News Hounds

Malkin And Hannity Misinform About Military Ballots To Hype Voter Hysteria

Reported by Ellen - Thu 8:52 PM

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for efforts to improve the integrity of our voting system. But the selective outrage, the deliberate attempts to mislead viewers about voting issues and the calculated use of inflammatory rhetoric last night (10/27/10) by Sean Hannity and Michelle Malkin proved nothing about voter problems and everything about their own disingenuous agenda.

Palin Refuses To "Refudiate" Glenn Beck

Reported by Ellen - Thu 1:01 PM

Recently, Media Matters' David Brock announced that he was going to personally call Sarah Palin and ask her to put partisanship aside and "pull this country back from the precipice of another Oklahoma City" by taking a stand against the inflamed, violent rhetoric coming from the mouths of Glenn Beck. It's a brilliant move. But unfortunately, coming as it did from Media Matters, it was predictable that Palin would not side with them against her Fox News colleague. Instead, Palin not only sneered with Beck at the prospect, she pledged her support to Beck and took her own inflammatory shots at Media Matters and the left.

Fox News Civil War! Rove Takes A Sharper Shot At Palin

Reported by Ellen - Thu 1:16 AM

I recently posted that Karl Rove's less-than-enthusiastic comments about a Palin presidential run in 2012 presaged a Fox News Civil War on the not-too-distant horizon. Now Rove has taken another, sharper shot at Sarah Palin in yesterday's (10/27/10) Daily Telegraph of London, all but flatly stating she lacks the gravitas for the job.

This Election A Referendum On Fox News

Reported by Ellen - Wed 11:05 PM

David Neiwert has a great post at Crooks and Liars called, Maybe We Should Just Call This The Fox Election. In it, he points out just how far and deep Fox News' influence has gone: from promoting the Tea Parties, to helping the GOP fundraise on the air to the "death panels" attacks on health care reform Fox News has been a driving engine in the 2010 narrative.

When is a Car Not a Car? When It's A Bus, On Fox and Friends

Reported by Alex - Wed 7:52 PM

This morning on Fox and Friends, Brian Kilmeade was in such a tizzy over President Obama's recent metaphorical jab at Republicans that I thought I would have to wipe his spittle off the inside of my screen. Above a banner reading “Political Segregation?” Kilmeade huffed that the President has taken “a sharp turn from his campaign rhetoric, when he preached bipartisanship – remember?” Kilmeade, who stumbled over his words in righteous indignation, was joined by Fox News “analyst” Peter Johnson Jr., who twisted the car metaphor Obama has been using for months into a “a peculiar and strange and haunting and really backward reference …to being in the back of the bus.” He went on to claim that Obama had said (to Republicans), “You can’t have the keys, but we’ll let you sit in the back of the bus.” The President, of course, said no such thing. To borrow from Shakespeare: Johnson and Kilmeade need more brains and less earwax. With video.

Megyn Kelly Tells Homophobic Lie?

Reported by Priscilla - Wed 7:12 PM

Yesterday, Megyn Kelly and her guest, Fox News resident Catholic priest, Father Jonathan Morris, were very sympathetic towards NY Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s contention that an off Broadway hit, “Divine Sister,” and the NY Times coverage of it, were “biased” against Roman Catholics. At the end of the segment, Megyn Kelly clearly said this: “The group behind that play, 'Divine Sister,' is called ‘Rainbow Sash.’ That is a group know for disrupting Mass…” I contacted the group regarding Kelly’s assertions about their organization and they, clearly, denied Kelly’s claims. Their response below the fold.

Fox Nation Readers Chat About Lynching Obama

Reported by Ellen - Wed 4:46 PM

This is disgusting, even by Fox Nation standards. By the way, this is supposed to be a moderated forum. (H/T James W.) We reported the thread to the White House.

