Senator Craig and Fox News

[sohotrightnow]

You're absolutely right that anybody can watch what they want. I do find it a bit odd that entire organizations dedicate their lives to monitoring Fox News. Why else would they do this unless they felt there was actual proof that they distort facts on a consistent basis? I have no problem that they lean right...I do have a problem that they claim they are fair and balanced. One general point about Billo and one specific one:

1. How many times has a Democrat guest hosted The O'Reilly Factor? I'm guessing it's rather low...usually Michelle Malkin fills in for him. She's pretty fair and balanced, right? Better yet, when they have segments involving a Democrat and a Republican, why do they always seem to pick a nobody Democrat and a well-known Republican? Now, I know Democrats are usually wimpy, but there must be a reason why he can't get better Democrat debaters on his show.

2. O'Reilly had a recent poll question asking whether he should have had Chris Dodd on his show. What kind of non-sensical question is that? Why would he ask his audience such a question? Could it be because Dodd called O'Reilly out for his off-the-cuff remark in 2005 saying that if he were president, he would let Al Qaeda bomb Coit Tower in San Francisco? O'Reilly had the audacity to say that Dodd was lying and that he got that info from a far-left website.

Look, I think O'Reilly does a good job on some issues, but he is a liar and he gets away with it, and it's a shame that a lot of people take what he says as the truth. You can say that network news has a liberal spin, but nobody has a monopoly on a bully pulpit more than he does. Need I get started on his denials of calling left-wing bloggers Nazis?

Don't get me started on Sean Hannity...all you have to do is go to Media Matters (Before the conservatives on this board deride the legitimacy of Media Matters, I implore you to look at the videos they put up) to see his list of improprieties. The man lies like it is his job and that website has the audio and video to back it up...unless, of course, they are doctoring the videos

[OAKS]

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.

The main reason for including Foley, Craig, Vitter, and other people committing acts like this isn't to suggest homosexuality = pedophilia, but rather to lump the guys together as hypocrites. Foley served as chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children. Craig continually pushed anti-homosexual legislation, Vitter for stating on the Senate floor “It is very appropriate and well overdue that we in the Senate focus on nurturing, upholding, preserving and protecting such a fundamental social institution as traditional marriage” while he was off with one of the DC Madam's women.

If you commit a crime or make a mistake, that's not the end of the world, as everyone screws up. But if you're covering it up or doing things contrary to the laws you're pushing, then you don't belong in a leadership position, regardless of your party affiliation

[Sonny]

Oaks - I hope you aren't suggesting that hypocrites are exclusive to the GOP?

[StrykerFSU]

The O'Reilly Factor is not a news show and Billo constantly reminds people of this fact. His show is a news analysis show where he offers his opinions on issues of the day. Hannity and Colmes is a show centered on debate between the right and left. These are not good examples of how FoxNews has a supposed conservative agenda. And come on, do we really want to talk about newsmen lying after Dan Rather, Mary Mapes, and CBS' little performance? Or the way the network news stations try to influence election results?

Murdoch recognized that half of the American people were not being represented when it came to the media and he filled this void by putting conservative news anchors on the air....sounds like good business to me.

If you commit a crime or make a mistake, that's not the end of the world, as everyone screws up. But if you're covering it up or doing things contrary to the laws you're pushing, then you don't belong in a leadership position, regardless of your party affiliation

I absolutely agree but I tend to think that Dems are pushing the sexual deviancy angle as it is far more damaging than simple hypocrisy. I mean, trying to get some action is far worse than getting caught with $90,000 of bribe money in your freezer!

I often wonder how this would be different if Craig were a Dem...would we be hearing about the poor, tortured soul who was made so miserable by the fear of outing in our homophobic society that he was forced to look for sex in public bathrooms? Would it be used as commentary about how much further our society has to go in accepting its homosexual members? Now I'm not familiar with his legislation that has been described as "anti-homosexual" but he must have been driven by some deep rooted self-loathing and we should all feel sorry for him rather than condemn him.

