From Media Matters:
Bill O'Reilly attacked comments from former President Jimmy Carter about Fox News' race baiting and its role in promoting falsehoods about President Obama's citizenship and religion. But Carter was right: birtherism, race baiting attacks on Obama, and lies about his religion have all found a home on Fox News.
O'Reilly: Carter's "ridiculous" criticism of Fox is "beneath a former president"
O'Reilly: "Carter can simply not back up what he says." On the September 21 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly aired snippets from an interview in which Carter offered criticism of Fox for having "attempted to twist around what [Obama's[ religious faith is and whether or not he's an American" and their tendency to "inject race" into their coverage of Obama. O'Reilly then criticized Carter for "not telling the truth":
OREILLY: And while we're on the subject of presidents, Jimmy Carter is a Fox News hater. Did you know that? Speaking on CNN he said this about President Obama and FNC.
CARTER [video clip]: A lot of gullible folks in the United States actually believe what Fox puts forward as facts when most of it is just complete distortions. And they've also attempted to twist around what his religious faith is and whether or not he's an American and so forth. So I think that's a new version of cable news. [edit] I would attribute most of the negative attitude not to the facts, but to the distorted facts that comes out of Fox. [edit] There has been a deliberate effort -- again, referring to Fox Broadcasting -- to inject the race issue into it.
O'REILLY: I think Larry fell asleep during that interview, I'm not sure. So let's examine Mr. Carter's statements. We can find no Fox News employee who has said President Obama is a Muslim. We can find no Fox News employee who has said the president was not born in America. Now, years ago there was some misreporting on a madrassa story, but corrections were quickly issued. So it seems Mr. Carter is not telling the truth, and it is beneath a former president to accuse FNC of injecting race into the political process as Carter does. Carter can simply not back up what he says, in fact he's afraid to appear here on the Factor. Because he'd look foolish. His ridiculous statements are irresponsible and reflect poorly on him.
O'Reilly edited video to cover up Beck's race baiting
O'Reilly cropped video to hide Carter's statement that Fox "called Obama a racist" -- a clear reference to Beck. While O'Reilly claims that Carter "can simply not back up what he says" and says that "it is beneath a former president to accuse FNC of injecting race into the political process," O'Reilly crops Carter's quote to cover up the fact that he said that Fox has "actually called Obama a racist on television." From Carter's September 20 interview on CNN's Larry King Live (portion aired by O'Reilly in bold):
CARTER: I don't think the Tea Party people are racist, except maybe a tiny portion of them. But there has been a deliberate effort -- again, referring to Fox Broadcasting -- to inject the race issue into it. They have actually called Obama a racist on television. And when they say, like some of the leaders of the Republican Party have said, that he's epitomizing the tribal influence of his father from Kenya, you know, that obviously has political connotations. So I think -- I mean, racist connotations.
In 2009, Beck called Obama a "racist" with "a deep-seated hatred for white people." On the July 28, 2009, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Glenn Beck said that Obama "has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture" and "is, I believe, a racist," a statement he subsequently claimed to stand by, in spite of growing criticism. Beck's comments were condemned by a wide variety of media figures. A year later, Beck "amend[ed]" his statement and said he meant to attack Obama's theology.
Fox News and Fox News personalities promoted birther stories, falsehoods about Obama's faith
As O'Reilly noted, Fox & Friends had to "clarify" after pushing false smear Obama attended a "madrassa." On the January 19, 2007, editions of Fox & Friends First and Fox & Friends, Kilmeade, along with Doocy and Carlson, spent several segments advancing a false report that then-Sen. Barack Obama was raised a Muslim and attended a madrassa, or Islamic school, as a child in Indonesia. At one point, Doocy asked: "When people find out this stuff, they're going to go, 'Why didn't anybody ever mention that that man right there was raised as -- spent the first decade of his life raised by his Muslim father as a Muslim and was educated in a madrassa?' " Kilmeade responded, "Yeah, is that a problem?" He added: "Evidently, when he was a little kid, he went over to Indonesia and went to a madrassa. He -- in his two best-selling books, he doesn't really mention this in detail."
On the January 22, 2007, edition of Fox & Friends First, Doocy said he had to "clarify" the show's reporting on the fabricated madrassa story,stating that "Mr. Obama's people called and they said that that is absolutely false. They said the idea that Barack Obama went to a radical Muslim school is completely ridiculous."
Nearly three years later on O'Reilly's show, Coulter claimed Obama "attended madrassas." On the December 28, 2009, edition of The O'Reilly Factor, conservative columnist Ann Coulter said, "Andrew Sullivan pointed out, you know, what are these radical Islamists going to do when they look and see the president of the great Satan. And you know, he has brown skin. And he attended madrassas. And he talks about how he's so moved by the call to prayer five times a day. He used to hear in Indonesia. If anyone can say we're going to look for radical Islamists, it ought to be President Obama." Guest host Eric Bolling did not correct Coulter's falsehood that Obama "attended madrassas."
