Pick a Supreme Court Justice - The Fox Way
Reported by Donna - July 5, 2005
Today on Studio B, Rick Folbaum substituted for Shepard Smith and used the 'banner method' to tell the story of how President Bush is going to select a new Supreme Court Justice.
The telling of the story was not so evident by the conversation between Folbaum and Juan Williams, NPR Sr. National Correspondent, but more by the standard 'banner method' that we have entailed here before, that Fox uses from time to time.
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, it's in the banner.
If you weren't paying attention to the discussion but rather focused on the banners that run along the bottom during an interview, here is what you would have seen:
*Pres Bush Wants Less Rhetoric Over Supreme Court Nominee
*Bush: Will Nominate Person With Integrity And Intellect
*Bush: Nominee Will Interpret Consitution Faithfully
*Bush: I'm Looking At A Wide Range Of Candidates
*Bush: I Think There Ought To Be A Good, Fair Hearing
*Bush: There's An Obligation To Reach Out To All Our Society
*Bush: I'm Interested In Diversity On The Court
*Bush: I Do Not Believe In A Litmus Test For My Judges
Did you get anything out of that but one perspective? The conversation contained a lot of conversation about what if the Attorney General was nominated? Juan Williams did say one thing about left leaning special interest groups not wanting Gonzalez as a Supreme Court Justice because he is the "guy who signed off on the memo that gave the president authority to do things they don't like with detainees down in Guantanamo."
Fulbaum finished off with a question regarding the G-8. He wanted to know if it was more show than substance. Williams said that the agenda, for the president, was "not to his liking, having to do with global climate and the like."
Comment: I found the segment a bit comical, almost as if Jon Stewart was going to pop in at any time and show one his famous faces. We sure did get a 'fair and balanced' account of how to pick a Supreme Court Justice -- just go with what Bush says and don't listen to those silly people on the left who are concerned that a candidate had signed off on a memo to give the president authority to do things they don't like in Guatanamo. (i.e. torture)
And to finish it off -- Bush is just showing up at the G-8 to give Tony Blair support, it's not really "to his liking" -- you know, that global, climate kind of stuff.
