Fox News Journalist John Stossel Appearing At Anti-Reform Rallies
This doesn’t seem like great timing, given Fox News’ efforts to convince the world that it’s a legit news outlet.
John Stossel, who is described by Fox News as a journalist, is appearing at a series of rallies against the health care reform proposals with Americans for Prosperity, one of the most determined and well-funded foes of reform. From AFP’s release:
Patients First, A Project of Americans for Prosperity, is teaming up with veteran journalist John Stossel for a day of health care events across the state of Arkansas on Thursday, October 29th. Mr. Stossel is a consumer advocate and journalist who is best known as former co-anchor of ABC’s program 20/20; he is now host of a new show on FOX Business…
Stossel will join Americans for Prosperity president Tim Phillips, AFP Texas State Director Peggy Venable and small business owner Shawn Danko as they participate in health care forums and town hall events in Texarkana, Little Rock, and Jonesboro, AR on October 29th to debate solutions and discuss the dangers of government-forced health care.
Yes, Stossel is an on-air personality. But at a time when Fox is embroiled in a high-profile battle with the White House over its legitimacy as a news outlet, it seems less than helpful for one of its proudly touted journalists to participate in an event decrying Obama’s health care reform proposals as “government-forced health care.”
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Oh come on, Greg! You’re gonna cover this but not the Feingold pool incident? The White House trying to dictate to the press pool who should and shouldn’t be included – and you’re not gonna cover that?
sbj — did you miss Dick Cheney’s campaign to paint the New York Times as an enemy of the state?
“Did you miss Dick Cheney’s campaign to paint the New York Times as an enemy of the state?”
Did you?
AFP was founded by David Koch, one of the wealthiest corporate Oil Industry men in America:
David Hamilton Koch (pronounced /ˈkoʊk/ “coke”, born March 5, 1940) is an American engineer, billionaire and businessman. He is one of the co-owners (with older brother Charles) and an executive vice president of Koch Industries, a conglomerate with major petroleum and natural gas holdings that is the second largest privately held company (after Cargill) in the United States. He lives in New York City and is its second wealthiest resident after Michael Bloomberg.
Corporate Elitist Billionaire Money + Fox News = ASTROTURF
Republican called for criminal prosecution of NY Times editors and reporters:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2006/jun/26/newyorktimesaccusedoftrea
Ethan, did you know Koch’s dad was a co-founder and board member of the John Birche Society.
That explains the craziness coming out of that radical right wing organization.
These are the same loonies that tried to take down Kennedy.
Enemies of the state. They bring oligarchy to a whole new level.
Greg, Best ignore that dishonest troll, sbj. After all the neocons did to the press (canned quesions) and did with the press (fvcking embedded journalism), these wingnuts are just distracting you. If they want, they can moan and pi$$ all they want in the wingnut blogs. There are plenty of them.
Mr. Sargent:
“This doesn’t seem like great timing, given Fox News’ efforts to convince the world that it’s a legit news outlet.”
Oh puh-leeze! You ain’t “the world”, ace, no matter how many times you sing that insipid song. You’re a moonbat on a soap-box.
Fact is that “the world”, (of American media consumers), has long ago given it’s verdict…via the ratings.
“But at a time when Fox is embroiled in a high-profile battle with the White House over its legitimacy as a news outlet, ”
Heh…looks like Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit done morphed into each other and changed places, and thar’s ole Brer Fox now sittin’ pretty in the middle of the briar patch, while Brer Obama, after pitching him in thar, runs around and around the thicket trying to git at him.
Too funny, uncle!
“Republican called for criminal prosecution of NY Times editors and reporters”
Yes. And before the war it was all about being cosy with Judy Miller at the NYT. The Republican Party thoroughly ABUSED the United States while Bush was in office.
As we’ve seen, basically all the Right amounts to is Projection. Its own incompetence, greed, anti-Americanism, hatred for social justice and civil rights, etc, projected onto the rest of the world.
The Right Wing ideology is a pathology. A mental illness.
Keep it up Greg. Every time you hit a note, the far right fringe show their ugly faces here and howl at the moon.
