Until this week it’s been a conceit of News Hounds [okay, me] to treat Brad Stine—the right-wing, religious, comedian who appears weakly weekly on Fox and Friends—as an amiable doofus, who rarely knows what he’s talking about despite being used as an expert on everything.  That ends today.  On this morning’s Fox and Friends—the happy-talk-agit-prop-table-setter for The Fox “News” Daily Memes™—Brad Stine went so far over the line that it’s time to ask Fox “News” whether it embraces his comments, or whether they sink to the level of, say, Hank Williams, Jr., who crashed and burned with his over-the-top criticism of President Obama.  

One of the principal memes of the Obama hating Christian right is the belief that the evil satanic forces of secularism, atheism, the "gay agenda" (includes "Glee"), and feminism are trying to destroy the foundations of our "Christian Nation." They seek to take us back to the good old days when men were the unquestioned patriarchs, women were happy housewives, gays just didn't exist, and abortions were done in back alleys. This world view provides the basis for a new book, "Indivisible, Restoring Faith, Family, and Freedom Before It's Too Late," by Dominionist preacher James Robison and prosperity gospel adherent and "Intelligent Design" proponent Jay Richards. So it's no surprise that Jesus' very own morning show, Fox & Friends, would provide some sweet Christian fellow fellowship for these two Christian men who want to take their country back.

Vietnam Veterans of America are fighting mad at Fox News and contributor Liz Trotta. You may recall that Trotta shocked viewers last week when she responded to a rise in violent sexual assaults in the military by arguing that with women serving so closely alongside men, “Now, what did they expect?”  John Rowan, VVA National President, has answered Trotta with a no-holds-barred denunciation of her remarks and of Fox News for not condemning them.

Bill O'Reilly's Saturday Night Live cameo was not exactly like any of his appearances wtih Jon Stewart but I'll say this much for Bill O'Reilly: he knows how to take a joke and use it to his best advantage. In this segment, O'Reilly gets in a plug for his Lincoln book during SNL's "What Up With That: President's Day Special" segment.

There's a giant sucking sound emanating from Fox News every time the newly red hatted Cardinal Timothy Dolan's name is mentioned. And it's not just verbal adulation. It's also the undying Fox loyalty to the position taken, against the HHS birth control mandate, by the United States Council of Catholic Bishops of which Dolan is the head. Some counterpoint was provided. A Reformed rabbi appeared on Hannity while a female Unitarian minister and female Episcopalian priest appeared on O'Reilly. But the preponderance of the coverage, especially on Fox & Friends ( Eight segments in support of the bishops) is squarely on the side of the men in black. While alleged "news" host Megyn Kelly did one "fair & balanced" discussion (during which she lied about abortion pills), the others, including an all male panel in opposition to the mandate, were not so much. On Friday's America Live, Ms. Kelly was able to combine her love for Cardinal Dolan while pimping his position about how the HHS mandate violates "religious liberty." Oh, and Peter Johnson Jr., live from Rome, got to recycle the same old agitprop on behalf of the bishops and the awesome Catholic Church.

Sean Hannity has been railing about Media Matters’ supposed lapses in ethics for allegedly working with the White House and other media. But when it comes to ethical issues between the Republican Party and Fox News it’s an entirely different story, apparently. During the Great American Panel segment on Friday (2/17/12), when the subject turned to the 2012 presidential campaign, Fox News contributor Nina Easton made a point of disclosing that her husband is a paid advisor to Mitt Romney’s campaign. Hannity not only disagreed with the need to disclose that information, he was outright peeved at her doing so. 

In a previous post, I questioned whether Fox News would cover the scandal of one of its favorite anti-immigration “experts” involved in a gay scandal with a possible illegal immigrant. The answer is “yes, but.” UPDATED.

The question, "where are the women," has become a rallying cry for those who advocate for women's reproductive rights and who are opposed to the efforts, by the GOP and leaders of anti-choice religious organizations, to avoid having to cover birth control for their employees. This question was asked by NY Democratic Rep., Carolyn Maloney who wanted to know why GOP Congressman Darell Issa didn't include any women on his congressional panel which was convened in order to provide testimony on the HHS contraceptive mandate. But rather than including those who would be directly affected by the policy, the morning session included only males, several of them clergy, one of them a Catholic bishop, and all of them anti-choice opponents of the HHS policy. (The second hearing had two women, both Christian opponents of the policy). Three Democrats, two of them women, walked out of the hearing in protest. The outrage spread to the greater community of those who support women's rights except for one place. In the bizarro world of Fox & Friends, Fox host and unofficial liaison with Timothy Dolan, head of the US Council of Catholic Bishops, Peter Johnson Jr., had no problem with the sexist nature of the panel - but he did have a problem with those who protested.  

Well, well, well. It looks like Fox News’ favorite Arizona “border expert,” Sheriff Paul Babeu has some ‘splaining to do. If reporting in the Phoenix New Times is correct, it turns out this anti-immigration sheriff-turned-Congressional-candidate had an affair with a Mexican man Babeu has threatened to deport. Oh, and there was some texting/emailing of the sort that led Fox Newsies to clamor for Anthony Weiner’s downfall. UPDATED.

Chalk up Pat Buchanan as the latest white bigot to find a sympathetic platform on the Hannity show. Buchanan was recently fired from MSNBC in a move that Sean Hannity desperately tried to paint as an unjustified, ideological purging by intolerant liberals hell-bent on destroying conservatives. But that argument was undercut by Buchanan himself as he quite explicitly argued that having an ethnic majority made a country strong and that “one of the strengths of this country” was its predominantly western and European ethnicity when there were (only) 10% African Americans. Not even Hannity seemed able to spin that.