Fox News Is No More … Make Way For Fox Commentary

Close your eyes and imagine picking up your newspaper and not being able to distinguish between the “hard” news content and the content on the editorial page. Now, open your eyes and (if you can stomach it) watch Fox News. The commentators and anchors are mostly the same – right wingers lying about being fair and balanced.

Check out this Media Matters for America clip to see how Fox News nutjob Glenn Beck hands the baton of bias off to fake anchor Chris Wallace, of Fox News Sunday.

 

Crybaby Chris Wallace Still Whining Because President Obama Won’t Kiss His Ass

Crybaby Chris Wallace, of the right-wing Fox News and host of the conservative-leaning Fox News Sunday, was back on the air whining like a kindergartener again because President Obama won’t come on his show. Wallace then goes into the usual temper-tantrum stuff of cheap-shotting the president and the White House like we used to do as kids when we were in elementary and middle school and didn’t get our way. This is what Wallace said as the tears started to flow when he found out he would not get a chance to interview the president, “biggest bunch of crybabies I have dealt with” as Obama made the media rounds for Sunday. Wallace then went on to refer to the Obama administration as being petty and childish. The hypocrisy there is nothing short of stunning considering Fox News enjoys popularity due largely to the right-wing people who flock there and get drunk on the old G.O.P.-flavored Kool-Aid.

Wallace, as he mentally talked himself down off the ledge from his on-air fit, finally cried, “What ever happened to reaching out to all Americans?” Maybe Wallace and his Fox cronies should have thought about that when Fox blew off events the president had that were picked up by the other networks and dismissed it to the right-wing Fox News channel (which has been bashing Obama with reckless abandon).

This is from Think Progress, and it is interesting:

But ironically, later during the panel discussion, Wallace cited a recent report showing that Obama has done more one-on-one interviews than both Presidents Clinton and Bush up this point and wondered if Obama is “overexposed” (despite wanting to interview him on his show). In another bit of irony, Wallace, who has been complaining for the past few days about the snub, accused the White House of being thin-skinned:

WALLACE: Every president is thin-skinned but I wonder whether this administration, this White House has a particular problem with criticism. … Not talking about just us but just the attitude of this White House. Whatever happened to reaching out to all Americans?

By the way, media people are way more thin-skinned than presidents (check out the vendettas Bill O’Reilly constantly wages against anyone in the media who has a beef with him or anyone he does not like).

This adminstration doesn’t have a problem with criticism (it seems Wallace is the one who is more thin-skinned and with a problem based on the amount of crying we’ve heard from him and his crew at Fox News). For example, MSNBC has people like Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan who regularly bash the president, but the network also has balance with commentators who give a different set of views with respect to the president. CNN has Lou Dobbs who regularly trashes the president, but is a reputable organization because it balances its news and offers balanced opinion (something Fox News rarely attempts to do).

Fox News is free to show clips from the interviews the president conducted with other media outlets.

Also, Think Progress added this:

During one of Wallace’s whining sessions this week, another Fox host complained that Obama is skipping out on “the highly rated Fox News Sunday.” But as Media Matters points out, Fox News Sunday is “in dead last, where it has remained pretty much since its inception.”

If Fox News was the only major news outlet that didn’t get the love then that seems to indicate something about Fox News than about President Obama.

Crybabies On Fox News Call Obama Administration Officials Crybabies

Fox News anchors have been whining incessantly about what they feel is President Obama not kissing their asses enough. The latest is Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace crying on Bill O’Reilly’s show about President Obama apparently not deciding to go on their network and instead choosing to go on a bunch of other networks. The ridiculously arrogant O’Reilly, faking fair and balanced, goes on to trash the other networks and the Obama administration to pretty much make the case for the president and his people.

I couldn’t stop laughing at this comment from Wallace: 

“They are the biggest bunch of crybabies I have dealt with in my 30 years in Washington.”

I think a lot of people would say that about Fox News with respect to its position in the media (whining and complaining from morning, beginning with Fox and Friends, to evening (with Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity) with its programming about everything the president is doing). Fox News also has a blog site (Fox Nation) that often features some of the most hateful comments you will ever see about President Obama and many people on the left.

Wallace of course cries on the generally-biased and right-wing O’Reilly show and joining forces with O’Reilly to predictably bash the president and to bash their television competitors with nauseating right-wing spin.

Fox News is a network with personalities calling him racist, questioning his patriotism, questioning his citizenship, calling him Marxist, socialist, communist, a hater of America, and more.

Fox also has ignored President Obama’s addresses to the people when the other networks covered it. That must have slipped the minds of O’Reilly and Wallace. Fox had its chance to show the president in a prominent fashion, but instead chose to play it down (contrary to what the other major networks were doing).

The president shouldn’t dignify that network.

For more on the topic: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/19/snubbed-by-obama-fox-news_n_292254.html

Here is some of the Fox News bashing:

Fox News Again Blames ‘Liberal Media’

Fox News host Chris Wallace oftentimes struggles to conceal his right-wing lean relating to discussions that are supposedly unbiased. Once again, Wallace lived up to this reputation as he hosted a segment discussing President Obama’s popularity and his popularity with the media. Consider these two exchanges posted by Crooks and Liars writer Nicole Belle.

