"Fair and Balanced" FOX News Stacks Its Own Court In Favor Of Supreme Court Nominee
Reported by Ellen - July 20, 2005
Hannity & Colmes was abbreviated to about half its length last night, in order to provide coverage of Bush's nomination for the US Supreme Court. Nevertheless, H&C managed to squeeze in three Republican guests with only one conservative Democrat for "balance." Not only was it clear what FNC thinks of the nomination, it was also clear they don't even want any serious debate over it.
First guest was "Judge Ken Starr" unidentified as having been independent counsel in the Whitewater and Monica Lewinski scandals. Starr's opinion of Roberts ranged from "terrific" to "superb" with the added nuance that he's "one of the premier lawyers of our time."
Next guest was former Democratic Senator John Breaux, one of the more conservative Democrats and someone who often voted against his own party. But actually Breaux did an OK job articulating why Democrats ought to review the record of the nominee and not just rubber-stamp Bush's selection. It was interesting to me that this only non-Republican appeared in the middle of the pack of guests, where he would likely make the least impression.
Then came Senator Orrin Hatch who, predictably, joined in the attacks against Democrats with Hannity. Hannity dredged up the usual villains - Kennedy, Schumer and Durbin - for the umpteenth time. The only phrase used more often than "terrific" in relation to Roberts was "left-winger" in relation to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In Hannity-land, Ginsburg only made it to the Supreme Court because of the largesse, bi-partisanship and extreme magnanimity of Republicans who were willing to overlook the tarnish of having served as counsel for the ACLU.
Comment: Hannity goes after the ACLU night after night yet never discloses that he had no trouble accepting their help when he was fired from radio station KCSB for "discriminating against gays and lesbians." You can read more about this from FAIR.
Colmes got in some good points about Ginsburg being a "consensus nominee" and a moderate along with the fact that no Democrats have openly opposed Roberts' nomination yet, so why attack them for something they haven't done?
Last guest was Ed Meese who offered his own unique analysis: Roberts is an "outstanding nomination."
