Fox News Channel

A truly astounding thing happened on HBO’s “Real Time” Friday evening: a panel comprised of four liberal media members actually voiced unanimous displeasure with Democrats.

I bet you’re looking out your window to see some airborne swine right about now.

As shocking and unlikely as such a public display might seem, when host Bill Maher moved the discussion to the recent cancellation of a presidential debate to be hosted by Fox News, he and his guests all felt the Democrats made a mistake.

Defying the currently in vogue theory of anthropogenic global warming, hell hath begun freezing over.

Present and accounted for were former CBS anchor Dan Rather, ABC’s Martha Raddatz, and comedian Jason Alexander. What follows is a partial transcript of this shocking event (video available here courtesy of our friend Ms Underestimated):

Would you take a paycheck from an organization you consider illegitimate? Neal Gabler apparently would.

"I don't want to bite the hand that feeds me my Kool-Aid," claimed Gabler on this evening's "Fox News Watch." He then proceeded to do just that, claiming that Democrats pulled out of the Fox-sponsored presidential candidate debate in Nevada "for the same reason that Republicans would not go on Air America -- it doesn't make any political sense. Why in the world would you want to legitimize a network that spends hour after hour after hour after hour to, to."

View video here

Interjected host Eric Burns: "why would you agree to do it in the first place?"

Los Angeles Times columnist (and longtime political reporter) Ron Brownstein tackles the issue of the Nevada Democratic Party dumping Fox News Channel as a debate partner. He thinks this rejection is similar to how "conservatives deal with mainstream media organizations they consider biased against them." Put aside for a minute the odd notion that Republican Party organizations or politicians would refuse to do debates thrown by liberal networks. As if. In his March 16 column, Brownstein's peddling the old canard that Fox News is exponentially more biased than "mainstream" news organizations:

The situation isn't exactly parallel. For all the howling on the right, it's difficult to argue that mainstream news organizations operate with anything approaching Fox' partisan and ideological agenda. (E-mails: commence now.) But there's no question many conservatives feel as wronged by elements of the mainstream media as Democrats do by Fox.

MRC President Brent Bozell appeared on FNC's "Hannity & Colmes" a few moments ago to talk about the MRC's findings in the March 14 MRC Reality Check: "Mass Amnesia Over Mass Clinton Firings."

Former Clinton counsel Lanny Davis also appeared in the same segment to counter Mr. Bozell.

[Perhaps former Clinton staffer George Stephanopoulos* was too busy with his duties at ABC News? *see update at bottom of post]

Video clip: Real (3.06 MB) or Windows (2.55 MB) plus MP3 (1.19 MB)

Mr. Bozell should also be on FNC's Fox & Friends Thursday morning to discuss the same topic. He's scheduled for 6:13am EDT. That's 5:13am CDT, 4:13am MDT and 3:13am PDT.

As most people are likely aware, the Democrats have pulled out of a presidential debate to be held in Nevada this August. Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly was none too pleased about this announcement, and made his feelings known Monday evening (video available here):   

The dishonesty of the far left on display again…Within the Democratic party, there are two elements, moderate Dems and radical left Dems. The radical movement is funded by George Soros and Peter Lewis, who pour millions of dollars into candidates and websites like MoveOn to do their bidding. Soros and Lewis have given MoveOn at least $5 million.

That was just the beginning. I suggest you fasten your seatbelts, for O’Reilly was loaded for bear:

It’s probably not that surprising that some on the far Left were complaining that the Fox News Channel was going to host a debate between the Democratic presidential candidates in Nevada later this year. They were probably completely unaware that Fox News co-hosted (with the liberal Congressional Black Caucus Institute) two Democratic debates during the last presidential campaign.

What is surprising is that former Democratic Senator John Edwards, who smilingly participated in both of the Fox debates in 2003 (picture at left), decided that he could not participate in a debate hosted by Fox. “I said, ‘Why are we doing Fox?’ I said, ‘No, tell them no,’” Edwards told the Washington Post’s Dan Balz.

