Fox News' Ugly, Selective War On Terror

ERIC BOEHLERT/Media Matters For America

On August 5, 2012, just before 10:30 in the morning, Wade Michael Page pulled up outside the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, WI., took out his semi-automatic handgun and started killing worshipers. An Army veteran and an avid bass player in a neo-Nazi rock band, Page murdered two Sikhs outside the house of worship and then made his way inside. There, he reloaded and killed four more, including the president of the temple who was shot while trying to tackle Page. Three more were critically wounded in the massacre.

When local police descended, Page opened fire and shot one officer nearly ten times. When the authorities returned fire and shot  Page in the stomach, he took his 9mm pistol, pointed it at his own head, and pulled the trigger.

According to acquaintances, the 40-year-old killer hated blacks, Indians, Native Americans and Hispanics (he called non-whites "dirt people"), and was interested in joining the Klu Klux Klan. Immersed in the world of white power music, Page's band rehearsed in front of a Nazi flag. 

Note that back in August 2012, Fox News didn't care very much about Wade Page and the wild gun shootout he unleashed in an act of domestic terror in the Milwaukee suburb, nor did Fox suggest the event was connected to a larger, more sinister terror trend. In fact, in the days that followed the gun massacre, there were just two passing references to Page during Fox' primetime, one from Bill O'Reilly and one from Greta Sustern. No guests were asked to discuss the temple shooting, and after one day the story was completely forgotten.

In one rare occasion when the conversation did turn to Page's motivations, Fox's opinion hosts were quick to criticize the notion that he was a far-right extremist. (He clearly was.) On The Five, after co-host Bob Beckel referred to Page as "right-wing skinhead," he was quickly shouted down by his colleagues. Co-host Andrea Tantaros stressed that the killing was an isolated event that didn't have any larger implications. "How do you stop a lunatic?" she asked. "This is not a political issue."

Fox's guarded response to an extremist's murder spree was striking, considering that in the wake of the Boston Marathon bomb attack Fox News has gone all in (again) with its war on Islam as the channel fights its latestbigoted chapter in the War on Terror. It's striking as Fox tries to blame a larger community for the act of two madmen because it's the same Fox News that often can't find time to even comment, let alone report, on what's become regular, and often deadly, right-wing extremist attacks in America.

From neo-Nazi killers like Page, to a string of abortion clinic bombings, as well as bloody assaults on law enforcement from anti-government insurrectionists, acts of right-wing extreme violence continue to terrorize victims in the U.S. ("Fifty-six percent of domestic terrorist attacks and plots in the U.S. since 1995 have been perpetrated by right-wing extremists.") But Fox News is not concerned. And Fox News does not try to affix collective blame.

It's clear that Fox is only interested in covering and hyping a single part of the War on Terror; the part that targets Muslims and lets Fox wallow in stereotypes. The part that lets Fox accuse Obama of being "soft" on Islamic terrorists and perhaps sharing a radical allegiance. The part that lets Fox advocate for buggingmosques and eliminating other Constitutional rights, and lets it unleash a collection of anti-Islam crusaders onto the cable airwaves.  

Most importantly, Fox covers a War on Terror that lets it uniformly blame Muslims.

Keep in mind though, there's been no reported evidence that anyone in the Cambridge, MA, Muslim community knew about, condoned or helped plan the bombing perpetrated by Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. In fact, it's possible the bomber brothers told nobody of their plan because local Muslims would have reported them to the police, the way a local imam tipped off Canadian officials who made arrests this week and thwarted an alleged rail bombing plot. (And the way local Muslims in Virginia and New York have helped prevent terror plots.)

Fox's ugly religious attacks represent a brazen display of bigotry and bullying. The hypocrisy is that Fox News routinely downplays acts of political, and religious, violence from far-right extremists, while making sure not to condemn those indirectly associated with them.

Such acts have been legion. During a robust period of political violence last decade, women's health clinics were attacked in January, May, and  September 2003, January and July 2004, January, May, and July 2005, as well as May and December 2007, according to the National Abortion Federation.

Then in 2009, five clinics in Florida were the target of acid attacks.

More recently, two antiabortion firebombings occurred in 2011. And last year a woman's health clinic in Wisconsin was damaged when a homemade bomb was set off on the building's windowsill.