Fox News Double Standard? NY Post Praises “Divine Sister”

Reported by Priscilla - Wed 3:04 PM

Earlier this week, the Fox “News” channel upped the ante on its ongoing right wing propaganda about the evil, left wing NY Times by providing validation for those who support NY Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s allegation that the Times is anti-Catholic. NY Archbishop Timothy Dolan has his cassock in a twist because Times, in addition to giving favorable reviews to a play and an art exhibit that Dolan doesn’t like, included photos that the Archbishop considers to be obscene. Acting as his spokesmen were right wing Catholic League President, Bill Donohue and Fox News’ resident (and only) clergyman, Catholic priest Father Jonathan Morris. While Donohue, on Fox & Friends, saved his ire for the ACT-UP exhibit, Father Morris, on Megyn Kelly's "America Live," (the title of the Fox Video is "NY Times Anti-Catholic Bias?") was most agitated about how the off Broadway hit, “Divine Sister,” was offensive to nuns. He also thought that the photos, in the NY Times theater review, were “nasty and disgusting.” When Kelly claimed that a radical gay group, that “disrupts Mass,” was behind the play, Father Morrison conspiratorially hinted at an “agenda.” But wait, hold on, ohmagawed – Murdoch’s NY Post theater critic, Elizabeth Vincentelli, provides a rave review. In her article, “In Divine Comedy, This Mother’s Superior,” she describes the “arch camp” humor in a show that “won't win prizes for sophistication, but it sure could be habit-forming.” So shouldn’t the Archbishop, Fox “News,” Bill Donohue, and Father Morrison be concerned how the NY Post, like the NY Times, has “a problem with Christian principals.” I’m confused….

Megyn Kelly Goes Homophobic In Advancing Archbishop Dolan’s Attack On NY Times?

Reported by Priscilla - Wed 1:50 PM

Oh look who is reinforcing Catholic League President Bill Donohue’s homophobic rant regarding the sinful NY Times which has the audacity to write favorable reviews about media events that NY Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan doesn’t like. Why it's Fox News’ house clergyman, Father Jonathan Morris, who is just so outraged about that outrageous NY Times, ACT UP, and an off Broadway spoof of Hollywood depictions of nuns. Not surprisingly, his hissy fit was validated by Megyn Kelly whose last conversation with the puckish padre was about how those dirty Muslims, who have "no absolute right to religious liberty, need to show some concern about the “common good” and move their nasty Islamic cultural center someplace where good Christians won’t be offended. If only we could bring back the good old days of the Inquisition, Archbishop Tim would be able to throw the offending newspapers, their authors, and the cast of the nasty play on the bonfire; but sadly, for the Bishop, we live in a secular, diverse democracy which has, as one of its evil secular tenets, freedom of speech. But Dolan has issued a fatwa against the NY Times; and as such, he is being assisted in this mission from God by the legion of decency in America’s Christian newsroom, Fox News which, on Monday, gave wild Bill Donohue a platform for his unrebutted homophobic freak out about these egregious, anti-Catholic offenses. And yesterday we had Father Jonathan who, while not going the homo hating route except for a teensy comment at the end of his homily, is certainly quite upset. And because he is upset he even told a little fib. Or maybe he was just confused. Poor Father Jonathan, those gay themed ACT UP posters can be just so disturbing.

Rove And Van Susteren Think We’re Too Unsophisticated To Know What “Sophisticated” Means

Reported by Ellen - Wed 12:38 PM

If it wasn’t so insulting, Karl Rove’s and Greta Van Susteren’s attempt to spin Rove’s “The tea party is unsophisticated” comments as a compliment would have been hilarious. Instead, the political power broker and TV host (each of whom would probably cringe if anyone called either of them unsophisticated) insisted that “sophisticated” is an insult that means snobby and elite. Of course, it means nothing of the sort and I can’t believe they don’t know it.