[see UPDATES at end of post]

Fred Thompson, who is exploring the possibilty of a presidential candidacy, went on Fox News Sunday yesterday, strongly criticized Roe v. Wade and said the answer to it was "good judges." But on this morning's "Today," Andrea Mitchell flatly stated that Thompson doesn't want to overturn Roe. So where does Thompson stand on Roe, and how can we explain Today's depiction of his views?

For answers, let's go to the videotape. The first portion of the clip is from this morning's "Today," the second portion from Thompson's Fox News Sunday appearance yesterday.

On "Today," laying out Thompson's positions on key issues, Andrea Mitchell stated Thompson is "anti-abortion but opposes overturning Roe v. Wade." Where did she get that from? A good clue comes from the fact that just previously she had just played a clip of Thompson's appearance on yesterday's Fox News Sunday. While the clip had nothing to do with abortion [Thompson merely described his rationale for a possible run], it does demonstrate that Mitchell had watched Thompson's appearance and was likely relying on it as the latest, best evidence of his views.

So what did the former Tennessee senator tell Chris Wallace about his views on Roe? Again, have a look at the video.

Chris Wallace: "Do you want to overturn Roe v. Wade?"

Thompson: "I think Roe v. Wade was bad law and bad medical science. And the way to address that is through good judges. I don't think the court ought to wake up one day and make new social policy for the country that's contrary to what it's been for the last 200 years. We have a process in this country to do that. Judges shouldn't be doing that. That's what happened in the that case. I think it was wrong."

As the Managing Editor of Fox News Channel's Washington, DC bureau, you might have thought Brit Hume would have taken great umbrage at John Edwards' high-profile decision to spurn a debate of Dem presidential contenders that Fox had organized for August in Nevada. The Edwards pull-out ultimately led to a cancellation of the debate by the Nevada state Democratic party. Edwards had come under pressure from liberal netroots and organizations such as Move.on, which had organized a petition drive calling for cancellation of the debate.

But in a fair-and-balanced comment reflecting an appreciation of real politik, Hume has praised Edwards' move as "shrewd" -- at least in the short run. During the panel discussion on this morning's Fox News Sunday, Hume observed:

Under pressure from radical-left activists at MoveOn.org and bloggers like the Daily Kos, the Nevada Democratic Party pulled the rug out from under the Fox News Channel on Friday, canceling a planned presidential debate that had been scheduled for August 14, Politico.com reported. MoveOn launched a petition drive that it said was signed by more than 260,000 people, arguing “Fox is a mouthpiece for the Republican Party, not a legitimate news channel. The Democratic Party of Nevada should drop Fox as its partner for the presidential primary debate.” The group's Eli Pariser also called FNC part of the "right-wing smear machine."

The decision represents a dramatic shift leftward from the presidential cycle four years ago. On September 9, 2003, all nine Democratic candidates went to Baltimore to participate in a debate sponsored by FNC and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. Dick Gephardt and Dennis Kucinich even missed a close school-voucher House vote for the event. Brit Hume was the moderator, and the panel had three black liberals: NPR's Juan Williams, Ed Gordon (formerly of NBC and BET), and former Newsweek writer (and current NPR host) Farai Chideya. As you can see from the transcript, Hume asked no questions to the candidates, aside from asking Howard Dean what his lapel pin said.

Rich Noyes, Director of Research at the Media Research Center is scheduled to appear on this afternoon's The Big Story with John Gibson on the Fox News Channel. He should appear near the start of the 5pm EST program. That's 4pm CST, 3pm MST and 2pm PST. Topic: This New York Times controversy, as summarized by the AP: "The New York Times acknowledged Tuesday that a reporter who wrote an acclaimed 2005 article about a teenage Internet pornographer helped gain the boy's trust by sending him a $2,000 check. Former Times staff writer Kurt Eichenwald made the payment in June 2005 to Justin Berry, who at the time was an 18-year-old star in a seedy network of child-porn sites."

Story available here. Video clip: Real (2.04 MB) or Windows (1.7 MB), plus MP3 (820 KB)

Fox & Friends Weekend hasn't lost Kiran Chetry -- it's gained Ainsley Earhardt. The recent FNC hire began her tenure on this weekend's shows, and by all appearances has made a smooth landing. Sandwiched between the "Kelly Brothers," Kelly Wright and Greg Kelly, one of the first stories the trio discussed this morning was the results of the presidential straw poll at this weekend's CPAC conference in Washington.

