Fox must have loved actor Antonio Sabato Jr’s “Obama’s not a real Christian” smear on FNC so much that they invited him on Fox Business the following day to amplify his “secret Muslim” dog whistle.
On the Risk & Reward with Deirdre Bolton show, Bolton opened the segment with the dog whistle, courtesy of Donald Trump. She said, “There is controversy over President Obama’s first visit to an American mosque. In his speech, the president condemned anti-Muslim rhetoric and he called for religious tolerance.” Then she played Trump’s comment to Fox’s Greta Van Susteren, “We can go to lots of places. Right now I don’t know if he’s - maybe he feels comfortable there. We have a lot of problems in this country, Greta. There are a lot of places he can go and he chose a mosque.”
Guest Antonio Sabato Jr., who just happened to be a Trump fan, responded by regurgitating his own “secret Muslim” dog whistle from the day before, on Outnumbered.
SABATO JR.: In the last seven years, he’s never really visited a Christian church or talked about Christianity or talked about Jesus Christ. It’s interesting now he’s going to a mosque. …There’s nothing wrong with going to a mosque but I think that in this particular mosque, I think there was a lot wrong with it. As a Christian, I think this is not the right time. I think he should be talking about all the Christians that are being slaughtered all over the world.
Apparently, Sabato Jr. didn’t pay attention to what President Obama actually says because President Obama talked about persecuted Christians in his remarks to the National Prayer Breakfast earlier that same day:
THE PRESIDENT: And so like every President, like every leader, like every person, I’ve known fear. But my faith tells me that I need not fear death; that the acceptance of Christ promises everlasting life and the washing away of sins. (Applause.) If Scripture instructs me to “put on the full armor of God” so that when trouble comes, I’m able to stand, then surely I can face down these temporal setbacks, surely I can battle back doubts, surely I can rouse myself to action.
…And then there’s the most—less spectacular, more quiet efforts of congregations all across this country just helping people. Seeing God in others. And we’re driven to do this because we’re driven by the value that so many of our faiths teach us—I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper. As Christians, we do this compelled by the Gospel of Jesus—the command to love God, and love one another.
And so, yes, like every person, there are times where I’m fearful. But my faith and, more importantly, the faith that I’ve seen in so many of you, the God I see in you, that makes me inevitably hopeful about our future. I have seen so many who know that God has not given us a spirit of fear. He has given us power, and love, and a sound mind.
We see that spirit in people like Pastor Saeed Abedini, imprisoned for no crime other than holding God in his heart. And last year, we prayed that he might be freed. And this year, we give thanks that he is home safe. (Applause.)
We pray for God’s protection for all around the world who are not free to practice their faith, including Christians who are persecuted, or who have been driven from their ancient homelands by unspeakable violence.
President Obama also talked about persecuted Christians in his remarks at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, the previous day:
THE PRESIDENT: And just as faith leaders, including Muslims, must speak out when Christians are persecuted around the world -- (applause) -- or when anti-Semitism is on the rise -- because the fact is, is that there are Christians who are targeted now in the Middle East, despite having been there for centuries, and there are Jews who’ve lived in places like France for centuries who now feel obliged to leave because they feel themselves under assault --sometimes by Muslims.
Sabato concluded, “As a president, I don’t know. I think he’s making some decisions that are not - I wouldn’t do that.”
Of course, there was no follow up, no correcting Sabato's falsehoods nor challenge from Bolton. Instead, she all but asked for more by saying, “We played a clip from Donald Trump. Do you support Donald Trump’s views, which are almost completely the opposite, so they seem, to President Obama?”
Sabato didn’t comment on Trump’s “secret Muslim” innuendo but fawned over him as being “what the country needs.”
Watch it below, from a channel that is supposedly dedicated to business news, on the February 4 Risk & Reward with Deirdre Bolton.
AAARRRGGGHHH!!!
What is it with this constant mantra among rightwingnuts that a 4x bankrupt reality TV performer is “what the country needs”??
@truman: “Professional underwear models have such keen political insight.”
And, on Fox, not just them; the parade of D-list actors, has-been musicians, and reality TV superstars continues unabated, to wit:
Pat Boone
Maria Conchita Alonso
Danny Bonaduce
Chuck Norris
Kirk Cameron
Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth
Kevin Sorbo
Caroline Manzo
Vincent Curatola
Victoria Jackson
Janine Turner
Stacey Dash
Phil Robertson
Adam Baldwin
Stephen Baldwin
Jon Voight
Paul Sorvino
Meat Loaf Aday
Ted Nugent
Mel Gibson
Clint Eastwood
Larry Gatlin
Hank Williams Jr.
Wayne Newton
Joey Bishop
Kid Rock
Robert Davi
Gianni Russo
Donald Trump
Antonio Sabato Jr.
.
But, more to the point, the members of that mosque are US citizens. And being a Muslim – or Catholic, or Methodist, or Jew – is NOT illegal.
I see absolutely nothing wrong with a POTUS acknowledging the Muslim faith, any more than any prior POTUS giving “props” to Christian denominations.
So this morning “F&F” asked faux media analyst (hack) Howie Kurtz to rate last night’s GOP debate moderators. In a rare moment of kindness, Howie rated the ‘mainstream’ media ones B to B+. Mostly silly nitpicking. Then when the topic of Fox’s own contributor Mary Ham came up naturally he had to be all fair and balanced in giving her an A while joining Tucker Carson in gushing her praises. 👍
Someone call 911! There are 2 guys on “F&F” trying to pimp a woman! 😉