Fox News Prime Time GOP Fundraising Of The Day Goes To Barney Frank’s Opponent

Reported by Ellen - Wed 12:38 AM

Sean Hannity hosted Congresman Barney Frank’s Congressional opponent, Sean Bielat, for some blatant campaign assistance last night (10/26/10) that included a not-so-subtle hint for Bielat to pimp his money bomb.

Fox News Runs Damage Control For Rand Paul Re Assault On MoveOn.org Activist

Reported by Ellen - Tue 6:48 PM

Last night (10/25/10), MoveOn.org activist Lauren Valle was tackled and then stomped on outside the Rand Paul/Jack Conway debate venue. It has since been determined that the stomper was a volunteer with the Paul campaign which subsequently dismissed him. In the wake of such a potentially damaging incident in one of 2010's hottest campaigns, who did Republican Paul turn to the morning after? Why, Fox News, of course. Predictably, Fox did its part to downplay the attack and promote Paul's talking points.

Fox News Contributor Dr. Keith Ablow Attacks Barack & Michelle Obama’s Patriotism

Reported by Priscilla - Tue 2:30 PM

The meme that Obama hates his country was a staple feature of the 2008 campaign. It was a talking point promoted by “great Americans” like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Fox Nation and other members of the radical right who now want to “take their country back” from our first African American president. This theme of an “uppity” black politician who didn’t seem to be sufficiently grateful to the white, male, and right wing masters of the American universe and who doesn’t hew to the right wing message of American “exceptionalism,” seemed to have disappeared; but now that it’s close to an election, that’s all about visceral hatred for Barack Obama, it has reared its ugly head. Surprisingly it’s not coming from the usual pitchfork crowd of right wing hate mongers; but rather, from a member of the medical “elite” – Fox News favorite psychiatrist, Dr. Keith Ablow, who is a Republican and who was last seen on Fox’s Megyn Kelly show where he deplored the creeping nanny state that monitors the body mass of American school children. He also provides validation for Glenn Beck as shown by his response to Beck’s contention that Obama has a problem with race. Ablow, being his objective medical self, said that “The president needs to look at himself and say, ‘Do I have prejudice that I wasn’t even aware of, perhaps, towards white people?” So surprise, surprise, this morning we have a Fox News “opinion” column which says that America is “in denial” about Obama because they just can’t deal with Obama’s questionable loyalty to America. Ablow burnishes his “creds” by invoking his experience as a doctor in order to do a “virtual” psychological evaluation on the feelings of Americans towards their president. How’s that for some nice, slick agitprop?

O’Reilly: Speaking Openly About "The Muslim Problem" Is A Winning Campaign Strategy

Reported by Ellen - Tue 8:22 AM

One week ago, on the night that Juan Williams spoke his now-infamous comments about Muslims on an airplane, O’Reilly went on an anti-Muslim rant that was a million times worse than anything he said on The View. The gist of it was that “political correctness” (think Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar) was preventing people from acknowledging the wisdom of those (think O’Reilly) speaking openly about the “huge” “Muslim threat to the world.” Last night (10/25/10), O’Reilly was back with the same “We’ve got to talk openly about the Muslim problem” message but this time, he suggested it could help win elections..

Jimmy "The Rent Is Too Damn High" McMillan Visits Hannity

Reported by Ellen - Mon 11:18 PM

Jimmy McMillan, of "The Rent Is Too Damn High" Party was a guest on Hannity tonight. I was expecting fireworks. But Sean Hannity was on his best behavior - not that that precluded all bullying, but he was generally polite about it. The result? They wound up agreeing that taxes are too damn high. And McMillan left the gloves at home.