Coulter: Obama went "to madrassas as a child." On the December 30, 2009, edition of Glenn Beck, Coulter said: "And like I say, Obama can be doing more than Bush. He is specially situated that way, as having gone to madrassas as a child, not being a white male, which is, you know, the height of political incorrectness, but just the contrary, we're moving in exactly doing the -- making -- repeating the worst mistakes of the Bush administration."
Thomas McInerney, Fox News' birther military analyst. In an affidavit reported on August 31 by birther site WorldNetDaily, Thomas McInerney, a retired lieutenant general who now serves as a Fox News military analyst, says that he believes there are "widespread and legitimate concerns that the President is constitutionally ineligible to hold office," and expresses support for an Army officer who is currently awaiting a court-martial for refusing to obey orders from his commanding officers "until the president produces his original birth certificate."
Hannity on birthers: "[A]ll they wanted to do was say, 'Where's the birth certificate?' That's all they were asking" On the August 12, 2009, edition of his radio show, Hannity said, "This huge birther thing is another huge distraction. To try and portray conservatives as a bunch of right-wing nutjob kooks when people all they wanted to do was say, 'where's the birth certificate?' That's all they were asking. 'Show us the birth certificate.' "
Hannity promoted birther story. On the July 16, 2009, edition of Hannity, Sean Hannity recounted the story of Army Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, who claimed President Obama had not proved that he is, in Hannity's words, "a U.S. citizen." Hannity's story explained that Cook had his deployment orders revoked and that "Major Cook and his lawyer expressed joy at this outcome and they took it as an admission on the part of the military that the president is not in fact a legitimate citizen by birth." Hannity did not make clear to his viewers that Cook's assertion was incorrect.
Fox Nation repeatedly promoted birther stories using picture of Obama in Somali clothes. From the July 14, 2009 edition of The Fox Nation:
From the July 20, 2009 edition of The Fox Nation:
Fox Nation promoted WorldNetDaily birther story. The July 16, 2009 edition The Fox Nation featured the following image, linked to a story from WorldNetDaily promoting the cause of a birther's challenge to President Obama.
E.D. Hill called Obama fist bump "a terrorist fist jab." On the June 6, 2008 edition of America's Pulse, Fox anchor E.D. Hill teased a discussion of a fist bump between then-Senator Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as "A fist bump? A pound? A terrorist fist jab? ... We'll show you some interesting body communication and find out what it really says." Four days later Hill said, "I certainly didn't mean to associate the word 'terrorist' in any way to Senator Obama and his wife."
Hume claimed Jerusalem Post story quoted Obama's half brother about "Muslim background." On the June 18, 2008, edition of 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, Obama's half brother did not speak to The Jerusalem Post for the article cited by Hume (he spoke to Israel's Army Radio), and subsequent audio of the interview indicated that Malik Obama did not refer to Barack Obama as having a Muslim background. Hume later issued an on-air correction for the false claim that Malik Obama had said Barack Obama has such a background.
Fox News and its employees inject race-baiting into Obama coverage
Fox News and its personalities have a long history of aggressive race-baiting and racially charged commentary, particularly with regard to their coverage of Obama. For example:
Gingrich: Obama is engaged in "Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior." In a September 2010 interview with National Review Online, Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich asked "What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?" and that "That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior."
Beck: "Anti-colonialism" allows you to "see Barack Obama and where he's going." From the September 15 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program:
BECK: I couldn't figure out what the president was doing and I missed the fact because I hadn't really looked into him. It becomes almost an illusion of racism -- and it's not racism. It's anti-colonialism. It is -- it's liberation theology, which is also in a way anti-colonialism. It's Marxism in its roots. And when you understand these things, all of a sudden everything makes sense. ... His grandfather and his father -- when you understand what they were doing, you all of a sudden can see Barack Obama and where he's going.
Fox heavily promoted phony New Black Panther Party story. Fox News hosts and personalities -- including O'Reilly himself -- relentlessly promoted the unsubstantiated allegations against the Department Of Justice's handling of prosecutions against the New Black Panther Party. In addition to the network hosting members of the fringe group multiple times, on-air personalities like O'Reilly attacked Attorney General Holder for his handling of the case (and mangling the facts in the process), while Beck claimed the New Black Panthers were a part of President Obama's "army of thugs."
