Just because Fox News contributor Judge Andrew Napolitano caused an international incident repeatedly peddling a conspiracy theory Fox News debunked but he refuses to disavow – why, that’s no reason the “fair and balanced” network should consider him discredited!
You may recall that the White House got into some international hot water after Press Secretary Sean Spicer cited Napolitano’s accusation that British spies helped President Obama spy on Donald Trump. Napolitano repeatedly made that allegation on the Fox News Channel and on FoxNews.com in a blatant effort to bolster Trump’s lie about having been wiretapped by Obama.
But after the White House cited Napolitano as its source, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith made an on-air announcement officially disavowing Napolitano’s remarks (without explaining why Fox repeatedly welcomed them):
SMITH: Fox News cannot confirm Judge Napolitano’s commentary. Fox News knows of no evidence of any kind that the now-president of the United States was surveiled at any time in any way.
Afterward, on March 20, Napolitano was reportedly removed from the Fox airwaves indefinitely. Well, “indefinitely” has ended after less than two weeks.
Today, Napolitano was welcomed back to Fox News’ America’s Newsroom show to discuss the case of former Illinois Congressman Aaron Schock (surprise! a Republican) who has been indicted on quite an array of corruption charges. And, in shades of Trump, Napolitano argued that Schock may have been improperly surveilled and, as a result, have the charges properly dismissed.
Host Bill Hemmer made no mention of the cause of Napolitano's absence but sounded as though he was welcoming Napolitano back from vacation or an illness in the discussion's opening. (Transcript via Media Matters, with my emphases):
BILL HEMMER (CO-HOST): With me now, Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano. And judge nice to see you.
ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Good to see you.
HEMMER: Good morning to you. You’ve had a few quiet days.
NAPOLITANO: Yes I have.
HEMMER: You likely needed them.
NAPOLITANO: Yes.
Then, without mentioning what Napolitano’s story was, nor how it had been debunked by his own network, Hemmer helped give it some credibility:
HEMMER: Before we get to the case facing the former congressman of Illinois, you put out a statement, I think it was 10 days ago—
NAPOLITANO: Right.
HEMMER: Saying you were confident in the story that you reported here in the past month.
NAPOLITANO: Yes.
HEMMER: You still stand by that or—
NAPOLITANO: Yes, I do, and the sources stand by it. And the American public needs to know more about this rather than less because a lot of the government surveillance authorities will expire in the fall and there’ll be a great debate about how much authority we want the government to have to surveil us. And the more the American public knows about this, the more informed their and Congress’ decisions will be.
HEMMER: So no change then?
NAPOLITANO: Correct.
HEMMER: And we’ll see how this story plays out, in time.
NAPOLITANO: We will. Yeah. I think a lot more is going to come.
So, it doesn’t look like Napolitano has provided any corroboration for his allegations, at least none that Fox considers credible. But it’s fine with Hemmer that Napolitano “still stands by” them. And there’s nothing further to discuss.
Remember when Ted Koppel told Sean Hannity he’s bad for America because he “attracted people who are determined that ideology is more important than facts?” Sadly, this is proof that it’s not just Hannity and it’s not just the audience. “Ideology over facts” perfectly sums up Fox’s modus operandi.
Watch the whitewashing of Napolitano’s still-unproven, pro-Trump allegations below, from the March 29, 2017 America’s Newsroom.
1. Someone on a Fox show says something blatantly untrue.
2. Then either a host or guest on another show mention the same blatant lie, still vague about the ‘sources’.
3. Step 2 repeats ad nauseum, each time without any ‘sources’ cited other than the previous hosts and/or guests.
4. “Some say…” eventually prefaces the lie whenever it is featured on Fox.
5. The moronic goobers that comprise Fox hungrily lap it up and spread the word far & wide (FaceBook).
6. Within a week, the lie becomes ‘truth’.
Maybe the “judge” needs to go back to school for a refresher course on “rules of evidence” for anyone trying to “present a case.”
It’s time for Fox “News” employees to join in the lawsuit, and oust the suits who keep these bigots on the payroll, despite numerous complains by employees.
The suits knew that witch was a bigot, but did absolutely nothing. There are others who need ouster.
NOTE TO MASSES
Spread the news of the lawsuit (complaint) to all social media, talk radio, podcasts, friends, neighbors, co-workers, strangers, and others. This is the only way to get the suits to move on this removal of other bigots at the Foxies.
NOTE TO MURDOCH BOYS
The network’s advertisers will be informed of the complaint, and will be advised to steer away from this network.
