Despite the claim that the actual "news" on Fox is impartial, the reality is that Fox News is the place where manufactured right wing "outrage" is reinforced. The newest thing to have white, right wing panties in a wad is the revelation, broken by the Murdoch tabloid, the NY Post, that former Weather Underground radical Kathy Boudin is teaching at ColumbiaUniversity. And like its media sibling, Fox News, which never sees a right wing outage that it doesn't exploit, the title of the Post's article is - ready for it - "Outrage 101: Radical Jailed in Slay Now Columbia Prof." So it was no surprise that alleged Fox news host, Megyn Kelly would, in taking this national, provide validation for yet another manufactured right wing "outrage" which included the perfunctory Fox slam on Hollywood and "elite" colleges. And who better to validate Kelly than that paragon of journalistic objectivity, Michelle Malkin. But this is part of Fox's "fair & balanced" programming so it's all good...
Yesterday, on America Live, Kelly showed clips of Robert Redford's (interviewed this morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe") new movie based on people and incidents involving a 60's radical group, the Weather Underground. She mentioned that the real life armored car robbery involved the deaths of two police and a Brinks guard. Her voice got louder as she reported that the get-away car was driven by Kathy Boudin who spent 22 years in jail and now she (Kelly's voice went up a register) "has been granted a prestigious teaching position at Columbia University...this after she was honored by NY University." Kelly didn't mention that Boudin, who has a doctorate in sociology, is working on AIDS and criminal justice issues. Kelly introduced her guest, America's favorite anchor baby, Michelle Malkin. No bias here, no sirreee...
Kelly squinted her pretty eyes as she stated "this is an underground person who spent, what what almost 24, 22 years in prison, pleaded guilty, there's no doubt about her guilt that she murdered three people, and now she's teaching the next generation of our best and brightest what, exactly?" Malkin, who wrote a book defending the brutal and unjust internment of Japanese Americans during WWII and who thinks hate crimes are just hoaxes done to make white people look bad, was off and running with her standard right wing talking points. She snarked that this is "confirmation that colleges and universities are cesspools of tenured radicalism and left wing domestic violence." She then attacked Boudin's son who received a Rhodes scholarship and, according to Malkin, is unrepentant about the Weather Underground which, of course, he wasn't involved with.
Kelly mentioned Bernadine Dohrn (the wife of Fox News perpetual target Bill Ayers) who is Northwestern and "this prize" is at Columbia and "her son is a Rhodes scholar at Yale" who believes in the ideals of his parents." Kelly dramatically said that she wouldn't want her children attending Columbia because of Ms. Boudin who (she dragged the word out) "murdered" police and a security guard who doesn't "have anything" to say about what her kids "need to hear." Malkin said "it's a warning" to all parents and claimed, without having seen Redford's movie cus it's not out yet, that his movie "romanticizes" the Weather Underground. She noted that Ayers is now a visiting scholar at Minnesota State University. She accused taxpayer funded universities of being "safe haven for left wing domestic terrorists and their apologists" whose histories have been "whitewashed by academia and Hollywood."
Kelly compared Boudin to Casey Anthony and OJ Simpson. She screeched "this woman, this woman can admit to killing three law enforcement officers...and Columbia University gives her a job, a prestigious job..." After reading commentary from a Columbia dean, who praised Boudin's work involving (Kelly's voice went up another notch) convicts. Kelly snarked, "well, she's got some expertise."
Megyn Kelly not only takes sides but uses right wing apologist Michelle Malkin to validate her points. At no time was it mentioned that Boudin has expressed remorse for her crime and has done commendable public service work in the community. But who cares about facts when the intent is to engage in the popular right wing sport of bashing "elite" librul education. Funny, I thought that Kelly's show is part of the official non-partisan "news" programming. Looks like it's just part of the Fox opinion format. Talk about a "cesspool!"