If, as Jon Stewart says, "conservative victimization" is the true genius of Fox News, Fox & Friend's perpetual parade of persecuted Christians makes it MENSA material. Whenever a Christian cross, on public property, is under fire, Fox & Friends has its back. Such was the case during last week's segment about a cross topped war memorial which is the target of a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. At one point in the discussion, Foxblonde, Anna Kooiman provided reinforcement of the persecuted Christian meme with the Fox message for the day: "Clearly, the right to have a faith and to believe and practice and worship is under fire at the moment."  Really?

Bill O'Reilly recently interviewed Professor of Politics at Occidental College, Peter Dreier, in order to discuss his charge that O'Reilly traffics in "right wing buffoonery." O'Reilly denied Dreier's previous charge that he had unfairly criticized Social Security and accused Dreier of not backing up his claim, making him look "intellectually deficient," and - wait for it - "perpetuating propaganda." When you've finished ROFLMAOing, check out Dreier's list, on Huffington Post, of some of Bill's "lies, distortions, and right wing buffoonery" which includes Bill's criticism of Social Security as something "close" to a Ponzi scheme. You might want to make of a copy of this for those family, holiday (ewww, my bad) dinners when your bombastic, right wing relative starts bloviating about the lies and distortions being promulgated by the buffoonish Bill!

Although Rupert Murdoch still hasn't cleaned up his mess in England, he keeps sticking his nose (and money, I'm sure) into U.S. politics. After a series of tweets giving advice and admonitions to Mitt Romney, promoting an anti-Obama book, and advocating for stricter gun laws, Murdoch has gratuitously weighed in on Romney's "almost perfect choice" of Paul Ryan for vice president.

Three cheers for Sister Simone Campbell, who appeared on The O’Reilly Factor tonight, and went toe to toe with Bill O’Reilly over helping the poor. O’Reilly tried to argue that because poverty has increased, that’s proof that social welfare programs haven’t worked. Sister Simone wasn’t buying it. She told O'Reilly in no uncertain terms that the problem is stagnant wages.

Sean Hannity must have developed a severe case of amnesia because he insisted to Democrat Lanny Davis two nights ago, “I don’t remember anybody on the right calling President Obama a murderer, a criminal, a tax cheat, a felon or a racist.” Later, Hannity decried the race card, saying, it “doesn’t really get lower than that, does it, Lanny?” Not only have people on the right done exactly that, many of those accusations and tactics have been used right on Hannity and elsewhere on Fox News. Sadly, Davis seemed more interested in sucking up to conservatives than he was in advocating for his own side.

There’s nothing like the Olympics to bring out the jingoism and racism in some people - like some people who post at the Fox Nation. Its readers have gotten quite exercised over a post about Leo Manzano, the Mexican-born silver medallist in the 1500 metres, who competed for the US but displayed both the Mexican and American flags during his post-race lap. The Nation's post was based on a disapproving commentary by Ruben Navarette on cnn.com. “Sooner or later,” Navarette lectured Manzano, “you have to choose which country you're going to represent. And you did. You made that choice, when you put on the jersey for Team USA. …This country took you in during your hour of need. Now in your moment of glory, which country deserves your respect -- the one that offered nothing to your parents and forced them to leave or the one that took you all in and gave you the opportunity to live out your dreams?” 

Part of Fox News' propaganda genius is its ability to frame its messages in terms of the noble us vs. the evil them. The narrative is further enhanced by smearing those deemed to be enemies of the Fox/right wing state of mind  (think "Ground Zero Mosque" and the "War on Christmas.")  In validating the position of the supporters of "religious liberty" vs. the alleged overreach of the Obama HHS,  Fox News had no problem trashing and mocking Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown student who provided testimony, to a Democratic congressional committee, regarding the importance and fairness of contraception coverage with no co-pays for Georgetown students. Fox's "The Five," a show that delights in personal attacks, attacked her. Greg Gutfeld, who gets indignant when conservative women are targeted, whined that she is "the poster child for whiny entitlement." Eric Bolling claimed she was a White House operative. Now that Fluke is campaigning for the president, "The Five" continued their attack by using the Fox patented Chick fil-A controversy to compare the evil "political opportunist" Fluke with the noble Chick fil-A worker who encountered a bully. As propaganda, sheer genius - As personal attack, vile. But then, it is "The Five."

Remember when Jerome Corsi was a somewhat regular guest and topic on Fox News? For a long time, the co-author of the Swiftboat book attacking John Kerry has gotten favorable treatment by the network - something he seems to have forgotten, because now he’s declaring war on the hand that used to feed him. In a recent Youtube rant, Corsi attacks Fox News for being “packed with leftist commentators,” an accusation he seems to base solely on the presence of host Bob Beckel (grudge much?).

In a lengthy interview on Fox News Sunday today, guest host John Roberts asked, “Should the Democrats be releasing an ad that accuses a presidential candidate… through inference, of being responsible for a woman’s death?”

It's official: Sarah Palin will not be one of the speakers at the upcoming Republican convention in Tampa. That's not really a big surprise. What is at least somewhat surprising is that she made the announcement on BFF Greta Van Susteren's blog. UPDATED: It doesn't look like she'll be doing any campaigning with the candidates, either.