Of course, in May 2009, antiabortion extremist Scott Roeder shot and killed Dr. George Tiller while he attended church in Wichita, KS.

And then there are the right-wing hate extremists who have plotted attacks against the government and minorities. Below is a partial list of attacks, or planned attacks, unleashed by radicals in recent years. The descriptions are taken from the Southern Poverty Law Center's 2012 report, "Terror From the Right: Plots, Conspiracies and Racist Rampages Since Oklahoma City."

Fox News talkers showed little interest in these terror plots, and no interest in making sweeping generalization about whether a larger political or religious community was to blame for them. And when you read the laundry list, keep in mind the assertion from Fox News' Brian Kilmeade: "Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims":

June 8, 2008
Six people, most of them tied to the militia movement, are arrested in rural north-central Pennsylvania after officials find stockpiles of assault rifles, improvised explosives and homemade weapons, at least some of them apparently intended for terrorist attacks on U.S. officials.

October 24, 2008
Two white supremacists, Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman, are arrested in Tennessee for allegedly plotting to assassinate Barack Obama and murder more than 100 black people.

April 30, 2010
Darren Huff, an Oath Keeper from Georgia, is arrested and charged with planning the armed takeover of a Madisonville, Tenn., courthouse and "arrest" of 24 local, state and federal officials.

July 21, 2010
Attorney Todd Getgen is shot to death at a gun range in Cumberland County, Penn., and his weapon, a silenced AR-15 rifle, is stolen. Authorities arrest prison guard Raymond Peake nine days later, saying Peake was trying to accumulate weapons for an unnamed organization that intended to overthrow the government.

Jan. 14, 2011
Federal agents in Arizona arrest Jeffery Harbin, a member of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement, for allegedly building homemade grenades and pipe bombs that he apparently intended to supply to anti-immigration groups patrolling the Mexican border.

March 10, 2011
Six members of the antigovernment Alaska Peacemakers Militia, including its leader, Francis Schaeffer Cox, 28, are arrested and charged with plotting to kill or kidnap state troopers and a Fairbanks judge.

Jan. 17, 2011
Bomb technicians defuse a sophisticated improvised explosive device (IED) found in a backpack along the Spokane, Wash., route of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade with 1,500 marchers. Using forensic clues found in the dismantled bomb, officials about two months later identify and arrest Kevin William Harpham, a long-time neo-Nazi.

October 5, 2011
White supremacist ex-convict David "Joey" Pedersen, 31, and his girlfriend, Holly Ann Grigsby, 24, are arrested in California after a murderous rampage in three states.

November 1, 2011
Four members of an unnamed North Georgia militia are arrested in an alleged plot to bomb federal buildings, attack cities including Atlanta with deadly ricin, and murder law enforcement officials.

December 10, 2011
Four soldiers, later identified as members of a militia-type group called Forever Enduring, Always Ready (FEAR), are arrested for murdering 19-year-old former soldier and group member Michael Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend, Tiffany York, because they feared the pair would talk about the group's plans.

April 17, 2012
Joseph Benjamin Thomas and Samuel James Johnson of Mendota Heights, Minn., are indicted on federal weapons and drug charges following an investigation into their alleged plans to form a white supremacist group called the "Aryan Liberation Movement" and commit violence against minorities, leftists and government officials.

REPORT: Fox Obsesses Over Obama "Doing Fine" Comment While Whitewashing Romney Attack On Public Workers

From Media Matters

Fox News discussed President Barack Obama's recent comment that the "private sector is doing fine" almost four times as often as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's suggestion that we don't need "more firemen, more policemen, more teachers." Similarly, the network ran video of Obama's comment nearly seven times more often than video of Romney's attack on public workers.

Obama Drew Contrast Between Private Sector And Public Sector Job Growth

Obama: Private Sector Job Growth Is "Doing Fine." During a June 8 press conference, Obama drew a contrast between job growth in the private sector -- which, as Obama said, has added about 4.3 million jobs in the past 27 months -- and the public sector, which has lost 550,000 jobs over the same period, saying, "The private sector is doing fine":

OBAMA: The truth of the matter is that, as I said, we've created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months, over 800,000 just this year alone. The private sector is doing fine. Where we're seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government -- oftentimes, cuts initiated by governors or mayors who are not getting the kind of help that they have in the past from the federal government and who don't have the same kind of flexibility as the federal government in dealing with fewer revenues coming in.

