Saturday, June 14, 2008

Politics? On a movie blog?

Yeah, because I can.

I wasn't sure where to bring this up, so I'll just do it here:

Has everyone--all six or seven of our readers--heard about the egregious, evil sins FOX News has been comitting lately? I know, I know: "evil sins" and "FOX News" are pretty much synonomous, but even with that fully in mind, they have been ravenous and completely awful lately.

A background...
I don't watch FOX much. I force myself to watch a little here and there just because it is important to keep up with the bullshit the other side is cooking up daily...the same reason I tune into Rush Limbaugh a couple times per week. But for the most part, I can't stomach watching FOX News. I dunno why...maybe just cuz they continually peddle the antithesis of my beliefs on a daily basis and pass it off as "fair and balanced" news. Let's be clear: there is nothing about FOX News that is "news." There is nothing about FOX News that is "journalism," either. It is a right-wing smear machine, a vast conglomerate that essentially is en extension of the Bush White House and, even moreso, of the Bush-supported, Rove-created Radical Neocon Movement in general. The network is shameless beyond all reasonable comprehension. But enough of that, fun as it is...

Lately, however, I have completely missed some of FOX's worst...well, "antics" just doesn't quite say it.

Now that Hillary Clinton has bowed out of the presidential race, Barack Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee. And so, with the standard right-wing punching bag (the Clintons) out of the way, the powers-that-be over at FOX has now taken it upon themselves to throw as many cheap, dirty, outright evil blows to Obama, his campaign, and even his family as they possibly can.

Case-in-point: In an interview with right-wing diva-hack Michelle Malkin, the notorious FOX News ticker at the bottom of the screen read: "Outraged Liberals: Stop Picking on Obama's Baby Mama!"

Watch it here

Okay, so...FOX is not just biased...it's racist, too. Forget about the fact that the "clever" blurb-writers were probably taking their cue a day after seeing the film Baby Mama, which stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, two very white women. Focus on the fact that the term "Baby Mama" is completely racially charged, a ghetto-slang term for "my baby's mother." Add to that the fact that FOX is using this in reference to potentially the first black president of the U.S., and, well, you have racism in action. If Hillary Clinton had won the nomination and media outlets continued to pick on Bill for his pointed commentary throughout her campaign, would FOX have run a blurb reading, "Stop picking on Hillary's Baby Daddy"?

In a word, no. They'd most assuredly peddle sexism instead, but you get the idea...ghetto slang ain't gonna be used to talk about white people.

Oh, but there's more! In the aftermath of Hillary's much-discussed reference to RFK's assassination happening in June of the primary season, FOX trotted out Liz Trotta, one of their notoriously nasty "contributors" to discuss the potential ramifications of Hillary's comments, as well as the notion that Hillary was vaguely implying that perhaps Obama would be assassinated (bullshit, but anyway...).

After going on and on about how horrible Hillary is, the contributor contributed something unconscionable, even for FOX.

In Trotta's words: "Now we have the suggestion that someone knock off Os...uh, Osama. Er, uh...Obama. Well...(giggle)...both would be good. (Laughs).

Don't believe me? Check this out.

In essence, Trotta effectively killed two birds with one stone: outright stating that Barack Obama should be assassinated, and then couching her "joke" in the construction that Hillary Clinton is responsible. Wow.

The fangs are already out. Republicans are already dutifully smearing every last shred of Barack Obama's existence...and we still have 5 months to go. Some top Democrats are saying that this time the attacks will backfire. And with shots this cheap against a candidate this strong, perhaps they will. But we've heard it all before, and it has worked before. It's a long, tough road ahead. And there's no stopping FOX or any other right-wing smear machine...they keep going and going, and we have to do our best to fight it.

4 comments:

Bob Keller said...

This is exactly why Tim Russert's death is so very tragic. See my comments over on my blog: the WIZARD, fkap

By the way, you missed one. FOX's E.D. Hill characterized the fist bump between Barack and Michelle as he won the nomination as a "terrorist salute."

To be "fair and balanced" I am aware that FOX management is livid about these three screw-ups. Trotta has been put on hiatus and hasn't appeared even once on FOX since her stupid remark. And FOX actually cancelled E.D.Hill's show!!! E.D., once a superstar at FOX NEWS, will be eased out of her contract.

Reamining "talent" has been put on notice... no more attacks or insults to Barack or Michelle will be tolerated.

I donn't expect FOX's conservative slant to change any more than I expect MSNBC's liberal slant to be modified. And FOX will still champion their conservative "commentators" like O'Reilly and Hannity, much as MSNBC continues to champion the over-the-top liberal Olbermann.

J McKiernan said...

Oh, right...I did hear about that one right after it happened, and then just a couple days ago heard these other two, and focused on them. Right on for pointing that out, Wiz.

Do you really think FOX is "livid" about these remarks? Who was responsible for the "Baby Mama" blurb on the bottom of the screen? That wasn't spoken by an unchecked anchor on a live broadcast...it was written, presumably passed down from the higher-ups.

You seem more open-minded and hopeful about FOX News than I am...just as you are probably more hopeful and open-minded than I on a lot of conservative issues. I tend to disagree that any of the remaining talent will actually adhere to any "notice" put out by the management, and I doubt that management will ultimately care.

J McKiernan said...

By the way, interesting point on Olbermann. I have read some of the things you've said about him on your blog in addition to the few words you offered up here...in truth, I have followed Olbermann for years...ever since his early days with ESPN. And in reality, during the 2004 election cycle, before his MSNBC show really took off, he openly claimed to be an Undecided voter. He was considering Bush and Kerry equally. I don't know how the man ended up voting, but it wasn't until Bush's second term began in earnest that Olbermann opened his eyes to the administration's atrocities and began his quest to dispell their bullshit at every turn. He was transformed into the "liberal" you describe because of this horrid administration.

As for his continued liberal views, his show is definitely an opinion show moreso than it is news, but I think he intends for it to be that way...he doesn't promulgate lies like Bill O'Reilly's false "No-Spin Zone" bullshit.

And he's into Obama because...well, Obama is the most charismatic candidate we've had in years. Even some Republicans are switching for him.

Just a few thoughts for you on that one particular subject...

Vigilante said...

Bravos and cheers for this post! Faux news = pseudo news. Obama should boycott campaigning on it or interviewing there.

I think Wizard is very Panglosian in the Byzantine symmetry in his bipartisan posing.

However, I will cop to having sworn off the last 3/2's of the Olberman show which - frankly - wastes my time.