Another Hit-Piece from SoWrong.Com

The left turns on its own, but it's for a good cause: The War on Fox!

Fresh off one "victory" , the Fox haters are setting their sights on the upcoming debate to be cosponsored by FNC and the Congressional Black Caucus. It is not coincidental that it was at this moment that Salon.com chose to unleash another attack on FNC. Salon has already been caught lying about Fox; is their latest piece more of the same?

This time the topic is "Fox News Democrats" (uh-oh), and the author one Alex Koppelman. He has all the necessary credentials for this assignment. He claims FNC is part of the "right wing echo chamber", and for good measure he writes at the Huffington Post. After conceding that many Democrats appear on Fox News, Koppelman gets to his main thesis:

But Fox also has a stable of regular commentators, some under contract to the network, who pop up frequently as representatives of the Democratic or progressive viewpoint.... the in-house Democrats don't come off as effective evangelists for their party or for liberal politics in general. It sounds harsh, but think of most of the Fox Democrats, at least those who appear on the opinion shows, which take up half the network's airtime, as one of three types. They are either scary liberals, losers or enablers.

First Koppelman tackles the "scary" liberals, whom he claims are chosen to make the party look bad to Fox's audience. (He says the median age of viewers is over 60; the Pew center reports the average age at 48.7.) Koppelman cites: Al Sharpton, Charlie Rangel, and Dennis Kucinich. But not one of them is a Fox News "in-house Democrat"; they are not FNC contributors or analysts or pundits. All three have appeared on Fox multiple times, but they appear on MSNBC and CNN as well.

Koppelman's next category is:

...the losers, the strategists and politicians who are no longer players in the Democratic Party, at least partially because of their electoral failures.

At least this time he cites people who actually work for Fox: Geraldine Ferraro, Susan Estrich, and Bob Beckel. Koppelman rattles off their political losses as if that were proof that their commentary is worthless. He doesn't even address the fact that every news channel looks to hire politicos who are well-spoken and confident in front of a tv camera. Why did MSNBC hire Joe Trippi (Dean campaign mastermind and loser), or Pat Buchanan (loser)? Why does CNN listen to Bay Buchanan (loser)? And didn't "loser" Bob Beckel work at both CBS and CNN for years?

Finally Koppelman gets to the meat of his argument: the "enablers". They're not sufficiently left for his taste. His first example: Lanny Davis. Lanny is not a Fox "in-house Democrat". He appears on Fox maybe five times a year (as well as on CNN and MSNBC). At least with Susan Estrich he found someone who does work for Fox, both on air and with a regular website column. His complaint is that she "frequently comes under criticism" and once criticized an Al Gore speech. Therefore, she is an "enabler" of right-wing propaganda. Koppelman dismisses her with one sentence, all the better not to give his readers the full story. Ms Estrich, who actually calls to get Democratic talking points before going on the air, is a conservative enabler? Like when she confronted Ann Coulter? Or when she rose to the defense of Barbara Boxer? Did Koppelman ever look at her blog, or did he check it out and decide that it didn't fit his spin?

Koppelman has more "enablers" to crucify. Pat Caddell, a quirky Democrat to be sure, is trotted out. If Caddell appears on Fox once every three months that's a lot--but he gets an entire paragraph. Mr Koppelman asserts that Tammy Bruce is billed on Fox as a "progressive Democrat", but a Lexis/Nexis search of FNC for her name and that phrase turns up zero hits. In truth, when Ms Bruce (who is eclectic in her viewpoints) has squared off against another pundit on FNC, most of the time it was not a right-winger but liberal Jim Warren. Kirsten Powers is criticized--because she didn't defend the comments of William Arkin (our troops get obscene amenities and are lucky they don't get spit on). Koppelman does not point out the "real" Democrats who opine on other news channels and rose to defend Arkin's statement. Just who would those be, sir? Even Harold Ford Jr is demeaned; he's another squish with "politics just left of George Will's". Of course, Koppelman doesn't mention his rating from Americans for Democratic Action: 80%.

So there are the three categories of "Fox News Democrats". But wait, is there something missing? Well yes, there usually is with Fox haters. The fourth category: the people that Mr Koppelman leaves out. And we're not just talking about, say, P.J. Crowley, or Joe Cirincione of the Center for American Progress--who often appears on Fox more in one month than Pat Caddell does over an entire year. We'll stick with people who have been hired by FNC as pundits. Why no mention of Eleanor Clift? David Corn? Laura Schwartz? Martin Frost? Ellen Ratner? Is Koppelman ready to write off Gen Wesley Clark (on air just yesterday) as a worthless "loser"? When exactly did Ellis Hennican play his Fox-mandated role as an "enabler"? Does Juan Williams grovel before Brit Hume? This sort of selective analysis, where names and persons inconvenient to the argument are simply omitted, is a standard propaganda practice.

