Schlank
Really Really Experienced
- Joined
- May 25, 2007
- Posts
- 415
Let us take a few minutes to discuss Fox news Channel and examine some of the reasons why they can’t be trusted.
There are many different approaches we could take to examine their untrustworthiness, but for this particular discussion we will examine their coverage of the infamous Osama bin Laden.
Back in the 1990’s President Bill Clinton was trying to sound the alarm about al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, but all Fox news Channel could focus on was Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton’s penis. They even asserted that the August 1998 missile strikes he ordered against al Qaeda training camps in Sudan and Afghanistan were an effort to distract media attention away from Bill Clinton’s penis.
Sean Hannity criticized Clinton in 1998 for launching missile strikes against Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, which only narrowly missed killing Bin Laden. Hannity suggested that the timing of the strikes was due to "political motivation" and meant to be a distraction from the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Hannity insisted that Osama bin Laden wasn’t really a threat and that missile strikes against Osama bin Laden were just “wagging the dog.”
Republican Congressman Bob Barr went onto Fox “news” Channel and claimed that the 1998 missile strikes against al Qaeda were “an effort to divert some attention.”
That; of course; was BEFORE the September 11th terrorist attacks, AFTER the September 11th terrorist attacks, the talking heads at Fox news Channel were all accusing Bill Clinton of IGNORING al Qaeda!
Apparently thousands of dead Americans in a major American city, made it hard for Sean Hannity and other paid propagandists at Fox to continue claiming that Bill Clinton’s attempts to kill Osama bin Laden and roll back al Qaeda training camps was “wagging the dog”, so they attempted to rewrite history and claim that Bill Clinton NEVER tried to kill Osama bin Laden and that he NEVER did anything about al Qaeda training camps!
Sean Hannity (who had attacked Bill Clinton for launching missile strikes against al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan back in the 1990’s) tried to blame the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks on Bill Clinton, rather than George W. Bush, making it sound like Bill Clinton had somehow been ignoring Osama bin Laden during his eight years in office.
You see, the truth doesn’t matter to men like Sean Hannity. Sean Hannity is not a journalist. Sean Hannity is a trained attack dog that engages in dishonest assaults against Democrats as standard operating procedure. His job isn’t to report the news. His job is to spread rumor, innuendo and right-wing talking points, in an attempt to delegitimize Democratic leaders.
Hannity and his accomplices even dreamed up a story where the nation of Sudan offered up Osama bin Laden “on a silver platter” if America would simply remove economic sanctions against Sudan.
There has never been any evidence that the nation of Sudan ever made such an offer, and the story has been debunked many times, however Hannity continues to repeat this childish story.
When George W. Bush was in the White House, the stories Fox news told was just as revealing as the stories that they covered up.
An investigative journalist by the name of Greg Palast published an FBI memo that confirmed that the FBI was given orders to lay off the bin Laden family and other Saudi terror suspects during the early months of George W. Bush's rule.
Without these orders to halt investigations, the 9/11 terrorist attacks might have been averted.
Palast published this memo back in 2001, but Fox “news” Channel refused to report on this in any of their “news” broadcasts.
If Fox “news” had reported on this, it would have hurt the reputation of a Republican president, and Fox never does anything that would harm a Republican president. They only do things that will harm Democrats.
When Bush refused to testify under oath before the 9/11 Commission, refused to testify in public and refused to testify without Dick Cheney being there to help him, Fox “news” refused to point out the fact that they were obstructing the commission’s ability to get at the truth.
The executive director of the 9/11 Commission (Philip Zelikow), had conflicts of interest and as such should never have been in charge of the investigation. Zelikow had close ties with the White House and that he tried to influence the final report in ways that the staff often perceived as limiting the Bush administration’s responsibility and furthering its anti-Iraq agenda. This was very relevant news that the American public should have known about, but Fox “news” covered it up.
Zelikow also stopped the Commission staff from submitting a report depicting Rice's and Bush's performance as "amounting to incompetence or something not far from it", but you would never learn about that if you got all of your news from Fox.
The Bush White House attempted to stonewall the creation of the commission and to hamstring its work from the outset. When Bush terrorism "czar" Richard Clarke could no longer be prevented from testifying about his urgent warnings over the summer of 2001 to Rice about the imminent threat of terrorist attack on US soil, White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and his aides feverishly drafted tough questions and phoned them in to Republican commissioners to undermine Clarke's credibility."
Initially Bush refused to establish a 9/11 Commission at all. When the pressure and the demands became too great he eventually authorized the creation of one, however, he imposed a very short deadline on them and he made certain that they had insufficient funds (3 million dollars).
