O’Reilly, Guilfoyle And Wiehl Whoop It Up Over Jodi Arias’ Potential Death Sentence
I’m no fan of Jodi Arias but there was something beyond tasteless about the way host Bill O’Reilly treated her pending life-or-death verdict as some kind of theatrical event. “Can we make a bet of some kind? That would be entertaining,” he said to his guests, Kimberly Guilfoyle and Lis Wiehl, the Fox News legal pundits who disagreed on the outcome. The “hilarity” that ensued was sickening to anyone who feels that sentencing someone to death is no laughing matter. It just proves that Arias has become nothing more than a media commodity to “pro-life” Fox News.
Read moreBill O'Reilly Declares Victory In 'Righteous' (And Bogus) War On Christmas Crusade (Or Is It Jihad?)
Bill O'Reilly's "Tip of the Day" is usually a little homily about how "the folks" should take Bill's advice about doing the right thing - in other words, preaching about what he doesn't practice. But yesterday, Bill's "tip" was actually a self-congratulatory piece about how the Texas legislature has passed what an atheist Texas public access TV host has called a "bunch of bullshit." As usual with O'Reilly's delusions claims of culture war victories, one can't assume that his media papacy had anything to do with this bill which "is designed as a legal firewall to protect educators or other public officials who wish to openly celebrate Christmas in the state, but fear legal action from secular groups." But that didn't stop O'Reilly from taking, as he did in the case of Great Barrington MA, credit for it!
Read moreJon Stewart Asks O'Reilly: Is It Joy Or Sexual Arousal At Fox Over Obama Scandals
Bill O'Reilly visited The Daily Show last night and, as usual, these two guys are funny together. Stewart got in some good jabs: "You finally have a few things that really look worth investigating (about President Obama). is it joy? Is it sexual arousal? What is the feeling over there?" But O'Reilly knows how to give as good as he gets. After Stewart razzed him over his Islamophobia, O'Reilly hit back at Stewart for not getting a Muslim host when he goes on leave this summer. "If you really cared about the Muslim community, you'd bring in a substitute Muslim host! Let's call it for what it is! Put up or shut up!" O'Reilly thundered, as he tried to keep from laughing. Stewart, on the other hand, had already lost it completely.
Read moreMalkin Blames British Liberals For London Terrorist Attack
In yet another Fox News segment purporting to fight the war on terror via talking points, Sean Hannity used the horrific attack in London near a military barracks as a pretext to attack President Obama. The excuse last night was Hannity’s hypothesis that, unlike British Prime Minister David Cameron, Obama would not have called the incident a terrorist attack. But Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin took it a step further by actually blaming liberals for the attack. Hannity, of course, didn’t utter a peep in objection.
Read moreFour Years, One Month Since Hannity Promised To Undergo Waterboarding For Charity
It was four years and one month ago today that Sean Hannity offered to be waterboarded for charity as proof that it's not torture. And yet, Hannity has weaseled out of taking part in this procedure that he likes to call "dunking." Either Hannity is a bigger coward than we can imagine or else he knows full well waterboarding is torture. Or both.
Read moreVan Susteren: I Would Advise IRS Tax-Exempt Chief To Take The 5th, Too
Before you watch the Fox News barking heads yapping over the IRS’ Lois Lerner taking the 5th Amendment before Congress today, consider Greta Van Susteren’s comments to Committee Chairman Darrell Issa last night. Van Susteren is an attorney but I can assure you that Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity – who are not attorneys – will ignore what she said in order to continue banging the drums of their phony IRS scandal.
Read moreFox Uses Trumped-Up IRS Scandal To Advocate For Abolishing Income Tax And The IRS
You can’t accuse Fox News of ever missing an opportunity to exploit a news story. On Saturday's Bulls and Bears (5/18/13), the pretext was the IRS scandal. Host Brenda Buttner didn’t waste any time. “IRS SOS, as the scandals keep sizzling,” she said to open the show. She suggested to asked regular Gary B. Smith, “Shut down the IRS as we know it and replace it with a flat tax, what do you say?”
Read moreFox News Sexism: The Video
If you're wondering why Fox News has mostly ignored the military sexual harassment scandal, a new video mashup from Media Matters might help explain it. And they didn't even include Sandra Fluke.
Read moreReuters: James Rosen's Reporting Was 'Almost Guaranteed' To Attract CIA Attention
The Obama administration has signaled that it does not intend to prosecute Fox's James Rosen despite the fact that a judge found probable cause that Rosen was a co-conspirator in a leak of intelligence. This comes as the right-wing howls about a chilling effect - less than a year after they howled about the Obama administration being too soft on leaks. But whether or not Rosen actually broke any laws, a column on Reuters.com points to quite a bit of professional malfeasance.
Read moreFox Poll Bias Assumes People Are Concerned About Its Fake Scandals
A Fox News poll is out about the IRS so-called scandal today. But it asks a question that assumes its respondents are of a mindset with Fox News viewers when it suggestively asks, “Which of the following scandals currently facing the Obama administration concerns you the most?” It goes on to list Fox’s favorite three, in language that Roger Ailes might have written.
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