There's lots more to be said about this hit piece. Koppelman included a fistful of factoids that are favorites of the blue blogs. He cites a tongue-in-cheek, joking comment by a Fox bureau chief and pretends it's dogma. And there's the "study" by Mark Mellman (John Kerry's pollster) that proves "Fox viewers" supported Bush over Kerry 88% to 7%. That result, based on A.C. Nielsen ratings diaries, doesn't pass the smell test. And it's inconsistent with scientific polling that tells us that only 38% of the Fox audience is conservative--the majority are independent or liberal. The Pew Center's extensive polling on The O'Reilly Factor is another case in point: 37% of Republicans surveyed watched regularly or sometimes, but so do 21% of Democrats and 25% of independents.

You had to know something was up when Mr Koppelman's "research" included interviews with outfits like Daily Kos and MyDD. The latter, in its zeal to deep-six the Nevada debate, flat-out lied about Fox. Still, Mr Koppelman's piece did contain an unexpected Easter egg. He asked the two blue bloggers about Bob Beckel:

When they spoke with Salon for this story, neither Matt Stoller of MyDD nor Markos Moulitsas Zúniga of DailyKos, one of the leading liberal blogs, had ever heard of him.

This is the same Bob Beckel who usually appears on Fox News a minimum of once a week, and often more. The same Bob Beckel who offers his opinions on Fox & Friends, Fox News Live, Studio B, Your World, The Big Story, The O'Reilly Factor, Hannity & Colmes, On the Record, and a host of other programs. But Daily Kos and MyDD, who rail incessantly about the "right-wing" bias and "propaganda" on FNC, never heard of him? Of course not--they don't watch. It's so much easier to slander an "enemy" when you aren't hamstrung by knowledge or facts. The most virulent Fox haters are the ones who spout their vitriol from a perch of ignorance, and Mr Koppelman has performed at least one service by inadvertently exposing them.

posted: Wed - April 4, 2007 at 01:06 PM j$p send

Tom
Testing
April 4, 2007, 10:40:19 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Tom
Johnny, you're easily one of the worst propagandists on the internet (not in the sense that your propaganda in vicious, as in you suck at it).

First off, you lied. Repeatedly. You claimed that Kirsten Powers was criticized supposedly for attacking Arkin. No, Powers is criticized for being a right-wing, CONSERVATIVE Democrat, which she has admitted. She is pro-life, anti-abortion and anti-stem cell research. So there's your first lie.

Your second lie is that Pat Caddell and Tammy Bruce are Democrats. They're not. Caddell left the Democratic Party years ago and has since called the party a "confederacy of gangsters" and defended Ann Coulter calling John Edwards a "faggot". Tammy Bruce has not voted for Democrats for years, and all of her ideological positions, except abortion, are conservative. She doesn't believe in mad-made global warming, supports Republican foreign policy, welfare reform, opposes environmentalism, opposes affirmative action, etc...

She hasn't voted for a Democrat since 1996, and yet Fox News bills her as a "progressive feminist" and a "liberal Democrat". And yes, she is featured in debates with Republicans. So you lied.

Thirdly, once again, YOU are UNABLE to refute numbers, PROVING Fox News has more Republicans than Democrats, and a greater variety.
April 4, 2007, 10:45:50 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Tom
Now, moving on to Harold Ford Jr. Ford is an admitted "conservative blue dog Democrat". Fox News hired him the same week they hired Rick Santorum. Now, of the two, who is further down the line in terms of the ideology of their parties? Ford is a conservative Democrat, and Santorum is a conservative Repbulican.

That basically sums up the bias at the Fox News Channel. You can only get a job and become a regular pundit if you're a moderate-to-conservative Democrat, but you sure as hell CAN'T get a job if you're a moderate-to-liberal Republican.

Hey, Johnny, here's an idea. Point out a SINGLE liberal or moderate Republican Fox News has ever brought on regularly, or even once in a while, to defend the "republican" point of view?

Can you? Doubt it.

