News Hounds

Steve Doocy Gets Teabagged By "Awesome" Teen?

Reported by Priscilla - Sun 12:46 PM

Move over Justin Beiber, there's a new teen heartthrob in town. Conservatives across the country are all aglow over Tea Party Teen sensation, Tyler Hinsley who just enthralled the right wing world with his question during the CNN Republican debate. Hinsley, fresh from the economic deprivation and squalor of Napa California, asked John Huntsman "Out of every dollar that I earn, how much do you think that I deserve to keep?" The conservative world fell in love and so did Steve Doocy!

Bill O'Reilly Supports Right Wing Attack On Affirmative Action

Reported by Priscilla - Sun 7:27 AM

Since the dawn of affirmative action, the right wing has been whining about how these policies are discriminatory to more deserving whites. Given that Fox "News" loves to promote the meme of victimized conservatives and that Fox's Bill O'Reilly is a proponent of the white, male power structure, it came as no surprise that he would use part of his Fox show to promote a study by a right wing group with the misleading title of "Center for Equal Opportunity." Not surprisingly, the study says that the University of Wisconsin's admission policies hurt those nice white people while advantaging those nasty blacks and Hispanics. And not surprisingly, the head of this very small right wing think tank is Fox contributor and long time GOP functionary, Linda Chavez whom Bush nominated for Secretary of Labor but whose nomination got deep sixed after she admitted that she knowingly employed of those "illegals" that Fox News loves to hate. So given the subject matter, O'Reilly was in his glory as he got to attack the University of Wisconsin at Madison, residents of which were once accused, by O'Reilly, of "communing with Satan" (too many evil libruls). Mullah Bill also got the opportunity to issue a fatwah on an African American member of the University of Wisconsin staff. Ah, good times!

Hannity Pretends He Doesn’t Know Obama Is Not A Fan Of Farrakhan

Reported by Ellen - Sat 3:48 PM

Sean Hannity has been obsessing over Barack Obama’s “connection” to that black uber-boogeyman, Louis Farrakhan, since before Obama got elected to office. Unfortunately for Hannity, one of his own reports actually found that Obama is no fan of Farrakhan’s. So Hannity has been left to insinuate a relationship by harping on the fact that someone put Michelle Obama on the cover of a magazine with Mrs. Farrakhan. Thursday night (9/15/11), Hannity "forgot" his own reporting and “wondered” why the media has not asked Obama what he thinks of Farrakhan.

Fox News: The Equal Opportunity For White People Station

Reported by Ellen - Sat 10:32 AM

Just a week after Sean Hannity and reporter Ainsley Earhardt went to bat for segregation in Westchester County, NY, The O’Reilly Factor made a point of demonizing affirmative action.

Bill O'Reilly Admits That Fox News Has "Pro-Life" Bias

Reported by Priscilla - Fri 6:38 PM

So much for the pretense that Fox "News" is "fair & balanced." Out of the mouth of none other than Bill O'Reilly came the admission that there is at least one bias for Fox News and one that I've often documented. It's no longer a matter for speculation. Fox News is, along with being "America's Newsroom," America's anti-choice newsroom. It's not surprising given that the Fox values that it promotes are those that square with the Vatican and the Christian right - both of which, in seeking to criminalize abortion and birth control, seek to take American women back to the days of fatal back alley abortions. But for "traditionalist" Catholic Bill O'Reilly, who mourns the demise of the male power structure, those were the good old days when women and their reproductive systems were controlled by the patriarchs who knew what was best for women. Ah, happy days. And now we know that Bill O'Reilly's crusade (or is it jihad?) against abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, which contributed to a climate of hate in which the good doctor was assassinated by a zealot who holds the same anti-choice philosophy that O'Reilly does, was all part of Fox News's "fight for the rights of the unborn" whose "rights," in the anti-choice community, take precedence over the rights of post-born women. Maybe the hate group, The Family Research Council, which gave Bill O'Reilly an award for his role in the "pro-life" attack on Tiller (and the women who utilized his services), could bestow the "Courage Award" on Fox News.

O'Reilly Continues His Jihad Against Murdered Abortion Provider Dr. George Tiller

Reported by Ellen - Fri 4:08 PM

If you thought that "pro-life" Bill O'Reilly might have gained some Christian tolerance after the murder of Dr. George Tiller (after years of being demonized by O'Reilly), think again. O'Reilly has merely found a new avenue of attack: the clinic Dr. Tiller worked at and his successor there. O'Reilly didn't just manage to renew attacks on the late Dr. Tiller (while denouncing his murder), but he snapped at his own guest, the ever-polite Margaret Hoover to "stop it!" (i.e. "shut up!") as she tried to defend the clinic.

