For a group that spent so much time whining about politicizing of the Las Vegas shooting, Fox News pundits certainly managed to engage in quite a variety of that, themselves. But that was not the only area of Fox News outrageousness just waiting for your perusal and vote after the jump.
Before getting to this week’s nominees, let us take a moment for some raspberries to Pastor Robert Jeffress. His lecture to NFL players, that they should be thanking God they were not shot in the head instead of taking a knee during the national anthem, was the deserving winner of last week’s Outrageous Quote of the Week Poll.
And now, for this week’s nominees…
Ex-sheriff David Clarke, pretending he was not politicizing the Las Vegas shooting:
“When you talk about the left and their automatic default is to go to gun control. Instead of pulling out a Kleenex and maybe wiping a tear from their eyes over the grieving people in this moment, they pull out their political score card and they try to score, as you said, some cheap political points.
Now, look, that’s an automatic default, like I said. But then the fact that they break into a happy dance over something like this because there’s a chance to politicize this thing really shows their true nature.”
Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Michael Welner:
“I think that CNN’s going to have to answer for how they demonize gun enthusiasts and how CNN actually contributes to mass shooting, and I believe that they do, but that’s a side issue.”
Anthony Shaffer, baselessly arguing Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock was probably a liberal:
"First off, this individual parallels in many ways, by age and by predisposition of being unstable, the shooter who attacked Congressman Scalise back in June. The Hodgkinson attack. Very similar age, they are both considered unstable and so, in many ways, after talking to both a psychological professional and other folks in law enforcement, there’s a lot of parallels there.
[...]
Let’s look at the target as well. It is a politically-selected target. I think the target being selected – and let me say this is the perception based on the available information. The perception was there was going to be a lot of pro-gun folks there, Trump supporters, at this concert. So, therefore, I believe the perception was, by the shooter, by the individual who did this, by Paddock, that this was a legitimate target of political expression. Martha, this may be something people don’t like to understand but the very reason that Hodgkinson did what he did and I believe Paddock did what he did, is because the left has now encouraged the use of violence as an extension and use of political speech. And this is what we have to be very careful about, this slippery slope. The idea here that violence can somehow become part of someone expressing themselves and I think that’s the real danger here."
Ainsley Earhardt, speculating about the Las Vegas shooter's motive:
“And maybe this guy heard that song, God Bless America. His brother said he didn’t believe in God or didn’t have a God or didn’t have faith in his life so maybe this is all speculation but that possibly could be the reason because he knows country musicians or country music fans are normally pro-God and go to church on Sundays. Maybe he has a problem with that or had a problem with that.”
Tucker Carlson, “psychoanalyzing” a Satanist’s Satanism:
“Not to play the shrink, but it has to do with what was clearly an unhappy childhood that you had.”
Mike Huckabee, interviewing Donald Trump:
“You were a rock star [in Puerto Rico], I saw the video of it.”
Ainsley Earhardt, discussing her work with an interviewer:
“I’m calling it like I see it. If I watch other networks it can be frustrating to see a one-sided story,”
[…]
“I do not want to come across as being in the tank for them or kissing their tails,” Earhardt says of the Trump administration. “I mean, I want to be a journalist, I want to ask tough questions.”
Cast your vote below. The poll will remain open until just before midnight, ET, on October 15, 2017