Predictably, Fox News’ attacks on Nancy Pelosi for supposedly having secret information about why Newt Gingrich will not be president (when it’s pretty much a no brainer to most of us) continued on prime time last night.  On The Record devoted an entire segment to the attack issue with Fox News’ Democratic contributor, Joe Trippi. Sadly, Trippi ignored the possibility that when Pelosi said she “knew” Gingrich would not be president, she was stating the obvious and he joined with host Greta Van Susteren, saying that if Pelosi had damaging information she ought to come right out with it. Yet Trippi somehow ignored the blatant Fox News hypocrisy going on under his nose: Nobody seems to care about the secret information Donald Trump has from that big Hawaii investigation into President Obama’s birth certificate (about which he crowed his investigators “cannot believe what they’re finding”).

Can anybody explain to me why Fox News keeps promoting Donald Trump’s phony presidential candidacy? It can’t be any clearer that he won’t run and even if he did, it’s almost certain he wouldn’t win. Yet Fox News trots him out day after day, ignoring Trump’s glaring lack of credibility, in order to promote his phony presidential candidacy. The only reason I can think of for Trump’s popularity on Fox News is that he attacks President Obama in colorful ways. Whatever the motive, such matters as truth and honesty have taken a back seat. In this latest excuse to pretend Trump might run, Greta Van Susteren gushed over a comment made by Trump’s daughter saying she hopes he runs because he’d be “phenomenal” and Trump’s teasing/self-aggrandizing response, “Maybe I should listen.”

Fox News’ former White House correspondent and Fox & Friends weekend host, Greg Kelly, currently the host of Fox Television’s Good Day New York – and the son of New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly – has been accused of rape and is being investigated by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. (H/T Mediaite)

Fox News reporter Ed Henry followed quickly in Newt Gingrich’s footsteps by linking President Obama with radical community organizer Saul Alinsky - and then went Gingrich one further by speculating on White House interior decor. The inflammatory question was then picked up and amplified by Fox Nation.

Austan Goolsbee, formerly on the President's Council of Economic Advisors, appeared on Your World yesterday to discuss Warren Buffet's secretary sitting with the First Lady at the State of the Union address.

With sorrow I announce the death of Nancy Anton, an original and founding member of the News Hounds. For most of the time I knew her, starting in early 2004, she suffered from serious health problems. Those problems prevented her from participating in the blog several years ago. But she was an important force in the blog whose presence was felt long after she retired from it.

Nancy Pelosi went on CNN yesterday and said she “knows" Newt Gingrich will never become president. It’s kind of a no-brainer for most people, including conservatives like Ann Coulter. But when Pelosi said it, Fox jumped on it to accuse her of “threaten(ing)” Gingrich with some secret information she had. Later, when Pelosi said she had no secret information, Fox accused her of lying.

As George Costanza once said, "it's not a lie if you believe it." While the folks at Fox might not believe what they're peddling, it's clear that they want their audience to do so. Thus, they provide them with Fox "facts" that are reinforced over a span of shows or sometimes within a show. In an effort to alienate Catholic voters over the Obama administration's new requirement for employer health plans to cover the cost of contraceptives, Fox takes a page from the playbook of the US Council of Catholic Bishops in its reporting,as fact, that this coverage includes abortion drugs. The problem here is that it isn't true; but that hasn't stopped Fox from repeating it four times. On Monday, not only did Megyn Kelly not correct her guest's statement about this; but she presented it, as fact, in a subsequent piece framed by another Fox fact - that Obama is "picking on" Catholics. While Fox is entitled to their opinion, they're not entitled to their facts which, in the case of the abortion pill, is anything but.

The release of Mitt Romney’s tax returns yesterday revealed how, as the Los Angeles Times put it, “the wealthiest candidate to seek the presidency in recent history has benefited from a tax code that lets investors pay taxes at a much lower rate than people who earn wages or salaries.” So faced with questions about whether he can relate to regular people, Romney argued on Hannity last night that his large charitable contributions boosted his tax bracket from 15% to “between about 32 and 42%.” Hilariously - or maybe pathetically - Romney claimed in the same segment that President Obama is out of touch with reality and the middle class.

This is an open thread where you can share thoughts and observations about President Obama's State of the Union speech - and, of course, the media coverage. I think I've got it embedded after the jump. Text of the speech after the jump.