Fox “news” never called Bush out for the way that he hamstrung the 9/11 Commission and they tried to make the case that the Republicans were the only political party that could keep America safe.
In 2002, George W. Bush dismissed Osama bin Laden as unimportant, saying that he “didn’t know” where Osama bin Laden was and that he was “truly am not that concerned about him”.
George W. Bush never brought Osama bin Laden to justice and in 2006, Bush shut down the intelligence unit that had been tasked with hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants since 1996.
The unit, known as Alec Station, had been formed back in 1996, before Osama bin Laden became a household name, back when Bill Clinton was president, and the threats posed by Osama bin Laden were taken seriously.
This should have been HUGE news, but the talking heads at Fox didn’t think that this story was important enough to pay attention to. Bush basically abandoned the hunt for Osama bin Laden, and the paid propagandists at Fox acted as if this wasn’t newsworthy.
However, the story doesn’t end there.
Barack Obama didn’t follow Bush’s example of abandoning the hunt for Osama bin Laden. President Obama authorized America’s intelligence agencies to track down Osama bin Laden’s location and eventually they were able to locate him in a compound in Pakistan.
President Obama chaired a number of National Security Council meetings to discuss an operation to raid bin Laden's compound in an effort to either kill or capture bin Laden. And in 2011, President Obama greenlit the raid that hit Osama bin Laden’s compound and killed Osama bin Laden without the loss of a single American life.
This was HUGE news, and all over the world news outlets celebrated President Obama’s success, however Fox “news” was reluctant to give President Obama credit.
Sean Hannity declared that there was “no way this would have happened, but for the policies of George W. Bush”.
Eric Bolling declared that we should "Thank GWB For This Not BHO!"
Karl Rove declared that “"Important Policy Decisions Made Under Bush" Made Bin Laden's Death Possible.”
Hannity, Bolling and Rove were all paid propagandists for Fox “news”. They ignored Bush’s negligence and incompetence and declared that somehow Bush was a great leader who made great strides in getting Osama bin Laden, when in point of fact, Bush abandoned the hunt for bin Laden years before Barack Obama had even been sworn into office.
Over and over again, we see Fox news covering up for the incompetence, negligence and ineffectiveness of Republicans, while making up stories to defame, demonize and delegitimize Democrats.
These people engage in fiction, rumor-mongering, propaganda and deliberately leading millions of Americans to erroneous conclusions. Why are they allowed to continue calling themselves a NEWS channel?
There are many different approaches we could take to examine their untrustworthiness, but for this particular discussion we will examine their coverage of the infamous Osama bin Laden.
Back in the 1990’s President Bill Clinton was trying to sound the alarm about al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, but all Fox news Channel could focus on was Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton’s penis. They even asserted that the August 1998 missile strikes he ordered against al Qaeda training camps in Sudan and Afghanistan were an effort to distract media attention away from Bill Clinton’s penis.
Sean Hannity criticized Clinton in 1998 for launching missile strikes against Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, which only narrowly missed killing Bin Laden. Hannity suggested that the timing of the strikes was due to "political motivation" and meant to be a distraction from the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Hannity insisted that Osama bin Laden wasn’t really a threat and that missile strikes against Osama bin Laden were just “wagging the dog.”
Republican Congressman Bob Barr went onto Fox “news” Channel and claimed that the 1998 missile strikes against al Qaeda were “an effort to divert some attention.”
That; of course; was BEFORE the September 11th terrorist attacks, AFTER the September 11th terrorist attacks, the talking heads at Fox news Channel were all accusing Bill Clinton of IGNORING al Qaeda!
Apparently thousands of dead Americans in a major American city, made it hard for Sean Hannity and other paid propagandists at Fox to continue claiming that Bill Clinton’s attempts to kill Osama bin Laden and roll back al Qaeda training camps was “wagging the dog”, so they attempted to rewrite history and claim that Bill Clinton NEVER tried to kill Osama bin Laden and that he NEVER did anything about al Qaeda training camps!
Sean Hannity (who had attacked Bill Clinton for launching missile strikes against al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan back in the 1990’s) tried to blame the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks on Bill Clinton, rather than George W. Bush, making it sound like Bill Clinton had somehow been ignoring Osama bin Laden during his eight years in office.
You see, the truth doesn’t matter to men like Sean Hannity. Sean Hannity is not a journalist. Sean Hannity is a trained attack dog that engages in dishonest assaults against Democrats as standard operating procedure. His job isn’t to report the news. His job is to spread rumor, innuendo and right-wing talking points, in an attempt to delegitimize Democratic leaders.
Hannity and his accomplices even dreamed up a story where the nation of Sudan offered up Osama bin Laden “on a silver platter” if America would simply remove economic sanctions against Sudan.
