Tag: Fox News

Caught on Tape: Murdoch, Ailes Acted as Recruiters for GOP, Sent Fox News Operative to Invite Petraeus to Run for President

Jon Ponder

The release of a secretly recorded conversation between Gen. David Petraeus and a Fox News operative has erased all plausible deniability about the fact that Fox News is nothing other than a media and communications vehicle for the Republican Party. In the recording, which was apparently made by Petraeus, Kathleen T. McFarland, a Fox News “security analyst,” is heard asking Petraeus to run for president, an invitation she says she is delivering on behalf Roger Ailes, head of Fox News, and Rupert Murdoch, owner of the Newscorp, the parent company of Fox. The recording was made in Afghanistan in the spring of 2011 a few weeks before Pres. Obama appointed Petreaus as head of the CIA — and more than a year before Petreaus resigned from the CIA in disgrace after revealing he was engaged in an ongoing affair with one of his fans.

[…]

Pages: 1 2

You Almost Feel Sorry for the Tea Party. But Not Quite

Trish

This is hard for me to process. With all the debt, all the unemployment and the bad economic indicators, how is it that Obama is only 2.5 percentage points down from where he was in 2008?

— Soon to be former state Rep. Scott Plakon (Longwood), who lost his seat in the Florida House on Tuesday. Plakon was author of the first of 12 tea party inspired state constitutional amendments — the one that would have exempted Florida from healthcare reform, aka Obamacare. Only the three most innocuous amendments were accepted by voters, who turned down Plakon’s along with restrictions on abortion and more tax cuts for industry. Plakon and other tea party members are struggling to understand why sentiment in the country isn’t as portrayed on FOX News. They might start by taking another look at those “bad economic indicators,” which have been steadily improving for about two years.

Even Fox News Calls B.S. on Six ‘Studies’ Cited by Romney-Ryan to Bolster Their $5 Trillion Tax Cut Scheme

Jon Ponder

In the first presidential debate, Mitt Romney falsely claimed there were six studies that proved his $5 trillion tax cut that mostly benefits the wealthy would not lead to increased taxes on the middle class and/or blow a bigger hole in the deficit. “I will not, under any circumstances, raise taxes on middle-income families,” Romney said. “I will lower taxes on middle-income families. Now, you cite a study. There are six other studies that looked at the study you describe and say it’s completely wrong.” In the vice presidential debate, Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan mentioned the six studies twice.

Talking Points Memo reports that “of the six studies, two are blog posts by the conservative American Enterprise Institute; one is a report by the Republican-friendly Heritage Foundation; one is a paper by Princeton professor and former George W. Bush adviser Harvey Rosen; the fifth and sixth are a Wall Street Journal op-ed and blog post by Harvard economist Martin Feldstein, an adviser to the Romney campaign.”

These “studies” are so bogus that even Fox News found that it could no longer carry water for its own party’s candidates. On their Sunday show, host Chris Wallace took down Ed Gillespie, Karl Rove’s embed in the Romney campaign, on the issue:

[…]

Sununu’s Racist Dogwhistle Rhetoric Translated: Mitt Romney Surrogate Says Pres. Obama Is Shiftless and Stupid

Jon Ponder

art-sununu-will-rogers-buttonPat Buchanan, the Republican establishment’s most stalwart neo-Confederate, was fired by MSNBC after years of making veiled racist remarks on the network most liberals watch, so Mitt Romney sent his campaign co-chair John Sununu, the disgraced White House chief of staff in the Bush I administration, onto the network’s air yesterday to to hurl coded racist epithets at Pres. Obama.

In an interview with Andrea Mitchell, Sununu, speaking on Mitt Romney’s behalf, described the president as “lazy,” a pervasive racist stereotype that has its origins in America’s slave-holding past. When Mitchell offered Sununu a chance to walk back the accusation, Sununu doubled down. “Yes,” Sununu said. “He didn’t want to prepare for this debate. He’s lazy and disengaged.”

