Fox Says "The Left" (Mentions News Hounds) at Heart of Furor Over Robertson
Reported by Melanie - August 28, 2005
Fox was at its quintessential best Saturday evening (August 27, 2009) during Fox News Watch. One segment, a discussion about the furor over Pat Robertson's call to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, was titled, "Pat & The Press." Host Eric Burns began by wondering whether anyone, "on either side," who "advocated assassination, would be pilloried by the press."
Jane Hall, a regular guest on the program said, "I would hope so," but "you can't forget the hypocrisy factor," people wonder whether Robertson's "a political figure, a religious figure." Hall continued, "I also think it shows that the left is monitoring television in the way that the right and the Media Research Council has been doing for quite some time. I think that's what got this story out there."
Jim Pinkerton, of Newsday, jumped in: "There's a group called Newshounds.us which is, I guarantee, watching Fox right now and will have a transcript published within five minutes of when we say this."
Comment: Pat Robertson, one of the most influential religious leaders in the United States (not an "average American citizen," as the right is fond of saying) called for the murder of the democratically elected president of a sovereign nation. In doing so, Robertson placed himself in a league with the likes of Osama bin Laden, and he illustrated that we are becoming more and more like those we abhor and fear.
It is absurd, but characteristic, of Fox to blamed the furor on "the left." After all, without "the left" to kick around, the right just might have to take responsibility for its actions.
