Jon Stewart demolished Fox News’ hypocritical whining about the left “politicizing” the Charleston shooting tragedy. With special skewering of Sean Hannity!
Stewart began by playing clips of Fox News pundits calling for restraint (as an excuse to avoid addressing the racial issues underlying the shooting). There was special attention to Hannity saying, “It’s almost like a sickness” for liberals. “Tragedy happens: ‘Let’s see how we can advance our narrative.’”
Hannity’s face remained frozen on the screen as Stewart addressed it.
STEWART: Yes, it’s a sickness, this rush to use tragedy to advance your narrative. Combine that with an inability for self examination, an almost comical degree of self-exculpatory rhetoric, flag pins, little bit of leg and a complete immunity to irony – you’ve got yourself a full-blown case of Fox-abetes.
“They’re amazing! They’re amazing! They are amazing at what they do,” Stewart continued.
Stewart then compared Fox’s coverage of the shooting deaths of two New York City police officers last year in the midst of Black Lives Matter protests.
As we noted, Fox wasted no time blaming President Obama, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and Al Sharpton for that tragedy. “Talk to me about the restraint Fox used in not advancing their narrative,” Stewart said, just before he played a slew of Fox clips, including Hannity saying, “Many are claiming that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio helped fan the flames of anti-police sentiment.”
“So you used no restraint,” Stewart noted.
Apparently, Stewart struck quite a nerve because Hannity went after him last night. But that’s for a later post.