There has never been any evidence that the nation of Sudan ever made such an offer, and the story has been debunked many times, however Hannity continues to repeat this childish story.
When George W. Bush was in the White House, the stories Fox news told was just as revealing as the stories that they covered up.
An investigative journalist by the name of Greg Palast published an FBI memo that confirmed that the FBI was given orders to lay off the bin Laden family and other Saudi terror suspects during the early months of George W. Bush's rule.
Without these orders to halt investigations, the 9/11 terrorist attacks might have been averted.
Palast published this memo back in 2001, but Fox “news” Channel refused to report on this in any of their “news” broadcasts.
If Fox “news” had reported on this, it would have hurt the reputation of a Republican president, and Fox never does anything that would harm a Republican president. They only do things that will harm Democrats.
When Bush refused to testify under oath before the 9/11 Commission, refused to testify in public and refused to testify without Dick Cheney being there to help him, Fox “news” refused to point out the fact that they were obstructing the commission’s ability to get at the truth.
The executive director of the 9/11 Commission (Philip Zelikow), had conflicts of interest and as such should never have been in charge of the investigation. Zelikow had close ties with the White House and that he tried to influence the final report in ways that the staff often perceived as limiting the Bush administration’s responsibility and furthering its anti-Iraq agenda. This was very relevant news that the American public should have known about, but Fox “news” covered it up.
Zelikow also stopped the Commission staff from submitting a report depicting Rice's and Bush's performance as "amounting to incompetence or something not far from it", but you would never learn about that if you got all of your news from Fox.
The Bush White House attempted to stonewall the creation of the commission and to hamstring its work from the outset. When Bush terrorism "czar" Richard Clarke could no longer be prevented from testifying about his urgent warnings over the summer of 2001 to Rice about the imminent threat of terrorist attack on US soil, White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and his aides feverishly drafted tough questions and phoned them in to Republican commissioners to undermine Clarke's credibility."
Initially Bush refused to establish a 9/11 Commission at all. When the pressure and the demands became too great he eventually authorized the creation of one, however, he imposed a very short deadline on them and he made certain that they had insufficient funds (3 million dollars).
Fox “news” never called Bush out for the way that he hamstrung the 9/11 Commission and they tried to make the case that the Republicans were the only political party that could keep America safe.
In 2002, George W. Bush dismissed Osama bin Laden as unimportant, saying that he “didn’t know” where Osama bin Laden was and that he was “truly am not that concerned about him”.
George W. Bush never brought Osama bin Laden to justice and in 2006, Bush shut down the intelligence unit that had been tasked with hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants since 1996.
The unit, known as Alec Station, had been formed back in 1996, before Osama bin Laden became a household name, back when Bill Clinton was president, and the threats posed by Osama bin Laden were taken seriously.
This should have been HUGE news, but the talking heads at Fox didn’t think that this story was important enough to pay attention to. Bush basically abandoned the hunt for Osama bin Laden, and the paid propagandists at Fox acted as if this wasn’t newsworthy.
However, the story doesn’t end there.
Barack Obama didn’t follow Bush’s example of abandoning the hunt for Osama bin Laden. President Obama authorized America’s intelligence agencies to track down Osama bin Laden’s location and eventually they were able to locate him in a compound in Pakistan.
President Obama chaired a number of National Security Council meetings to discuss an operation to raid bin Laden's compound in an effort to either kill or capture bin Laden. And in 2011, President Obama greenlit the raid that hit Osama bin Laden’s compound and killed Osama bin Laden without the loss of a single American life.
This was HUGE news, and all over the world news outlets celebrated President Obama’s success, however Fox “news” was reluctant to give President Obama credit.
Sean Hannity declared that there was “no way this would have happened, but for the policies of George W. Bush”.
Eric Bolling declared that we should "Thank GWB For This Not BHO!"
Karl Rove declared that “"Important Policy Decisions Made Under Bush" Made Bin Laden's Death Possible.”
Hannity, Bolling and Rove were all paid propagandists for Fox “news”. They ignored Bush’s negligence and incompetence and declared that somehow Bush was a great leader who made great strides in getting Osama bin Laden, when in point of fact, Bush abandoned the hunt for bin Laden years before Barack Obama had even been sworn into office.
Over and over again, we see Fox news covering up for the incompetence, negligence and ineffectiveness of Republicans, while making up stories to defame, demonize and delegitimize Democrats.
These people engage in fiction, rumor-mongering, propaganda and deliberately leading millions of Americans to erroneous conclusions. Why are they allowed to continue calling themselves a NEWS channel?
