bobbie Batista also appears on the network.

In the clip below, Sena/Gentry leads coverage mocking President Obama for his reliance on the teleprompter. The clip is titled, "Obama's Home Teleprompter Malfunctions During Family Dinner."

Watch:

Obama's Home Teleprompter Malfunctions During Family Dinner

Steve Marmel: Palin/Beck In 2012? Hell, Yes!

2009-11-19T10:14:35Z

I've been struggling with the idea of
"balance" in news. There is fact, and there is spin.
There is truth, and there is fiction. But when the mainstream media covers something - showing both sides, paints the picture that
everything is 50/50 when there are certain things that are not - like, oh, let's say, climate change.

However, doing a piece where you
counter a scientist representing fact with narrowmind James Inhofe
(R-OK) -- that's less balance and more news organization covering their asses for fear
of being called biased.

Clearly, I'm biased.

Everything is polarized and everything is hyper-partisan.
Evolution, reproductive rights, Guantanamo... everything that happens
today gets tossed into the grinder so the left and right can eat each
other's faces off, for the entertainment of the news viewing public - and there's no end in sight.

Except for this little light at the end of the tunnel, courtesy of Newsmax:

It's no secret that former GOP vice-presidential
candidate Sarah Palin and Fox News host Glenn Beck share great respect and
admiration — so their fans can be forgiven for wondering: Is a "dream
ticket" of Palin-Beck ticket completely out of the question?

Perhaps not.

Palin initially chuckled when Newsmax broached the idea.
But then she had some serious words of praise for the popular Fox personality.

"I can envision a couple of different combinations,
if ever I were to be in a position to really even seriously consider running
for anything in the future, and I'm not there yet," Palin tells Newsmax.
"But Glenn Beck I have great respect for. He's a hoot. He gets his message
across in such a clever way. And he's so bold — I have to respect that. He
calls it like he sees it, and he's very, very, very effective."

Oh, sweet Jesus, yes.

Sure, it might be a little early to be thinking about / fearing
/ fantasizing about who the GOP will be serving up to attempt to knock Obama
out of the White House after one term.

If I were to put my money on a specific ticket, it would
be "Seemingly moderate conservative youngish white male" /
"Pander to the Evangelical Christian Right older white male" in 2012.
Considering how lockstep the Republicans have been against everything
Obama is pushing, it would be hard to tell the difference between Boehner,
Cantor, Huckabee, Romney, McCain or Grassley unless you judge by the tint of
their skin, the sheen of their hair, or the pattern of the age spots.

But Palin/Beck would shake that up. And, quite frankly, be the greatest male/female comedy team since
"Stiller and Meara."

Democrats should be drooling at this idea - After all,
there are two types of people who know who Glenn Beck is. People who
watch Beck on Fox News, and the people who see Beck eviscerated on programs
like "The Daily Show" or "South Park."

The idea that Sarah Palin's ego shoehorns her
into another national election, and she elevates Glenn Beck to a level where
everyone gets a nice, solid look at his everyday insanity... that's
Christmas, Birthday and Fourth of July all rolled up into one. That's the
Republiverse saying, "Here ya go, every comedian in the world. Don't
worry about finding topics for 2011-2012... we've got you covered."
Two loons walk into a bar.

So yes. Count me in as someone who would
wholeheartedly support this idea. I don't
think this ticket has a chance in hell, but it would solve the
"balance" and "majority" issue once and for all. Which gets me back to my original point.

There's a loud group of people out there who think
screaming equals majority, obstruction equals fighting for something, and blind
hatred equals patriotism. Whether those people represent one, ten or
ninety percent of the population, I can't say. Because if you look at the
news coverage, it's always one for, and one against. "Health Care
Now!" is always countered with "The Black Helicopters are
coming!" on a "one for" and "one against" basis.

So the hell with it. I say, give them their ticket.
Put it out there, get it on the ballot, and let's see who that message resonates with and how the numbers play out.