Later, on Fox News, his party’s official politibureau channel, Sununu insulted the president with another pervasive racist stereotype — that he is unintelligent. On Fox, Sununu predicted that the president will not be able to improve his debate performances because, “When you’re not that bright you can’t get better prepared.” The Fox News host let Sununu’s insult stand, of course.

[…]

Even FOX Is Beginning to Demand Specifics From Romney

Trish

Romney seems to have internalized the Mormon culture of secrecy

Apparently we have a better chance of seeing Mitt Romney’s tax returns than we do of knowing his plans for balancing the budget through changes in the tax code, which is how he says he would do it. You know that when even FOX News (although I don’t think Gregg Jarrett is one of the most egregious Republican tools who anchor shows on the network) is trying to pin down Romney and his policy wonks, there is some serious evasion going on.

Romney’s platform up to now has been for us to trust him, but he keeps too many secrets to allow it. For example, along with those tax returns, there are the records he sealed as he left the office of governor of Massachusetts. Good luck glimpsing those.

[…]

Buzz Over FOX News’ “Resident Liberal” Using L-Word to Describe Paul Ryan’s Speech

Trish
kohn
FOX News' Sally Kohn

Who knew FOX News even had a “resident liberal?” Apparently they do, and the internets are afire over Sally Kohn’s description of Rep. Paul Ryan’s Republican National convention speech titled, Paul Ryan’s Speech in 3 Words: Dazzling, Deceiving, and Distracting.

Two things set apart the column from the others from fact-checkers who dispute almost every word uttered by Ryan and Romney. First, Kohn uses the L-word, something most mainstream outlets bar.

…to anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to facts, Ryan’s speech was an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies [emphasis added] and misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech. On this measure, while it was Romney who ran the Olympics, Ryan earned the gold.

Second, the column appears on the FOX News website’s opinion page.

[…]

Inside a Mitt Romney Rally, or At Least Near It

Trish
TruthRomney
Left, 'Truth,' and on the other side, (right) 'Romney.' WTF???

I hope you faithful Pensito Reviewers appreciate my sacrifice in bringing you these crowd shots from Mitt Romney’s appearance in St. Augustine, Fla. on Monday, Aug. 13. I had to get up at 6 a.m. — that’s 6 in the morning, people! — to start my day with a bunch of rabid Republicans and tea partiers.

I wanted to stick around for the speechifying by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Gov. Rick Scott, Sen. Marco Rubio, and of course, Willard himself but the speakers started late (you’d think Republicans would be on time and Democrats would run late), and going on three hours in, I wanted to flee the scene. The vibe was decidedly “We’re taking our country back,” and since I’m the one they’re trying to take it back from, it wasn’t pleasant.

But do enjoy these shots. I made them just for you.

[…]

Coulter: The Point of Hannity’s Show is to Elect Romney

Trish

Anyone who donates to Mitt Romney, and I mean the big donors, ought to say if Andrea Saul isn’t fired and off the campaign tomorrow, they are not giving another dime, because it is not worth fighting for this man if this is the kind of spokesman he has…There’s no point in you doing your show, [emphasis added] there’s no point in going to the convention and pushing for this man if he’s employing morons like this.

Ann Coulter, exploding on the Sean Hannity Show over another gaffe from the Romney campaign, but also putting to rest the notion that FOX News is anything but a vehicle for advancing Republicans and the conservative agenda. When she said that if Romney can’t run a better campaign then there is no point in Hannity doing his show, she acknowledged that the purpose of Hannity’s show is to elect Romney and other Republicans.

Chris Wallace Eats Mitch McConnell For Lunch – on FOX

Trish

Enjoy watching Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), who already looks like a fish on the pier that someone caught by mistake and didn’t throw back in time, go blank when Chris Wallace (on FOX News!) asks what the Republican alternative is to “Obamacare.”

But keep a couple of points in mind as you view.

[…]