Kelly Wright described Mitt Romney's straw poll win as a surprise "because of his Mormon background," then added that "he isn't running to be chief theologian, he's running to be chief executive officer of the United States." Observed Earhardt: "a lot of people were skeptical about [Romney] but many people after hearing him speak at the CPAC conference yesterday, many people were calling to say he's going to be the top candidate." Ainsley also made reference to Newt's relatively strong showing of 14% despite the fact that he won't join the race, if at all, until at least September.

View video here.

MRC Director of Media Analysis and NewsBusters Senior Editor Tim Graham appeared on the March 2 Your World with Neil Cavuto. Graham discussed how former Vice President Al Gore insists that presenting a balanced debate on global warming is actually biased.

Video clip (2:46): Real (2.05 MB) or Windows (1.70 MB), plus MP3 (803 KB).

The MRC's Business & Media Institute (BMI) recently issued a new Web page, "Climate of Bias," that links to previous MRC, BMI, and CNSNews.com coverage on the media's biased reporting on climate change.

It was “Miller Time” again on the “O’Reilly Factor” Wednesday night, and though the boys got off to a slow start, they finished quite strong.

This increasingly popular Fox News segment featuring comedian Dennis Miller and host Bill O'Reilly focused on the Oscars, Al Gore, the New York Times, and the recent virtually unreported ACLU controversy.

With that in mind, here are some of the highlights for your viewing and entertainment pleasure (video available here courtesy of our friend Ms Underestimated):

A Democratic senator has just announced his presidential candidacy. On the next morning's "Fox & Friends," a Fox News reporter who recently denied that Fox has any conservative leanings or that Sean Hannity is a conservative narrates a segment on the announcement. To analyze the Democrat's candidacy, she plays clips of two reporters, one from the National Review and the other from the Weekly Standard. Host Brian Kilmeade follows, schmoozing about the senator's prospects with a former senior aide to a conservative Republican governor.

Total lack of balance! Couldn't Fox News have found at least one Democrat to discuss a Democrat's candidacy? Outrageous, isn't it? Well, yes, it would be. Except it didn't happen. But the mirror-image did. Here's how this morning's "Today" covered John McCain's announcement of his candidacy on last night's Letterman:

Andrea Mitchell, who recently denied that NBC has any liberal bias

MRC's Business & Media Institute director Dan Gainor appeared on "Your World with Neil Cavuto" earlier to talk about the way the media covered yesterday's stock market slide.

"CBS, which always ends up being the worst in all of our studies for covering the economy, took a 3 percent drop and turned it into a disastrous, uh -- made it look like it's, you know, the end of the world," Gainor told Fox News Channel viewers.

As for any good economic news, "they buried it in the middle of a report" and then compared it to the two biggest stock losses in history, Gainor continued.

Video (59 seconds): Real (1.6MB) or Windows (1.88 MB), plus MP3 (285KB)

I subscribe to e-mailed breaking news alerts from both Fox News and CNN. Out of curiosity today, I reviewed the news alerts about the market's performance from yesterday's precipitous drop and today's rally.

I found that yesterday Fox issued two alerts to CNN's one. Today, Fox sent an e-mail update about the market's 50-point gain for the day. No such e-mail was issued from CNN, however.

I took the liberty to lift the text from the updates. Here they are in chronological order from earliest to latest:

Fox News breaking news update | 2/27/2007, 15:07 EST

DOW INDUSTRIALS FALL MORE THAN 500 POINTS ON FEARS OF ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN IN U.S., CHINA AND EUROPE

CNN Breaking News | 2/27/2007, 16:05 EST

-- The Dow sees its biggest one-day drop in 3 years, ending about 400 points lower after plummeting more than 500 points earlier in the day. More soon.

It goes without saying that few people in America are aware that a former head of the ACLU in Virginia was arrested last week and charged with possession of child pornography.

Why might that be?

Well, America’s media chose not to report it, and according to Bill O’Reilly, it’s because “journalism in this country is at a low point.”

