FOX Shills for the RNC
Reported by Marie Therese - July 7, 2004 -
Big Story with John Gibson. Tuesday, July 6, 2004. Andrew Napolitano, host.
This show was a complete Edwards-bash. The FOX machine went into full attack mode: Hit your viewers hard, hit 'em fast and hit 'em often using the RNC's "research paper" as their guide.
Below are a few snippets from yesterday's Big Story and, where applicable, the page number from this "research paper". You can get your own copy of "Who Is John Edwards?". Go to Kerry Picks Edwards.
Then use it as a reference. When you see or hear a newsperson or commentator rehashing it or any other RNC Talking Point, let them know you're onto them. Keep a scorecard. Wear them down. Keep their feet to the fire. An educated, motivated electorate is the key to success for the Kerry-Edwards ticket.
DON'T just sit back and take it anymore. We liberals have a voice. We are NOT the minority. We are the majority. Let's shake up the powers-that-be!
Entitled "Who Is John Edwards?", this document is clearly a thinly disguised and incomplete "Talking Points Memo", courtesy of the RNC. It was distributed online within hours of Kerry's announcement and it is a whoppng 25-pages long. 25 PAGES???? Yikes!!! Why so long??? And why so fast?
The answer?
Bush-Cheney and FOX News Channel are terrified of John Edwards. In the event of a Kerry-Edwards win, George the Lesser would have to return to Crawford, TX. Cheney the Elder and Halliburton might have to face a grand jury. And FOX News Channel would suffer a significant loss of prestige and access. FOX's own correspondent, Molly Henneberg, admitted at 5:42 PM EDT that the Democrats might get a 15% bounce out of the Edwards selection and the Convention.
JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO: INTERVIEW WITH SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL)
1) (5:01 PM) Wasn't Dick Gephardt more qualified to be President? (RNC Talking Points, 7/6/04, page 1)
2) (5:01 PM) Sen. Kerry's first choice was John McCain...How is Senator Edwards gonna sort of shake the fact that "Well, I'm that guy's second choice after all?" (RNC McCain ad, 7/6/04)
3) (5:02 PM) What about the lack of experience in John Edwards qualifies him to be President of the United States? (RNC Talking Points, 7/6/04, pages 1-2)
4) (5:03 PM) He does belong to a group of very unpopular folks, though...trial lawyers. Isn't that a pretty big target? He's a multimillionaire trial lawyer. Most Americans - middle Americans - don't want to have anything to do with them. (RNC Talking Points, 7/6/04, pages 19-21)
5) (5:04 PM) Was Hillary Clinton left out in the cold? I mean, does she really want to have to run against a Vice President Edwards for the Democratic nomination in eight years? (Dick Morris, Republican, Fox News Contributor, The O'Reilly Factor, 6/2/04)
NAPOLITANO: INTERVIEW ITH SEN. ELIZABETH DOLE (R-NC)
1) (5:12 PM) Is his [Edwards'] Senate record - such as it is - since you indicated he spent so much time not serving the people of North Carolina and running for President - is his Senate record fair game for the Republicans, especially in the next three weeks? (RNC Talking Points,7/6/04, pages 18-19)
2) (5:13 PM) Here's an interesting vote. There are four members of the U.S. Senate who voted in favor of the War in Iraq and against the money to pay for the war. Two of those guys are now on the Democratic National ticket. How can they claim to be strong on defense, strong on terrorism, when they voted for the war but didn't give us the money to pay for it? (RNC Talking Points, 7/6/04, pages 8-10)
MOLLY HENNEBERG, FOX CORRESPONDENT, DURING REPORT FROM WHITE HOUSE
(5:21 PM) Henneberg actually READS the subtitle of the RNC report on air and I quote: "And perhaps the most forceful or aggressive response came from the Republican National committee which called Edwards (she reads) 'a disingenuous, unaccomplished liberal' " (RNC Talking Points, 7/6/04, page 1).
NAPOLITANO & TERRY KEENAN, FOX BUSINESS ANALYST (5:33 - 5:34 PM)
KEENAN: Edwards has voted against every major tax cut in his six years in the Senate. (RNC Talking Points, 7/6/04, page 5)
NAPOLITANO: The President's tax cut - which the President credits as the engine behind the improved economy that we're now all enjoying - is not permanent. The President wants to make it permanent. John Kerry, of course, does not. (RNC Talking Points, 7/6/04, page 5)
KEENAN: Exactly. He'd like to repeal the decrease in tax rates on the two upper income tax brackets and he'd also like to pull back the death tax and some of the other things. (RNC Talking Points, 7/6/04, page 5)
NAPOLITANO: I read earlier today that John Edwards actaully voted in favor of keeping the marriage penalty (RNC Talking Points, 7/6/04, page 5). That's really not like a populist, a middle American, looking out for the little guy. (RNC Talking Points, 7/6/04, page 11)
KEENAN: You're right. With both of these Senators they have not seen a tax cut they've liked, that they've wanted to vote for (RNC Talking Points, 7/6/04, page 5) and, interestingly, John Kerry has the most liberal voting record in the Senate. (RNC Talking Points, 7/6/04, pages 10-11)
