A Spork in the Drawer

Cheerleaders And Hooters Girls

Fox "News" covers the Democratic National Convention.

Fair and balanced!

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Shocking!

Regular viewers of Fox "News" prefer St. John!

Eighty-seven percent (87%) of Fox News viewers say they are likely to vote for John McCain, while those who watch CNN and MSNBC plan to support Barack Obama in November by more than two to one.

It's worth remembering that Fox viewers are among the worst informed consumers of news.

[Via Chris Bowers.]

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Fancy Lad?

Fancy lad!

One week after she appeared on the July 7 edition of MSNBC Live and referred to Sens. Barack Obama and John Kerry (D-MA) as "two Ivy League fancy lads," Fox News hosted Republican strategist Andrea Tantaros on the July 14 edition of America's Newsroom, during which she called Obama "a fancy lad." Tantaros was discussing the possibility of Obama's speaking in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate and called the proposition "risky," adding that "Obama needs some gravitas, and so that's why they're sending him there. He's a fancy lad.

Now, we all know what this particular Republiscum is implying but who the hell uses the term "fancy lad"?

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It's Tarbox Time!

Fox's E.D. Hill (née Tarbox) does it again:

Hill thought the network should be "fair and balanced" covering McCain too even though the network focuses on African-Americans. McGlowan quipped, " Why keep us in the black?" Hill asked McGlowan, "What's the difference between an American perspective and an African-American perspective?" Hill's question framed the message of the entire segment. Jane Hall straddled the fence as always. [emphasis added]

No terrorist fist-bumps this time.

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A New Low For Fox "News"

Never assume that the rightwing has gone as low as is possible. Case in point: Fox is now doctoring photographs to be insulting:

What truly amazes me isn't that the right relies so heavily on insults, it's that the insults are so childish.

Perhaps someday grown-up Republicans will reclaim their party. But I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

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Our True Face

Via Jesse, wanna buy an Obama monkey doll?

And did you know about Obama's Baby Mama?





Yeah, racism sure is dead.

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Terrorist Fist-Bumped Out Of A Show

Edie Tarbox apologizes:

HILL: Want to start the show by clarifying something I said on the show last Friday about an upcoming body language segment. Now, I mentioned various ways the Obamas' fist pump in St. Paul had been characterized in the media. I apologize because unfortunately, some thought I personally had characterized it inappropriately. I regret that. It was not my intention. And I certainly didn't mean to associate the word "terrorist" in any way to Senator Obama and his wife. Now, today, the senator is talking about the economy.

Better still, by way of Josh Marshall, we find that Fox "News" has cancelled Edie's show. She'll stay at Fox "in a capacity to be determined."

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Stay Classy, Fox

E.D. Hill (aka The Artist Formerly Known as Edie Tarbox) on Tuesday's meeting of knuckles between Barack and Michelle Obama:

A fist bump? A pound? A terrorist fist jab?

What else could say "fair and balanced" more eloquently?

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The Lincoln-Douglas Debates Of 1858

We all know that Fox pretty much make up the "news" that they broadcast. But now they're making up history as well:

Video at link.

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Put Down The Bottle And Step Away Slowly

This is just plain bizarre. Candy Lightner, founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), appeared on Fox "News" yesterday to argue that soldiers under the age of 21 should not be able to drink alcohol:

Koroknay-Palicz said U.S. soldiers between the ages of 18 and 21 should have the legal right to drink a beer, which seems more than reasonable considering that they might, you know, die at any moment. (You need to unwind after your day at work?) But Lightner was disgusted that our fighting men and women would have the audacity to imbibe. She ranted that 18-year-olds haven't "developed, and that's exactly why the draft age is 18, because these kids are malleable." She added: "They will follow the leader, they don't think for themselves, and they are the last ones I want to say, 'Here's a gun, and here's a beer.' They are not adult—that's why they're in the military. They are not adults."

No matter how you parse that it's a deeply weird, unhinged statement.

[Via Hit & Run.]

