Senator Craig and Fox News

by **sohotrightnow** on Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:06 pm

Minutes ago, the fine production team at Faux News has once again labeled an embattled Republican congressman as a Democrat. First Mark Foley, now Larry Craig. It never ends with that station.

**Sponsor**

by **Sonny** on Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:21 pm

I think you are just getting the "California version" of Fox News. They intentionally do stuff like that to piss you liberals off.

by **Ryan Hanavan** on Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:44 pm

Unfortunately an Idaho grad. We all stayed out of public bathrooms today

by **StrykerFSU** on Wed Aug 29, 2007 10:20 pm

You mean Larry Craig is a Republican? I totally missed that in the coverage that I saw/read/heard on Foxnews.com, drudgereport.com, The Radio Factor, cnn.com, thewashingtonpost.com, breitbart.com, etc.

Apparently Fox News didn't get the day's marching orders from the GOP considering the following stories:

Two Senate Republican colleagues, including John McCain, called Wednesday for Sen. Larry Craig to resign. The White House, too, expressed disappointment in the case of the Idaho Republican caught in a men's room undercover police operation.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8RASVHO1&show_article=1

GOP Rep. Pete Hoekstra said Craig "represents the Republican party," and called for his resignation "as his conduct throughout this matter has been inappropriate for a U.S. senator."

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8RARUI80&show_article=1

Seriously though, is it logical for a news organization to intentionally misrepresent the political party of a U.S. Senator? It seems to me that the truth would come out pretty quickly. Next thing you know they are going to be reporting about documents showing that John McCain didn't report to boot camp before shipping off to Vietnam...wait, that's CBS' job.

Craig broke the law and will have to resign but plenty of politicians from both sides play loose with the laws of the land (see: Jefferson, Louisiana) so let's not get all holier than thou.

by **sohotrightnow** on Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:25 pm

Hmm, two incidents involving Republican congressmen engaged in what some may construe as immoral acts...the type of acts that are not tolerated by the Republican party...and Fox News simply messed up both times? I dunno...

by **OAKS** on Thu Aug 30, 2007 3:26 am

I don't like any of the news stations except Comedy Central occasionally and am proudly not registered with any party, but Fox has done this on numerous occasions. Along with calling Mark Foley a Dem, They labeled Lincoln Chafee as a Democrat losing to Republican Sheldon Whitehouse for the '06 Senate race, when it was flipped. They labeled Arlen Specter a Democrat when he was grilling Alberto Gonzalez, and Dennis Hastert on another occasion.

by **Zeuslax** on Thu Aug 30, 2007 7:37 am

In addition to the mislabeling, Fox continues to misrepresent and understate the total numbers at Dem presidential candidate's stops and speeches.

by **Sonny** on Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:07 am

Zeuslax wrote:In addition to the mislabeling, Fox continues to misrepresent and understate the total numbers at Dem presidential candidate's stops and speeches.

You got proof of that?

How do you know that the Dems aren't inflating their numbers like many organizations historically have done when they march in Washington, DC (see Cindy Sheehan, Million Man March, Millon Woman March, etc.)?

by **Zeuslax** on Thu Aug 30, 2007 9:35 am

You got proof of that?

I do and will pull it together for you. Just the other night on the local Pittsburgh news they were discussing this subject and showed video from a Edwards rally. Also, the National Parks Service is notorious for underestimating numbers as well. The cases you mention Sonny are valid points. However, the Darfur protests, the anti war protests when we were bombing Serbia, and there are many other examples where numbers were decreased to take the thunder out of the intended goal of the march.....in some instances the marches are only intended to shed light on a particular subject.

by **peterwho** on Thu Aug 30, 2007 3:22 pm

...the anti war protests when we were bombing Serbia...

Are you complaining about Fox, the news media (in general) or a political bias?

Unfortunately, the reports of casualties due to "ethnic cleansing" that justified the bombing of Serbia were overstated to match the under-reporting of the protests (I got the impression that all of America was in support of our involvement in that civil war).

