C&L: Who was today’s official Fox puppet, with all the GEORGE SOROS talking points memorized, defending the “poor, oppressed millionaires and billionaires and standing up to those evil union thugs and Occupy protesters”? None other than good old twitchy, angry Michelle “Internment Camps were a great idea!” Malkin:
According to Michelle Malkin, these strikes aren’t about protecting workers, but are about protecting entrenched big labor power. During an appearance on Your World, Malkin called the protests a “toxic combination of these left-wing activist groups funded by George Soros … along with a rag tag group of Occupiers across the country who’ve been fomenting this kind of agitation for agitation’s sake for more than a year now.”
She stressed, “People really need to understand that these big labor thugs do not have workers interests at heart.”
I didn’t count how many times the words “Soros” and “thug” were used in the video clip, but it was enough to convince me that Fox has subliminal messaging down to an exact science. The thing about both of those words in the context of Walmart and Black Friday? It’s a flat-out lie about George Soros being involved with this strike / boycott — pure Fox creative fiction.
And secondly, if there’s a group of thugs in this current situation, it’s certainly not the unions or the workers or labor. I think the more accurate term we could use here would be corporate thugs – those people who intimidate and rob their workers (and the taxpayers) to keep all the profits for themselves.
I believe Michelle Malkin would defend the money changers in the Temple against Jesus and his 12 thugs — after Fox wrote the talking points for her.
Mitt Romney on Wednesday attributed his defeat in part to what he called big policy “gifts” that the president had bestowed on loyal Democratic constituencies, including young voters, African-Americans and Hispanics.
In other words, Romney’s last words on the national stage might be the dying gasp of the Southern Strategy. It’s how Mitt really feels. Finally, after everything, through all the years of running a presidential campaign and the flipping and gyrating and etch a sketching, we got to see the core of the hollow man. Bottomline: if you’re not white and rich, Mitt Romney hates you.
Atwater: ‘‘You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘N—er, ni—er, ni—er.’ By 1968 you can’t say ‘ni—er’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that. But I’m saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, ‘We want to cut this,’ is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than ‘N—er, ni—er.”’
It’s interesting to note that two loyal members of the GOP tribe who are publicly denouncing Romney’s comments, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal and New Mexico governor Susana Martinez, are not conservative white men:
Jindal: “This is not where the Republican party needs to go,” he said. “Look, If you want voters to like you, the first thing you’ve got to do is to like them first. And it’s certainly not helpful to tell voters that you think their votes were bought.” [...] “Look, the Republicans, we need to stick to our principles, but we need to treat other people with respect,” he said. “Even those we don’t agree with, we need to show them we respect them and their beliefs.”
Martinez: ”That unfortunately is what sets us back as a party — our comments that are not thought through carefully,” Martinez told Yahoo’s Chris Moody. Martinez, who previously criticized Romney’s “47 percent” remarks in September, added that his fundraiser video was a “ridiculous statement.” “You want to earn the vote of every single person you can earn, whether they be someone who relies on,” she said. “Why would you ever write off 47 percent?”
The Fox Infotainment Channel, however, has decided to stick with the Southern Strategy (anger! racist viewers! ratings!) because it’s good for business. As JM Ashby notes, “they’re running wild with the Makers vs Takers meme. Watch Varney and Kilmeade speak about giving “goodies” and “handouts” to people in exchange for votes:”
Varney: Look over here. What position are we in in American today? I say we’re just getting started. We’re throwing the handouts out left right and center.
Kilmeade: Mitt Romney mentioned that yesterday. He says he couldn’t win because all these other people are giving things away.
Varney: Buying votes with taxpayer money. Handouts all over the place. [...]
Varney: The president thinks that if you tax the top 2 percent some more, you will pay for all the goodies, all the handouts that we’ve got going.
Kilmeade: There’s not a single person who knows how to add that believes it’ll make any significant difference…
JM Ashby accurately reflects: “The problem for Republicans seeking reelection or higher office in the near future is that Fox News has a much larger audience and wields much greater power over the conversation than any single conservative politician. And if anyone on the right side of the aisle is going to issue a memo on how to cover a situation, it’ll be Fox delivering the orders. It only took one week for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to be demoted from future king of the GOP to someone you don’t want to be caught associating with because he had the audacity to cooperate with the Obama administration following one of the worst disasters New Jersey has ever seen. If Fox News continues to select candidates for the Republican party, the party will never change. There’s too much money to be made in maintaining the status quo.”
Is Fox bad for the Republican Party? I’d say only if you’re currently a member of the Republican Party.
Remember, this guy is still the big-thinker, the intellectual, the “rock star” of the GOP:
“I don’t think we lost it on those budget issues, especially on Medicare, we clearly didn’t lose it on those issues. I think the surprise was some of the turnout, some of the turnout especially in urban areas, which gave President Obama the big margin to win this race.” — Paul Ryan: I Didn’t Lose Because Of The Issues, I Lost Because Of The ‘Urban’ Vote
Steve Benen breaks down Ryan’s (typically Republican) argument: “[If] his ticket had won, it’d be proof that he’s right on the issues, and even after defeat, it’s still proof he’s right on the issues.”