Beck says Obama's agenda is driven by "reparations" and the desire to "settle old racial scores." On July 23, 2009, Beck said: "Everything that is getting pushed through Congress, including this health care bill, are transforming America, and they are all driven by President Obama's thinking on one idea: reparations." Beck went on to state: "These massive programs are Obama-brand reparations -- or in presidential speak -- leveling out the playing field." Beck also said Obama's goal is "creating a new America, a new model, a model that will settle old racial scores through new social justice."
Beck: Obama satisfying his "desire for racial justice" though "intimidation, vilification, bullying." On July 27, 2009, Beck said: "We have demonstrated President Obama's desire for racial justice, but how is he setting out to achieve it? Exactly the way a community organizer would: through intimidation, vilification, bullying, a system, an underground shell game." Beck continued: "Look how he has handled different things. [Henry Louis] Gates -- he calls the cops stupid and racist before he admits, he says, 'I don't know all of the facts.' But he jumps to the conclusion that the cops are racist."
Hannity just can't "get over" his Rev. Wright obsession. Hannity mentioned Wright on at least 45 different episodes of his Fox News show between Obama's inauguration and July 31, 2009. Indeed, his repeated references to Rev. Jeremiah Wright have prompted his own guests to comment, "You always want to bring up Reverend Wright," and "Sean, you need to get over it."
Guest-hosting O'Reilly, Ingraham claims Obama "channeled his best Jeremiah Wright accent" in NAACP speech. Talking about a speech Obama gave to the NAACP, Ingraham said: "Last night, President Obama spoke to the NAACP and channeled his best Jeremiah Wright accent." After airing a clip of Obama's remarks, Ingraham added: "Now, why does the first African-American feel the need to affect an accent that he clearly does not possess? Or is that the way people speak in Honolulu? It's a cheap attempt to pander to an audience that already supports him."
Beck frequently claims Obama policies are "slavery" or will lead to slavery. Beck has repeatedly said that the stimulus bill "is slavery"; and ranted that Obama is "addicting this country to heroin -- the heroin that is government slavery" and that "the government's irresponsible spending is turning us into slaves."
O'Reilly repeatedly offered false defense of Fox News' coverage of purported health insurance jail-time
O'Reilly falsely claimed "[n]obody" on Fox pushed health care jail-time falsehood. On the April 13 edition of his show, O'Reilly responded to Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) suggestion that Fox News perpetuated the false claim that under the health care reform legislation, individuals can be sent to jail for not having health insurance by repeatedly insisting that "nobody" on Fox advanced that claim. In fact, Fox News relentlessly pushed that falsehood -- including on O'Reilly's own show.
Contradicting O'Reilly, Cavuto acknowledged Fox pushed health care jail-time falsehood. On the April 14 edition of his program, Neil Cavuto admitted that Fox News pushed the false claim that, under the health care reform legislation, individuals can be sent to jail for not having health insurance, saying: "I've researched this and a number of Fox personalities had made that comment."
O'Reilly digs in, falsely claims Coburn didn't have "his facts in line." On his April 14 program, O'Reilly again denied Coburn's statement that Fox News pushed the health insurance jail-time falsehood, stating that Coburn "didn't really have his facts in line."
O'Reilly's new bogus spin: Nobody at Fox pushed jail-time falsehood about "final bill." Following criticism from Media Matters, MSNBC's Ed Schultz, and Time magazine's Kate Pickert, O'Reilly claimed on his April 15 program that when "jail time" had been "on the table," Fox News had reported on it, but no one on Fox News made the claim after that provision was supposedly removed. O'Reilly concluded: "Nobody at Fox News reported inaccurately about the Obamacare prison situation. Nobody." In fact, the health care bill Fox News had been reporting on also did not have "jail time" as a penalty for not having health insurance. Moreover, five days before O'Reilly's statement, Fox Business' Eric Bolling made a false statement about "the Obamacare prison situation."
Showing posts with label race-baitting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race-baitting. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
O'Reilly's wrong, Carter's right: Fox features race-baiting, birtherism, and religious smears
From Media Matters:
Bill O'Reilly attacked comments from former President Jimmy Carter about Fox News' race baiting and its role in promoting falsehoods about President Obama's citizenship and religion. But Carter was right: birtherism, race baiting attacks on Obama, and lies about his religion have all found a home on Fox News.
O'Reilly: Carter's "ridiculous" criticism of Fox is "beneath a former president"
O'Reilly: "Carter can simply not back up what he says." On the September 21 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly aired snippets from an interview in which Carter offered criticism of Fox for having "attempted to twist around what [Obama's[ religious faith is and whether or not he's an American" and their tendency to "inject race" into their coverage of Obama. O'Reilly then criticized Carter for "not telling the truth":
OREILLY: And while we're on the subject of presidents, Jimmy Carter is a Fox News hater. Did you know that? Speaking on CNN he said this about President Obama and FNC.