And so, if Republicans want to be helpful, if they really want to move forward and put people back to work, what they should be thinking about is, how do we help state and local governments and how do we help the construction industry. Because the recipes that they're promoting are basically the kinds of policies that would add weakness to the economy, would result in further layoffs, would not provide relief in the housing market, and would result, I think most economists estimate, in lower growth and fewer jobs, not more. [WhiteHouse.gov, 6/8/12]

Obama Later Clarified "Doing Fine" Comment. During a Q&A with reporters later in the day on June 8, Obama clarified his remark:

OBAMA: Listen, it is absolutely clear that the economy is not doing fine. That's the reason I had the press conference. That's why I spent yesterday, the day before yesterday, this past week, this past month, and this past year talking about how we can make the economy stronger.

The economy is not doing fine. There are too many people out of work. The housing market is still weak and too many homes underwater. And that's precisely why I asked Congress to start taking some steps that can make a difference.

Now, I think if you look at what I said this morning and what I've been saying consistently over the last year, we've actually seen some good momentum in the private sector. We've seen 4.3 million jobs created -- 800,000 this year alone -- record corporate profits. And so that has not been the biggest drag on the economy.

The folks who are hurting, where we have problems and where we can do even better, is small businesses that are having a tough time getting financing; we've seen teachers and police officers and firefighters who've been laid off -- all of which, by the way, when they get laid off spend less money buying goods and going to restaurants and contributing to additional economic growth. The construction industry is still very weak, and that's one of the areas where we've still seen job losses instead of job gains. [Wall Street Journal,6/8/12]

Romney Attacks Obama, Suggests We Don't Need "More Firemen, More Policemen, More Teachers"

Romney: Obama "Is Defining What It Means To Be Detached And Out Of Touch." During a campaign speech in Iowa, Romney criticized the president's remarks during the earlier press briefing on the economy:

ROMNEY:  Now, this morning, the president had a press conference. I don't know if you heard it. But he called a press conference and pulled people in. He said a number of things, and one of the most interesting things he said was this: He said the private sector is doing fine. He said the private sector is doing fine. Is he really that out of touch? I think he is defining what it means to be detached and out of touch with the American people. [CBS News, 6/8/12]

Romney: Obama "Says We Need More Firemen, More Policemen, More Teachers. Did He Not Get The Message Of Wisconsin?" But Fox News repeatedly left out this portion of Romney's speech that followed his criticism of Obama:

ROMNEY: For the president of the United States to stand up and say that private sector is doing fine is going to go down in history as an extraordinary miscalculation and misunderstanding by a president who's out of touch. And we're going to take back this country and we're going to get America working again.

And his answer for economic vitality by the way was of course pushing aside the private sector, which he said is doing fine; instead, he wants to add more to government. He wants another stimulus. He wants to hire more government workers. He says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin?

The American people did. It's time for us to cut back on government and help the American people. [CNN, 6/8/12]

Economists: Public Sectors Cutbacks Are Slowing Recovery

Krugman: Public Sector Cuts Are Hampering Economic Recovery. Economist Paul Krugman, while acknowledging that Obama "screwed up the line," stated on the June 11 edition of CBS' This Morning:

KRUGMAN: The truth is the private sector is doing better than the public sector, which is not well enough. And actually, the real story about this economy is that this cutbacks at the public sector are what's hurting the recovery.

By this point in Obama's presidency if we had normal public sector job growth, we'd have around 800,000 more people -- firefighters, schoolteachers, police officers. Instead, we've got 600,000 fewer. So right there is like 1.4 million jobs that we should have had in the public sector, and of course, those would translate into more private sector jobs, too -- so that's what he was trying to get at and of course he screwed up the line. [CBS, This Morning, 6/11/12, via Huffington Post]

Economist Mark Zandi: "Job Losses At State And Local Governments Is The Most Serious Weight On The Job Market." From an April 29 Washington Post article:

The state and local job losses are significant for several reasons, economists say. For one, these losses have a broad social impact. Laying off teachers means larger class sizes and fewer after-school programs, for example.

