Is Fox News running a contest for who can liken Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson to the greatest man? Last week, a guest likened him to Martin Luther King. Yesterday, Mike Huckabee suggested Robertson and President Obama are on the same gay-rights page. Tonight, Martha MacCallum suggested Robertson shares the same views on gays as Pope Francis. What’s next? Robertson is that white Santa Claus Megyn Kelly has been dreaming of?

The Robertson/Pope talk, which occurred on tonight’s Kelly File, was purportedly about Twitter blocking users from a link to a petition in support of Robertson. Guest host MacCallum cautioned viewers that while “a few websites” are reporting that the link was blocked, Fox could not verify it. So the "fair and balanced" network didn’t even wait to be sure its audience were victims before constructing a segment around making them victims.

However, they didn’t dwell on this long before moving on to predict the future for Duck Dynasty.

MacCallum cited a piece in The Atlantic which, she said:

...basically stuck up for Phil Robertson. And said, “Look, 45%, according to the Pew Poll, feel very similarly to the way that he does.” This is a very divisive issue in this country. And they went back to quote the different sections of the Bible that backed up what Phil Robertson said. And also said, you know, “Well, A&E would fire Pope Francis based on their assessment of Phil Robertson.” What do you think of that?

MacCallum was, presumably, referring to this column in The Atlantic. And she's correct, it did say that. But it’s preposterous and MacCallum ought to know that. For one thing, Robertson delivered his judgment about gays in crude, intolerant terms. Had Robertson merely said politely that he’s a Christian and his faith teaches him that homosexuality is a sin, I doubt there would have been an uproar.

Secondly, Pope Francis comments cited in the column were made in 2010, while he was a Cardinal, and were in reference to gay marriage in particular, not about gays in general. Robertson, on the other hand, said in a GQ interview:

“It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.”

And, in describing what is sinful, GQ reported:

“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he says. Then he paraphrases Corinthians: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”

Thirdly, Pope Francis more recently said about gays: “If a homosexual person is of good will and is in search of God, I am no one to judge.” That is nothing even remotely like what Robertson said.

Lastly, Robertson also said that African Americans were happy under Jim Crow and he likened non-Christian religions to Nazis. 

Yet MacCallum conveniently overlooked Robertson’s racial and religious comments, and grabbed the Pope comparison. Either she didn’t know the vast gulf between the two views and their expressions (very unlikely) or MacCallum was more interested in making Robertson look good than in truth and reality.

But Fox News Democrat Julie Roginsky not only didn’t challenge the ridiculous analogy, she helped verify it by echoing another phony conservative defense of Robertson: She replied to MacCallum's "Pope" comment by saying,  “I am a tremendous First Amendment proponent.”

Can comparisons of Robertson to James Madison (father of the First Amendment) be far off?