*****Update: video available here.

On Monday, the host of Fox News’s “O’Reilly Factor” took issue with this tremendous double standard concerning obvious omissions in reporting by the press when stories go counter to their prescribed liberal agenda. O’Reilly began:

Even in an age when eight-year-olds are expert video gamers, if you're a kid (or a 28-year-old blogger playing with your nephews) nothing beats an old-fashioned game of Cops and Robbers (or Jack Bauer vs. shady terrorist masterminds). But that doesn't sit well with liberal parents who abhor "gun violence." So what do you do if you're a liberal TV pundit like George Washington University's Jonathan Turley and your kids won't take the hint when you take away their toy guns and swords and other toy "weapons"?

Well, the law professor wrote yesterday about how he stopped worrying and learned to accept that little boys like to play with toy guns (in his kids' case more often with toy swords/lightsabers). He found that, surprise, surprise, little boys often act out good vs. evil dramas with their toy gun or sword play, and for some darn reason, it seems natural for them to do so:

As I type this, there's a minor skirmish being fought within the Democratic Party over the plan of Nevada Democrats' plan to give Fox News Channel the rights to broadcast a presidential campaign debate scheduled for next August in Reno.

Predictably, the moonbats at Moveon.org are outraged and up to their usual online petitioning:

The battle between the Nevada Democratic Party and online liberal activists continues to rage, with MoveOn.org saying Friday it had collected 135,000 signatures on a petition asking the party to dissociate itself from the Fox News cable channel.

"Hopefully, they're getting the hint," MoveOn.org Civic Action spokesman Adam Green said.

But the party, which is partnering with Fox News to broadcast a Democratic presidential debate Aug. 14 in Reno, wasn't backing down.

As NewsBuster Brent Baker reported Friday, CBS’s “60 Minutes” will be airing a piece this Sunday about a small number of American troops in Iraq that have signed a petition in favor of immediate withdrawal.

Fox News’s Sean Hannity is planning to present the opposite side of this issue on the March 4 installment of that network’s “Hannity’s America,” and spoke about it on Friday’s “Hannity & Colmes.”

As Hannity devotees would expect, Sean didn't pull any punches concerning his negative opinion of CBS (video available here):

For those looking for alternatives to Sunday’s Oscars -- and let's face it, who isn't? -- Fox News has added a special to its lineup that should interest all blogosphere denizens.

As reported by FoxNews.com:

This weekend, join hosts Kirsten Powers and Michelle Malkin as FOX News takes you inside the most explosive blogs on the Web!

The tagline caption reads:

If what Fox News reported Saturday is correct, conservatives all around the country might have been given a very early Christmas present by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

FNC’s Bill McCuddy announced the following from Hollywood during Saturday’s "Fox & Friends”:

The big story here out on the red carpet back to live action is that Mr., Mr. Al Gore who is going to walk this red carpet, still doesn’t have permission to go up to that podium if he in fact wins for “An Inconvenient Truth,” which sounds awfully inconvenient in and of itself. It’s something of a clerical error. This guy can not win or give an acceptance speech to save his life.

How delicious. McCuddy was asked to elaborate why that might be:

For those unfamiliar, Tammy Bruce is a radio talk show host who describes herself as “an openly gay, pro-choice, gun owning, pro-death penalty, voted-for-President Bush authentic feminist.”

With that in mind, she was Bill O’Reilly’s guest on Wednesday’s “Factor.” The pair discussed and analyzed the unabashed hatred that Hollywoodans like Bill Maher and Danny DeVito have for President Bush (video available here courtesy of our friend Ms Underestimated).

After O’Reilly played a recent clip of Maher slamming Bush on the “Tonight Show” as reported by NewsBuster Brent Baker, Bruce offered the following analysis:

Thursday night's edition of "30 Rock" will feature the character of Jenna (played by Jane Krakowski) appearing on an episode of "Hardball" with Chris Matthews. Matthews is no stranger to entertainment. Last year, he appeared in the Robin Williams movie "Man of the Year" and also showed up in another citizen/politician movie, "Dave" with Kevin Kline, in 1993. He's also been around the NBC-TV carousel before, with "The West Wing" and with the short-lived young-senator drama "Mister Sterling." Tucker Carlson will also appear on the sitcom's promotion of MSNBC.