That message won't be candy-coated with a ghost-writer or
chalkboard scrawls and graphics - it'll be out there, naked as a Prejean, for
all to see. And if that message wins, I'll be the first to admit the
screeching I hear is from an outraged majority rather than the media
giving disproportionate attention to a small and vocal minority.

And then, the jokes will begin.

Jon Stewart Explains To Conservative Pundits Why He Doesn't Like Sarah Palin (VIDEO)

2009-11-19T08:25:21Z

Jon Stewart gave what seemed like his final word on Sarah Palin last night, explaining to Fox News pundits that he doesn't dislike her because she's from Alaska or because she hunts, but because "when you peel back the pretty, shooty layers of the Palin onion, there's no onion. It's just a conservative boiler plate mad lib: 'Freedom is good and taxes are--ooh I need an adjective--how about, I don't know, silly?' And the worst part it's a mad lib delivered as though it were the hard-earned wisdom of a life well lived," he explained.

Stewart took exception to the accusations that Democrats don't like Palin because she's attractive and religious, but he was particularly angered by the words of Bernie Goldberg who said on Fox that liberals have "Palin Derangement Syndrome" and are driven crazy by her because she has five kids--one with Down syndrome which "liberals certainly don't allow that to happen [to them.]"

WATCH:

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FOX News Interview With Obama Follows A 'Lightning Round' Format (VIDEO)

2009-11-19T00:43:04Z

Aside from taking a moment to wish the Obamas a "happy and joyous holiday season," FOX News's Major Garrett cut right to the chase in his interview with President Obama in Beijing.

Garrett made it clear from the get-go that the interview would have a "lightning round nature" to it. Covering everything from jobs to Guantanamo to Middle East relations, Garrett's questions focused largely on deadlines and were geared more toward "yes" or "no" answers.

When Garrett asked whether the proposed, 2010 jobs bill would raise the deficit, Obama meandered in his response, giving too layered an answer for Garrett, who had asked the President to "indulge yourself, if you will, in short answers."

Garrett quickly reeled him back in: "Does it raise the deficit or does it not?" Obama responded: "We haven't seen that, and that's part of a reason why I think we want to take a look at the summit."

Garrett grilled the President on his commitment to meeting deadlines, on everything from health care to the South Korea trade agreement. When asked about whether he was disappointed to miss his Guantanamo deadline, Obama acknowledged that, "as usual in Washington, things move slower than I anticipated."

On health care, Garrett focused on the Stupak language in the bill, which has to do with whether federal funds should cover abortions, and has been a source of recent debate. Garrett asked: "Will you sign legislation on Health Care that includes the Stupak language?"

OBAMA: You know, I think that there is a balance to be achieved that is consistent with the Hyde amendment -- what existed before we reformed Health Care.

Garrett insisted on a clearer answer: "Yes or no, does the Stupak language strike that balance?"

"Not yet," Obama replied.

Obama offered his most straightforward response when asked about Israel's intentions to put more settlements in Gilo:

"I think that additional settlement building does not contribute to Israel's security, I think it makes it harder for them to make peace with their neighbors, I think it embitters the Palestinians in a way that could end up being very dangerous, and it makes, makes it hard to relaunch any kind of serious talks about how you achieve s two state solution."

The interview comes after a verbal battle between the White House and FOX News, in which the White House called the network a "wing of the Republican Party." The war of words was not brought up in the interview, which remained civil throughout.

WATCH FOX News's interview with Obama:

Read more: Fox News, Major Garrett, Fox News Obama Interview, Major Garrett Obama Interview, Beijing Obama Interview, Media News

John Amato: I Filed an FCC Complaint Against FOX News Over "Hoax" News Palin Coverage!

2009-11-18T22:13:47Z

Think Progress caught Fox News using old campaign footage of a McCain/Palin rally from 2008 to make it appear like the crowds she's drawing on her book tour are larger than they are.

Think Progress:

This afternoon, Fox News host Gregg Jarrett proudly announced that Sarah Palin is “continuing to draw huge crowds while she’s promoting her brand new book. Take a look at — these are some of the pictures just coming into us.” But the pictures that the network chose to display on-air appeared to be old file footage of Palin rallies from the 2008 presidential campaign. Individuals in the crowd are seen holding McCain/Palin signs, and others are holding pom-poms and cheering wildly. “There’s a crowd of folks,” an enthused Jarrett observed, referring to the old footage.