CARTER [video clip]: A lot of gullible folks in the United States actually believe what Fox puts forward as facts when most of it is just complete distortions. And they've also attempted to twist around what his religious faith is and whether or not he's an American and so forth. So I think that's a new version of cable news. [edit] I would attribute most of the negative attitude not to the facts, but to the distorted facts that comes out of Fox. [edit] There has been a deliberate effort -- again, referring to Fox Broadcasting -- to inject the race issue into it.
O'REILLY: I think Larry fell asleep during that interview, I'm not sure. So let's examine Mr. Carter's statements. We can find no Fox News employee who has said President Obama is a Muslim. We can find no Fox News employee who has said the president was not born in America. Now, years ago there was some misreporting on a madrassa story, but corrections were quickly issued. So it seems Mr. Carter is not telling the truth, and it is beneath a former president to accuse FNC of injecting race into the political process as Carter does. Carter can simply not back up what he says, in fact he's afraid to appear here on the Factor. Because he'd look foolish. His ridiculous statements are irresponsible and reflect poorly on him.
O'Reilly edited video to cover up Beck's race baiting
O'Reilly cropped video to hide Carter's statement that Fox "called Obama a racist" -- a clear reference to Beck. While O'Reilly claims that Carter "can simply not back up what he says" and says that "it is beneath a former president to accuse FNC of injecting race into the political process," O'Reilly crops Carter's quote to cover up the fact that he said that Fox has "actually called Obama a racist on television." From Carter's September 20 interview on CNN's Larry King Live (portion aired by O'Reilly in bold):
CARTER: I don't think the Tea Party people are racist, except maybe a tiny portion of them. But there has been a deliberate effort -- again, referring to Fox Broadcasting -- to inject the race issue into it. They have actually called Obama a racist on television. And when they say, like some of the leaders of the Republican Party have said, that he's epitomizing the tribal influence of his father from Kenya, you know, that obviously has political connotations. So I think -- I mean, racist connotations.
In 2009, Beck called Obama a "racist" with "a deep-seated hatred for white people." On the July 28, 2009, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Glenn Beck said that Obama "has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture" and "is, I believe, a racist," a statement he subsequently claimed to stand by, in spite of growing criticism. Beck's comments were condemned by a wide variety of media figures. A year later, Beck "amend[ed]" his statement and said he meant to attack Obama's theology.
Fox News and Fox News personalities promoted birther stories, falsehoods about Obama's faith
As O'Reilly noted, Fox & Friends had to "clarify" after pushing false smear Obama attended a "madrassa." On the January 19, 2007, editions of Fox & Friends First and Fox & Friends, Kilmeade, along with Doocy and Carlson, spent several segments advancing a false report that then-Sen. Barack Obama was raised a Muslim and attended a madrassa, or Islamic school, as a child in Indonesia. At one point, Doocy asked: "When people find out this stuff, they're going to go, 'Why didn't anybody ever mention that that man right there was raised as -- spent the first decade of his life raised by his Muslim father as a Muslim and was educated in a madrassa?' " Kilmeade responded, "Yeah, is that a problem?" He added: "Evidently, when he was a little kid, he went over to Indonesia and went to a madrassa. He -- in his two best-selling books, he doesn't really mention this in detail."
On the January 22, 2007, edition of Fox & Friends First, Doocy said he had to "clarify" the show's reporting on the fabricated madrassa story,stating that "Mr. Obama's people called and they said that that is absolutely false. They said the idea that Barack Obama went to a radical Muslim school is completely ridiculous."
Nearly three years later on O'Reilly's show, Coulter claimed Obama "attended madrassas." On the December 28, 2009, edition of The O'Reilly Factor, conservative columnist Ann Coulter said, "Andrew Sullivan pointed out, you know, what are these radical Islamists going to do when they look and see the president of the great Satan. And you know, he has brown skin. And he attended madrassas. And he talks about how he's so moved by the call to prayer five times a day. He used to hear in Indonesia. If anyone can say we're going to look for radical Islamists, it ought to be President Obama." Guest host Eric Bolling did not correct Coulter's falsehood that Obama "attended madrassas."
Coulter: Obama went "to madrassas as a child." On the December 30, 2009, edition of Glenn Beck, Coulter said: "And like I say, Obama can be doing more than Bush. He is specially situated that way, as having gone to madrassas as a child, not being a white male, which is, you know, the height of political incorrectness, but just the contrary, we're moving in exactly doing the -- making -- repeating the worst mistakes of the Bush administration."