[KnoxVegas]

As I have said before, mistakes occur in the world of television graphics. But the frequency which they seem to occur on Fox News seems a little suspect. I know that for me, if I made the number of mistakes that they make, I would be out of a job. That is fact.

In television news, the producer provides the list of graphics to be fonted and/or fonts their pieces themselves in preproduction. The VizRT system that many news organisations are moving towards for graphics is Windows based and has the ability to cut & paste items off a shot sheet into the graphics shell....

Long story short, graphics mistakes do occur but if Fox News has any integrity, there has to be a revolving door in either their production department and/or their graphics department.

Then again, this is only my job so what do I really and truly know about television production.

[Zeuslax]

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?

Money...just like the rest. No, I don't think he is a puppet.

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.

It literally took about 2 seconds to find something out of the hundreds of pages that popped up detailing instances of Fox's issues. There were at least 5 sites out there that said we watch Fox so you don’t have to keep them honest. I also thought it was interesting to see two polar opposites, which is mostly why I selected that video. This was not the video or the discussion that I referenced earlier. The video just happened to be the same candidates rally. It was also interesting to see that the reporter didn't dispute the accusations and made an attack against a Dem candidate.

The CBS issue is one area that is pointed to often. Of course the media has been complicit in the past, but usually by working with gov’t or being gullible. The most recent being did the media ask tough questions leading up to the Iraq war. The days of Woodward and Bernstein are probably over, however the story by CBS had a lot of facts!

I wouldn’t call Fox’s consistent, fair and balanced reporting typical. In many instances they are trying to “work the ref”. Fox’s founder and president Roger Ailes (sp) worked in the Regan and Nixon whitehouse and is known as one of the most vicious Republican operatives. He also given credit by most Reb’s (I accidentally mislabeled here) for destroying Dukakis is 88. If Karl Rove started a news channel I don’t think anyone would say that it would be center-neutral. Fox has also been frozen out of almost all of the Dem's campaigns due to inaccuracies in their reporting....In some cases flat out lies and vicious attacks. IE) Obama attended a madrassa and is only popular because he's black. don't forget his middle name is Hussein.....ohh my GOD what if that was his first name? The Fox sponsored Nevada debates were cancelled…..I don’t want to here about Moveon.org’s influence in that either. Fox’s reporters have been giving interviews and making statements about how “cold” it is for them out on the campaign trail.

Ultimately, there are hundreds of other examples of Fox misrepresenting the facts or just "posing questions" that are much bigger (in my opinion) than them lying about Ron Paul's (just a Elephant in sheep’s clothing right?) numbers or the Dem’s.

[sohotrightnow]

Thought we should get back on topic:

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/asmussen/

[Zeuslax]

This is great!


[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=0_Vs5570pKw[/youtube]

Who's the nasty, bad, naughty boy now? Maybe the US Americans?

[OAKS]

Oaks - I hope you aren't suggesting that hypocrites are exclusive to the GOP?

Nope, just seems to be more conctentrated on that side in recent history.

I don't know if it falls under hypocrisy, paradoxy, or irony, but Reagan, Bush Sr. & Jr. running up most of our nation's debt, supporting corporate welfare and submitting balanced budgets only twice in all their years as president does not seem to equal fiscal conservatism, of which I am an ardent supporter. Everything from the Patriot Act to FISA wiretapping and creating vast federal departments doest not seem to be advocating smaller government. Stretching our armed forces over 2 war fronts does not seem not to be too conservative. While there are plenty of examples on the Dems side (many Repubs are for the death penalty but against abortion, while many Dems are for abortion but against the death penalty - both of these stances don't make any logical sense in my opinion), they don't seem to be as egregious or apply to matters that are front and center.

[LaxTV_Admin]

many Repubs are for the death penalty but against abortion, while many Dems are for abortion but against the death penalty - both of these stances don't make any logical sense in my opinion

Couldn't agree more with that statement.