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Chaos At Faux "News"!

First, Chris Wallace spends five minutes with the friendly friends at "Fox and Friends" admonishing them for "two hours of Obama-bashing." Steve Doocy is unamused. Then, if that's not bad enough for the Friends, friendly friend Brian Kilmeade walks off the show for the same reason. Steve Doocy remains unamused.

WWRD?*

(Video at both links.)

*What Would Rupert Do?

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Hitlers! Hitlers Everywhere!

We should have seen this coming. The latest Hitler? Barack Obama.

Honestly, the Republican wingers need to be driven out of this country.

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Fair And Balanced

From C&L, Fox "News" does it again:

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No One Could Have Predicted

Shocking:

Karl Rove, the strategist behind President George W. Bush's ascendancy to the White House, will join Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel as a contributor starting with Super Tuesday, the network said.

KKKarl will no doubt be adding to that FOX "News" sheen of "fair and balanced."

Or possibly just its oily sheen.

[Via JMM.]

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Nothing Surprises Me Anymore

FOX "News" (who else?) is airing a big ol' documentary on George this weekend (shot in hi-def!) in which:

We talked a lot about President Lincoln. And there’s going to be a lot of people out there who watch this hour and say, is he trying to equate himself with Lincoln?

I tell you what — he thinks about Lincoln and the tough times that he had during the Civil War. 600,000 dead. The country essentially hated him when he was leaving office.

Let me know when you're done laughing.

Not yet? OK.

Right then. "The country essentially hated [Lincoln] when he was leaving office."

Apparently neither Bush nor reporter Bret Baier have ever heard the old joke, "But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

We're surrounded by idiots.

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I'm Glad I'm Not A Football Fan

Coming to a Superbowl near you:

On Feb. 3, a k a Super Bowl Sunday, in an original News Corp. smorgasbord, reporters from FOX News will be teaming up with reporters from FOX owned and operated stations from around the country for a three hour broadcast event, focusing on—USA! USA!—presidential politics and professional football.

[...]

As the anchors toggle back and forth between discussion of the Super Bowl and Super Tuesday, they will chew over political dispatches from FOX Broadcasting reporters from around the country.

I'm sure it will be "fair and balanced."

[Via C&L.]

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"FOX News sucks! FOX News sucks!"

From Cliff Schecter, it appears the the Ronbots really don't like FOX "News" and chase a terrified Sean Hannity:

It almost makes you feel sorry for Hannity.

On second thought, no it doesn't.

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[cue nelson muntz]

The average number of FOX business news each day: 6,300

[Via Paul Krugman.]




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In Which I Agree With Willard

Alone among the teevee networks FOX "News" maintains a copyright stranglehold on the presidential debates they air. The Mittster has told them to get stuffed:

The Romney campaign has sent a letter to Fox News saying that they will defy the network's request that all the GOP campaigns "cease and desist" from using Fox debate footage in ads or on their web sites, I've just learned.

[...]

So we checked in with the Romney campaign to see what was up. And Romney spokesman Kevin Madden confirmed that the campaign has informed Fox that they were defying the request.

Romney may be all suit and no substance save for the flip-flops and he may be the biggest threat to the Democrats taking the White House next year (IMHO) but he's absolutely right on this issue. Neither FAUX nor any one else should control such footage. Copyrights be damned.

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Kill Me Now

Fox News: Al Qaeda is causing the CA wildires.

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Would You Like To Play A Game?

Iiiiiiiit's time for...Whack-a-Murdoch!

Be sure to check out StopBigMedia.com

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Ooopsie!

FOX "News" makes so many "mistakes."

I can't imagine how such things happen.

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Only FOX "News"...

...could take the tubercular jackass and use the case to whip up fear about terrorism.

That some people get their information from FAUXNews boggles the mind.

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Who'da Thunk It?

