Sausage Being Made: From Karl Rove to GOP to FOX

He's a prize, ain't he? Image from source, Media Matters

This is how it's done, folks, it's just not always quite as easy to follow.

[Excerpt]

From Karl Rove's Mouth, To A GOP Talking Point, To Fox's Ear 

Fox contributor Karl Rove lobbed a line of attack at President Obama during a Fox News Sunday appearance that quickly found its way into a Monday morning Republican press release. While the release was being distributed, Rove returned to Fox to repeat the talking points -- the latest example of Fox News' role as the communication arm of the Republican Party. . .

Read more at: Media Matters

Right Wing World: Rush Limbaugh Has Finally Lost His Mind

. . .Or lost what's left of his mind? Or thinks his audience is irredeemably stupid? Or is back on the oxy? Something's going on, because his latest claims are so empirically false, so laugh-out-loud ridiculous, there's no way anyone but the densest dittohead could believe it.

[Excerpt]

Rush Limbaugh: Conservatives Don't Suppress The Black Vote, Restrict Women's Choice, Or Lie  


Displaying a remarkable lack of self-awareness, Rush Limbaugh tried to convince a caller that "it's a pretty safe bet" that liberals always lie and conservatives never do -- an assertion he backed up with a series of his own lies on everything from abortion to minority vote suppression and the IRS. . .

Read more at: Media Matters

Media Matters Recaps Glenn Beck's Ridiculous FOX "News" Career

50 Worst Things Glenn Beck has Said on FOX "News"

Sybil had nothing on this guy. Image from Media Matters

This is, of course, ignoring the horrible things Glenn Beck has said on his radio show, in his books, in interviews, and anything else he might say from today forward. But Beck is wrapping up his days on FOX "News" this year. And in his short tenure on that (un)illustrious cable channel, he has said a staggering amount of crazy, stupid, incorrect and/or false things.

[Excerpt]

The 50 Worst Things Glenn Beck Said On Fox News

In light of Glenn Beck's announcement that his Fox News show will be ending, Media Matters for America presents the 50 worst things Beck has said on Fox. . .

Read on at: Media Matters

FOX "News" Sources Comment on "Incestuous" Nature of Guests

No, it's nothing dirty, at least not in a sexual sense. It's kind of dirty when you portray yourself as a serious news outfit though, and you have so many potential 2012 candidates for President as regular guests and hosts on your shows.  The current battle in cable news is whether or not MSNBC is the flip side of FOX "News" as a biased news source.  People disagree on that one. But there can't really be any question by now as to what is on FOX's side of the coin: a roster of potential candidates getting tons of airtime in the lead-up to an actual election.  And that's in addition to all the shilling done by their non-candidate hosts.

[Excerpt]

Fox Sources Speak Out On Network's Presidential Candidates And Extremist Coverage



Signs of friction within Fox News continue to grow as two more sources indicate "frustration" and "surprise" at the direction the news channel is taking, with one source pointing to concerns that the "opinion side bleeds over the news side. . ."
 
Read more at: Media Matters

Media Matters Says it's Time to Drop FOX "News"

Hear, hear.



Found at: Joe.My.God.

Glenn Beck's Paranoia Deepens

This guy is a loon.  But he's still popular.  I don't get it.

Glenn Beck "Wins" Media Matters' Misinformer of the Year

My goodness, how in the world could they choose? Given the stunning amount of misinformation in politics and in the media, there were so many misinformers to choose from, John Boehner, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity (last year's winner), Michelle Bachmann, and soooo many more. But I certainly won't quibble with Media Matters' choice of Glenn Beck.

[Excerpt]

Glenn Beck: Media Matters' 2009 Misinformer of the Year



Glenn Beck's well of ridiculous was deep and poisonous before he launched his Fox News show, but the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States -- and the permissive cheerleading of his Fox News honchos -- uncorked the former Morning Zoo shock jock's unique brand of vitriol, stage theatrics, and hyperbolic fright, making him an easy choice for Media Matters' 2009 Misinformer of the Year. . .

Read more at: Media Matters

So, Climate Change is a Hoax, Then?

