Fox News has a new poll out that shows the government shutdown is a disaster for Republicans. But Jon Scott and Monica Crowley did a masterful job of spinning the results and distracting their viewers' attention away from those results.

First, let’s look at the actual poll findings from 952 registered voters with a 3-point margin of error:

President Obama’s overall approval ratings have gone up five points in the past month and his disapproval ratings have gone down the same amount. His approval on handling health care has gone up seven points, now at 45%.

A measly 13% approve of Congress overall, with Senator “Shutdown” Ted Cruz and John Boehner weighing in with 22%. It’s worth noting that Harry Reid got 21%. But the Tea Party didn’t do so well, either, at 33%. All are well behind President Obama.

But here’s the clincher, with 81% calling the shutdown a “serious” problem and 67% calling it “definitely a bad thing,” the poll asks who is most responsible for the shutdown. (It’s worth noting that’s what the poll calls it, not the Fox News term “slimdown” nor “partial shutdown.”) 

Republican leaders, such as John Boehner 25%
Tea Party Republicans, such as Ted Cruz 17
Democratic leaders, such as Harry Reid 8
President Barack Obama 24
(All/Combination) 20

So while I wouldn’t call that a rosy scenario for Democrats, there’s virtually no good news for the GOP there.

But leave it to the Fox News Channel to find a way to spin it! In a discussion about the poll with Monica Crowley on Happening Now this morning, host Jon Scott didn’t say a word about Boehner’s or Cruz’s approval – or lack thereof.

Crowley announced, “The blame (for the shutdown) seems to be spread evenly between President Obama and Congress.” She forgot to mention that that’s only true if you consider “Congress” as “Republican leaders, such as John Boehner” and don't include “Tea Party Republicans, such as Ted Cruz.” In fact, respondents who blamed Republicans had to choose between one of those two “Republican” choices. So the total number of those who blamed Republicans is really the combination of those two choices, a whopping 42%. Even if you add President Obama's blame with “Democratic leaders, such as Harry Reid,” you only get 32%.

Scott went along with the fiction. “That is a tie, for all intents and purposes,” he said.

“Yeah, exactly,” said Crowley.