We abandoned any notion of doing a typical FHWiR when news of the tragedy in Tucson shocked the national conscience. But we were struck by how quickly and opportunistically this appalling event was seized upon by those out to score unrelated points. And yes, some of that proved to be attacks on Fox News. Take for example notorious liar Joe Klein, who rushed to the airwaves to cite Glenn Beck’s “crazy and ridiculous conspiracy theories”. Klein’s example: saying that America is on the brink of collapse. Yeah, that’s really horrible stuff. You never hear anyone say anything like that. Then Klein reverts to form and fabricates:

A lot of other things you see on that network, in which the views of birthers are treated as if they might even be reasonable...

We addressed this when Mark Green made the claim. It’s the lie that will not die. Next is Rep Bill Pascrell; in discussing the shooting he pointed the finger at...Fox News! This was addressed on-air Saturday night:



Over at Mediaite, Tommy Christopher did a post exposing Fox News for cutting off a speaker just as he was about to mention Sarah Palin. There are many problems with this that we don’t need to address here, because Inside Cable News pretty much laid out what really happened. We would just add that the break FNC was heading into was a computer-controlled hard break, one that always comes at that time since it’s where cable providers insert local ads. And yet at Crooks & Liars, John Amato preposterously states that Fox ‘started covering the vigil’ but cut away at the mention of Palin. And at Daily Kos, it turns up again as proof that Fox is ‘protecting’ Palin. The Einstein who wrote this adds that Murdoch should have his broadcast license taken away. (FNC doesn’t have or need a broadcast license as it’s a not a broadcast station.) It won’t surprise you to know that Ellen Brodsky of the newshounds eagerly parroted this phony smear:

Fox didn't want its viewers to hear the criticisms that have been leveled at Palin for her incendiary rhetoric against Giffords and other Democrats who voted for health care reform.

Fox didn’t want its viewers to hear those criticisms? Once again Ellen Brodsky isn’t telling the truth.

And then there’s newsmutt Priscilla, up in paws over a segment with Peter Johnson Jr for saying that Rep Giffords ‘leaned Republican’:

Johnson went straight partisan. (Quelle surprise!)

No, he discussed legal issues first and was interrupted by breaking news before returning to complete the segment.

He actually said that Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford was a "Republican leaning Democrat.”

Well, she did lean to the right. That’s why she is known as a ‘fiscally conservative Democrat’, one who voted against Nancy Pelosi in fact.

Without citing who, he referenced one of her Democratic "colleagues" who had criticized her on that librul blog "Daily Kos.”

If it’s too much effort for people who refer to themselves as ‘newshounds’, we’ll do the research for them. It was Raul Grijalva.

After Johnson's piece, Scott played audio of Arizona legislator Russell Pearce, sponsor of the Arizona Immigration Bill, who expressed his concern for Gifford's family. Just when I thought that Fox "News" was being "fair & balanced" in comes Peter Johnson Jr. Nuff said.

Priscilla’s desperate attempt to capitalize on this shooting to make cheap debating points would be farcical if it weren’t so desperate. Oddly, she didn’t post a video of this horribly partisan Johnson commentary. Why would that be? Here’s the segment after the legal analysis, the video Priscilla doesn’t want you to see. Judge for yourself:



Priscilla was unaware that his appearance was interrupted by breaking news. She said he went ‘straight’ into a partisan discussion when he didn’t. And she claimed that when it was over Jon Scott played someone’s audio, when he did nothing of the sort--as the video shows he went to a discussion with Doug Schoen! Could this be another instance of Priscilla slamming something on Fox that she didn’t even watch?

And then there’s Keith Olbermann, who couldn’t wait 12 hours to exploit the tragic events. But how real is his outrage? He calls out no one from his own network. If he wants to complain about Glenn Beck, why not mention Ed Schultz, who famously stated he wanted to rip Dick Cheney’s heart out? While the smart money says the shooter is a mental case, Olbermann wants to make political, and anti-FNC, hay out of it. There is at least as much evidence that the killer is a deranged leftist as there is to suggest he’s a deranged rightist, and yet (except for a passing reference to one of his own ‘metaphors’) Olbermann’s enumerations are all of conservatives and/or Fox News employees.

Of course playing partisan favorites is nothing new for Olbermann. Did you ever hear one peep out of him over this radio fantasy of George W Bush being riddled with bullets? But if he is going to condemn extreme rhetoric, can’t he at least pretend to be honest about it. Maybe show some contrition for his description of Michelle Malkin as a ‘mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick’. Or for his featuring a joke about shooting Dick Cheney. Instead he attacks Sarah Palin, for ‘target’ imagery used on her website. Say, isn’t that something like depicting Rush Limbaugh as a target in a shooting range? Who would do that? You guessed it.

But the double standard gets even thicker. Olby calls out Palin, but somehow neglects to mention the attacks on Rep Giffords over at the Daily Kos. One writer said in his headline that Rep Giffords is ‘dead to me’--just two days before the shooting. A few years ago the Kossacks ran an anti-Giffords piece that openly put a bullseye on her district! Not a word of it in Keith Olbermann’s impassioned ‘special comment’. Could that have something to do with the fact that Daily Kos is where Olbermann blogs? [Update: Media Matters and others complain that the Kos image has been ‘doctored’ by adding the images and text on top and to the side. Duh! That’s obvious. This screengrab, without the added material, still shows that Kos used bullseye rhetorical imagery against Rep Giffords. Clear now?]

Naturarlly there’s an O’Reilly attack, resurrecting the Dr Tiller business, but Olby tosses in a new, revealing wrinkle:

Those commentators and the others must be repudiated by their viewers and listeners, by all politicians who would appear on their programs including President Obama and his planned interview with Fox on Super Bowl Sunday...

Now we’re getting down to it. Olbermann’s obsession with Bill O’Reilly--the man who trounces him in the ratings night after night, year after year--is no secret. It’s not beyond imagination that O’Reilly’s Obama interview doesn’t sit well with Keith. KO could have called for Obama to refuse the interview any time over the past week, but he didn’t. Then along came a disastrous shooting spree and Olby has his excuse. Sure it’s less than 12 hours after people died, but what better time to exploit a tragedy?

If Olby wants to be taken seriously, he should practice what he preaches. If Sarah Palin’s target was as bad as Olbermann’s endless invocations of it suggest, then let’s see him take on the Daily Kos with the same vigor. To put it another way, the Kos target-bullseye imagery must be repudiated by all readers, and by all writers who would appear on their website--including Kos blogger Keith Olbermann. By his own standards, Olby must condemn Daily Kos and sever ties with them. Will Keith Olbermann follow his own advice? Don’t bet your house on it.

Spot something you’d like to see in the next Fox Haters Week in Review? Send us an email.

Tags: mediaite, crooks, newshounds, olbermann, schultz, kos