Fox & Friends' Brian Kilmeade thinks all terrorists are Muslims. True story. He actually said that during Fox News' ongoing crusade (or is it jihad?) against the so called "Ground Zero Mosque" - a veritable Islamophobic propaganda fest which underscored Roger Ailes' "personal paranoia" about Muslims. Kilmeade, obviously under some pressure, issued a halfhearted and almost truculent apology. But that he still harbors the belief that terrorism must be connected to Muslims was apparent, yesterday, when Kilmeade seemed to be desperate to get one of Fox's terrorism experts to suggest that the Boston bombing was connected to Islamic terrorism. While it was obvious that Kilmeade was begging for something to cling to, in his hopes of a Muslim connection, Walid Phares didn't fall for it. Poor Brian...

Kilmeade's opening question, about whether the bombing had anything to do with Islamic terror or Al Qaeda like extremists set the tone of the piece. Kilmeade asked Phares what his "gut" told him. Phares, a neo-con who served as an advisor to Mitt Romney, said what every other security and law enforcement was and still is saying; i.e. that it's too early to say who was behind this heinous act. Kilmeade quote Rep. Peter King as saying that the attack has "the hallmark of Al Qaeda" and asked if Phares was "willing to go there." Kilmeade didn't mention that King also said that “We have to consider if it was Islamic Jihad, it could also be white supremacists, anti-government people, all of that is being looked at right now."

While the police had conducted a search of the apartment of a Saudi national, he was not and still is not a suspect - yet, the chyron read "Police Raid Apartment Source: Authorities Question Saudi National" and "Overnight Raid, Cops Remove Bags From Apartment Around 2AM." Another chyron blared "Terror in Boston, Could It Have Been Al Qaeda?"

Despite Phares asserting that there still is no indicator that it was Al Qaeda, Kilmeade opined "this would be an enormous success for them, had they pulled this off, had they been behind this." Another chyron about the Saudi: "Deadly Marathon Bombings, Police Search Apartment in Revere, MA."  Kilmeade kept with the suspicious Saudi meme: "We have this Saudi, he's a person of interest, we're questioning him...if it is somebody here on a student visa, a Saudi, what does that mean in the big picture in the war on terror and Al Qaeda, knowing that we've had cells in the Lackawanna Six, the Fort Dix Six, and others before." Phares responded that if evidence showed a connection to the Saudi then it could be of a jihadi nature; but cautioned that we need to wait for that information. Kilmead said that he will have Phares back "especially if this Saudi is involved."

As reported on Media Matters, the right wing, including Murdoch's NY Post, attempted to create another Richard Jewel in their immediate speculation that the Saudi was connected to the bombing. Looks like Brian Kilmeade was part of that effort on Murdoch's "fair & balanced" "news" network!