Last week, as part of the Fox & Friends Founding Fathers Fridays, the curvy couch potatoes interviewed a Thomas Jefferson impersonator. The real Thomas Jefferson would have been appalled that he is being channeled by a right wing Christian nationalist; but that didn't bother the impersonator who not only validated the gang's right wing talking points but offered some of his own. While there was lots of talk about the deficit, nobody asked him what he thought about a black man in the White House. And that question didn't come up during this Friday's Founders segment during which George Washington made an appearance. The real time George, who doesn't seem to have the same ideological agenda as "Jefferson," he was more than willing to affirm at least one right wing talking point fed to him by his hosts who seemed more interested in bashing Nancy Pelosi than getting a history lesson. One suspects that the real George Washington would be shocked at the idea of a female in Congress, but whatever...
Alisyn Camerota immediately set the tone by showing video of Nancy Pelosi "using the words of our first president to take a jab at Republicans." (And Tea Party types don't use Founders language to take jabs at Democrats and, in particular, that Kenyan born, Marxist, Muslim President who is treading on them!?) Pelosi cited Washington's comment about cautioning against a "political party at war with its own government." After Brian Kilmeade asked if this is "really what Washington meant," Steve Doocy introduced President George Washington who, in real time, is Scott Hinkle, the Founder of "We Make History," an Arizona reenactment organization that hosts historically themed balls, historical reenactments, and provides actors who play historical characters for schools, businesses, and charity events. Hinkle, known as Lord Scott for professional purposes, informs his website readers that he has always had a passion for Washington, his favorite president.
As the chyron read "Pelosi's Presidential Punch, Use Washington Quote Against the GOP," Doocy asked the president if he agreed with Pelosi. Washington said that he spoke against the formation of political parties because it would turn into a competition between factions. He then talked about how the brilliant men around him disagreed but they knew that they needed to come together for this noble cause. To Camerota's question of whether he is disappointed to see the political parties fighting, he responded that it is "saddening." He urged Americans to "remember the spirit of selflessness" as the chyron read "By George, Not Republicans, Pelosi: Washington Warned Against Them."
The visual for the next segment was a scroll with the title *"This Week's Headline In Line With Constitution, US To Let Spy Agencies Scour Americans Finances." After Kilmeade explained that the US Government is considering allowing spy agencies to review personal finance records in order to find terrorists. Washington responded that he would "be concerned about any government infringement...unless there was just cause." And never wasting an opportunity to work in right wing talking points, Washington was asked, as was Jefferson, about the national debt. (Also a "Headline In Line With Constitution") Washington spoke about a "spirit of selflessness in government" and "planning for prosperity." In keeping with the Fox & Friends GOP talking points, he said that after becoming acquainted with the situation, it seems we are "robbing future generations." Doocy said "that's the way it sounds" and told the audience that the purpose of Founding Fathers Fridays is to remind viewers of "how far we've drifted."
While this Founder didn't appear to do the Democrat bashing that was expected, he still managed to work in, as did Jefferson, the very modern GOP talking point about the debt which makes one wonder if he was keeping with the agreed upon script which Nate Silver didn't agree with when he was interviewed on the curvy couch. After his experience, Silver said that he had "never met people more terrified of what might happen if they actually tried to engage in a rational discussion." The objective for these Founders pieces isn't communication of history - it's the propaganda. And that's why the Fox & Friends Founders appear to have quaffed the Kool-Aid - or, more appropriately, the tea!
*The chyron is a lie as it states, as fact, that the US will be allowing spy agencies to review personal finance records. It is, as correctly stated by Kilmeade, under consideration but privacy rights advocates, including the reviled by Fox News ALCU, is speaking out against the proposed policy.
Even as President, Washington had plenty of troubles. His cabinet ministers weren’t happy with each other (while Washington was largely apolitical, his VP and Cabinet officers were VERY political—and represented wildly differing political views on virtually every single subject; it’s part of the reason how our current political parties developed during Washington’s 2nd term—with the Federalists on one side and the Anti-Federalists on the other) and the members of Congress were constantly feuding with each other at the drop of the proverbial hat.
But, of course, this moron doesn’t know anything about the real Founding Fathers. No more than the Teabaggers know anything about the original Tea Party. The original Tea Party was basically a terrorist action in response to what was actually a fairly legitimate grievance. (To sum up, the Colonials were being overtaxed at every turn but had no representation in the Parliament in London. So an “extremist” group—most of whom were drunk at the time—decided to plunder ships belonging to a private business* and destroy the company’s property. It’s amazing how the truth about the “Boston Tea Party” isn’t as well-known as the fiction.) The modern Teabaggers may not like how their tax dollars are being spent (although I still find it interesting that these folk weren’t as willing to complain about the trillions of dollars in gov’t waste during the Dubya years—but I digress….) but they DO have representation in the US Congress. And while they may not like their Congressman, that—unfortunately—is one of the side effects of living in a democratic society (or, as the right-wingers always like to say, a "republic"**): You have to abide by the will of the voting majority (not the same thing as “the majority”), even if the winner doesn’t share your views. (For all his lunacy, Muammar Qaddafi had a point in his “Green Book.” “Political struggle that results in the victory of a candidate with, for example, 51 per cent of
the votes leads to a dictatorial governing body in the guise of a false democracy, since 49
per cent of the electorate is ruled by an instrument of government they did not vote for,
but which has been imposed upon them. Such is dictatorship.” On the other hand, even in the purest forms of democracy—even such as the old New England town halls or in Qaddafi’s theoretical “jamahariya”—where ALL the people participate on all civic matters, there’s always bound to be SOMEONE whose views are ignored or outvoted for whatever reason.)
*Okay. “Private business” may not be the best term when describing the situation. The tea was aboard a ship that was operating on behalf of British exporters and would be sold in the American colonies to different consignees, sort of like an auction (the auction house doesn’t actually own any of the items being sold—it merely acts as a middleman between the actual seller and the buyers) with the only real difference being that most of the consignees had already agreed to the price they would pay for the tea.
**Under strict definitions, “democracy” and “republic” have the same basic meaning. “Democracy” originates from the Greek words “demos” (people) and “kratein” (to rule) while “republic” originates from the Latin words “res” (business, matter) and “publica” (people) so a “democracy” is a state where “the people rule” and a “republic” is a state which is “the people’s/public business.” As they’re NOW used, however, a democracy is more commonly nuanced to refer to the “pure” democracy seen in the old New England town hall meetings where all public business was voted on by all the people in the room while a republic is a democracy in which the people as a whole select representatives to do the voting on public business for them. (And, under the US Constitution, the term “republic” appears in the guarantee that all the states shall have “republican” governments, ie, that the people select representatives to vote on matters of public interest—a form which is used throughout the US, even in the smallest of towns, where people elect city/town councilmembers to vote on measures. It’s worth noting, though, that this guarantee does NOT necessarily nullify the little towns where all 47 voting age adults would meet in the local Elks Lodge to decide whether the dogcatcher overstepped his bounds by catching a cow that wandered from its pasture instead of calling the farmer who owned the cow.)
This gimmick of interviewing the Founding Fathers is ridiculous and embarrassing. Who came up with this idea?
The only thing that F&F is accomplishing here is providing more materials for Saturday Night Live.