News Blooper or Sabotage? Guest Blurts Out “Fox News Lies” On Fox

Reported by Aunty Em - Fri 9:39 AM

One of the dangers of live tee vee is the news blooper, where something goes wrong and all they can do is move on. Until talk radio installed a delay button, putting someone on the air was always a dangerous proposition and sophomoric wags used that to their advantage, slipping in crazy or scatological references. Artist Jay Shells will forever be a folk hero for his actions on Fox “News” yesterday. He combined the two concepts above, using a live ‘in control room’ interview to say “Fox News Lies.”

Is Dick Cheney Afraid Of Bill O'Reilly?

Reported by Ellen - Fri 12:54 AM

Bill O'Reilly has been complaining forever that Dick Cheney won't come on his show - despite going on just about every other Fox News show. So last night (9/15/11) Liz Cheney appeared with O'Reilly and they had a rather spirited debate - mostly about the supposed success of the Iraq war, including Liz Cheney actually insisting we were greeted as liberators in Iraq.

Tell Congress And Rep. Issa: Hold Murdoch Accountable

Reported by Ellen - Thu 8:58 PM

Earlier this week, Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, assured told Fox News host Bret Baier that he would not investigate allegations that Fox’s parent company News Corp. hacked into 9/11 victims’ phones and/or violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. This, despite the requests of Democratic Ranking Member Rep. Elijah Cummings along with other members of the Committee. Among Issa’s other excuses, he didn’t want to pick on any media. But Fox News has long worked in tandem with Issa so his refusal to investigate News Corp. comes as no surprise. That’s why public pressure is needed. Please join with us in supporting Free Press’ campaign to tell Congress: Hold Murdoch Accountable and sign a letter to Issa.

Cavuto’s Speed Reading Fraud

Reported by Guest Blogger - Thu 5:51 PM

By Brian

Neil Cavuto kicked off Fox News’ “Regulation Nation” week on Monday (9/12/11) by hosting speed reader Howard Berg reading 25,000 pages of regulations. But somehow Cavuto forgot to mention that Berg has a less than stellar record – and one that makes it very much in his interest to do away with regulations: As Media Matters noted, Berg was reprimanded by the FTC in 1998 for "false" and "deceptive" claims referring to his Mega Speed Reading program. The FTC said Mega Speed Reading was "not successful" in helping people to read fast. He was on an infomercial with convicted felon Kevin Trudeau. Trudeau had to pay $500,000 in consumer redress.

Megyn Kelly Calls Out Dr. Keith Ablow For Spreading "Hate"

Reported by Priscilla - Thu 3:10 PM

Once again, Fox News' "Medical A-Team" member, Dr. Keith Ablow, took to the Fox airwaves in order to, once again, smear Chaz Bono and members of the transgender community. Once again, he peddled his bogus and bizarre argument that if a young person sees a gay or transgender person, s/he might want to "choose" (argument put forth by the religious right about sexual identity) to be gay or transgender. He even thought that he would have a receptive platform on, as he expressed it, the "home team." He couldn't have been any more wrong as Fox's Megyn Kelly showed, in her effective rebuttal to his revolting talking points, that she was willing and able to go beyond the parameters of the "home team." Credit goes to Ms. Kelly. Shame goes to Dr. Ablow.

Was The Five’s Greg Gutfeld Racist During Attack On POTUS?

Reported by Aunty Em - Thu 2:53 PM

While The Five continues to be the worst show on tee vee, it wasn’t until lately a pattern within the program became apparent. It might have stayed secret had Bob Beckel not continuously complained during the program about the “process” of putting the show together. From his comments here’s what’s been gleaned so far: Clearly a ‘line up’ meeting is held earlier in the day which includes talent, producers, and (speaking from experience) most of the other people who work behind the scenes on the show except the techs (camera, sound & lights). Everyone pitches their ideas for segments on the show and they kick those ideas around. Since there are always more ideas than time, people argue for their personal favorites. The Fox “News” producers keep track, adding their own ideas and spin. The producers make the ultimate decision on what will go into the show, as they shape the contour of the show and then block out the individual segments. Once the line-up is locked, the talent are sent away to do whatever it is they do before show time. That’s where the pattern I mentioned comes in: While most of The Five appear to research the segments they know will come up, especially the ones they pitched at Line Up, Bob Beckel never seems to do any research. He appears to wing it. Consequently, four of The Five always have more facts at their fingertips than Beckel. Yet, no matter how much the other 4 have researched a topic, their knowledge on any segment (topic) only goes so far, because they can’t know everything about everything. Eventually one of them will have nothing intelligent left to say, but that won’t stop them. They are still not done trying to make points, so they start to vamp on a topic they know absolutely nothing about. And, that’s when they get into trouble. Yesterday it was Greg Gutfeld’s turn. Tell me if you don’t think Greg Gutfeld’s statement is just an teensy-weensy bit racist. It came in a discussion about the Democratic Party losing NY-9 and why President Obama might be losing the Jewish vote: Watch:

Fox News Debate: Is President Obama Deliberately Tanking The Economy Or Has He “Doubled Down On Stupid?”

