Last night, Greta Van Susteren did her part to champion law-breaking rancher Cliven Bundy and his armed, violence-threatening supporters - by attacking Senator Harry Reid for calling them “domestic terrorists.” While Van Susteren has given a pass to such people as Governor Rick Perry and then-Congressman Allen West when they have engaged in harsher violent and/or inflammatory rhetoric, all of a sudden Van Susteren is outraged – just outraged – that Reid would say such a thing.
As I wrote last night, Harry Reid called the armed supporters “domestic terrorists” because one of them, a former Arizona sheriff, announced on video, played at least twice on Fox News, “We were actually strategizing to put all the women up at the front. If they are going to start shooting, it’s going to be women that are going to be televised all across the world getting shot by these rogue federal officers.”
Furthermore, the ex-sheriff and his pals, some of whom were armed with handguns and rifles, were deliberately trying to circumvent the rule of law. As ABC News explains:
…A federal judge in Las Vegas first ordered Bundy to remove his trespassing cattle in 1998. The bureau was implementing two federal court orders last year to remove Bundy’s cattle after making repeated efforts to resolve the matter outside court, (Bureau of Land Management chief) Kornze said, adding the rancher has not paid grazing fees in 20 years.
Bundy and his supporters have made a variety of frightening and inflammatory statements on Fox, such as, “We’re not ready to negotiate …(W)e’re going to stand and be ready to fight,” (Cliven Bundy); “You know, this battle’s been going on my whole life, almost. And if death were our main fear, we wouldn’t be here today. Freedom is much greater than death. People have to understand that.” (Ammon Bundy); and “The government owns us instead of we owning the government. …We’ve got to get it back someway,” (Bundy friend and supporter).
Yet, Van Susteren picked on Reid as the shocking villain. First, she complained he has not done his job as Senate Majority Leader because the senate “has been in a virtual lockdown.” As if the gridlock is all his fault. But then she added:
But worse, he has become nothing more than a schoolyard bully. Slinging insults. Not substantive arguments or debate. I love that. Just insults. He’s taken aim at the Tea Party, calling them “modern day anarchists,” he spends way too much time talking about the Koch Brothers as though they are the reason he can’t get anything done. Now, that’s peculiar. And now? Here’s what he said about the supporters of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy:
"So these people who hold themselves out to be patriots are not. They’re nothing more than domestic terrorists."
Now, I’m not suggesting Senator Reid should agree with the Bundys or not. That is certainly not the issue of this Off The Record. The issue is leadership. And the example one sets as a leader. He’s become the Senate Majority bully.
Van Susteren sure has an interesting standard for “slinging insults.” Even if she misses how Fox News pundits on other shows sling insults at Democrats every hour of every day, she has certainly given her fair share of passes right there on On The Record. For example:
This is an un-American act of our President… Barack Obama needs to rethink what he has just done to the people of America. (Sarah Palin, 2/14/12)
“I think that this president’s got a problem with the American dream in this country. “ (Reince Priebus, 8/6/12)
Texas Governor Rick Perry didn’t speak threateningly about elderly Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke in front of Van Susteren, but she certainly helped whitewash his comments. To refresh your memory, Perry said about Bernanke, “I dunno what y’all would do to him in Iowa but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.” Perry went on to say that Bernanke’s monetary policy was “almost treasonous.” Treason is punishable by death.
Van Susteren’s comment? “Texas Governor Rick Perry comes out swinging, Texas style!” She later described his tone as “a touch of Texas swagger.”
Van Susteren gave a warm welcome – and no challenge to then-Congressman Allen West just a few nights after he characterized Democratic support for social safety nets as “the most insidious form of slavery remaining in the world today.” This, just a few weeks after he announced that liberals should “get the hell out of the U.S.”
So it seems to me that Van Susteren's definition of "bully" or "leader" seems to depend a lot on which party the “bully” or “leader” comes from.
Yeah, sure. Then why were they going to battle while hiding behind women?
Seems like they’d be anxious to be heading for that big Tea Bag in the sky.
The hypocritical crazy are bad, but do the Stoopit think that dying over taxes is gonna get their country back?
When the FOX News critics come out, Greta like to imply that she is different from the other prime time players on her network. When she slammed Dickinson for saying he hated all of FOX News, she said,
“No, what about me?” I’m Fox News. I’m trash, apparently. So what’s the problem with me?"
Sorry Greta, you jumped on the bandwagon this time. It’s very sad that she didn’t take a different approach like Ellen suggested in this post. She could have used her lawyerly expertise and combed through the legal aspects in this feud instead of attacking Reid like a “schoolyard bully.” Something tells me she wasn’t given a choice, though. So sad!
You people are blind to the fact that this article is the same kind of opinion crap that is heaped on you by FNC. There is no news here.
After I posted the legal definition of domestic terrorism, I went on to ask why it is that Greta isn’t covering the legal aspect of this situation. Isn’t she supposed to be the FOX “news” legal eagle? Even some on the right are now saying that Bundy doesn’t have a legal leg to stand on here with regards to his claim that the Nevada Constitution protects his supposed historical claim to graze there, etc.
But instead of helping to enlighten the viewers on the legal angles, Greta just becomes Hannity-lite with her comments only serving to highlight that she and FOX “news” operates with a complete double standard. A Dem slings what is seen as an insult, she’s outraged and all over it. A Repub says something similar or even more outrageous, she ignores it. Nice job with the bias there, Greta – you’re quite the right-wing tool.
I’m listening to F&F this morning and they are putting a biased spin on what Reid said. The Huckster is now on and he played it off as outrageous that Reid is accusing the Bundys of terrorism for “the simple reason that their cattle ate some grass that they weren’t supposed to eat”. Never mind the fact that they had just played a clip where Reid clarified that he was NOT calling the Bundys themselves terrorists. Huckster then suggested that it’s the law enforcement officers from Federal Government who are the terrorists.
Domestic terrorism is legally defined as “the unlawful use of force or violence, committed by a group(s) of two or more individuals, against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”
Everyone on FNC — even the sometimes reasonable Van Susteren — has no problem twisting and distorting the truth in order to get a rise out of their retarded, yahoo tea-bagger viewers!
The gridlock is all Reid’s fault? Sure… and turdface McConnell is completely innocent.
Does anyone think there’s a chance that this fall’s election may actually send McConnell to long-overdue retirement on the dung heap? Even if the right wing retakes the Senate, what a relief if will be not to see his mug in the next Congress. When I see him (reminds me of something floating in a commode) and hear that voice, I want to puke.
[Hey — a whole post without bringing up Slanthead; a rare moment for me!]