When the right-wing gets a big talking point, you can usually count on there being more to the story. So when some scientists' emails were stolen, and FOX "News" and the rest started saying they proved global warming a.k.a. climate change was a hoax, my b.s. antennae went up. Below is an excerpt showing exactly how.

And as a personal note, how can reasonable people not believe that 6-7 billion people spewing garbage into the air might cause problems?

[Excerpt]

Quick Fact: Baier falsely suggested allegedly hacked emails dispute global warming science


On Special Report, host Bret Baier falsely suggested that a series of emails reportedly stolen from the UK's Climate Research Unit (CRU) creates a "basis for disputing global warming." In fact, the validity of climate science is not hinged on the contents of these emails, some of which conservative media have taken out of context; reports from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the leading scientific body for assessing climate change research, are the product of thousands of scientists worldwide. . .

Read more at: Media Matters

Media Matters: Rise Of The Conservative Media

Powerful. And maddening. . .

FOX "News": A 24/7 Political Operation

There is a long-standing and hard to fight myth that says that virtually all news in the mainstream media is liberally biased. I don't believe it, or at least I don't believe the bias is pervasive. MSNBC has no doubt got three and a half (Hardball vacillates) programs with a liberal slant. Straight up. But they also have Morning Joe, a three-hour chat show headlined by a former Republican Senator, Joe Scarborough. As far as I know, MSNBC's other programming does not have an overt liberal bias.

It is my belief that many conservatives perceive a lack of conservative bias to be automatically slanted left. No, I don't have sources for that, it's just in my humble opinion. But the one unavoidable, incontestable fact is that FOX "News" is absolutely, heavily slanted to the right. FOX defenders will argue that they are merely the flip side to MSNBC (or even the entirety of the news media). They'll argue that Hannity, Glenn Beck and The O'Reilly Factor are the opinion shows, the rest--more or less--is "straight news." Of course, this argument comes almost exclusively from FOX "News" employees, or "FOX fans" who are almost exclusively very conservative. If a viewer is in possession of sight, hearing and an above room temperature IQ, the bias is clear across the board.

But here, you don't have to take my word for it. Check out this video for further clarification.

Media Matters: CNN Should Drop Lou Dobbs

I've never watched the guy, but the clips I've caught and the stories I've read don't paint a very flattering picture. And his foray into the whole "birther" issue seems to make him a better fit for FOX "News" than CNN.

Glenn Beck Loses What's Left of His Mind

Image from EncyclopediaDramatica

I've written a few posts in the past about the misconception that right-wing partisanship and left-wing partisanship are just two sides of the same coin. Carrying that metaphor further are those who'll say "there ain't a dime's worth of difference between 'em." Horse pucky.

For one thing, the far-right has a very vocal, and very listened to forum in right-wing radio, and on FOX "News." What is called "far-left" is actual just left, with the far-lefters like Noam Chomsky mostly relegated to the fringes. And even the moderately left views that get expressed are not given even near as big a megaphone (or golden microphone, if you prefer). If you don't believe me, do a comparison. Check out Countdown with Keith Olbermann or The Rachel Maddow Show, and then compare them to Hannity or Glenn Beck. See if you don't see a difference in tone. But if you happened to catch Keith on a slightly strident night, and don't see a difference, check out The Thom Hartmann Program or The Ron Reagan Show on left-wing radio, and then listen to The Savage Weiner or The Glenn Beck Show on the radio.

The point I'm trying to make, is while you'll find snarkiness on left-wing radio, you will usually not find emotionally unstable, frothing, drooling rants. Maybe Randi Rhodes, but it's even rare for her. On the other hand, you can find evidence of rampant paranoia, and high-pitched, ear-splitting rants from Beck, Savage, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Reagan. . .well, you get the idea. Listen to this amazing, scary recording from Beck which should prove my point.

Beck "lose[s]" his "mind;" screams at caller: "Get off my phone you little pinhead!"



Source: Media Matters

FOX "News" & GOP Lie About Disneyland to Vegas Train

Over the past eight years (or more), liberals like me have been frustrated by false stories that take a life of their own, and become conventional wisdom. Driven by Karl Rove, and aided by FOX "News" (now even more closely aligned), these partly or totally fictitious stories were fought by liberal bloggers with varying degrees of success. Like the myth of the "liberal media" many such stories simply will not die.

