Fox Wants to Keep Up the Partisan Bickering
Reported by Janie - September 15, 2005
Yesterday (9/14), Dayside was once again missing from the 1 o'clock hour, and Bill Hemmer took over to provide in-depth coverage on Hurricane Ophelia. At the end of the show, he finally got around to spending some time discussing the John Roberts hearing.
Hemmer interviewed Tim O'Brien, Fox News Supreme Court Analyst, and Andy Fois, former Assistant Attorney General under President Clinton.
Hemmer began the brief interview with "Give me a headline Tim, what has happened today?"
TO: "I think it's less of about John Roberts than about Democrats on the judiciary committee, who seem to be laying back, and perhaps this is an indication they're waiting for the next fight, and John Roberts is going to go through."
BH: "They're laying off? Is that what your suggesting?"
Comment: Could Hemmer have been more incredulous?
TO: "They appear to be."
Hemmer turned to Fois: "Is that the case?"
RF: "I think a lot of wind has gone out of their sails, some frustration over the fact they haven't really been able to pin Roberts down on much. You heard Senator Biden talking about how we don't know anything about you judge, we're really rolling the dice here, and something's wrong with that."
O'Brien finished the conversation: "I think what is happening is we're going to see the debate shift to the next nominee, I think that the Democrats will be holding their fire because they see there's not that much to shoot at here."
Comment: Fox has been screaming for months now that all that can be expected out of the Democrats is bickering, and a partisan battle. The Roberts hearing comes along, the Democrats, despite having ample ammunition to go after Roberts, are going along with the nomination silently, and Fox had to find something else to complain about. Now that the Democrats have decided to go along with the nomination, Fox is screaming "ploy", not accepting that there seems to be a consensus, and are attempting to make sure the partisan battle continues by just making things up now, with absolutely no proof.
