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Double Standard

October 25, 2011

Against All Facts Fox’s Phony War On Halloween Grows More Incomprehensible

When Fox “News” starts hammering at a meme it’s never hard to figure out why. Usually it falls into one (or more) of the following rubrics: Defending the GOP; defending the Teabaggers; defending the latest Republican to say something stupid; attacking President Obama; deflecting blame of President George W. Bush by attacking Obama; deflecting blame of the GOP by attacking Obama; defending Jesus; defending Christians; defending the flag; and defending Patriots both true and phony. That’s why Fox’s Phony War on Halloween™ is so incomprehensible. To start, it doesn’t fall into any of the above categories. Furthermore, the holiday itself seems to be diametrically opposed to Fox Audience Values™. In fact, there are whole swaths of ‘Merkin Fundamentalist Communities (traditionally a big part of the Fox “News” audience) who believe that Halloween is the devil’s holiday and, if they had their way, they’d ban it. Furthermore, the aims of those who wish to moderate the holiday (during school hours) would seem to dovetail with several Fox memes, mostly those about how the educational system is failing our children. So, when The Foxy Friends on Fox and Friends doubled down yesterday and called it an “all-out assault on Halloween,” I listened extra carefully to see if I could hear the dog whistle. Watch:

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Reported by Aunty Em at 11:11 AM

October 23, 2011

The Fox Phony War On Christmas Extended To A Phony War On Halloween

The Fox “News” Phony War On Christmas has gone so well, the network has decided to extend it to other holidays. It’s all a part of The Good Fight™ against what Gretchen Carlson has often claimed is “political correctness run amok.” Which is why, for the last few days, the Foxy Friends on Fox and Friends have been attacking public schools that are attempting to moderate, or eliminate, Halloween celebrations (only during school hours when children are supposed to be learning). However, it’s curious. It’s not like the Halloween has any link to Jesus or flag-waving or even a flag-waving Jesus—the usual reasons for the Foxy Friends to defend holiday nostalgia. One wonders why they would even bother defending Halloween. Thankfully, Fox and Friends Weekend answered that question yesterday. Watch, and read along, as they venerate Halloween as vehemently as they usually do the baby Jesus’ birthday:

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Reported by Aunty Em at 10:33 AM

October 20, 2011

The Five’s Eric Bolling Calls OWS Every Name In The Book, Then Defends Doug Schoen’s Phony Poll

Eric Bolling, Fox “News” Bully Boy and serial liar, took to the airwaves to smear the Occupy movement once again, although this time he eschewed wearing a tin foil hat. On yesterday’s show, and without pausing for breath, he called the OWS protesters, “Communist, Nazi, anti-Semites down here. Pot smoking, sex addicted morons, and you compare that to the Tea Party?” Clearly Kimberly Guilfoyle was amused because she laughed heartily at Bolling’s name-calling. However, Bob Beckel, who made the comparison, was not amused. He cried foul. Beckel has mentioned several times, on previous shows and in this segment, how he’s been forced to moderate his language when talking about Teabaggers because, as he has also explained, how angry it made his The Five co-hosts. They expressed their displeasure off the air and in commercial breaks. In fact, Beckel now calls them “The Tea People,” because of the severe browbeating he took. Yet, those same people feel that the Occupy movement can be described in almost sub-human terms and find it amusing.

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Reported by Aunty Em at 11:23 AM

October 19, 2011

How Fox News Uses Weak Democrats And News Corp Synergy To Play Pretend

Nothing demonstrates how frightened The Right Wing Establishment™ is of the Occupy movement than the continuing, and seemingly never-ending, Fox “News” effort to smear the world-wide protests. The Fox tele-prompter readers have used every trick in the book, to the point where the so-called news network is actually touting the Nazi Party’s endorsement of OWS. Leave it to Doug Schoen—a so-called Democratic Pollster who was awarded “Democratic Wanker of the Decade” in these pages—to take Fox’s side. Yesterday he used the pages of the Wall Street Journal (owned by News Corp, not coincidentally the parent company of Fox News), to publish an absolutely stupid column titled “Polling the Occupy Wall Street Crowd.” And, leave it to Stewart Varney to appear with the Foxy Friends on Fox and Friends to pretend that Doug Schoen is onto something when he’s really full of crap.

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Reported by Aunty Em at 1:19 PM

October 14, 2011

A Friendly Fox And Friends Welcome To “We Are 53 Percent”

If any more proof is needed that Fox “News” has taken a stand against Occupy Wall Street, one only has to look at the warm welcome given to Mike Wilson, described as “Conservative Filmmaker” and “Developer” of “We Are The 53 Percent,” the newest Right Wing protest group on the ‘Merkin political scene. While The 53ers seem to be quite a small group, that didn’t stop the Foxy Friends (in the persona of Gretchen Carlson) from giving Wilson as warm an embrace as Fox “News” did Teabaggers…or Joe the Plumber. That’s because Fox doesn’t care how big or small a group is, as long as it’s on the right side, pun intended. Clearly Fox “News” believes “We Are The 53%” is on the right side, as evidenced by the chyrons alone. As Wednesday’s interview began the following words appeared at the bottom of the screen: Taking on ‘Occupy Wall Street’; ‘We are the 53 percent’ claims middle ground. At the 23 second mark that’s replaced by “Mike Wilson; Conservative Filmmaker” which, at the 33 second mark faded to “Mike Wilson; Developer, “We Are 53%.” Oddly enough, this only stayed up on screen for a mere 3.5 seconds. Suddenly the chyron is dropped entirely so that Fox can show full screen the pictures that Wilson was currently talking about. WOW!!! Talk about synergy. It’s almost like that was planned because Fox almost never drops the chyron unless it’s for Hooters babes. Twenty seconds later the screen returned to a regular shot of Wilson with the words Counter protest movement; Telling Wall St Demonstrators to ‘Suck it up’ below him. Less than 10 seconds later those words are replaced by ‘We are the 53%’; Blame themselves, politicians for their angst, followed a short time later by “Anti-Occupy Wall St Movement; Says be responsible for your own destiny.” Media Matters also contrasted the treatment of OWS with this new group in an article titled “Fox Attacks ‘99 Percent’ To Support ‘53 Percent,’ ” posted a day before this softball interview. As comprehensive as MMfA's article might be, as much—if not far more—is said by Gretchen's kiss, kiss, kiss ending to this interview. The Gretch wrapped it all up in a nice pretty bow for those who didn’t get the less-than-subtle propaganda, “It’s a very interesting reaction to what’s going on on Wall Street. And we’ll check back in with you because I have a feeling it’s going to continue to grow.” Translation: “We’ll keep pushing your group and, just like we did for the Teabaggers, we’ll help you grow.” Watch:

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Reported by Aunty Em at 12:30 PM
The Five: Islamophobia On Parade, reported by Aunty Em,
Mike Huckabee’s Flag Fetish, reported by Alex,
Nice Try Neil — Goodbye PUMA, reported by Melanie,
Mr. Cavuto Goes to Washington, reported by Melanie,
Cavuto Doesn't Disappoint, reported by Melanie,
Neil Cavuto's Million Dollar Quote, reported by Melanie,
Fox Won't Let ACORN Speak, reported by Melanie,
Not on Fox, Vol. 2,984,765, reported by Melanie,
Cavuto's Picture of the Day, reported by Melanie,
FOX "Two minutes of hate", reported by Chrish,