There is a strong push back from Fox to remain a legitimate news organization. Everybody knows now they share the same talking points with the RNC, Limbaugh, Levin and the rest of the lunatic fringe intent on drowning out any opposition voices through their propaganda network.
Who can forget Armstrong Williams:
In January 2005, USA Today reported that documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that Williams had been paid $240,000 to promote the controversial No Child Left Behind Act. USA Today claimed Williams was hired “to promote the law on his nationally syndicated television show and to urge other black journalists to do the same“.
As part of the agreement, Williams was required “to regularly comment on NCLB during the course of his broadcasts,” and to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige for TV and radio spots that aired during the show in 2004″.[10] The contract with Williams was part of a $1 million contract between the U.S. Department of Education and the public relations company, Ketchum Inc.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Williams#.22No_Child_Left_Behind.22_controversy
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-06-williams-whitehouse_x.htm
And this too, completes the picture:
In 2004, Williams was appointed by President George W. Bush to the President’s Commission on White House Fellows. The Commission’s responsibility is to select qualified candidates to serve as Fellows to Cabinet-rank offices.
Scumbags. All of em.
bilge, of all the idiotic, blabbering and stoopid wingnut trolls that plague this place, you take the cake. You even beat your sockpuppet, qb. Congrats.
Greg, why would Fox care? Their own viewers will believe whatever keeps them warm at night (”Partisan activity is the height of objectivity! Fair and Balanced”) so Stossel’s moonlighting makes no difference.
The rest of the country will a) never hear about it, b) don’t watch Fox or any cable news (Fox News may be #1 in viewers, but their top rated show is anemic compared to non-news programming) or c) already figured out that Fox is a lunatic asylum.
I see no downside for Fox here.
I notice the Fox Propaganda Network decries any other network that doesn’t partake in their propaganda to take down this democratically elected administration as in the tank for the administration.
Any time an organization pushes this administration for progressive reform the propaganda networks; Fox, talk radio and the right wing sites, call them the far left radical loons. Take note that when the criticism is directed back at organizations attacking this administration by calling them nazi’s, communist sympathizers and threats to the constitution, it’s an attack on every day American citizens. It’s all propaganda.
From Think Progress… http://thinkprogress.org/
“In Playbook today, Mike Allen reports that “friends and associates” are encouraging Fox News CEO Roger Ailes to run for president in 2012:
“Ailes knows how to frame an issue better anybody and that’s what we need now,” says one Ailes friend who is encouraging him to run. Frank Luntz, for one, tells Playbook that Ailes could be a force if does it. “I have known Roger Ailes for 29 years,” says Luntz. “No one knows how to win better than Roger.””
Aside from the colorful notion of this fellow trying to get himself camera-friendly, there’s that comment from Luntz which helps forward the notion of FOX as just another news-gathering entity.
Shouldn’t the title of this read:
‘Fox News “Journalist” John Stossel Appearing At Anti-Reform Rallies’
Just saying…
Goodness. From that same link…
“Yesterday on his radio show, Lou Dobbs slammed Fox Business News correspondent John Stossel for recently denouncing Dobbs’ “rants about immigrants wrecking America.” Dobbs, who claims to love immigrants, ripped Stossel’s “myopic idiocy” and described Beck — who conducted the interview with Stossel — as a “rodeo clown”:”
OK. Seriously, everyone needs to stop putting the word News and Fox in the same sentence.
The fact of the matter is mentioning those two words in the same sentence is an oxymoron at this point.
Totally Mike. And meanwhile, as noted above with Armstrong Williams, when Bush was in office they not only continued the Fox Propaganda, but PAID FOR IT. Textbook soviet-style paid propaganda.
sbj, the troll, in a hurry to do his masters’ bidding, got the name of the WH point man Feinberg as Feingold, … twice. When you troll at double speed, you fall flat on your face.
BTW Greg, you did great with this post. This is what I come for, not some parroting of beltway wisdom.
And here is where Murdoch’s danger lies. He’s managed to take control of media outlets around the world in every every G5 member and many of the G12 members.
He’s implemented a global propaganda network with the intent to give the impression of global consensus on issues with the perspective he would like to be pushed forth.
