While Fox attacks Obama as somehow not American enough because he didn’t attend the unity rally in France, I thought this a good time to remind people how much Fox hated France – and considered them an enemy in the war on terror when it suited their politics to do so.
Yesterday, Fox repeatedly suggested that President Obama was somehow not patriotic enough to attend the unity march in France over the weekend. But we recall a time when Fox thought it was un-American to be pro-French.
You may recall there was an entire segment in the documentary Outfoxed that showed how Fox tried to smear John Kerry as too French. “French are thinkers and that doesn’t go into the code of the American presidency,” guest Clotaire Rapaille was seen saying about Kerry. “They think, they think, they think – they never do anything with their thinking.” Then-host John Gibson soon told Rapaille he was welcome to come back. That was just one of several examples.
A video of that clip is below. The relevant part starts at about 5:35.
Even more to the point was Bill O’Reilly’s boycott of France. In February 2005, O’Reilly accused France of enabling terrorism:
When are we Americans going to wise up? How many times does the French government, led by Jacques Chirac, have to put all of us in danger before we get the picture? France is helping worldwide terrorism.
O’Reilly lifted his boycott in 2005 when right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy was elected. But the insults remained:
France’s new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, we believe he will be much more fair when dealing with the USA, helping out NATO and fighting the War on Terror. The fact that thugs took to the streets after Sarkozy won tells you what you need to know about the election. If these animals don’t like Sarkozy, then he must be doing something right.
But the current president, Francois Hollande is a socialist. And guess what? France’s prime minister has declared that France is “at war against jihadism and terrorism... but France is not at war against Islam and Muslims.”
That’s exactly the same language Fox has been holding up as some kind of proof that President Obama is soft on terror.
Of course, Fox shoud stand behind France after the horrific attacks of last week no matter what. But to suddenly accuse President Obama of not being American enough because he didn’t take part in what was, ultimately, a photo op in Paris, is - pardon my French - a bunch of merde.
Oh, and that anti-French thing in the early 2000s? Just like in 1984 (the book, that is) IT NEVER HAPPENED!
You think I’m reading too much into FoxNoise’s sudden “concern” how the US looks to the French?
Savvas from Australia