With Hillary Clinton and Terry McAuliffe’s embarrassing endorsement of FOX’s coverage (apparently making up for FOX’s previous 14 years of horribly unfair, dishonest coverage) and the recent high-profile “get” of Barack Obama on FOX News Sunday, the feeling in the media world is that FNS host Chris Wallace (and FOX) have been legitimized and are on a roll — which is exactly what many on the left (including myself) predicted would happen if prominent Democrats appeared there. And with Wallace’s journalistic pedigree and willingness (on one lonely occasion) to call out his FOX colleagues for Dem-sliming that was even too outrageous for him, Wallace is being portrayed as FOX’s “serious,” respectable father figure — in contrast to hot-headed, homophobic Uncle O’Reilly and racist prettyboy meathead Uncle Hannity.

In a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Wallace talked about his Obama Watch and furthered several myths about FOX which, unfortunately, are increasingly being regarded as “conventional wisdom”:

THR: How effective was "Obama Watch?"

Wallace: There were two factors in his decision to come on. One was the "Obama Watch." It gave us a way to dramatize the fact that he was ducking us. Right after we started it, I called one of the people in the Obama campaign who had been putting me off for months. I said, "What did you think of it?" His response was that it was obnoxious.

But now I say it was obnoxious and effective. More important was his defeat in Pennslylvania and his lopsided defeat among white, working class voters.

First, by saying that Obama was “ducking” FOX implies that Obama has some sort of obligation or responsibility to go on FOX. He doesn’t. Obama isn’t doing interviews with Rush Limbaugh, Michael Weiner Savage, the KKK, or Neo-Nazis because they’ve all vowed to destroy Obama with all the trash they can find or invent — just like FOX. If you don’t believe that that’s FOX’s goal, just watch FOX for an hour — you’ll get the picture after 15 min.

John McCain adviser Charlie Black on FOX News, May 15, 2008

O'Reilly does it again: "They want to break down the white, Christian, male power structure—of which you're a part, and so am I.  And they want to bring in millions of foreign nationals to basically break down the structure that we have. In that regard, Pat Buchanan is right. So I say you've got to cap it with a number."  

And watch McCain agree with him! 

Video is originally from www.crooksandliars.com

This little ditty is a remix of the video that surfaced Monday, in which O'Reilly has a meltdown on "Inside Edition."  The original O'Reilly video sparked a bit of a to-do because CBS had YouTube remove it from their site, leaving many blogs with dead links.  I myself ended up with an error message to the effect of: "This video is no longer available due to copyright claim by CBS Broadcasting, Inc."

CBS does have a copyright claim because they own King World Productions (now CBS Distribution), which created "Inside Edition" originally.  Of course, the more CBS intervened, the more the video spread.  As you can see on this YouTube search, the video is now all over the place.  So was CBS's copyright enforcement bullshit from the start?  Didn't they realize this video was so juicy that determined bloggers would circumvent copyright restrictions?  Or was CBS under pressure from O'Reilly or FOX?

Now that the O'Reilly video is out there, keep spreading it.  You can also download the remixed song for free.  And, for more hilarity, check out Colbert's take on all of this.

 

For far too long, FOX has devoted hours a day pondering why Barack Obama does not denounce comments made by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, even after Obama denounced them repeatedly, saying that he does not agree with some of Wright’s statements and that Wright does not speak for him. But FOX has continued to assert that Obama is responsible for everything done or said by anyone who has any association with him, no matter how weak, tangential, or inconsequential.

But if FOX believes Obama should answer for the comments and actions of everyone he knows (as well as anyone those people know), why won’t FOX denounce frequent guest Rush Limbaugh?

Some of you may have heard that last week, Limbaugh was a phone-in guest to FOX’s Live Desk, where he recounted meeting Bill Clinton and Los Angeles mayor Anthony Villaraigosa in New York:

[Clinton] came over three or four times, had Ron Burkle with him and the mayor of Los Angeles, who I thought was either the shoeshine guy or a Secret Service agent.

That’s right — Rush thought the mayor of a major American city was a “shoeshine guy.” Does anyone think that Rush would have thought this if Villaraigosa were white? Yeah, me neither.

But that only touches the tip of a fat, bigoted, misogynistic iceberg. Just check out what Media Matters has on Limbaugh and you’ll get a sense of how truly hate-filled, offensive, and disgraceful Limbaugh is on a regular basis.

So if FOX feels that Obama needs to denounce the statements of Wright, the 40-year-old actions of William Ayers, and a non-existent relationship to Louis Farrakhan, shouldn’t FOX denounce the countless hateful statements of Rush Limbaugh? And shouldn’t they stop inviting him on their channel so he can spout more as he did last Monday?

You may have forgotten O'Reilly's Inside Edition days, but we haven't.  This video just resurfaced!

Watch as FOX's Steve Doocy throws a conniption fit in an attempt to link Obama with Bill Ayers.  While it's kind of amusing that FOX can't drop the all-important crawl to get a glimpse of Ayers standing on an American flag, this smear is downright disgraceful. 

Watch them try and fail again here. 

FOX News roundtable, May 6, 2008

http://StopBigMedia.com

Hard-hitting journalism is nearing extinction on television, and the Federal Communications Commission just threw another shovel-full of dirt on its grave when it recently ruled that Rupert Murdoch's TMZ and Pat Robertson's 700 Club meet the test for "a bona fide newscast." Media companies get their broadcast licenses for free. In return, the FCC says that if a TV show is not a bona fide newscast, and it airs a story about a political candidate, "it must afford equal opportunities to other such candidates for that office." This is supposed to keep ideologues like Pat Robertson and Rupert Murdoch in check. But instead the FCC let them off the hook by adding TMZ and 700 Club to the list of bona fide newscasts; even though Congress defined bona fide as newscasts as those that hold "genuine news value" and are not intended to boost or aid any particular political candidate.

Free Press Exec Director Josh Silver has more at HuffPo. 

John Gibson said I was one--that is how it really happened. Listen to his radio show the other day. I almost fell out of my chair laughing. I am on Soros' payroll, apparently, and part of a vast left-wing scheme to destroy McCain (as well as all else that is good and decent, I assume).

That is what my new book, The Real McCain, is about. Murky conspiracies. Not, you know, reporting the facts and stuff. 

It all started when I worked for this fine company last year and the beginning of this year. Not to mention the wealthly liberal guy who owns my publishing company. Hell, I might even start a War On Christmas when nobody is looking!!

I used to enjoy going on your show, John. Where does all the hate come from? Why no love? I mean, can't we all just get along?? In fact, in the spirit of kindness, if you get me the address, I'll send you a signed copy of the book which broke that story you were talking about  on your show(you know, where McCain called his wife a very bad word that rhymes with "runt").

Oh and one more thing. If you can find a way to help get me on Soros' payroll, that would sure be swell. I could use the cash...