In case you thought there might be some occasions too venerable to exploit for partisan, political gain, check out how Fox News host Bill Hemmer and paid contributor Bill Cowan turned a discussion about the 70th anniversary of D-Day into a smear of President Obama over the Taliban prisoner swap, the Ukraine, Iran, Syria and more.
In the clip below, via Media Matters, host Hemmer started out speaking reverentially about D-Day. The lower third on the screen read, "D-DAY ANNIVERSARY CEREMONIES HONOR GREATEST GENERATION HEROES." Of course, any casual Fox News watcher knows that's code for "in the days before our secret-Muslim, African, Marxist president was elected by promising free stuff to the lazy minority takers."
After some hammy reflection on D-Day, Hemmer said he wanted to "make mention" of some news that had occurred during Obama's visit: an "informal meeting" between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Obama. According to Hemmer, Putin, Obama and the new head of Ukraine called for "a quick end to the bloodshed in Ukraine." Then Hemmer asked Cowan for his thoughts as to whether this could be the start of a new period of cooperation.
Cowan, a Fox News contributor, seized the moment to start attacking Obama:
Of course Putin watched this trade we just made with the Taliban and I think realizes once again what a weak president we have. ...There are no incentives for Putin to stop what he's trying to do in Ukraine.
...We're still out there in the wishful thinking mode, hoping that the world is going to be something that it's probably not going to be unless we show more of ourselves as being a world power.
Hemmer interrupted to suggest Cowan aim his criticism more directly at Obama: "Suggesting what, then, on behalf of the president and what you believe he should do," Hemmer said.
That was all the prompting Cowan needed. He set off on a lengthy anti-Obama tear:
Well, let's stand tall. Some of the things we could have done was been a little bit more forceful at the outset. ...There's a lot of things we should be able to do as Americans without going to war... But demonstrate to Putin that we are a world power, that we stand by our allies, that we support them and that we will continue to support them in the strongest way possible. But I think most of our allies don't see that any more. I doubt that Putin sees it. The Iranians don't see it. The Taliban are laughing about the deal that was just made, Syria doesn't see it. We can go on and on, Bill.
I'm afraid we have a terribly weak presidency... a White House that doesn't understand what the rest of the world is like. ...When the world looks at us as the weak country that we are now, nothing like we used to be, we need to get a little bit of backbone, a little bit of resolve and show the world that we are the same kinds of people that were participating in the D-Day invasion to liberate Europe from the Nazis and I'm afraid we don't demonstrate that these days.
Hemmer's voice sounded hushed with awe and respect as he said, "Bill Cowan, thank you for your input. Really appreciate your sense of history, too and your - well, your analysis of what's happening in the world today."
Watch Fox News use D-Day to smear our president in the video below: