Day: 4/20/2012

The Fox News Audience Demonstrates Their (Non) Humanity – Again

Posted by on April 20, 2012 at 3:13 pm. 2 Comments :

Here we go again. The people who patronize Fox News just can’t seem to suppress their innate inhumanity. A plane crashes in Pakistan with 127 passengers that might be from anywhere, including the U.S., and this is how the Fox audience responds:

Fox News Jet Crash

The overt racism and absence of common decency is disgusting. These are people who represent themselves as pro-life and tolerant of individual sovereignty. Yet their bigotry and hatefulness always seems to come through. And there are even those who just have to turn even an unrelated tragedy into a treasonous desire for the President’s death.

Where are people like Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, who relentlessly disparage liberals as soulless and uncaring, but when remarks like these appear they have nothing to say? And these are not remarks popping up on some obscure fringe web site – this is Fox News. And this should be condemned by everyone.

Rachel Maddow Seeks Dismissal Of Lawsuit By Homophobic Rocker/Preacher

Posted by on April 20, 2012 at 2:12 pm. 10 Comments :

In a court action this week, attorneys for MSNBC host Rachel Maddow asked a federal judge to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by Bradlee Dean, a former Christian rocker turned anti-gay preacher, on the grounds that it was a deliberate attempt to censor and/or intimidate Maddow by subjecting her to the burdens of defending against a meritless claim. The legal vehicle for this petition is known as SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation).

In Dean’s complaint he alleged that Maddow had defamed him when she broadcast a segment on his commentary on Islam and homosexuality. It’s not surprising that he should consider his own words to be tantamount to defamation. Here is the whole statement by Dean with the parts Maddow quoted in bold:

“Muslims are calling for the execution for homosexuals in America, this was just released yesterday and it shows you that they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible, the Judeo Christian God. They seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do. Because these people are livid about enforcing their laws, they know homosexuality is an abomination. And I continually reach out to the homosexual communities on this radio show, and I warn them, which ones love? Here you have Obama condemning it behind the backs of the homosexuals but to their faces he’s promoting it. I say this to my gay friends out there the ones that continuously nitpick everything I say. Hollywood is promoting immorality and the God of the Heavens in Jesus names is warning you to flee from the wrath to come, yet you have Muslims calling for your execution. If America won’t enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that’s what you’re seeing in America today. Read Leviticus 26 America.”


There is little leeway for any interpretation other than that Dean was praising the moral superiority of extremist Muslims who advocated executing homosexuals. He even went further to offer his Biblical analysis that radical Islamists were fulfilling the will of God by attacking the United States. While Dean made a disclaimer that he was not calling for the execution of gays, it was an irrelevant gesture. No one had accused him of calling for executions, just for saying that Muslims were doing so and that they were “more moral” as a result.

Maddow’s response to the suit was that she had not defamed Dean because she had reported factually and that her comments were constitutionally protected speech. The facts appear to support her position. It would be surprising if this suit were permitted to go forward. But even Dean should hope that the judges dismisses the suit. Could he really want to generate more publicity for his views that he is now characterizing as harmful to his reputation?

Fox Nation vs. Reality: Romney’s Phony Lead Over Obama

Posted by on April 20, 2012 at 12:36 pm. 2 Comments :

Sometimes the brazen disrespect Fox News has for honest analysis is breathtaking. They seem to have such a fierce determination to deceive their audience that no limits are drawn for their blatant biases. Take, for example, the article posted this morning reporting on the results of an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll:

Fox Nation

The Fox Nationalists analyzed this poll (which was co-produced by a fellow Murdoch entity, the WSJ) and concluded that the headline news that it contained was that “Romney Opens Up Lead Over Obama.” Just to give you an idea of how far they had to stretch in order to make this an anti-Obama article, here are some of the actual results from the poll:

  • Obama leads Romney among all registered voters 49% to 43%.
  • Obama leads Romney among African Americans 90% to 4%.
  • Obama leads Romney among Latinos 69% to 22%
  • Obama leads Romney among young voters (18-34) 60% to 34%.
  • Obama leads Romney among women 53% to 41%.
  • Obama leads Romney among Independents 44% to 34%.
  • Obama leads Romney as most likable 54% to 18%.
  • Obama leads Romney as caring about average people 52% to 22%.
  • Obama leads Romney on looking out for the middle class 48% to 22%.
  • Obama leads Romney on being knowledgeable and experienced 45% to 30%.
  • Obama leads Romney on being a good commander-in-chief 43% to 33%.
  • Obama leads Romney on standing up for his beliefs 41% to 30%.
  • Obama leads Romney on being honest and straightforward 37% to 30%.

The poll also found that respondents favored Obama’s approach to the economy by fighting for fairness and strengthening the middle class; that 45% approve of his handling of the economy (a five point gain over last fall’s poll); and that a plurality (36%) believes the president’s policies have helped U.S. economic conditions. In fact, the only economic question in the poll where Romney beat Obama was on who would have better ideas for improving the economy, where Romney led 40% to 34%. And on the basis of that single statistic Fox trumpeted a headline that played up Romney lead in the poll.

To be fair, Romney did lead on some other questions (i.e. white and suburban voters), but that hardly compensates for the devastating beating he took on almost everything else. Sometimes, when you witness such gross misrepresentation, you have to stop and say “Wow.” Just “Wow.” These people have no scruples whatsoever.