Fox Blasts Into Turbo-Driven, BREAKING NEWS Overdrive to Spin John Kerry's Remarks
Reported by Melanie - October 31, 2006 -
Republicans were obviously laying in wait for a Democrat, any Democrat but preferably one of high stature, to say something, anything, they could exploit and use to pummel the left with in these last days before the election. John Kerry gave them that crumb yesterday and Fox News has kicked into turbo-driven overdrive to help them spin it into the stratosphere. If the coverage Fox gave it today (October 31, 2006) on Your World w/Cavuto is any indication, what Kerry said will be totally and completely distorted by this evening, much less Election Day.
David Asman substituted for Cavuto today and, over a chyron that read, Deadly Defeatism, opened the show by summarizing upcoming segments:
One week to Election Day, did Senator John Kerry just give a gift to the GOP? Will one word, defeatism, defeat the Dems?
The chyron changed to, Aiding the Enemy, and Asman continued:
And Brigitte Gabriel on why the Arab world thinks Senator John Kerry just helped the enemy in Iraq.
After the bells and clangs of a FOX NEWS ALERT, Asman continued:
And this is a FOX NEWS ALERT. Stocks hold their own despite weaker consumer confidence and signs that Senator John Kerry and many Democrats have no confidence in America's chances of winning in Iraq.With one week to go before the elections, Republicans are seizing on one comment from Senator John Kerry to show that Democrats are nothing but defeatists on Iraq.
With that Asman showed a clip of Kerry speaking last night and tossed to Greg Kelly in Washington for a report. After Kelly, Asman turned to two talking heads, Mary Katherine Ham, a Republican and Margie Omero, a Democrat. The chyron that appeared at the bottom of the screen during the segment read, Will Kerry's Iraq Defeatisms Spell Defeat for Dems? The gist of their positions was:
Ham:
It's a reflection on what we've come to expect from Democrats which is at best an unseriousness about national security and at worst, it seems, maybe a contempt for those who provide it for us.
Omero:
I think if the voters had to chose between a botched joke and botched policy they would chose the botched joke every single time.
Next came Brigitte Gabriel, a very frequent guest on the show and the founder of the American Congress for Truth. Gabriel is a former Middle Eastern news anchor.
This interchange between Asman and Gabriel gives you a good idea of the gist of the segment, which was captioned with this chyron: "How is Kerry's Anti-Iraq Rant Playing in Arab World?:
Asman:
How are they likely to spin it out now? That the U.S. has just given up?
Gabriel, in less than perfect English:
Ah, yes, that's exactly what they were saying even two weeks ago when we started pulling down the war and saying we needed to get out of Iraq and the Democrats were launching this 'we need to back down, we need to withdraw' because gearing up to the election.
After the segment with Gabriel, Asman introduced Rep. Eric Kantor (R-VA) who was allegedly on to talk about how early voting shows that the GOP has an "early edge," but -- surprise, surprise -- Kerry's name came up. Kantor's take was:
I think that Senator Kerry's remarks hit a new low. It is just preposterous and outrageous for him to suggest that somehow our troops are not patriotic and are not there fighting for America, because they believe in our country.
Fox was apparently still scrambling behind the scenes -- having just gotten the memo to make this as big a deal as possible -- and no more Kerry-Democrat-bashing guests were lined up, so Asman had to resort to a series of FOX NEWS ALERTS:
4:19 EST:
FOX NEWS ALERT graphic.
Asman:
And, the talk of the town of course, the political town that is, is John Kerry's remarks. Tony Snow in relation to that and then John Kerry back at Snow. Well, President Bush might weigh in on this. He is in Georgia, political rally [live shot of the podium]. He's going to be at dozens of them throughout the next week until Election Day. As soon as he begins to talk about the subject at hand, which he may well do, again it is the talk of the moment, we will cut away to Georgia and listen to President Bush.That's back, right after this.
4:29 p.m. EST:
FOX NEWS ALERT graphic then to a live shot of the audience and podium in Georgia.
Asman:
And a FOX NEWS ALERT. We showed you a little bit about this down in Georgia. The President's going to be speaking at a political campaign but he is going to be speaking specifically about what John Kerry said. John Kerry, of course, is being raked over the coals by some because of what he said about people being stuck in Iraq if they don't get a good education, as to being proud to serve in Iraq. We know what the President is going to be saying. Some of it has already been quoted. He says, he says that the Senator's suggestion that men and women of our military are somehow uneducated is insulting and shameful. This is what the President is about to tell the folks in Georgia. We'll hear a lot more right after this.
4:36 p.m. EST:
FOX NEWS ALERT graphic and live shot of Georgia auditorium.
Asman:
And we've got a FOX NEWS ALERT for ya from Georgia where the President is about to speak and the subject du jour today is John Kerry. Something that he said about our troops and about that the President is going to say, and I'm quoting here, 'our troops did not enlist because they did not study hard in school or do their homework. The men and women who served are serving because they are patriots and Senator Kerry owes them an apology.'
4:52 p.m. EST:
FOX NEWS ALERT graphic and live shot of the auditorium in Georgia.
We're just about to take you down to Georgia where the President's going to be speaking. Senator Kerry says he was misunderstood with his comments earlier today about our troops in Iraq but the President is taking him at his word when he said you may get stuck serving in Iraq if you don't have a good education. The president's about to say, we know this because we have a copy of his speech, quote, 'Our troops did not enlist because they did not study hard in school or do their homework. The men and women who served in our all-volunteer armed forces are serving because they are patriots and Senator Kerry owes them an apology.' This is just part of the speech you are about to hear live right here on Fox. Stay tuned because we are going to bring that to ya.
4:55 p.m. EST:
Asman, heading to a break over another live shot of the auditorium in Georgia:
And, before we go, to a break, I just want you to look at this down in Georgia. Once again, the President's about to give a speech. Again, he's on the stump plugging all of the Republicans running all over America. He's probably going to give about two dozen of these before the week is out because this one is significant because he'll be talking specifically about John Kerry. This is the subject of the day. The question is whether it will be stretched by Republicans into the subject of the week.
4:59 p.m. EST:
Asman wrapping up the show:
Well, Neil is back tomorrow. He's going to be joined by the mother of two boys serving in Iraq. Now, she's got something to say about Senator Kerry's remarks, you can bet. You won't want to miss it. Wednesday, on Your World.
Comment: This reminds me of a post I did on the day Mark Foley resigned. Asman was substituting for Cavuto that day as well and he gave only the slightest, weakest peep about the news. The comparison between how Fox handled Foley and how it's handling Kerry is, well, speaking of apologies; they owe their audience one for being so unfair and so unbalanced.