If there was ever a time to be concerned about a one organization global power it would be to take note of what Newscorp has manged to do.
amk:
“bilge, of all the idiotic, blabbering and stoopid wingnut trolls that plague this place, you take the cake. You even beat your sockpuppet, qb. Congrats.”
Heh. Nothing but moonbat feces-flinging.
Obama and his twin genius political goo-roos, Axelrod and Rahm,must have signed off on Obama’s play to grasp the Fox tarbaby with both hands.
Your post confirms that he’s howling because it’s a stcky mess that he can’t seem to let go of.
Anderson Cooper has called Obama “Nixonian” for this,(that is NOT a term of news establishment endearment, in case you didn’t know).
And ABC has criticized Obama for it.
I hear so has the WaPo.
It stings, doesn’t it?
And how did this debacle come to pass? Obama and his people listened to you Fox fightin’ moonbats.
Fail!
Just like his popularity sank below 50% around the July 4th weekend,(and hasn’t “seen the sunny side” since), when folks saw that he was giving a green light to moonbat policies.
Think about it, He’s at a point in job approval after 10 months that it took Dear Ole W until 2007 to sink to.
EPIC Fail!
@sbj
You’re press pool “story” is a waste of time. Guess what, FOX didn’t get an invite to interview the guy. Get over it. It’s not denying anyone free speech. They have made clear that they will not allow their administration to fall victim to outright lies and distortions, and they aren’t going to waste their time and energy combatting nonsense that comes from propaganda posing as journalism.
FOX doesn’t play it straight. At all. You know this, I know this, the WH knows it, and every media outlet in DC knows it. The fact that the WH is calling them on their bulls*** is the only thing that’s changed. And FOX is whining and crying like a two year old.
My suggestion? Instead of Greg wasting his time following these non-stories, he spends it on things that matter to the 95% of the country that doesn’t watch FOX. And you, instead of wasting everyone’s time nagging, you could try to get FOX to stop being the communications arm of the GOP and become a legit News organization…because they sure as h*** aren’t one right now.
I disagree BBQ and also RobertoElGrande.
It’s not what happens to FOX that matters, it’s what happens to the GOP. By putting the two together, Obama is creating an indelible image of Fox Propaganda and the GOP/RNC working hand-in-hand.
While it might raise Fox’s profile and ratings (who cares?), being tied to the radical Fox Fringe doesn’t help the Republican Party — a party that is in the middle of purging all moderates — electorally at all.
I wanna see more of the schism between the “Conservative Party” and the GOP! Maybe FOX will weigh in on this? Thanks Sarah!
This gets it right…”Fox News Is The Story”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-e-burns/fox-news-is-the-story-wit_b_330102.html
Ethan – I agree. Tie limp, beck, faux and other rw radio wing nuts squarely around the neck of the rethugs.
Also, note that the collective ganging up of the msm against the PO has been displaced by the latest shiny object, which is faux news getting punked. If I didn’t know any better, I would say Obama is the perfect troll to beat all trolls.
Bilgeman… all Fox’s rating prove to me is that there are a lot of stupid people in the world who would rather hear lies that confirm their distorted worldview than the ugly truth…
Dick Cheney’s speech got nice coverage at Fox yesterday… Turns out they were the only outlet to get an advanced copy. What was that thing about advancing GOP talking points again?
“sbj, the troll, in a hurry to do his masters’ bidding, got the name of the WH point man Feinberg as Feingold, … twice.”
Quite right about that! Apologies to Mr. Feinberg.
I think that all of the hyperventilating about Williams and charging The NY Times proves my point quite ably: If this was news when Bush was doing it, then why isn’t it news now that Obama is doing it? File this one under “progressive double standards, when two wrongs make a right.”
Perhaps Chris Matthews is on to something here?
“My hunch is they’ve discovered in their research that the commentators on that network have begun to cut into the independents and that they’re worried that some independents are listening to those voices and believing them,” Matthews opined.”
“”"If this was news when Bush was doing it, then why isn’t it news now that Obama is doing it? File this one under “progressive double standards, when two wrongs make a right.””"”
JEEZ! Don’t you see how absurd that statement is?
For it to be a double-standard the “two wrongs” would have to be comparable. They’re so clearly not.