Thomas McInerney, Fox News' birther military analyst. In an affidavit reported on August 31 by birther site WorldNetDaily, Thomas McInerney, a retired lieutenant general who now serves as a Fox News military analyst, says that he believes there are "widespread and legitimate concerns that the President is constitutionally ineligible to hold office," and expresses support for an Army officer who is currently awaiting a court-martial for refusing to obey orders from his commanding officers "until the president produces his original birth certificate."
Hannity on birthers: "[A]ll they wanted to do was say, 'Where's the birth certificate?' That's all they were asking" On the August 12, 2009, edition of his radio show, Hannity said, "This huge birther thing is another huge distraction. To try and portray conservatives as a bunch of right-wing nutjob kooks when people all they wanted to do was say, 'where's the birth certificate?' That's all they were asking. 'Show us the birth certificate.' "
Hannity promoted birther story. On the July 16, 2009, edition of Hannity, Sean Hannity recounted the story of Army Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, who claimed President Obama had not proved that he is, in Hannity's words, "a U.S. citizen." Hannity's story explained that Cook had his deployment orders revoked and that "Major Cook and his lawyer expressed joy at this outcome and they took it as an admission on the part of the military that the president is not in fact a legitimate citizen by birth." Hannity did not make clear to his viewers that Cook's assertion was incorrect.
Fox Nation repeatedly promoted birther stories using picture of Obama in Somali clothes. From the July 14, 2009 edition of The Fox Nation:
From the July 20, 2009 edition of The Fox Nation:
Fox Nation promoted WorldNetDaily birther story. The July 16, 2009 edition The Fox Nation featured the following image, linked to a story from WorldNetDaily promoting the cause of a birther's challenge to President Obama.
E.D. Hill called Obama fist bump "a terrorist fist jab." On the June 6, 2008 edition of America's Pulse, Fox anchor E.D. Hill teased a discussion of a fist bump between then-Senator Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as "A fist bump? A pound? A terrorist fist jab? ... We'll show you some interesting body communication and find out what it really says." Four days later Hill said, "I certainly didn't mean to associate the word 'terrorist' in any way to Senator Obama and his wife."
Hume claimed Jerusalem Post story quoted Obama's half brother about "Muslim background." On the June 18, 2008, edition of 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, Obama's half brother did not speak to The Jerusalem Post for the article cited by Hume (he spoke to Israel's Army Radio), and subsequent audio of the interview indicated that Malik Obama did not refer to Barack Obama as having a Muslim background. Hume later issued an on-air correction for the false claim that Malik Obama had said Barack Obama has such a background.
Fox News and its employees inject race-baiting into Obama coverage
Fox News and its personalities have a long history of aggressive race-baiting and racially charged commentary, particularly with regard to their coverage of Obama. For example:
Gingrich: Obama is engaged in "Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior." In a September 2010 interview with National Review Online, Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich asked "What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?" and that "That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior."
Beck: "Anti-colonialism" allows you to "see Barack Obama and where he's going." From the September 15 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program:
BECK: I couldn't figure out what the president was doing and I missed the fact because I hadn't really looked into him. It becomes almost an illusion of racism -- and it's not racism. It's anti-colonialism. It is -- it's liberation theology, which is also in a way anti-colonialism. It's Marxism in its roots. And when you understand these things, all of a sudden everything makes sense. ... His grandfather and his father -- when you understand what they were doing, you all of a sudden can see Barack Obama and where he's going.
Fox heavily promoted phony New Black Panther Party story. Fox News hosts and personalities -- including O'Reilly himself -- relentlessly promoted the unsubstantiated allegations against the Department Of Justice's handling of prosecutions against the New Black Panther Party. In addition to the network hosting members of the fringe group multiple times, on-air personalities like O'Reilly attacked Attorney General Holder for his handling of the case (and mangling the facts in the process), while Beck claimed the New Black Panthers were a part of President Obama's "army of thugs."
Beck says Obama's agenda is driven by "reparations" and the desire to "settle old racial scores." On July 23, 2009, Beck said: "Everything that is getting pushed through Congress, including this health care bill, are transforming America, and they are all driven by President Obama's thinking on one idea: reparations." Beck went on to state: "These massive programs are Obama-brand reparations -- or in presidential speak -- leveling out the playing field." Beck also said Obama's goal is "creating a new America, a new model, a model that will settle old racial scores through new social justice."
Beck: Obama satisfying his "desire for racial justice" though "intimidation, vilification, bullying." On July 27, 2009, Beck said: "We have demonstrated President Obama's desire for racial justice, but how is he setting out to achieve it? Exactly the way a community organizer would: through intimidation, vilification, bullying, a system, an underground shell game." Beck continued: "Look how he has handled different things. [Henry Louis] Gates -- he calls the cops stupid and racist before he admits, he says, 'I don't know all of the facts.' But he jumps to the conclusion that the cops are racist."