Reported by Ellen - Thu 2:29 PM

Fresh on the heels of continual Fox News outrage over Paul Krugman’s “hateful” and supposedly anti-American comments – including whining from Sean Hannity about the viciousness of liberals, comes this mini debate on the Hannity show last night (9/14/15) in which both Hannity and guest Monica Crowley showed nothing but vicious hate shown toward our president – who, despite Hannity’s best efforts to suggest otherwise – is an American.

Sen. Jim DeMint: I Can’t Work With The President Because He’s A Socialist

Reported by Ellen - Thu 2:02 AM

Greta Van Susteren conducted a softball interview with Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) about President Obama’s jobs bill last night (9/14/11). DeMint didn’t just refuse to support the bill, he made it clear he won’t work with the president or Democrats in any way. Insisting he wished he could compromise, DeMint blamed his intransigence on the fact that Obama is a “venture socialist.” And then DeMint had the gall to repeatedly say he didn’t like to be disrespectful to our president. There was no challenge to any of his outrageous comments from Van Susteren.

Hannity Exploits Paul Krugman As An Excuse To Spew His Own Hatred For Americans

Reported by Ellen - Wed 8:10 PM

As we’ve repeatedly posted, Fox News has used Paul Krugman’s recent blog post about the exploitation of 9/11 as little more than an excuse to attack Krugman and the usual liberal, Democratic targets. But Sean Hannity took the phony-patriot hypocrisy to new heights last night as he simultaneously blasted Krugman and then proved his own hatred for Americans seconds later.

What A Coincidence! Fox News Spawns “Regulation Nation” Just As GOP Launches Push For Rollbacks

Reported by Ellen - Wed 4:12 PM

AP reported late last month, “The House Republican agenda this fall will focus on repealing environmental and labor regulations that GOP lawmakers say are driving up the cost of doing business and discouraging employers from hiring new workers.” (H/T Media Matters) And lo and behold… Fox News has devoted this week to "expos(ing) how excessive laws are drowning American businesses."

Neil Cavuto Deliberately Pit Donald Trump Against Dick Cheney

Reported by Guest Blogger - Wed 1:02 PM

By Brian and Ellen

Just as Bill O’Reilly did with Christine O’Donnell, Neil Cavuto set up Dick Cheney for criticism and pretended otherwise. Cavuto conducted a fairly softball interview with Cheney yesterday (9/13/11) and then followed it up with an interview with someone he knew would be critical – Donald Trump. It’s a neat trick Fox has of making sure a conservative guest gets skewered without getting the host’s hands dirty, so to speak. Or giving the guest an opportunity to respond.

Mediaite Profiles Fox’s Spin Meister Frank Luntz

Reported by Aunty Em - Wed 8:19 AM

Long-time readers of News Hounds are well familiar with Frank Luntz, the so-called “pollster” who appears regularly on the so-called “news network.” Real pollsters try to get a candid snapshot of the public mood at any given time. On the other hand: Luntz poses the components in his snapshots to create the appearance of a public mood in order to push GOP talking points for Fox “News.” He is documented in these pages stacking focus groups to get more favorable responses on several occasions. He has also been caught haranguing his focus groups until they finally give him the answer he’s looking for. Luntz has also used his, err, talents to help the Republican Party fine-tune its message into easily digestible sound-bites, which don’t have to be true to be effective: “death tax” instead of “estate tax” or “tax relief” instead of “tax cuts.” His formulation “government takeover” of health care was Politifact’s Lie of the Year. That’s why it was so refreshing to see Mediaite tackle the problem that is Frank Luntz. Philip Bump writes:

Hannity Uses Tavis Smiley To Advance An Anti-Black Agenda

Reported by Ellen - Tue 7:08 PM

I’m going to assume that Tavis Smiley was just ignorant of Sean Hannity’s history of supporting segregation and bigotry and was not consciously helping to advance his anti-black agenda during their interview last night (9/12/11) on the Hannity show. The interview purported to be about Obama’s problems with African Americans but sure enough, Hannity was soon prodding Smiley to denounce the Congressional Black Caucus’ recent comments about the Tea Party – which any regular Hannity viewer knows he has framed with deliberate racial antagonism. Hannity also pretended that, unlike Democrats, he only criticizes President Obama “on substance.” That was such a whopper, I’m surprised Hannity’s nose didn’t start growing right on the spot.

Proof There's No Detail Too Small For Fox To Attack President Obama With

Reported by Ellen - Tue 3:36 PM

Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade complained today about the "chintzy clip" President Obama used to hold his jobs act together. Yes, the Friends were complaining about the paper clip used by the president. It wasn't clear whether they thought a better grade of clip was in order or if they thought the papers should have been stapled together.