Jen:
“Bilgeman… all Fox’s rating prove to me is that there are a lot of stupid people in the world who would rather hear lies that confirm their distorted worldview than the ugly truth…”
You have fallen for the fallacy that intelligence should be measured by the metric of how much someone agrees with you.
With some glaring exceptions,(I’d say that they know who they are, but they REALLY don’t), I wouldn’t assert that you moonbats are necessarily stupid, you just disagree with me.
That is why we will win and you will lose.
Nobody agrees with someone else 100% of the time, and folks get insulted when you derisively call them stupid,(and “progressively” worse), for their natural and normal different subjective viewpoint.
It’s a happy feature, (for we your opponents), that the moonbat hive-mind is such a nasty and repulsive thing.
Nearly every Dem/Lib/Progressive who has “taken the cure”, (so to speak), has remarked on the more widespread general air of conviviality that Conservative and Right Wing discourse has.
We of the “Dark Side”…we have cookies!
Jen, hear, hear.
sbj, I’m done with you, on this “faux” press pool outrage anyway.
The Republicans have railed against “The Liberal Media” for decades.
Now they are whining because Democrats have railed against the Republicans’; Arch Conservative Media Arm”
Poor whiny Right Wing Babies. Only they are allowed to slam the media.
@ethan and amk: Let’s just answer one simple question. Do you think that any administration should be in the business of determining which outfits represent a legitimate news organization?
I find it hard to believe that any true liberal progressive would defend the admin’s actions in this regard!
The Republicans have railed against “The Liberal Media” for decades.
Now they are whining because Democrats have railed against the Republicans’; Arch Conservative Media Arm”
Poor whiny Right Wing Babies. Only they are allowed to slam the media.
How dare Democrats for thinking that they can also do something that Republicans from Nixon through Bush 2 have done.
sbj, I think I’ll let Liam answer that one.
No, I am not defendsive at all (if you didn’t know that by now, then you’re a bigger moran than I thought). I’m all for this Prez going ape-shite partisan and fvck the repugs and the right wingnuts.
Now, STFU.
@Ethan
Don’t misunderstand, I’m all for the White House calling out FOX. I think it’s WAY past time for Dems to do it, though there’s an arguement that this is the first real opportunity for them to do it.
But I don’t feel that Greg should waste his time cowtowing to the latest FOX v WH skirmish. We all know the game by now. FOX is the right-wing’s messaging arm and push some absurd story that’s totally bias and unfounded. The White House will continue to push back against it, since it’s not real news. FOX will cry like little wussies. The rest of the DC press corp will circle the wagons for FOX – because to admit that FOX isn’t legit taints them all, since they all feed off each other for stories. The White House moves on, unphased. The DC media whines about how the WH moved on.
Rinse and Repeat.
“Do you think that any administration should be in the business of determining which outfits represent a legitimate news organization?”
I believe the President can do whatever they want so long as they are acting in accordance with THE LAW.
What do YOU think?
“The White House moves on, unphased.”
I think The White House inevitably loses this battle. If Fox remains a member of the press pool and in good standing with the rest of the media, then The White House has lost the battle.
“Rinse and Repeat.”
See, I disagree. I think it’s crucial to point out situations like this with Stossel. Not just to point out another example of Fox Noise being affixed to astroturf campaigns, but even moreso to keep them on the DEFENSE.
When we ease off, that is when their b.s. propaganda about ACORN, Van Jones, Czars, etc starts to permeate the rest of the MSM.
Gotta, GOT TO, keep them on defense at all times so we keep the other, REAL, topics of interest on the front-burner.
See, now TPM picked it up too:
Americans For Prosperity (AFP) has announced that Stossel, a “renowned health care reporter and analyst,” will participate in three “Health Care Town Halls,” starting next week in Arkansas.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/foxs_john_stossel_to_rally_agaisnt_healthcare_refo.php
“renowned health care reporter and analyst”
hahaha!
And a PERFECT coda:
Rasmussen Poll: GOP losing touch with base
The GOP isn’t too popular among prospective primary voters, a new Rasmussen poll finds.
73% of Republicans who plan to vote in 2012 primaries say the party has lost touch with its base. 15% say the party is holding true to its values.