Hannity just can't "get over" his Rev. Wright obsession. Hannity mentioned Wright on at least 45 different episodes of his Fox News show between Obama's inauguration and July 31, 2009. Indeed, his repeated references to Rev. Jeremiah Wright have prompted his own guests to comment, "You always want to bring up Reverend Wright," and "Sean, you need to get over it."
Guest-hosting O'Reilly, Ingraham claims Obama "channeled his best Jeremiah Wright accent" in NAACP speech. Talking about a speech Obama gave to the NAACP, Ingraham said: "Last night, President Obama spoke to the NAACP and channeled his best Jeremiah Wright accent." After airing a clip of Obama's remarks, Ingraham added: "Now, why does the first African-American feel the need to affect an accent that he clearly does not possess? Or is that the way people speak in Honolulu? It's a cheap attempt to pander to an audience that already supports him."
Beck frequently claims Obama policies are "slavery" or will lead to slavery. Beck has repeatedly said that the stimulus bill "is slavery"; and ranted that Obama is "addicting this country to heroin -- the heroin that is government slavery" and that "the government's irresponsible spending is turning us into slaves."
O'Reilly repeatedly offered false defense of Fox News' coverage of purported health insurance jail-time
O'Reilly falsely claimed "[n]obody" on Fox pushed health care jail-time falsehood. On the April 13 edition of his show, O'Reilly responded to Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) suggestion that Fox News perpetuated the false claim that under the health care reform legislation, individuals can be sent to jail for not having health insurance by repeatedly insisting that "nobody" on Fox advanced that claim. In fact, Fox News relentlessly pushed that falsehood -- including on O'Reilly's own show.
Contradicting O'Reilly, Cavuto acknowledged Fox pushed health care jail-time falsehood. On the April 14 edition of his program, Neil Cavuto admitted that Fox News pushed the false claim that, under the health care reform legislation, individuals can be sent to jail for not having health insurance, saying: "I've researched this and a number of Fox personalities had made that comment."
O'Reilly digs in, falsely claims Coburn didn't have "his facts in line." On his April 14 program, O'Reilly again denied Coburn's statement that Fox News pushed the health insurance jail-time falsehood, stating that Coburn "didn't really have his facts in line."
O'Reilly's new bogus spin: Nobody at Fox pushed jail-time falsehood about "final bill." Following criticism from Media Matters, MSNBC's Ed Schultz, and Time magazine's Kate Pickert, O'Reilly claimed on his April 15 program that when "jail time" had been "on the table," Fox News had reported on it, but no one on Fox News made the claim after that provision was supposedly removed. O'Reilly concluded: "Nobody at Fox News reported inaccurately about the Obamacare prison situation. Nobody." In fact, the health care bill Fox News had been reporting on also did not have "jail time" as a penalty for not having health insurance. Moreover, five days before O'Reilly's statement, Fox Business' Eric Bolling made a false statement about "the Obamacare prison situation."
Friday, July 16, 2010
When does Fox News' ugly race-baiting become the story?
by Eric Boehlert
Amazing. Bernie Goldberg and I actually agreed. But only for a moment.
The conservative media critic appeared on The O'Reilly Factor this week while the host, like every other Fox News host and anchor, relentlessly pushed the small-time voter intimidation case involving the radical and obscure New Black Panther Party. Despite its two-bit status, at Fox News and across the GOP Noise Machine the NBP story remains a seminal, defining event for the Obama administration as well as for the country.
Given its supposed extraordinary gravity, Bill O'Reilly pressed Goldberg to explain why the mainstream media hadn't followed Fox News' lead and turned the ("small potatoes") NBP case into a blockbuster.
The media don't like to cover stories involving race, Goldberg told the host. And in a weird way, he was right.
It's obvious that the press hasn't shown much enthusiasm for NBP story, but not for the conspiratorial reasons articulated by Goldberg and friends on Fox News. Meaning, it's not some sort of liberal media cabal cover-up. Instead, it's more out of a discomfort with right-wing race baiting and fear mongering.
The press is just too timid to call that stuff out.
First and foremost, journalists probably don't want to waste time on the NBP story because there's no there there. Once reporters get beyond the hysterical far-right cries and look at the facts, the story crumbles. And it crumbles fast.
Beyond that, the press doesn't want to cover the story or even acknowledge it because that would mean journalists would be obligated to debunk the race-based conspiracy that supposedly reaches from the Oval Office to the Department of Justice and centers around allegations that prosecutors went easy on the NBP for political reasons because our black president deemed it so. In other words, Obama is black, his attorney general is black, and NBP members are black, so they must all be in on it, right?
