The newest faux "outrage" in the right wing community is the Obama campaign visual which is an abstract American flag that puts the Obama campaign logo in place of the stars on the American flag. The stripes are rendered in abstract brush strokes. Allged "news" anchor Megyn Kelly provided an echo chamber for this outrage. As reported by News Hounds Brian, she said that "folks" say that the stripes of the flag are reminiscent of the bloody handprints on the Libyan consulate walls. The folks she is referring to are in the right wing blogosphere which is simply ablaze with righteous fury about what they feel is a desecration of the flag.  But these same "folks" had no problem when teabagging "patriots" did their own alterations one of which included Sarah Palin's visage superimposed over the stripes. They also had no problem with the flag being flown upside down at a Tea Party rally. Ironic, don't ya think?!

In Foxworld, Islam is viewed with suspicion, if not outright hostility; while, at the same time, any expression of Christianity, even when it clearly violates the First Amendment, doesn't seem to be a problem. And when Christians are challenged by the demonic forces of the ACLU, Fox News (Jesus' personal network) provides them with a national venue for their claims of persecution. On this morning's Fox & Friends, sweet lil Christian gal Ainsley Earhardt followed up on Fox Radio's "fundamentalist barking dog" Todd Starnes expose of how some evil doer complained about bible quote banners which are displayed at the Kountze, Texas public high school football games. Earhardt interviewed two cheerleaders and a "football mom" who just can't understand why this is a problem.  And while this kind of religious fervor might be problematic, vis-a-vis the Constitution that Jesus wrote (just ask Mike Huckabee), Fox News has framed it as just more victimized Christians being persecuted for their faith! Amen?

Poor old Mitt Romney. Done in by the liberal media again. A report from the conservative Media Research Center- posted on the Fox Nation - says that the Big Three networks gave Romney’s “47%” gaffe 88 minutes of coverage versus only six minutes to the video of Obama saying he favored redistribution.

It's one thing to disagree with President Obama's foreign policy. It's another thing to accuse him of not caring much about it on a news network that bills itself as “fair and balanced.” But John Bolton, who would have no way of knowing much about President Obama's thinking, announced on On The Record last night that Obama is more interested in “restructuring our daily life” than in keeping Americans safe. Shameful.

Sean Hannity – the guy whose go-to experts on unrest in the Middle East are Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter (whom he treats more respectfully than John McCain) – obviously thinks he knows better than two United States Senators sitting on the Foreign Relations Committee. As they tried to explain to college drop-out Hannity why it’s in the United States’ interest to continue sending aid to Egypt, he insisted otherwise.

Randy Newman – of the satirical “Short People” song fame – has written and performed a new satirical song with the repeated line, “I’m Dreaming Of A White President.” In it, Newman, a supporter of President Obama, takes on what he sees as a deep strain of racism in the electorate by singing from the point of view of someone nostalgic for a white president. So who did The O’Reilly Factor turn to for “insight” into the song? Bernard McGuirk, Don Imus’ long-time producer, who has a long history of making inflammatory racial comments, including taking part in the now-infamous “nappy-headed ho” discussion that got him and Imus fired from their radio show.

Saturday Night Live did a great job spoofing what I assume was this segment on Fox & Friends this week in which the curvy couch crew didn't just defend Mitt Romney's "47%" remarks but applauded them.

Remember Newt Gingrich, gentle reader? He ran for the Republican nomination last spring? If you were hoping he’d retired to his moon colony to write his memoirs, this doesn’t seem to be the case alas. He appeared on On the Record last night to reinforce the Republican campaign’s Fox News’ latest SlamObama talking point: that the Obama administration covered up reports that the attack on the US embassy in Libya was a planned strike by Al-Qaeda, not a spontaneous protest in response to a movie as they’d originally maintained. Which he discussed at length, interspersed with oh-horrors remarks about intellectual elites, guys dressed like pirates, Christ in a glass with urine, etc. 

Despite Fox News' "Fair & Balanced logo, much of the content of this network is hardly that. But according to the Fox brass, that's just fine because the biased stuff is on programs that are officially designated as "opinion" shows whereas the news shows are committed to actual fair & balanced news. This appears to be a crock of steaming bullshit, given the type of validation for right wing policies and politicians which is frequently part of various "news" shows where, depending on the issue, there is no balance to the party line - especially when it comes to Sandra Fluke. It's not just Bill O'Reilly who is part of the deal. Fluke has been smeared by Megyn Kelly on Kelly's alleged news show. Even Fox's flagship "news" show, hosted by Bret Baier, is not immune from partisanship. Such was the case on Tuesday, when Charles Krauthammer advanced the Fox News/right wing misogynist narrative that Sandra Fluke is just a demanding slutty slut who wants free birth control courtesy of the taxpayers. Obviously, that's not true; but if you watch Fox, you wouldn't know that.

Ted Koppel visited The O’Reilly Factor last night where he discussed the reasons he thinks opinionated cable news is not good for the country. Koppel gently but firmly confronted Bill O’Reilly on his own tactics that Koppel acknowledged were good for business but, he seemed to think, not much else. As the segment ended, O’Reilly said, “I still think I’m doing something noble.” And Koppel declined to respond.