CHRIS WALLACE: So let’s go over the record, and let’s put it up on the screen. CBS is running an interview today with Barack Obama , “An American Dad.” ABC is running coverage throughout the day on Wednesday of President Obama’s health care plan including a prime-time town hall. NBC just ran two specials, “Inside the Obama White House.” Tom Brokaw was named this week to a presidential commission. And Newsweek has put Mr. Obama on the cover 19 times since 2004. Steve Hayes, how do you explain all of that?

STEVE HAYES: A lot of people call Newsweek now “Obamaweek” because they’ve put him on so often. Look, I mean, clearly, his joke about rolling over and finding Brian Williams is more than just a joke. I mean, I think the sense is – and you’ve provided evidence that it’s true – that he’s in bed – the media are in bed with Barack Obama.

That’s clever, Hayes.

First off, Fox News spent a lot of time in bed with President Bush, Vice President Cheney and, during the 2008 campaign, with Republican candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin. Plus, Barack Obama sells right now and popularly so (much to the obvious annoyance of conservatives like those in power at Fox News). The media is supposed to cover news events, but the media also needs ratings and to make sales. President Obama is hot right now and he moves product. Fox News, as another example, capitalizes on President Obama by spending ample time criticizing nearly his every move.

MARA LIASSON: On the other hand, some of those numbers are reflective of — look, Bill Clinton had an incredibly chaotic first 100 days. There was a pratfall every other day to cover. George Bush was the result of — I’m assuming that was the first term — was the result of…

WALLACE: Yes.

LIASSON: … a contested election. And Barack Obama came in as a real majority winner. He has a big majority in Congress.

WALLACE: Oh, come on, don’t you think some of it is because he’s got liberal ideas?

Liasson is correct in the points she makes. People felt that Bush had stolen the election (whether you agree or disagree) and Clinton had some struggles coming out of the blocks. Still, it’s unbelievable naive to ignore the history we’ve seen in this country with the presidential election of 2008. We elected a young and charismatic president. He is the first non-white male to be named president of the United States of America (he is the first black man to serve as president). We witnessed history. We’re witnessing history. Wallace, like so many on Fox News, is obsessed with perceptions of liberal media bias while ignoring their own bias in reporting so consistently against President Obama. Look how much time Fox News spends on President Obama.

Republicans set the pace during the previous eight years when they had George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in office.

Democrats have the power and get the attention.

Crooks and Liars:

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/fox-news

Fox News’ Chris Wallace Strengthens His Conservative Credentials

Here is Chris Wallace opening Fox News Sunday in a way that will strengthen his conservative credentials. Wallace, who has been known to regurgitate Republican talking points to attack liberals, may have been doing just that with a line he used on Sunday.

WALLACE: Uncle Sam wants you driving one of his cars, writing checks at one of his banks, and using his health insurance. Are we saving the economy or headed toward socialism?

That is right from the Republican playbook (a book I am sure Wallace knows cover to cover).

Here is an interesting response from John Amato:

I’d like to remind Chris Wallace that Uncle Sam under George Bush gave us terrorist attacks, two wars, torture, illegal wiretapping, a stock market crash and almost destroyed the world’s global financial markets and much much more in eight years. I could think of many more, but you get the idea.

Crooks and Liars:
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/chris-wallace-opens-fox-news-sunday-asking

Fox’s Chris Wallace Shows A Lack Of Professionalism And, Perhaps, Objectivity

I’ve never been too impressed with Fox’s Chris Wallace, but mainly because I believe he is a right-wing partisan who masquerades as a straight-down-the-middle journalist. Now, Vice President Joe Biden has been known to make some regrettable statements, and he made one recently with precautions he advocated for this swine flu deal. Personally, I think Biden and a lot of other people are panicking way too much about swine flu, but Wallace was way out of line. Wallace clearly stepped over the line of professionalism when he made this comment in reference to Vice President Biden on Fox News Sunday (as captured by Crooks and Liars).

WALLACE: I have to tell you, some people have said to me since Vice President talked. Maybe you guys are telling the public one thing, but at the highest levels of government you’ve heard something else, no – you’re saying to me that everything the Vice President Biden said, I’m not talking to the travel to Mexico. Being in a confined space, being in a classroom. Being in a school. Being in a subway, no health danger to any of that?

SEBELIUS: Again, with, we’re letting the science lead this investigation and trying to be prudent…

Soon thereafter, he took this unprofessional shot at the vice president of the United States of America:

WALLACE: So why would the Vice President tell his family that? Are we to believe that the Vice President of the United States is a crackpot?

If Biden feels like that is the measure he wants to take to keep his family safe then that is his business. Wallace could have asked: Do you think the vice president may be getting a little carried away here? No, he went to the nuclear option (I believe for political reasons) and used the term “crackpot.” But, there is a bigger point here. The Comments from Wallace are an example of how so many individuals on Fox destroy the reputations of true journalists who strive to objectively bring the facts to people. This was a calculated and partisan cheap shot. It also spits in the face of nonpartisan moderators who want to facilitate discussion among their guests without inserting their own opinion (or worse) making nasty comments about the vice president of the Untied States of America. This is part of the reason Fox appeals so much to the far-right nuts – cheap shots at Democrats like the one Chris Wallace took. Wallace, in this instance, was a disgrace to the airwaves.

Crooks and Liars:
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/fox-news-chris-wallace-called-vp-joe-bi