But debunking the loony NPB story would unleash the right-wing wrath, which is never fun. (Newsroom careers have been cut short because of it.)
More importantly though, reporters covering the story on any level would have to acknowledge how Obama's right-wing critics were leveling astonishing, race-baiting charges while trying to prop the story up. (The tale only works on a paranoid, blacks-are-out-to-get-us level.) The press would also have to acknowledge the uncontrollable race baiting that the story seems to have unleashed onto all sorts of unrelated issues. I'm not saying reporters would have to take sides and condemn the comments. But reporters covering the NBP 'controversy' would have to acknowledge the very ugly context and the very ugly rhetoric that's being pumped out by Fox News and other far-right commentators.
There again, that kind of truth-telling would mean igniting more right-wing furor, which the press is loath to do. Let's face it, the press often cowers from the GOP Noise Machine and its ability to make life miserable for journalists who tell the truth about the far-right conservative movement in America today.
It's like last year when reporters often failed to call out Tea Party activists for the at-times radical and offensive rhetoric they employed against Obama at rallies and town hall mob scenes. Too often, for example, protesters were portrayed as mild-mannered grassroots activists. Y'know, the kind of mild-mannered, middle-America activists who march with guns andswastikas. As far as the press was concerned, the GOP mini-mobs last summer were authentic and angry, but never, ever radical.
That same kind of hands-off approach today helps mask the fact that the conservative movement is now wallowing in the kind of open and unapologetic race-baiting that mainstream American politics hasn't seen in decades, if not generations. But the press pretends otherwise.
I was serious last week when I wondered what would happen if the White House were currently occupied by the first Jewish president and his hardcore partisan critics spent their days and nights broadcasting trumped-up allegations about how the president hated Christians. I still think there's no way the Beltway press corps wouldn't considers those kinds of allegations to be newsworthy, not to mention deplorable.
Rather than doing the right thing today, however, the press has taken a pass and pretended the hysterical, relentless race-baiting that's going on in the GOP press isn't newsworthy, let alone unprecedented, or deeply troubling.
The media silence is deafening and depressing. And trust me, the folks at Fox News get the message: Full steam ahead!
Even the few media attempts we've seen to highlight the purposeful racial tension has been timid and off the mark, like whenWashington Post media critic Howard Kurtz, hosting Reliable Sources on CNN, played snippets of Rush Limbaugh's show when the AM talker claimed that if Obama were white he'd be working as a tour guide in Hawaii, not sitting in the Oval Office.
Incredibly, after airing the offensive comments, Kurtz asked whether the right-wing talker hadn't made some sensible points. Thankfully Kurtz's guest, Politico columnist Roger Simon, swiftly labeled the comments for what they were: "racist and repugnant."
But please note the recent race-baiting comments that Kurtz could have highlighted on the same Reliable Sources show -- the ones in which Limbaugh claimed Obama was destroying America on purpose in order to make it pay for its historical sin of slavery and discrimination. Kurtz had nothing to say about the jaw-dropping attack that Limbaugh had made, claiming Obama was some sort of black Manchurian Candidate who ran for office because he hates America and specifically, because he resents white America. I wonder if Kurtz failed to highlight those dark, hateful comments because it would be virtually impossible for anyone to suggest that a case could be made that Limbaugh's race-baiting Obama comments were correct.
Encouragingly, we're finally starting to see some journalists acknowledge the extraordinary racial provocations on display. For instance, when news broke that Yankee owner George Steinbrenner had died, Limbaugh immediately announced the Yankee-owning "cracker" had "made a lot of African-American millionaires."
That was too much for one New York writer:
Rush Limbaugh Is Incapable of Discussing Anything in Non-Racial Terms
Same at the New York Daily News:
Rush Limbaugh's Mind-Boggling Take On George Steinbrenner's Death
But note those tweaks didn't come from the Beltway press corps, which has remained mostly mum about the developing spectacle.
And let's recall, it's not like the political press corps in the past has been reluctant to cover the electric topic of race. Remember back during the 2008 Democratic primary, whenever anyone associated with the Hillary Clinton campaign made a remark that was kinda, sorta, vaguely associated with the topic with race, the press corps went bonkers. OMG, it was Katie-bar-the-door time as reporters and pundits dedicated endless column inches and TV hours to dissecting the comments and what they revealed, we were told, about Clinton's ugly desperation. That's what happened when Democrats allegedly flirted with the topic of race in a political setting.
But today when Fox News (aka the Opposition Party) openly and proudly engages in jaw-dropping episodes of demagogic race-bating, as they depict the president of the United States as a hater of white people who's quietly assembling his progressive army for a "race war," the same press corps that dissected every Clinton camp utterance now sits quietly, watching from a distance, and decides uniformly that there's no story there.