What's more, federal aid can go directly to state and local governments to prevent job losses, a relatively effective way to sustain economic growth. (Tax cuts, by contrast, can lead indirectly to job growth if they increase the amount of money consumers spend.)

"The job losses at state and local governments is the most serious weight on the job market," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, who has advised both parties.

[...]

Experts worry that the cuts will have lasting effects.

"There's a big body of research showing that a lot of the things that state and local governments spend their money on have long-term effects on the economy and society as a whole," said Nicholas Johnson, vice president for state fiscal policy at CBPP. "Cutting school funding now can hurt the education of a future workforce." [The Washington Post, 4/29/12]

Economist Scott Brown: Economy Would Be Growing A Full Percentage Point Faster Without Drag From Government Job Losses. From a June 6 ABC News report:

"The government is actually contributing to the slow recovery," said Scott Brown, the chief economist at the Florida-based financial firm Raymond James & Associates.

Brown said that if it were not for the "drag" of this public sector job loss, the economy would likely be growing a full percentage point faster, with GDP growing at 3 percent rather than at 2 percent.

"That would help mop up the jobs lost during the downturn," he said. "Factor in the drag from government and we are growing at a pace that's roughly enough to absorb the growth in population but not fast enough to make up much of the ground lost." [ABC News, 6/6/12]

Fox Relentlessly Hypes Obama's "Doing Fine" Comment, But Waits Three Days To Play Video Of Romney's Attack On Public Workers

Few Segments Even Discussed Romney's Attack On Firefighter, Police, And Teacher Hiring. 96 percent of segments included discussion of Obama's "doing fine" comment. A further 52 percent focused on Obama's later clarification. 56 percent of segments also included discussion of Romney's criticism of Obama as "detached" and "out of touch." But only 26 percent of segments included discussion of Romney's suggestion that we don't need "more firemen, more policemen, more teachers."

Fox Airs 54 Segments Related To Obama's Comments, But Only Seven Percent Ran Video Of Romney's Attack On Firefighter, Police, And Teacher Hiring. Between June 8 and June 12, Fox News aired 54 segments related to Obama's June 8 press briefing. 50 percent, or 27, of these segments aired Obama's "doing fine" comment, and 31 percent, or 17, aired Romney's subsequent criticism that Obama is "detached" and "out of touch" with the American people. A mere 15 percent, or eight, aired Obama's later clarification. Only seven percent, or four, aired Romney suggesting that we shouldn't hire "more firemen, more policemen, more teachers."

Fox Took Three Days To Air Video Of Romney's Attack On Firefighter, Police, And Teacher Hiring. Between June 8 and June 10, 2012, Fox News only aired Obama's "doing fine" comment, Obama's later clarification, and Romney's subsequent criticism of Obama as "detached" and "out of touch." Not until the following Monday, June 11, did Fox News finally air the complete Romney clip that included his attack on hiring "more firemen, more policemen, more teachers."

Fox Focuses On Obama's "Doing Fine" Comment Out Of Context

Fox Dismisses The Severity Of Government Worker Layoffs. On Monday, June 11, Fox News' Special Report with Bret Baier and The Five both aired segments touting the 4.2 percent government worker unemployment statistic to suggest that the public sector is thriving. However, according to Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) compiled by Business Insider, public sector jobs continue to decline as private sector jobs rise.

Further, The Wall Street Journal reported that the overall unemployment rate in April would have been lower -- at 7.1 percent -- had the number of government workers not fallen since December of 2008. Economist Mark Zandi proclaimed that "the job losses at state and local governments is the most serious weight on the job market. And a February report from the non-partisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities stated that government job losses hurt those who don't work in government. [Media Matters, 6/12/12]

Fox Edits Out Romney's Attack On Firefighter, Police, And Teacher Hiring. The June 11 edition of Fox & Friends removed remarks from David Axelrod, communications director for the Obama campaign, so that Romney's suggestion that we don't need "more firemen, more police, more teachers" would not appear in the clip. [Media Matters, 6/11/12]

Methodology

Media Matters reviewed Nexis transcripts and raw video for any mentions of "Romney" or "Obama" between June 8 and June 12 on Fox News.