The discontent of the Republican base is significant. Primaries in Florida and New York are pitting conservatives against establishment-favored moderates.
The poll also found that Mike Huckabee is–at this early, early stage–the favored candidate for 2012. He garners 29% support, compared to 24% for Mitt Romney and 18% for Sarah Palin.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/64383-poll-gop-losing-touch-with-base
Ethan, rasmussen ? that rw fav ? bilge must be puking his guts by now.
Republicans made a complete bollix of the two wars they started,
Gave huge tax cuts to the super rich,
Knew by April 2008 that a Financial Meltdown was coming. Paulson knew, but decided to stay silent because it was an election year, but the meltdown could not be delayed, so The Republicans gave hundreds of billions to their Wall St. Patrons, and threw tens of millions of working class Americans out of their jobs, and a great number of them out of their homes.
Republicans have never done anything to try and provide universal healthcare.
Just remind people of those facts, all through 2010, and they will not opt to vote for the shower of incompetent, and selfish creeps, that visited the sorrows of Job upon them.
EVEN the headline is a complete contradiction…”Fox News Journalist..”…who are we trying to kid?? Cluster-Fox wouldn’t know a journalist if they were forced to try…This is complete “Lost in Space” stuff…
As we say on the coast occasionally, “Clue Free”…..
mmm, mmm, mmm Barack Milhous Obama. A third world president like Hugo Chavez. Keep it up and we can send him to live with his friend Zelaya.
If you commies are so sure you have the support of the people, why don’t you just use your 60% majorities in both houses of congress to pass this great bill?
Fox Noise and the Republian agenda are inseparable. John Stossel, is a proven liar about health care…..all you have to do is look at the reaction to the massive lies and misrepresentations by 20/20 regarding the Canadian health care system.He highlighted events wich affect .001% of Canadians and pretended that was universal. What happens to 99.999% of Canadians is totally opposite of wht his “e3xpose” claimed. The average Canadian has far better health care than the average American in the US insurance run health care system. Americans have insurance company bureauctarts between them and their physicians and the meddling insurance company bureaucrat rations their care of Amercians for profit. Canadians sit down with their physicians (and many times more Canadians have physicians than there are Americans who have physicians) and make medical decisions without meddling by ANYONE. Americans have inferior health care becuase of insurance running the health care system and leaving 36% of Americans without their health care need being met.
I appreciate that the worst thing that Fox news supporters can say to the president is that he is acting like a Republican (”Nixonian”).
Also, the reason that the progressive blogs have tens of millions of readers and participants is because the traditional media like WaPo (Fred Hiatt) and ABC News, CBS, etc. have swung so far to the right to emulate Fox.
The fact that the conservative media supports Fox is all the more reason for the President and his hundreds of millions of supporters to continue to call out Fox for what it is: conservative opinion radio with less of a weight problem.
Disney/ABC’s opinion entertainer John Stossel has always been a right wing clown. He’s found his true home on the Republican Fox Propaganda channel.
CNN’s right wing racist Lou Dobbs and ABC’s Jake “Doesn’t see a difference between ABC and FOX Republican Propaganda” Tapper will be joining Stossel over at Fox soon.
Does anyone get the right wing Orwellianism of having Republican Nixon’s TV producer Roger Ailes running the Fox Republican Propaganda channel getting cover by right wing enabling trolls calling anyone who challenges Nixon’s TV producers Fox channel “Nixonian”?
FOX IS RUN BY REPUBLICAN NIXON’S FORMER TV PRODUCER.
LITERALLY!
Rupert Murdoch has Republican Nixon’s former TV producer, Roger Ailes, running FOX.
FOX IS NIXONIAN AT IT’S HEART.
Thanks for covering this, Greg.
sbj: the FeinBERG incident wasn’t exactly as FOX News is making it out to be.
There was the financial reasons why the other networks stepped in: http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/fnc/networks_refuse_interview_after_white_house_denies_fox_141065.asp?dsq=20923597#comment-20923597
And that FOX was being “excluded” isn’t quite accurate either: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/wh-were-happy-to-exclude-fox-but-didnt-yesterday-with-feinberg-interview.php?ref=fpblg
This is what FoxNews is all about:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6737097743434902428#