If you are frustrated with the "spin" and general lack of factual reporting in the media, I'm right there with you.

by **Zeuslax** on Thu Aug 30, 2007 5:08 pm

Are you complaining about Fox, the news media (in general) or a political bias?

Fox on a regular basis. I think it has proven its self on the national and local level to not be a legit news organization. Trustworthy or neutral would be out of the realm for most. Most of the number misrepresentation has been taking place by local level fox news channels.

Some we've talked about and a few others.....

Mark Foley – Democrat. Fox repeatedly labeled scandal-plagued Rep. Mark Foley a Democrat weeks before the 2006 elections – he is actually a Republican.
Scooter Libby – not guilty. Fox’s on-screen graphic emphasized that Scooter Libby was found not guilty on one charge when the big news was that he was found guilty of four charges.
Smearing Pelosi. When Nancy Pelosi was sworn in as House Speaker and she kicked off Democrats’ 100 Hours Agenda, a Fox headline said, “100 Hours To Turn America Into San Francisco”
Hunting Accident Controversy – How is VP Cheney Feeling? This is obviously not the question most media were asking.
Liberal blogs = terrorists? Fox asked if liberal bloggers are sending the same message as terrorists.
All Out Civic War In Iraq – Could It Be A Good Thing? Now that’s spin.

Another mistake?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g1O4LJNs94[/youtube]

Here's one example. Take the numbers game for what it's worth and the rest of the information as fodder. When I get more time I'll pull some more info together. I think this story will start to break over the next few months. To be honest they have such a reputation of this now that it may not get traction.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbjaD3T4_4o[/youtube]

by **Sonny** on Thu Aug 30, 2007 7:18 pm

Well that was 4 minutes of my life I will never get back. If your proof is a college kid with an agenda and a camera, I think you should keep searching for more facts.

One Edwards support screams at a Fox Reporter about underreporting the number of people at an Edwards appearance - The kid then tries to play Michael Moore with him about 9/11.

How exactly is that proof that they are not a legitimate news organization and are misrepresenting numbers?

by **laxfan25** on Thu Aug 30, 2007 9:24 pm

I would suggest a viewing of the documentary "Outfoxed" if you're looking for more on-screen examples of how Fox serves as the propaganda puppet of the Bushies.

by **StrykerFSU** on Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:36 pm

Why would someone like Juan Williams, or any other Democrat, agree to appear regularly on FoxNews if the network is just a puppet? I'm not really trying to defend the network (they don't need me for that, the ratings are all the defense they need) just please someone explain this to me...why would a network so transparently lie to its viewers? How does this make sense as a business?

One of the beautiful things about this country is our free market economy and as such, if you don't like the product that is FoxNews...don't watch it! Of course, some might try to censor it like the efforts to censor talk radio instead...

No offense but if you've got an agenda, I've got a documentary for you. Two cases in point: 1. Bush knew about 9/11 (Farenheit 9/11) 2. the case for intelligent design (Expelled by Ben Stein).

And it's been a little while since this thread was about Sen. Craig but let's please keep Foley and Craig out of the same sentence...homosexuality does not equal pedophilia and to try to link them is insulting to homosexuals and disingenuous. I also would like to point out that there has been speculation that this story was known by Democrats for some time and that they were holding it until the election to use it as a political tool to win the Idaho seat. The Republicans may have actually exposed their colleague to prevent the political advantage for the Dems. Anyone else want to go into politics?

by **TexOle** on Fri Aug 31, 2007 12:38 am

Well I am offended by Fox News. It should be a crime to have a news station with a bias. It should be punishable by death to have a news station lean to the right. I guess there is a reason that Republicans are considered to be right.

To the real point of the matter. Everyone has a bias whether you like it or not. I tend to lean to the right, and I am proud of it. I like my views, but I understand others do not. The issue is can you respect others opinions. Most other news groups tend to lean to the left. Fox decided to associate itself with the Conservative audience. If you have a problem with Fox News then watch CNN. I cannot believe so many people these days get offended over politics.

Every news group makes mistakes, but I will let the one who has not made mistakes in the past throw the first stone.