Megyn Kelly did her part to deflect criticism of right-wing attacks on Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and his family in the wake of his recovery from Taliban captivity. Instead of hosting an honest debate on the subject, Kelly presented one of Fox’s most rabidly anti-Bergdahl critics as some kind of impartial military analyst and prompted him with loaded, anti-Obama questions.

This Kelly File segment came as Kelly’s right-wing pals have been coming under harsh criticism for their smears of Bergdahl and his family. So how best to counter that than with a “fair and balanced” discussion of the topic, Fox News style?

Kelly’s voice was full of hammy gravity as she announced, “We’re hearing over and over again” concerns that the swap “will embolden the enemy.” She never mentioned which Republican operatives who was voicing those concerns. Well, other than playing a clip of Republican senate candidate in a close race.

And who better to bring on to confirm that message than Peters - who called Bergdahl's father "Pops Taliban" and suggested Peters should have been shot by a firing squad? Kelly didn’t think it worth mentioning Peters’ record of hostility. Instead, she dialed up her outrage-o-meter as she talked about “many” at the Pentagon supposedly angry at “the president’s so-called victory lap, parading out Bowe Bergdahl’s parents in the Rose Garden, having Susan Rice describe him as serving with honor and distinction.” Now, Kelly added, the Bergdahl family is “shocked at the backlash against them and against their son. And the question is, who exactly is to blame for that backlash?”

Gee, suggest much, Megyn? It’s not like you would have reason to worry Peters might not blame the Obama administration. But why take chances, eh?

Sure enough, Peters went right along. He told the viewers:

President Obama. I mean, there’s just no question about it. The boss is the guy who’s to blame. Obviously, his public relations team is wildly incompetent. Phenomenal how idiotic the Rose Garden ceremony was.

Without offering any facts, Peters claimed that there are now five “jihadi recruiting tools,” “superstars” and “superheros” released to Qatar. Instead of asking Peters to back up that claim, Kelly sneered at the State Department’s spokeswoman for using the term “gentlemen” when referring to the released Taliiban prisoners swapped for Bergdahl. Kelly called them the “five terrorist leaders."

Nice way to conflate the Taliban with Al Qaeda, Meggy! In reality, though, the “terrorist leader” claim reflects either a shocking ignorance by Kelly or shocking dishonesty. See, e.g., last week's Rolling Stone article that contains, "MYTH: These five Taliban are the hardest of the hardcore."

Later, the “patriotic” Peters cast aside any use for the American system of military justice when he announced – prior to any military investigation – that Bergdahl is a deserter who deserved to be tortured:

If Bowe Bergdahl had not deserted, he would not have been tortured. And all the bleeding hearts on the left need to knock it off and go to the burn ward at Fort Sam Houston hospital in San Antonio!

Bowe Bergdahl…is going to get back to his family eventually fine, in good physical health. Those brave soldiers and Marines and Navy Corpsmen and Airmen in the hospital down in San Antonio, they’re never going to be completely right. They are in gruesome pain. …Many of them are not coming home.

And how did attorney Kelly react to this extrajudicial verdict? To this disregard of the principle of “innocent until proven guilty,” a bedrock of American exceptionalism?

By giving him a pass on his hateful, anti-American rhetoric, thanking him for his comments - and thereby perpetuating the fiction that Peters is some kind of neutral (credible) analyst.