But that won't stop Fox from bringing on Tammy Bruce, Pat Caddell, Ed Koch or Kirsten Powers and claiming that they're "hard hitting Democrats".
April 4, 2007, 10:48:51 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Tom
John Gibson is a conservative Republican
Bill O'Reilly is a conservative Republican
Brit Hume is a conservative Republican
Neil Cavuto is a conservative Republican
John Kasich is a former Republican congressman
Paul Gigot is a conservative Republican
Sean Hannity is a conservative Republican
The Half-Hour News Hour is a conservative spinoff of the Daily Show
Greg Gutfeld is a conservative Republican

And every single person named has their own show. Not one "Fox News Democrat" has their own show. Not a single one. 7 right-wing hosts and no left-wing hosts?
April 4, 2007, 10:53:29 PM EDT – Like – Reply

johnny dollar
You keep calling me a liar and you won't have a platform here at all. Get that, Tom? None at all.

Where in the article do they criticize Powers for being pro life or anti stem cell? That's what you wrote. I don't see it in there. I see the criticism of Powers being exactly what I stated: she was too critical of Arkin. So you back up what you wrote, calling me a liar because according to you Powers was not criticized over Arkin but over pro life. Read the article and quote it back.

And, by the way, repeating a lie doesn't make it true. Two months ago you insisted I called Tammy Bruce a liberal. I asked you to put up and all you came back with was a quote where TAMMY BRUCE said she was a lib. You never did produce the supposed quote from me. Now you're at it again, claiming I "lied" because I said TB is a Democrat. Grow up.

> You can only get a job and become a regular pundit if you're a moderate-to-conservative Democrat

Which one of these is David Corn? Which one of these is Ellen Ratner? Which one of these is Wesley Clark?

I'll take your answer to that after you answer my first question with either proof (a quote from the article) or an apology.
April 4, 2007, 10:57:08 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Tom
[message deleted]

No sooner do I warn you about calling me a liar than you immediately post another message calling me a liar. I told you I won't stand for name calling and you will not be permitted to continue to post here if you keep that up. Consider this the ultimate warning.

Edited By Siteowner
April 4, 2007, 11:00:16 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Tom
This is hillarious. You're losing the argument so you're deleting my posts? Whatever, Johnny, you can't refute a SINGLE thing I've said in any of my top posts.

You lost the argument. Get over it. Not even Jonah Goldberg believes the laughable line that Fox News is "fair and balanceD". I'll leave you with one of his quotes:

"Look, I think liberals have reasonable gripes with Fox News. It does lean to the right, primarily in its opinion programming but also in its story selection (which is fine by me) and elsewhere."
April 4, 2007, 11:06:37 PM EDT – Like – Reply

johnny dollar
What argument? The one about Powers? That's the one I'm waiting for an answer to. But rather than answering that one simple question, you come up with "I'll leave you with a quote".

Once again, when asked to back up your screeds, you complain that your name-calling gets a post deleted in accordance with the rules, and then say you're leaving rather than prove what you say.

Have a nice day.
April 4, 2007, 11:14:19 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Tom
Looks like Johnny needs a little help.

"What argument?"

This one:

"Hey, Johnny, here's an idea. Point out a SINGLE liberal or moderate Republican Fox News has ever brought on regularly, or even once in a while, to defend the "republican" point of view?

Can you? Doubt it."
April 4, 2007, 11:21:02 PM EDT – Like – Reply

johnny dollar
I'll get to that when you prove you were telling the truth about Powers and that article, and that I wasn't. You made a charge, I asked for proof, and now you want to move on and change the subject. Uh-uh. The article is only three pages long. It shouldn't take you long to find where they talk about powers being pro life and anti-stem cell. Your days of jumping from one allegation to the next and never providing proof are over. Deal with Powers and the article. One smear at a time.
April 4, 2007, 11:29:04 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Glen
Tom is obsessed with Fox News. He's the sort of cretin that will defend Olberman, MSNBC, CNN's honor and refuse EVER to admit their bias. Emperor has no clothes. He's a fraud.
April 4, 2007, 11:39:42 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Fox Fan
True, Glen. Tom "answers" questions with questions, forever dodging while making off the wall claims based on lies he ate up from HuffPo, NH, and other smear merchants.
April 5, 2007, 10:28:23 AM EDT – Like – Reply

Ira
Gee, Tom again mentioned "Jonah Goldberg" for about the 846th time!
April 5, 2007, 1:08:37 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Puck
Mutts: Tom post this over at Johnny Dollar's place he said something we don't like. We would but we have to go shopping.