You can practically hear the audible justifications: "Well, it's just Fox being Fox." Or, "It's just Rush being Rush."
I'm sorry, but when the most-watched cable news channel relentlessly depicts the president and his administration as being the home to get-whitey racists, it's news. And having the most listened-to radio talk show host in American claim that our first African-American president purposefully keeps the unemployment rate high in order to exact revenge against white America -- that's news too.
Period.
What Fox News, Limbaugh and the rest of the GOP Noise Machine are doing today in terms of unapologetic race-bating is a disgrace. How the press is handling the unfolding story isn't much better.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
21st century Willie Horton": Right-wing race-baiting and the phony New Black Panthers scandal
From Media Matters
Right-wing media have amplified the race-baiting behind the completely unsubstantiated allegations that President Obama's Justice Department engaged in racially charged "corruption" in the New Black Panther Party case. Now, CNN contributor and RedState.com editor-in-chief Erick Erickson has called on Republicans to "seize on this issue" and turn the New Black Panther Party into the "21st century Willie Horton."
Adams: DOJ's action in New Black Panther case shows racially charged corruption
Adams: DOJ decision not to pursue charges in New Black Panther case demonstrates racially charged corruption. J. Christian Adams, a GOP activist, penned a Washington Times op-ed leveling accusations of a "corrupt" and racially charged dismissal of the New Black Panther Party case and appeared in a two-part interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly. During the interview, Adams accused the Justice Department of "a hostility in the voting section and in the civil rights division to bringing cases on behalf of white victims for the benefit of national racial minorities." Adams further said that "the decision to dismiss this case was corrupt," adding, "to abandon law-abiding citizens and abet wrongdoers constitutes corruption." In a Pajamas Media post, Adams wrote:
If we had that frank, truthful discussion about race, we'd learn that the Obama administration doesn't believe some civil rights laws protect every American. The Bush Civil Rights Division was willing to protect all Americans from racial discrimination; during the Obama years, the Holder years, only some Americans will be protected. Americans have a right to know and judge the racial policies of the administration they elected in 2008.
A "21st century Willie Horton": Right-wing media turns up race-baiting behind phony scandal
Erickson: Turn New Black Panthers case into Willie Horton ad. In a July 13 blog post, headlined, "[New Black Panther Party member] King Samir Shabazz Should Be 2010's Willie Horton," CNN contributor and RedState.com editor-in-chief Erick Erickson wrote: "Republican candidates nationwide should seize on this issue. The Democrats are giving a pass to radicals who advocate killing white kids in the name of racial justice and who try to block voters from the polls." Erickson added: "The Democrats will scream racism. Let them. Republicans are not going to pick up significant black support anyway." Erickson's employer, CNN, notes that the Willie Horton ad "played to racial fears and portrayed Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis as soft on crime."
Fox's Glenn Beck program: an hour of race-baiting. During the July 12 edition of his Fox News program, Glenn Beck repeatedly added to his already long history of race-baiting:
- Beck claimed "radical revolutionaries," and the New Black Panthers "have ties to the White House."
- Beck claimed, "We seem to be experiencing a government that doesn't care about racism from [The New Black Panther Party]."
Beck: "They want a race war ... and our government is going to stand by and let them do it." On the July 12 edition of his radio program, while discussing the New Black Panther Party, Beck said: "They want a race war. We must be peaceful people. They are going to poke, and poke, and poke, and our government is going to stand by and let them do it." Beck added, "We must take the role of Martin Luther King, because I do not believe that Martin Luther King believed in, 'Kill all white babies.'"
Beck: NBPP are part of Obama's "army of thugs." On his July 9 radio program, Beck claimed that the New Black Panther Party is part of Obama's "army of thugs." Beck also claimed during the show that Obama is sympathetic to the NBPP's hate speech.
Limbaugh: Obama and Holder "continue to protect and represent" New Black Panthers. During his July 12 show, Rush Limbaugh said that Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder "continue to protect and represent" the New Black Panther Party.
Levin: New Black Panthers are part of the "armies of the left." On his July 12 program, conservative radio host Mark Levin falsely claimed that Eric Holder didn't "allow sentencing" for New Black Panthers, and added that the NBPP are part of the "armies of the left." Levin previously claimed that Holder, the nation's first African-American attorney general, "embraces the New Black Panthers."
Quinn: Welfare breeds "indolence" and "hatred." Radio host Jim Quinn said on his July 8 program, in response to an anti-white rant by a member of the New Black Panther Party, that welfare breeds "indolence" and "hatred."
Race-baiting continues pattern. Media Matters previously noted numerous examples of conservative media figures using the New Black Panther Party for race-baiting.
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