Media Matters followed up that report with more facts to support the claim, which in my mind should be called a HOAX.

Earlier, Think Progress caught Fox News showing what was clearly footage of 2008 Sarah Palin campaign rallies but claiming that it was video of "huge crowds" attending Palin's book tour.

But in case the McCain-Palin campaign signs and tee-shirts clearly visible in the footage Fox aired aren't enough to make Fox apologize, here's further proof.

Here's a screenshot of the footage of one of the rallies that Fox's Gregg Jarrett showed today and claimed was "just coming into us" as part of the book tour:

And here's a photo posted last year by Florida TV station CFNews 13 of a November 1, 2008, Palin rally in Ocala, Florida:And here's a video of that same rally that TPM posted way back in 2008 -- when it actually happened.

Fox News is not operating like a news organization. In the FCC it states:

“Hoaxes. The Commission's prohibition against the broadcast of hoaxes is set forth at
Section 73.1217 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R. § 73.1217.

This rule prohibits broadcast licensees or permittees from broadcasting false
information concerning a crime or a catastrophe if: (1) the licensee knows
this information is false; (2) it is foreseeable that broadcast of the
information will cause substantial public harm; and (3) broadcast of the
information does in fact directly cause substantial public harm

FOX News is passing on "false information" to the public. This must end. They were busted by Jon Stewart of the Daily Show when Sean Hannity used the same technique to make it seem like a tea party rally was bigger than it actually was. And you know Hannity was told to apologize by "legal" over the "Hoax" he tried to get away with. Inadvertent footage doesn't end up on a network show. That's a bogus explanation.

I think it's time we started to take action and the first step is to file an FCC complaint report here. Please join me here and at CrooksandLiars.com to expose these "Hoaxes" by News Corp.

Read more: Fox News, Media News

Fox News Runs Old Palin Campaign Footage, Reports It As Book-Signing Crowds [UPDATE]

2009-11-18T17:38:40Z
Last week, Jon Stewart and The Daily Show caught Fox News' Sean Hannity running old footage of September Tea Party crowds in an attempt to make Michele Bachmann's smaller November Tea Party shindig appear to be more well-attended than it was. Is Fox up to the same tricks today? Faiz Shakir at ThinkProgress thinks so, and he pulls a segment that seems to tout the crowds that greeted Sarah Palin on the stump during the 2008 campaign as throngs that are gathering to purchase Sarah Palin's book, Going Rogue.

In the clip below, watch as Fox anchor Gregg Jarrett describes "pictures just coming into us" as "huge crowds" that have amassed while Palin is "promoting her new book." The pictures that are supposedly "just coming in" are actually year-old video from the presidential campaign:

[WATCH]

For what it's worth, I think this appears to be little more than a momentary disconnect between newsreader and news producer than a conscious attempt to mislead. I am sure that Fox News is more than aware that crowds are mainly gathering today at a mall in Michigan, where Palin is expected to appear, and not at some rally that Palin presided over today. Of course, the fact that Fox was caught manipulating footage in a misleading manner is only going to spur further suspicions when things like this happen.

MSNBC has also been reporting on Palin's book signing all day today. It's not something that Fox is likely to have missed, and it looks a little something like this:

[WATCH]

UPDATE: Fox has released a statement:

"This was a production error in which the copy editor changed a script and didn't alert the control room to update the video...There will be an on-air explanation during Happening Now on Thursday."

Mark Silva, writing for the Chicago Tribune's The Swamp blog, reports that "that it's highly like [sic] that serious disciplinary action will be taken for those responsible behind the scenes in the control room. News executives there consider this to have been a sloppy and unnecessary error.'

UPDATE, AGAIN: Fox aired an apology for the video mistake this afternoon:

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

Read more: Fox News, Jon Stewart, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin Fox News, Fox News Palin, Palin Fox News, Media News