Pew Research Center:

There are substantial differences in the knowledge levels of the audiences for different news outlets. However, there is no clear connection between news formats and what audiences know. Well-informed audiences come from cable (Daily Show/Colbert Report, O'Reilly Factor), the internet (especially major newspaper websites), broadcast TV (NewsHour with Jim Lehrer) and radio (NPR, Rush Limbaugh's program). The less informed audiences also frequent a mix of formats: broadcast television (network morning news shows, local news), cable (Fox News Channel), and the internet (online blogs where people discuss news events).

So FOX "News" viewers are only slightly less ignorant than morning happy-chat show viewers.

Can anyone actually be surprised by this?

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Pushback

This morning E.J. Dionne chooses as his subject FOX "News" and the increasing refusal of Dem politicians to play along with the network. But I can't say I agree with this:

From the late 1960s until the past few years, media criticism was dominated by conservatives railing against a supposedly "liberal media." Hearing mostly from this one side, editors, publishers and producers looked constantly over their right shoulders, rarely imagining they could be biased against the left or too accommodating to Republican presidents. This was a great conservative victory.

The Bush years have changed that. Aggressive media criticism is now the rule across the liberal blogs, and new monitoring organizations such as Media Matters for America police news reports for signs of Republican bias, often debunking charges against Democrats. When you combine liberal and conservative media criticism you get a result that is more or less fair and balanced. Score a net gain for liberals.

This is the "if we're being attacked by both sides then then we're doing it right" theory of media criticism. Binary thinking. There is a third possibilty: The news nets really are doing a bad job.

Dionne recounts FOX's insinuation that Barack Obama attended a Jihadi-style madrassa in Indonesia and points out that CNN quickly debunked that nonsense. True enough. But Dionne fails to mention that CNN was a prime mover of the "Nancy Pelosi demanded a fancy airplane" slander (not to mention their "Nancy Pelosi went to Syria AIEEEE!" slander). And this is just CNN. And this is just Nancy Pelosi. Any quick Google search will turn up scores of examples of cable and broadcast news repeating RNC talking points. Only recently, because of the gathering weight of evidence due to Congressional investigations are the news nets casting a critical eye at the Republicans and the White House.

So, no, E.J., it's not yet fair and balanced. Or maybe it is, when you think about it.

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ADDED: Just last night Katie Couric pushed the "Obama went to a madrassa!" talking point. Unbelievable. Scratch that. Believable.

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John Edwards Steps Up

Edwards continues to refuse to play footsie with FOX "News."

"There's just no reason for Democrats to give Fox a platform to advance the right-wing agenda while pretending to be objective," said Edwards Deputy Campaign Manager Jonathan Prince, in a statement explaining why Edwards will not appear at a September debate also sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus.

Good for him.

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Well OK Then

There was a terrorist bomb hoax in Boston today. Fox "News" was there:

Today on Studio B with Shepard Smith the whole show was spent on several devices throughout Boston that at first they thought might be bombs.

Turns out that one of the devices was a picture of a man flipping someone off and another was a figure that depicted a picture of what is called an Aqua Teen Mooninite. [...]

More from Raw Story.

Are the green and pink figures, lower right, Mooninites or terrorists? Only Fox "News" knows!

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UPDATE: It was a marketing stunt gone awry:

Turner Broadcasting, parent company of Cartoon Network, said the devices were part of a promotion for the TV show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force."

"The packages in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger," Turner said in a statement. It said the devices have been in place for two to three weeks in 10 cities: Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Austin, Texas, San Francisco and Philadelphia.

"We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger," the company said.

Turner Broadcasting is owned by Time-Warner, which also owns CNN. Fox "News" will likely be having fun with that fact.

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What Would Neil Cavuto Do?

Newshounds:

Cavuto's response:

OK. You seem to be saying that Jesus probably wouldn't shop at Wal-Mart but I'm looking at Jesus' writings and I'm saying, well, would Jesus want folks to get a break on paying for goods and save an average of $2,000 a year, as seems to be the case with Wal-Mart shoppers. Would Jesus want to give 1.3 million Americans the chance to be employed, as Wal-Mart apparently does? I think Jesus would be on board with that.

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