The Glenn Beck Omnibus of Recent Inanities

Reported by Guest Blogger - Mon 6:20 PM

By Aunty Em

The biggest problem with covering Glenn Beck on a regular basis is that he’s so damned ubiquitous: a 3-hour radio show and a 1-hour tee vee show every weekday; regular appearances on the Bill O’Reilly All Spin Zone or the Fox & Friends Curvy Couch; live shows, both with and without his falafel sidekick O’Reilly; semi-religious benedictions to large crowds on the National Mall; best-selling books spit out of his Word Whacker on the average of 2 a year, with all the attendant book signing appearances that implies; not to mention all the video mashups and various articles (both pro- and con-Beck) in various media found all over the innertubes. A writer covering Beck first needs to separate the wheat from the chaff. However, even once you (okay, me actually) decide what’s worth writing about, another appearance by Ben Gleck™, in another venue, makes most of what’s already written in a first draft obsolete, or he spews something so outrageous it becomes the shiny new object to chase. Here are some recent odds & ends that never made it to a full column.

Don't Believe The Fox News Fear Mongering About Overseas Ballots

Reported by Ellen - Mon 3:59 PM

We were recently contacted by a representative of the Federal Voting Assistance Program in response to our posts about Fox News' faux military ballots controversy. As a companion piece to their trumped up accusations about the New Black Panther Party, Fox is now accusing the Obama administration of not enforcing a deadline for getting out military and overseas ballots, despite a lack of evidence that that's really the case. Now, we've got evidence to the contrary. Some states have an agreement with the DOJ to extend the deadline to receive ballots from military service members and other U.S. citizens living overseas. Military and overseas voters can also access their ballots online via FVAP.gov.

Catholic League’s Bill Donohue Engages In Homophobic Rant On Fox & Friends

Reported by Priscilla - Mon 12:11 PM

As an uber right wing Catholic, Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League, is warmly welcomed on the Fox “News” channel where he is allowed to whine about prejudice against Catholics and spew his homophobic histrionics about gays which includes blaming gays for the pedophilia crisis (and if there was no actual sex, it wasn’t rape) in the Catholic Church. Donohue, not an official spokesperson for the Catholic Church, actually combines his homophobia with anti-Semitism as shown by his comment that "Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular ... Hollywood likes anal sex.” Good Catholic Donohue, (dress him up in nun drag, give him a ruler, and he’s my 8th grade teacher) was last seen on Fox & Friends where he twice publicized his jihad (whoops catholic crusade) against the “little preppy boys” (!?!) at the Empire State Building management because they wouldn’t light up the building for Mother Teresa’s birthday. And now America’s number one Catholic homo hater is back on Fox & Friends to loudly bitch about how the evil NY Times praised an art exhibit that Bill and his pal, NY’s archbishop Timothy Dolan, don’t like - The subject of the exhibit – “guerrilla art” posters done by ACT UP. Donahue also ranted about how the NY Times published an offensive photo in their review of a play about nuns that Donohue and Dolan don’t like. So it’s another one sided agitprop twofer for Fox & Friends – persecuted Catholics and the evil, librul NY Times. There’s a gay, Jewish, liberal, and NYTimes agenda out there folks, and Fox “News” wants you to know about it!

Don’t Let Fox News Defund NPR

Reported by Ellen - Mon 12:58 AM

In the wake of NPR firing Juan Williams, Fox News has joined the right wing in renewing its longstanding campaign to defund NPR. But as Free Press notes, cutting off NPR funding as punishment for firing Williams is like seeking the death penalty in small claims court. Please join us in supporting Free Press’ campaign to defend NPR.

After Badgering And Belittling Muslim Guest, Megyn Kelly Boasts About Her Impartiality Over Juan Williams' Firing

Reported by Ellen - Sun 11:42 PM

Megyn Kelly did her very best to bully, badger and belittle her guest, Ibrahim Hooper, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Thursday (10/21/10), over NPR's firing of Juan Williams for his "honest" comments showing bigotry against Muslims. Unfortunately for Kelly, in her shrill frustration over her inability to browbeat or cow Hooper into admitting his "intolerance," Kelly hilariously insisted, "I'm not taking an opinion, Sir. I'm asking you what you think." Hooper did a fabulous job not just pushing back but reframing the discussion. He's our latest Top Dog. UPDATED WITH CORRECT VIDEO