Sandy GholstonThe hatred we see on the right-wingFox News channel, directed at anything that isn’t favorable to Republicans, long ago spiraled out of control. It was even more evident when some of the Fox and Friends hosts launched an attack on Rep. Barney Frank (obviously, he’s a democrat) who was trying to respond to some aggressive nuts targeting him during one of these increasingly hostile town hall meeting fiascoes we see more and more in the media.
Here is one part:
STEVE DOOCY: Well, give him credit for showing up. But let’s face it, he was downright rude. Somebody asked him a question –
BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): Smug.
DOOCY: OK, somebody asked him a question, then he said, “On what planet do you spend most of your time?” And then to somebody else he said, “Trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table.” Barney, they showed up at the senior center in Dartmouth last night for some answers. Give them some answers, don’t give them attitude.
First, the irresponsible and borderline sinister Doocy flat-out fails to put into context the hateful and ridiculous rhetoric (invoking the word Nazis) that prompted that response from Rep. Frank.
They did not show up looking for answers. Their minds are already made up. They showed up eager to spew right-wing hateful venom.
It’s especially sad because how Doocy and company are whining about Rep. Frank standing up for himself there is an image of Barack Obama as Hitler (apparently that did not spark anger in Doocy, Kilmeade or anyone else on the set).
Note to Doocy and Kilmeade, give us some context.
DOOCY: Meanwhile, a health care confrontation like you’ve never seen before. Congressman Barney Frank starts attacking the same people who put him in office.
FRANK : Ma’am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. I have no interest in doing it.
DOOCY: Oh, yeah, he’s a sweet talker. Is this really the way Democrats are defending their plans for health care — referring to them as dining room tables?
No, this is the way Democrats are defending themselves from hateful labels like “socialist” and “Nazi” from far-right extremists.
DOOCY: Well there were some extraordinary other sound bites that he had. At one point, after a person asked him a question, he said, “On what planet do you spend most of your time?” And then he said, to somebody else, “Trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table.”
Maybe Barney Frank has spent a little too much time in Washington, D.C., away from real people, because real people have real questions. And rather than answers, a lot of those folks up in Dartmouth last night got attitude.
Do real people insult those (and the family of those) who suffered at the hands of Nazis by referring to people who want health care for all people as Nazis?
When you give venomous hate (as we’re increasingly seeing at these town hall meetings) you should be lucky that someone is classy enough to just give back attitude.
Again, Doocy conveniently ignores the context for Rep. Frank’s comments and lets the far-right crazies off the hook for their ridiculous and irresponsible rhetoric.
Maybe Doocyhas spent too much time sucking up Republican talking points and has become so far out of touch with the mainstream. Rep. Frank showed a lot of courage doing these town hall meetings and going on Fox News from time to time (in both cases knowing he is going to encounter far-right bias). This garbage from Fox News proves the bias that has become all too prominent at the biased Fox News.
Honestly, I applaud Rep. Frank for taking a stand against this hateful garbage being spewed by these nuts at these town hall meetings.