We hoped that with the change in the political landscape, this would stop happening. But since the election, we've had several attempts to keep doing it. Some don't really break through, remaining on the fringe, like the idiotic "Barack Obama isn't a natural born citizen" story. Others, like this one, could go either way.

It should be pointed out that there is a concerted effort to oust Nevada's Senator Harry Reid in 2010 by the GOP, and their aligned forces in talk radio and outlets like FOX "News." So, it is no surprise that they're trying to link him to this bogus story. It worked several years ago on Tom Daschle (with an unlikely assist from Jeff Gannon), so they are sure to keep trying.

[Excerpt]



Echoing GOP, Fox figures falsely claim Reid included $8 billion in bill directed to LA-Vegas rail

In recent days, Fox News hosts and contributors have advanced the false claim -- pushed by Republican lawmakers -- that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid included a provision in the recovery bill directing that $8 billion be spent on a high-speed rail line between Southern California and Las Vegas. In fact, the bill does not direct high-speed rail funds to any specific project, and any funding would be allocated by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Republican congressman. . .

Read more at: MediaMatters

FOX "News" Broadcasts GOP Talking Points (With Typo)

Image from source, MediaMatters (note the date)

FOX "News" defenders (some of whom actually refer to themselves as "FOX Fans") often will admit that the commentary shows on the channel are biased heavily to the right. But they will usually insist that the "straight news" programs are fair and balanced, just like the channel's motto claims. Most rational people, after watching only a sampling of the news presented there can see that the bias seeps into just about everything.

Today we have evidence. FOX "News" broadcast GOP talking points as a news story, complete with with a typo from the source! What say you, Johnny Dollar?

[Excerpt]

Fox passes off GOP press release as its own research -- typo and all

In purporting to "take a look back" at how the economic recovery plan "grew, and grew, and grew," Fox News' Jon Scott referenced seven dates, as on-screen graphics cited various news sources from those time periods -- all of which came directly from a Senate Republican Communications Center press release. A Fox News on-screen graphic even reproduced a typo contained in the Republican press release. . .

Read more at: Media Matters

Sean Hannity, Misinformer of the Year

Image from source, Media Matters

Sean Hannity is one of the primary sources of ire for this blog. Though I've pretty much banished him from my TV since the debut of The Rachel Maddow Show (which airs at the same time as Hannity & Colmes), I've seen and heard enough of him the last few months to remind myself how awful he is.

Hannity is different from many of the other arch-right-wing blowhards. Rush Limbaugh seems smart enough to know that the crap he shovels is just that. He knows exactly what he's doing. Michael Weiner Savage is certifiably insane, and may not be responsible for what he spews. But Hannity seems just dumb enough to actually be sincere when lying. He's rather a conservative savant, with the singular talent to rattle off the same statistics on his fingers, over and over. The talking points don't have to be true, Hannity believes they are, and that's enough.

If liberal talker Randi Rhodes is to be believed (and I do believe her), Hannity is fed his points by Mark Levin, "the great one" as Hannity has dubbed him, a somewhat less famous right-wing talker. Levin is definitely smart enough to know he's making stuff up--and almost as nuts as Weiner--but I'm pretty sure Hannity believes every word he says. And he's making a great living doing it.

Now that Alan Colmes is leaving the show, and Hannity will just be Hannity, I wonder if his luster will fade. Repetition works on radio, but "Just Hannity" is going to very quickly become tedious.

[Excerpt]

Sean Hannity: Media Matters' 2008 Misinformer of the Year

As Media Matters for America has demonstrated time and again, Fox News' Sean Hannity has been a prolific and influential purveyor of conservative misinformation. But never has he so enthusiastically applied his talents for spreading misinformation as he did to the 2008 presidential race, focusing his energies primarily on President-elect Barack Obama. Day after day, Hannity devoted his two Fox News shows and his three-hour ABC Radio Networks program to "demonizing" the Democratic presidential candidates, starkly explaining in August: "That's my job. ... I led the 'Stop Hillary Express.' By the way, now it's the 'Stop Obama Express. . .'"