Let’s not forget what those budget issues were, which Ryan claims his ticket didn’t lose on: “Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) infamous budget proposal would have cut taxes on those making more than $1 million, while ending tax cuts for those with the lowest incomes…”
And the conservative entertainment apparatus churns on…
MMFA: During the November 13 edition of Fox & Friends, Fox aired a clip of Ryan discussing his feelings on election night and promising to work on important issues when he returns to Congress. On-screen text during the segment stated “Mr. Fix-It” and “Ryan Discusses How To Fix A ‘Broken America.’
Contrary to Fox’s invariably positive treatment of Ryan, economic experts have criticized Ryan’s signature proposal — his budget plan — as “grossly irresponsible,” “all smoke and mirrors,” and harmful to seniors.
So what has earned Paul Ryan the moniker “Mr. Fix-It”? What exactly has Ryan “fixed” – what important legislation has he personally sponsored and/or passed – in his 14-years of farting around in the House of Representatives? Specifically, this: he renamed a post office in Janesville and modified how arrow components were taxed. That’s it.
But according to the GOP Infomercial Channel, he’s Mr. Fix-It.
A recent study by Vanderbilt University scholars argues that the rise of Fox News, founded in 1996, has had a real-world effect by pulling members of Congress to the right.
As authors Joshua D. Clinton and Ted Enamorado write, “representatives from districts where Fox News entered became slightly more conservative relative to their ideological position on issues taken in the US House before the launch of Fox News in 1995-1996.”
TPM reports that Chris Wallace stated on air that President Obama had a 60 vote Senate majority for two years — so if he didn’t get anything done it’s his fault. This is another favorite fictional meme of the GOP:
“For the first 2 years he had a filibuster proof majority in the Senate,” Wallace told LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, making the case that Obama has only himself to blame for his poor economic record.
Sorry. NOPE.
“In fact, Democrats had a 60-vote majority for less than 5 months between Sept. 24, 2009 and Feb. 4, 2010. Before and after, Republicans had enough seats to mount filibusters, which they often did.”
Well, let’s look at the history of other presidential candidates releasing their tax returns: first how many tax returns, on average, have been released by candidates historically? Further, how many returns did one of the candidates own father say was a reasonable and honest amount to release to the American public?
Now let’s look at the history of other presidential candidates releasing their college records: first, which other presidential candidates did the opposing political party demand college records from? Also how many years of college records, on average, did those other candidates then release?
We thought of doing a caption contest for this one, but it seems Sean Hannity already beat everyone. Audio.
Bob Cesca notes“Regarding Voter ID, Hannity and the dude from Midnight Oil tried to make the case that people need an ID to rent a movie, so they should have an ID to vote. Is renting a movie a fundamental and universal right of citizenship and civic duty? Of course it’s not. Furthermore, the process of registering to vote involves identification anyway — plus there have been roughly 13 cases of voter fraud in the last ten years. 10. And also — oh screw it. Once again, I’m trying to rationalize facile, simplistic nonsense from a professional carnival barker.
“Ultimately, it’s worth noting that Hannity is the second highest rated show on all of cable news. This is what cable news viewers are hearing every night. So if you think this election is over and the president will cruise to victory, you’re out of your mind.”
And for the 1,000th time… Fox is not news. Fox is the official Republican Propaganda Channel. I’d call them an entertainment network, but they’re really not that entertaining.
The Raw Story: “Media mogul Rupert Murdoch weighed in on the Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes divorce story Sunday, saying he thinks Scientologists are “creepy” and possibly even evil.”
Watch Katie Holmes and Scientology story develop. Something creepy, maybe even evil, about these people.— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) July 01, 2012
…
“[...] Murdoch’s Scientology comment generated a surge of Twitter traffic, prompting another tweet: “Since Scientology tweet hundreds of attacks. Expect they will increase and get worse and maybe threatening.
““Still stick to my story,” he added.
“A short time after his Scientology tweet, Murdoch was asked his views on Mormonism — in the spotlight currently as Mormon Mitt Romney takes on President Barack Obama for the White House.
““Mormonism a mystery to me, but Mormons certainly not evil,” the News Corp tycoon replied.”
Huckabee Wants To Know If Obama Got College Loans “As A Foreign Student”: Speaking on The O’Reilly Factor, [Mike] Huckabee said of Romney, “Let him make this challenge: ‘I’ll release my tax returns when Barack Obama releases his college transcripts and the copy of his admission records to show whether he got any loans as a foreign student. When he releases that, talk to me about my tax returns.’”
Well done! Dance, Mike, dance!
It must suck for these rightwing blowhards to have to perform the same absurd ‘feats of ignorance‘ each time they appear on Fox “News,” just to gain the approval of the low-info, bi-polar, Palin-lovin’ troglodytes in its regular viewing audience. That’s called impressing the lowest common denominator. LOOK AT YOUR LIFE!