Over at Fox News, "The Half-Hour News Hour" bagged 1.48 million viewers in its Sunday night debut, landing it on the ratings "Winners" list at the Washington Post, which noted "That's about 80 percent more viewers than FNC has averaged in that slot in the first quarter." The Post also noted its competition, "The Daily Show," averaged 1.57 million viewers from last Monday to Thursday.

Many conservatives are familiar with a marvelous book by Peter Schweizer entitled “Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy.” In it, Schweizer detailed how America’s top liberals are famous for not practicing what they preach.

On Sunday’s “Hannity’s America,” the host demonstrated how the country’s leading global warming alarmist, Dr. Al Gore, is a perfect example of a liberal who doesn’t come close to following the lofty environmental ideals he demands of the rest of us (video available here).

At issue was the inherent absurdity of a self-righteous politician complaining about the dangers of greenhouse gases while he flies fly around the world in private airplanes:

Since Rep. John Murtha (D-Pennsylvania) became the media’s antiwar darling, he has been allowed to say virtually anything he wants with total impunity. Ignoring rules of engagement that clearly don't apply to him, FNC’s Brit Hume finally took the congressman to task on the most recent installment of “Fox News Sunday.”

During the panel discussion, host Chris Wallace played a video clip of a recent statement by Murtha concerning Iraq. Hume took issue with the congressman's views, and said what many on the right have been waiting for since the media unjustly crowned this man as a voice of reason concerning all things military (video available here):

When a left-leaning newspaper reviews a new comedy show on the Fox News Channel, you shouldn’t expect raves. As a result, when Tom Shales of the Washington Post says that “The ½ Hour News Hour,” which previews Sunday evening, “isn’t terrible,” one has to take this as being about as glowing an assessment as humanly possible.

In fact, as difficult as it might have been for Shales to admit, he actually liked parts of the program, and surprisingly didn't seem too ashamed to say so in mixed company (emphasis mine throughout, h/t Hot Air):

Neal Gabler called Media Research Center "liars" on this evening's Fox News Watch. The accusation against NewsBusters' parent organization came in the course of a discussion of media coverage of Mitt Romney's announcement of his presidential candidacy.

View video here.

Conservative columnist Jim Pinkerton observed: "I don't think [the media] like Romney. I don't think they really want a Republican to win, and they're using his Mormonism as one way to get at him."

Gabler: "Who's this 'they' you're talking about? This strange 'they' that doesn't want Romney to win?"

Pinkerton: "I can answer that question for Neal. Thank you for asking. Media Research Center counted up the minutes and seconds . . . "

Gabler, interrupting: "A conservative organization?"

Pinkerton: "Yes. They counted up the minutes that CBS News had devoted to Barack Obama's announcement and to Romney's. And the ratio was 54:1. Fifty-four Obama. One Romney."

Gabler: "Figures don't lie, as my father used to say. Liars do figure."

The mainstream media loves war veteran members of Congress -- when they’re opposed to the Iraq War. As reported by Newsbusters, in November 2005, when Congressman and Vietnam War veteran John Murtha came out against the Iraq War, the network news broadcasts touted his opposition as well as his service.

That has never been the case for Congressman and Vietnam prisoner of war Sam Johnson. Earlier this week, Johnson spoke out in favor of the war and against the anti-surge resolution. Congressman Johnson gave an emotional press conference with his retelling of the events of that era.

Representative Sam Johnson (R-TX): “Words can't fully describe the unspeakable damage of the anti-American efforts against the war back home to the guys on the ground. When they pulled the funds for Vietnam, we were still POW's and we thought we were going to be there forever.”

It’s safe to say that columnist Helen Thomas is not a favorite figure in the White House pressroom as far as conservatives are concerned. On Wednesday morning, the “Fox & Friends” crew discussed the revelation that the Fox News Channel has asked for a better seat during gaggles and pressers in the newly renovated pressroom once it’s completed, one in the front row in fact.

Co-host Steve Doocy mentioned that FNC and another cable outlet have asked for this privilege, but as the new design only includes one more front-row seat, Helen Thomas would have to be kicked out of her chair to accommodate both outlets.

This set up a comical discussion between the gang, including a viewer poll about the issue (video available here).