Read more at: MediaMatters

Paul Waldman of Media Matters Discusses Obama Book

I've posted pieces on the Jerome Corsi book, The Obama Nation a couple of times already. But until that book is recognized for the load of hooey it apparently is, we liberal bloggers will have to keep hammering away.

Now, I'm one of the first people to jump on critics who tear apart a book they haven't read or a movie they haven't seen. Full disclosure: I have not read The Obama Nation yet. But there is a reason I'm willing to criticize it. Many different web sites (including Obama's own) have started printing passages followed by refutations. Pages and pages and pages. One of those sites is Media Matters for America.

MMFA is falsely maligned by people like Bill O'Reilly as a left-wing "smear" site. That--no matter what you've heard--isn't true. The bias at Media Matters is in the subjects they choose to cover, and some editorializing in their summaries. But they always include transcripts, and often audio and video, so that you can decide for yourself. It's probably the most honest news analysis site you'll find.

Paul Waldman of MMFA was interviewed on C-Span regarding the Corsi book. If you're interested in this story, it is must-see.

Brit Hume Isn't Telling the Truth About Obama

Image by Editor from images found on the Internets

Wait, let me get this straight. Brit Hume, top "hard news" dog at FOX "News" misrepresented a story about Barack Obama to make it seem like his half-brother said Barack has a "Muslim background?" Get out of here!

Of course, I'm being sarcastic. "FOX Fans" usually deny that their fave cable news station is in any way biased. They will occasionally admit that their commentary shows (Hannity & Colmes, The O'Reilly Factor) are biased, but they will point to Shepard Smith or Brit Hume and insist that they are "fair and balanced." Phooey, I say.

The funny thing about this instance (one of countless examples) is that Hume's mistake was in not reading further into the article he was quoting. He quoted the introductory paragraph, which was summarizing the article. That summary made it seem like something was said that wasn't. Hume might have known that if he didn't want to make hay out of yet another Muslim angle. Maybe he ought to stop skimming, and read.

[Excerpt]

Hume falsely claimed Obama's half brother told The Jerusalem Post that Obama had a "Muslim background"

On Special Report, Brit Hume stated that Malik Obama, Sen. Barack Obama's half brother, "tells The Jerusalem Post that 'if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background.' " In fact, the article to which Hume was apparently referring indicated that Malik Obama did not speak directly with the Post but, rather, gave an interview to Israel's Army Radio. Moreover, nowhere in audio of the interview that ABC's Jake Tapper posted did Malik Obama assert that Obama "will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background. . ."

Read more at: Media Matters

John McCain: Out of Touch

Speaks for itself.



From Media Matters.

O'Reilly Labels Caller "Far Left Loon" for Being Honest

Photo from RawStory.com

There's a lot that happens in politics that is just stupid. Stupid issues, stupid gaffes, and stupid reactions to those issues and gaffes. For instance, there was Michelle Obama's "American Pride" comments (covered here and here). The whole issue was faux outrage from the right for something that was clearly not what they made it out to be.

Then, we have Bill O'Reilly using highly stupid language in response to this "scandal." In what is sure to be only one of the early stupid language choices relating to African Americans in this campaign, he used the word "lynch." He was saying that he wouldn't want to form a "lynching party," and then even more stupidly added, "unless. . ."

So, is reaction to Bill O'Reilly's stupidity also stupid? I don't think so. O'Reilly--while clearly a nut--doesn't appear to be stupid. If the word did unwittingly slip his lips, you'd think he would have quickly backtracked and apologized. But that's clearly not his style. What is his style is to label a caller in to his show--accurately depicting his behavior--as a "Far Left Loon."

[Excerpt]

O'Reilly attacked as "far-left loon" caller who asked if he would apologize for "lynching party" comment

During the February 21 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, discussing the controversy surrounding his prior remarks about Michelle Obama, Bill O'Reilly stated: "The word 'lynching' was used because I said it quite clearly. I'm not going to go on some lynching party against Michelle Obama; that's ridiculous." [snip]

Earlier during the February 21 show, a caller asked O'Reilly: "Do you think you owe Michelle Obama an apology for that disrespectful lynching analogy?" O'Reilly replied: "Of course not. I stuck up for the man -- the woman, I'm sorry." He later called the caller a "far-left loon. . ."

Read more at: Media Matters