If there's any doubt that Fox & Friends is a conduit for GOP talking points, look no further than "melancholy cornhusk" Gretchen Carlson who, this morning, advanced the GOP and Mitt Romney whopper (Don't know if it was pink but it sure was slimey!) regarding a mythical President Obama "apology tour." In previewing an upcoming segment, Gretch quipped that "saying sorry, not the hardest part for President Obama." An "Al Arabiya" clip (not so subliminal reminder of the GOP myth of Obama's allegiance to Islam?) was shown in which Obama commented that "all too often the United States starts by dictating." Obama was referring, at the beginning of his presidency, to his intention of sending former US Senator George Mitchell to the Middle East in order to reach out to Arab leaders, many of whom were unhappy about the US invasion ofIraq. The Foxies didn't include the first part of the sentence, "What I told him is to start by listening." After the clip, Gretch said "remember the president's big apology tour?" She contrasted that with Mitt Romney's promise to never apologize. Hey Gretch, yer pants are burning!

While the former Miss America is reminding the fans of an Obama apology tour, she should be reminded that it's bullshit. Politifact gave that claim a "pants on fire rating." In reviewing Romney's accusation, during the formal announcement of his candidacy, that "President Obama traveled around the globe to apologize for America," they note that in the tours that Romney cites, in his book "No Apology," the word "sorry" was never used. Rather, Obama made comments regarding past "arrogance" of the United States - an accurate observation based on the history of American foreign policy. (Remember Vietnam and the Contras?) But at the same time Obama also accused Europe of anti-Americanism, a factoid missing from the Obama "apology tour" agitprop. As noted in Politifact, Obama "doesn't seem so much to be criticizing the United States as he is criticizing the foreign policy stances of the Bush administration." Regarding Iran, Obama said that "in the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government" - a reference to the US's role in overthrowing the Mossadegh government in Iran. During the same speech, Obama also cited Iran's hostage taking and anti-American violence. Politifact provides numerous other examples of Obama's commentary.

Politifact describes Romney's charge as "ridiculous" and that Obama's criticism of the US "was typically leavened by praise for the United States and its ideals" along with mention of how other countries have "erred." They conclude:  "There’s a clear difference between changing policies and apologizing, and Obama didn’t do the latter. So we rate Romney’s statement Pants on Fire." Once again we see how Fox advances a GOP meme so that it becomes a narrative. And as George Costanza would say, "it's not a lie if you believe it." If anybody should be apologizing for promoting bogus GOP talking points, on an allegedly "fair & balanced" news network, it's Gretchen Carlson.

(3/23/20 Update: Video is no longer available)