FNC’s Kennedy Claims ‘Anti-Semitism’ in ‘Tea Bag’ Movement, Pinkerton Notes LaRouche Leftists Used Obama/Hitler Image

On Saturday's Fox News Watch, panel member and FNC correspondent Douglas Kennedy referred to Tea Party members as the "Tea Bag movement," prompting admonishment from host Jon Scott who pointed out that he was using the "pejorative" term. In the next segment, Kennedy went on to accuse Tea Party members of anti-Semitism and linked Obama/Hitler posters to Tea Party members, leading panel member Jim Pinkerton to remind viewers that an Obama/Hitler poster sometimes attributed in the media to conservative Tea Party members had actually been brought to a protest by left-wing supporters of Lyndon LaRouche – who ran for President in the past as a Democrat:

DOUGLAS KENNEDY: You know, just tell them to leave the swastikas home and the pictures of Hitler, and the, you know, they might gain a little more popularity.

JIM PINKERTON: The pictures of Hitler brought in by Lyndon LaRouche people, you know, who are actually, Lyndon LaRouche ran as a Democrat seven times.

KENNEDY: Yeah, but there's anti-Semitism and-

Panel member Judy Miller then jumped in and predicted that the Tea Party movement would help liberals by splitting the Republican party, prompting Kennedy to divulge some over-the-top wishful thinking:

JUDY MILLER: I'm actually surprised that you see this kind of attack on this movement now only because the liberals and the left have loved this movement-

KENNEDY: This is going to help the liberals and the left more than anything-

MILLER: Exactly.

KENNEDY: -split the Republican party and elect every Democrat they run a seat in.

Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Saturday, January 9, Fox News Watch on FNC:

JON SCOTT, AFTER INTRODUCING A SEGMENT ABOUT PROMINENT DEMOCRATS RETIRING: What do you think about that, Douglas? Three big-name Democrats drop out first week of 2010. How’s the press treating it?

DOUGLAS KENNEDY: Jon, this is the point you should also be talking about the Tea Bag movement, not in the next segment, because both parties are suffering incredible losses. It’s not about Democrats or Republicans. It’s about incumbents. And the Republican party right now is under a complete civil war with the Tea Bag movement.

SCOTT: "Tea Party" movement!

KENNEDY: What?

SCOTT: You’re-

KENNEDY: "Tea Party" movement?

SCOTT: -adopting the pejorative that some-

KENNEDY: Okay, the Tea Party movement. We should be discussing both of these in the same segment, not one now and then one later about how the media is mistreating the Tea Partiers.

SCOTT: Let’s let Rich Lowry weigh in. He’s a media guy.

RICH LOWRY: I think he should be a producer, not just a panelist. This is-

KENNEDY: Yeah, who is the producer? Is it the Republican party or is it, you know?

...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCOTT: Time for a look at the Tea Party story now.

FEMALE VOICE NARRATING CARTOON: Learn to speak "Tea Bag." Finally, learning a new language doesn’t have to be hard. You can be fluent in conversational "Tea Bag" in just a few short minutes. Don’t get distracted by the confusing words of other languages.

UNIDENTIFIED CARTOON MAN: I think the public option and the competition it would foster really – socialist, socialist!

FEMALE VOICE NARRATING: Good.

SCOTT: All right, that is just part of an animated short feature appearing on the Web site of NPR, National Public Radio, taxpayer-funded. That and other negative reaction from the media to the Tea Party movement shows no signs of simmering down. Here’s what MSNBC host Chris Matthews said recently about Tea Party supporters:

CHRIS MATTEWS: And they’re monochromatic, right?

MARK MCKINNON, THE DAILY BEAST: Well, I don’t know that they’re monochromatic.

MATTHEWS: They’re not? Every picture I see shows them to be.

MCKINNON: Well, there’s a lot of people out there that cuts across a lot of demographics who feel disenfranchised.

MATTHEWS: But not that other demographic.

MCKINNON: The other demographic?

MATTHEWS: Meaning they’re all white, all of them, every single one of them is white.

SCOTT: All right, so what about it, Rich? We’ll get to you in a minute, Doug. (LAUGHTER) Why is the Tea Party movement-

KENNEDY: I already said my Tea Party-

SCOTT: Why does the Tea Party movement have so many in the media all worked up?

LOWRY: I think there’s a couple of factors. One that obviously ideological hostility because they’re conservatives, but, two, an elite condescension because it’s a populist movement. And my prediction is, over time, the phrase "tea bag," which is a pejorative, will be adopted by the movement the way pejoratives often are, whether neocon or going way back to the beginning, the word "American," Doug.

KENNEDY: You know, just tell them to leave the swastikas home and the pictures of Hitler, and the, you know, they might gain a little more popularity.

JIM PINKERTON: The pictures of Hitler brought in by Lyndon LaRouche people, you know, who are actually, Lyndon LaRouche ran as a Democrat seven times.

KENNEDY: Yeah, but there’s anti-Semitism and-

JUDY MILLER: I’m actually surprised that you see this kind of attack on this movement now only because the liberals and the left have loved this movement-

KENNEDY: This is going to help the liberals and the left more than anything-

MILLER: Exactly.

KENNEDY: -split the Republican party and elect every Democrat they run a seat in.