But it's the same old argument that Tammy Bruce and Pat Gaddell aren't democrats. The same old same old.....

Mutts: like we said before Tom you better do what we say, not as you think now go!!!
April 5, 2007, 6:02:17 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Puck
In the mutts world, If you aren't in lockstep with our agenda we will send our 'bucket carrier'.

I remember growing up and reading Pat Gaddell in the Daily News. Man was toasted as a great lib. But as soon as he has one problem with his party. The understanding liberals? He's toast get him out of here.

Tammy Bruce? ran a N.O.W. chapter I do believe at one time. But, didn't stay in lockstep. Tammy is still a lesbian, rides motorcycles. But in some people's minds, she's now a far right-winger. Oh yeah, Tammy will be hanging out with Jerry Falwell next week.
April 5, 2007, 6:10:36 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Puck
Oh and I forgot Kirsten Powers, She says she's a democrat and she's pro-life. But that get's her booted out of the 'big tent' democrat party. Funny, Bob Casey defeated Rick Santorum last November. And Bob Casey is a Pro-life, anti-abortion, and I think he draws the line at embryo-stem cell research. WOW! I guess he's a far-right winger democrat who should get tossed too right?

I think when Tom brings the water bucket' over here. He takes the 'short bus'.
April 5, 2007, 6:23:10 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Puck
Ya know? I hope when Tom comes over here on the bus the Mutts at least toss him some fare money.
April 5, 2007, 6:31:36 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Puck
Ya know poor Bob Beckel, maybe it's good they don't know him.

If they found out that he was a 'free thinking' Democrat they wouldn't use Bob and say at one time he had a drinking problem.

No people like Kos, DD, Mutts, and 'Bucket Carrier' would just call him a broken down drunk that they kicked out of the party.

Oh those compassionate liberals!
April 5, 2007, 6:40:07 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Tom
It's fascinating to see how a single person has yet to disprove my point. Your babbling merely reinforces it. Tammy Bruce is a conservative Republican. The only issue which she is "liberal" on is abortion. That's it. On everything else she is a Republican.

And no, you did not grow up reading Pat Caddell, you're full of it. There are no corresponding Republicans on Fox that trash the GOP for being too far to the right consistently, as there are no moderate or liberal Republicans at all on Fox. Only conservatives.

Hence, my point is proven, and you've lost the argument.
April 5, 2007, 8:24:22 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Tom
Oh, look at that, I turn on H&C and it's two Republicans - Oliver North and Mark Steyn - and a non-political former Iranian hostage debating issues.

Two Republicans guests, zero Democratic guests.

Fair and Balanced, ALL THE WAY!
April 5, 2007, 9:17:35 PM EDT – Like – Reply

OverHere
Tom, H&C isn't even half over yet, how can you provide a guest count? One segment does not a whole show make.

But by all means, ignore the question Johnny asked you because we all know you can't prove what you said so you're just ignoring the plain evidence that is right in front of you. Your rant about Kirsten Powers is a flat out lie, anyone who reads that article can see that what you said is nowhere in there.

Never let the truth get in the way of a good attack though Tom.
April 5, 2007, 9:26:03 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Tom
[message deleted for rules violation: name calling, personal attacks]

Edited By Siteowner
April 5, 2007, 9:40:43 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Tom
Fox News Headline:

"Is Al Gore More dangerous than Global Warming?"

LOL, Fox News is becoming a walking joke at this point.
April 6, 2007, 5:28:46 AM EDT – Like – Reply

OverHere
And you'd know firsthand about walking jokes, Tom.
April 6, 2007, 8:18:37 AM EDT – Like – Reply

Tom
" And you'd know firsthand about walking jokes, Tom."

Pretty good example of a conservative argument. The fact that there's nothing there, LOL. I made a point, you had no rebuttal, so you retaliated with an ad hominem. A drunken college Democrat in a fraternity taking a class in Logic & Rhetoric could outwit you in a debate.
April 6, 2007, 12:27:28 PM EDT – Like – Reply

Fox Fan
"Fox News Headline:
"Is Al Gore More dangerous than Global Warming?""

You saw the headline but missed the story? It was talking about the CEO of Murray Energy Corporation saying that Al Gore is more dangerous than global warming. It's called current events, pay attention to them sometimes.

"LOL, Fox News is becoming a walking joke at this point."

A drunken college moderate in a fraternity taking a class in Underwater Basket Weaving could outwit you in a debate.
April 6, 2007, 9:45:34 PM EDT – Like – Reply