Geraldo Rivera

To normal people, the Fox News Channel is just one cable TV channel among hundreds or thousands on their set-top boxes. To a very tiny minority of Americans, though, FNC is the very apotheosis of evil in America, even “worse than Al Qaeda” as the deranged Keith Olbermann once put it back when he was employed.

For these people, Fox News is something to be not only feared and loathed, it’s also something to make up stories about. The latest lefty to come out with a tall-tale about Fox News is MSNBC contributor and veteran purveyor of conventional group-think Jonathan Alter. The former Newsweek editor claims in an upcoming book that FNC chief Roger Ailes ordered liberal pundit Geraldo Rivera’s microphone silenced during a particularly heated debate last year over the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya:

Oh to have been a fly on the wall for this one.

In the wake of Al Gore's Current TV being sold to Al Jazeera, the Islamist world's equivalent of MSNBC, Geraldo Rivera was reminded of Gore's holier-than-thou attitude the last time they met. (audio clip after page break)

Translation: Israel is no better than Hamas in the eyes of Geraldo Rivera, though Rivera can't bring himself to acknowledge this.

Instead, the veteran squishy conservative tries to come across as even-handed in his criticism of Israel and Hamas during their most recent flaring of hostilities, though it doesn't take long for Rivera's sympathies to surface. (audio clip after page break)

Unlike the liberal media who are engaging in a full-scale blackout of the scandal in Libya, Friday’s Fox & Friends engaged in a vigorous debate over the attack on our Embassy in Benghazi. 

Fox News Channel liberal contributor Geraldo Rivera engaged in a full-out shouting match with conservative-leaning co-hosts Steve Doocy and Eric Bolling.  During the back-and-forth, Geraldo’s main argument was thus: [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Each morning, NewsBusters has been showcasing the most egregious bias the Media Research Center has uncovered over the years — four quotes for each of the 25 years of the MRC, 100 quotes total — all leading up to our big 25th Anniversary Gala September 27. (Click here for details and ticket information.)

If you’ve missed a previous blog, recounting the worst of 1988 through 1997, you can find them here. Today, the worst bias of 1998: Journalists disparage Ken Starr for investigating Bill Clinton's tawdry scandals, while an ex-Time magazine correspondent reveals the depth of her appreciation for Clinton's pro-abortion policies. [Quotes and video below the jump.]

Geraldo Rivera on Monday praised the fairness of Fox News and NewsBusters while not being so kind about how the mainstream media will cover the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

Speaking with NewsBusters about how the press will report the event, Rivera said, "We’ll be fair, you’ll be fair – we’ll leave them to their own just deserts" (video follows with commentary):

Illegal immigrants get little in the way of welfare or other taxpayer-funded largesse, according to Kirsten Powers. And she's adamant about it.

The liberal columnist and Fox News contributor appeared on Geraldo Rivera's KABC radio show out of Los Angeles yesterday, at the same time Rivera invited GOP strategist George Ajjan. (audio clips after page break)

Here is an example of why people laugh when Geraldo Rivera describes himself as conservative. His default response is invariably liberal.

On his WABC radio show out of New York City on Tuesday, Rivera played the race card in condemning Mitt Romney for having the incorrect audacity to suggest cultural differences at least partially explain Israel's economic success compared to Palestinian stagnation. (audio).

What is it about liberal media members making misogynistic comments towards conservative women?

Take for example Bob Beckel, the co-host of Fox News's The Five, who told FBN's Don Imus a few weeks ago, "If I was Juan [Williams] I'd wake up next to [Michelle Malkin] with a shotgun" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Move over, Obama Boy -- you've got serious competition from Geraldo Rivera.

Talking with GOP Rep. Allen West on his WABC radio show yesterday, Rivera made a fawningly inane analogy to describe Daily Caller reporter Neil Munro's unmitigated gall in attempting to ask questions at a presidential news conference (audio) --

Plenty of need out there for conflict mediation. Geraldo Rivera engages in the opposite -- conflict fermentation.

Rivera has decided there's no better way to accomplish this than by smearing someone as racist who doesn't share his left-wing RINO politics. (audio clips after page break)

Despite conservative talk radio’s popularity and profitability, the radio syndicators still seem ashamed of it, trying for PR reasons to find a star who is more of a mugwump. Brian Maloney at Radio Equalizer is totally mystified by how Cumulus Media, which oversees ABC Radio's AM stations, is promoting the new and under-performing Geraldo Rivera radio show as a national phenomenon waiting to happen.

“What compelled Cumulus broadcast execs to give this notorious huckster a radio show at nearly 69 mystifies many,” Maloney insisted. “But what we do know is that the facts don't match his employer's wild claims. The truth: Geraldo repels radio listeners better than DEET could ever deter mosquitoes.”