Fox News loves Hobby Lobby because it is a good Christian company which successfully argued that the ACA's birth control mandate violated its religious freedom. During the time in which the case was litigated, Fox News clearly had Hobby Lobby's back even to the point of allowing Ken, "Blue Dress," Starr to do an infomerical for the family who own the company. When the SCOTUS ruled in favor of the company, the alternate reality of Fox News deemed it a "huge win for women." But now that the case has been resolved, don't think that Fox has forgotten the Green family. This morning, Steve Doocy interviewed Hobby Lobby president Steve Green about the awesome SCOTUS decision which was about "religious freedom" in the face of an "overreaching" Obama administration. Doocy also stressed that the decision is not part of a war on women because it only applied to abortion drugs. For the second time in six months, Doocy lied about and misrepresented the decision. But hey, this is Fox & Friends so who needs pesky details....
Given that the Green family got what they wanted, the opening graphic, "Fight for Faith" seemed a little silly, but hey, Fox needs to keep reinforcing that oh, so Christian sense of persecution. Doocy reported that tomorrow will be the three year anniversary of the launch of "Obamacare" but "one of its biggest foes was Hobby Lobby" which "won a landmark Supreme Court ruling giving it the right to opt out of covering certain contraceptives because they objected on religious grounds." They chyron made sure the audience knew the basis for the decision made by five, conservative, Catholic men: "Championing Religious Freedom, Hobby Lobby's President On Supreme Court Win." He welcomed Hobby Lobby president, the awesomely Christian Steve Green.
Doocy's facial distortions went beyond their usual high level when he asked Green if he ever thought, before the decision, that "you know, maybe we shouldn't do this, it's costing us a lot of money, the family's getting dragged through the press, it's just not worth it." Green said that was never the case because the family truly believed that providing contraceptives "that take life" violated their conscience and was something they couldn't allow. (Note - the birth control which Hobby Lobby objected to is considered abortion inducing only by the Catholic Church and evangelical Christians - not by science). The chyron framed the propaganda message of the piece in stating as FOX FACT: "Obamacare's Overreach, Mandating Company Birth Control Coverage."
Doocy accused the mainstream media of not depicting the case accurately because they didn't say that Hobby Lobby only objected to the four types of birth control that "cause life to end" and "that's when the Green family said we can't pay for that." Green claimed that "contraception has never been the problem" but, rather, those drugs that "take life." More messaging with this chyron: "Respecting Religious Liberty, Hobby Lobby's Contraception Coverage." Doocy worked in some anti-liberal agitprop: "Did it drive you crazy when people on the left would say Hobby Lobby is fighting a war on women, they don't want women to have the ability to have birth control because that was not accurate." Green spoke about how they want to "take care" of their female employees.
The conversation turned to the Green family's plan to build a bible museum in WashingtonDC.
What Steve Doocy didn't tell you: The original Hobby Lobby decision was broadened to include all birth control. The decision also covers IUD's which, as noted by Judge Ginsburg in her dissent, "is nearly equivalent to a month's full-time pay for workers earning the minimum wage." If a woman can't afford to purchase an IUD, she doesn't "have the ability to have birth control." The mainstream media was being totally "accurate." But Steve Doocy doesn't think this is an example of the GOP/Christian right's "war on women." Seriously? Ah, don't ya love the smell of propaganda in the morning!
