It’s clear that Fox is no longer the big bad wolf it was in 2004, but I wonder if their convention coverage will be the same load of nonsense it was in 2004, with Bill O’Reilly wondering if Ted Kennedy would show up to speak as Kennedy spoke right behind him. And will Fox News try to talk over the Dems like they did in ‘04?
Probably. So far in their coverage you would think that the entire affair consists of protesters and disgruntled Clinton supporters. I saw a panel with Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer with Brit Hume moderating. They all decided that Joe Biden was a bad pick. Shocker. Fair and balanced marches on, but not in a vacuum.
Because only in Oliver’s world can a “racist” “idiot” be considered a good pick for Democrats!
Brit started off by stipulating that Obama had selected a man who could plausibly be president, saying (I paraphrase,) “We can imagine Joe Biden being President.”
The “bad pick” analysis had to do with whether Biden was the best choice to improve Obama’s chances of winning.
By the way Oliver, congratulations on the chance to cover this event in person! Very cool.
Ah, yes, JWG, your point is so very valid because neither you, nor anyone else, has ever written or said anything they later regretted. Only Oliver has committed this grievous sin. Oh, and me.
Give him a break. It’s his blog. Your eagle eye for doublespeak would be better used if you trained it on the subject of those Iraq timeline horizon thingies.
Because only in Oliver’s world can a “racist” “idiot” be considered a good pick for Democrats!
Would not the same analysis apply, even more so, to McCain’s rape jokes and “chelsea clinton is ugly” jokes? Does not this make McCain a bad pick for Republicans?
Just so we’re clear — it’s now OK to believe a person is racist based on comments less than a year old and also believe he is a good pick as a possible president (since a VP is a “heartbeat” away) as long as he is a Democrat?
Good to know! I’m sure the same criteria would be applied to a Republican recently considered a racist!
Does not this make McCain a bad pick for Republicans?
Most emphatically, yes.
JWG, to be honest, I think Biden is more in the “annoying grampa” category of racially stupid comments.
You won’t hear Brit Hume, atl. al. saying, “McCain made a horribly sexist joke about Chelsea Clinton; this makes him a bad pick for the Republicans.” Instead, they think he’s the best candidate for president. Somehow, they think a lazy, not-well-informed buy who has a history of sexism and rape jokes and insults directed at the president’s daughter is a good pick for the presidency. But Biden somehow isn’t. Their reasoning makes not sense, and neither does yours, JWG.
Wow. It doesn’t make sense that Oliver and many others in this blog called Biden a racist a few months ago, but now criticize others for analyzing Biden as a bad VP pick. In fact, Oliver goes on to declare Biden the best pick for Obama. But *I’m* not making sense. Riiiiiiight.
This is a dumbass question. I’m sure organizations and networks that monitor media will be watching how Fox News covers the Democratic Party’s convention, but why would any individual truly interested in watching the Democratic National convention have their TV on a Fox Channel?
I’ll wait until the monitors tell me, later – much later, what Fox Channel says, Thank you very much.
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,” said someone whose name I can’t recall.
Oliver wrote in the heat of the moment on one of the thousands of blogs on the Web. Should he have been more circumspect, and chosen his words more carefully? Perhaps. OK, probably.
FOX “News” is one of the three most-watched cable news networks, calling itself “fair and balanced”, something I’m pretty sure Oliver never claimed to be.
Go ahead, JWG, make the case that FOX is fair and balanced. Which is what this post was about. His point, in case you missed it, is that FOX isn’t. I agree.
Oliver is “making a case” by pointing out that some analysts on FOX don’t think Biden was a good pick? Yeah, he put the nail in the coffin on that one! Who can refute that kind of evidence? Every other analyst in the world has declared Biden the best pick possible! It’s indisputable if you’re really fair and balanced!!!
Oliver wrote in the heat of the moment on one of the thousands of blogs on the Web.
That’s an interesting sort of logic. So Oliver is somehow less accountable for his writing because there are so many other writers.
Let’s also consider the thousands of people who did NOT make tasteless jokes during the period McCain made his.
The case against FOX being “fair and balanced” has been pretty clear since about 1997. Oliver was just adding to it.
What I challenged you to do is to make the case that it is “fair and balanced”. Can you make a positive case for FOX’s fairness, or not?
Oliver is a blogger, not a journalist. What he does is post things, add his opinion, and we discuss.
I don’t care if it is or isn’t. I just find it hilarious that you want to ignore the repeated claims of Biden’s “racism” and the sudden reversal that he’s a great pick! If you like the taste of the Kool-aide, then drink up!
Well, Scratch, of course I can’t speak for Oliver, but, yes, a blogger has less accountability, in my opinion, than a veryserious politcal “analyst” on a network purporting to be fair and balanced.
All I can say is, if Brit, Davros, and William the Bloody all think Biden is a bad choice, then it’s a pretty sure bet it’s a win for Obama!
Let’s also consider the thousands of people who did NOT make tasteless jokes during the period McCain made his.
I sure wish they were running for President.
All I can say is, if Brit, Davros, and William the Bloody all think Biden is a bad choice,…
Mwah haha, my plan is working!
Well, on the merits, I think that Biden is a good pick. But you won’t hear the Fox commenters claiming that McCain, who by all standards, by putting him up against Biden, is a worse pick, even though this is clearly the case. The absurdity of watching a bunch of Fox News hacks claim that Biden is a bad pick without pointing out that McCain is a much worse candidate is hilarious.
I don’t care if it is or isn’t.
Shorter JWG: I won’t take a stand on Fox News since they blindly support The Right Wing Agenda. Like I do.
I don’t think ed understands what the word “shorter” actually means. However, I meant what I said. I’m not one of the crybabies who whine about which network is more biased. I don’t care. What I do care about is how funny it is for so many of you to call Biden a racist and immediately turn around and think he’s just Obamariffic. Then you complain about some FOX analysts for not thinking he’s TEH BEST PICK EVAH! It’s too funny.
I’m not one of the crybabies who whine about which network is more biased. I don’t care.
Shorter JWG: Liberal Media. Waaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!
I will put my two cents in. I don’t care whether Biden is a racist or not. I just care that he kicks the Republicans in the nuts… and hard. He is a more credible street fighter than anybody the Republicans are going to throw out there. I just hope its Mitt.
What I do care about is how funny it is for so many of you to call Biden a racist and immediately turn around and think he’s just Obamariffic.
If the gentleman about whom he made one of his two racially insensitive remarks wants to spent the next eight years working closely with him, who is anybody else to declare their judgment of greater value?
Let’s not forget those deriding Sen. Biden as a racist are judging him on two comments. Do you think Sen. Obama would have chosen somebody that he thought was a racist? (And save the Wright garbage, please.)
Lastly, JWG, don’t forget the rather important distinction: He said something racist, v. he is a racist. They overlap, but not perfectly.
I don’t care whether Biden is a racist or not. I just care that he kicks the Republicans in the nuts… and hard.
Well. At least you admit you’re a hypocrite.
And JWG, don’t bother with ed. He’s got like a comments version of tourrets syndrome.
And JWG, don’t bother with ed. He’s got like a comments version of tourrets syndrome.
Shorter Jay: I can’t properly spell “Tourette’s” (and ed is annoying yet consistently correct).
I don’t think ed understands what the word “shorter” actually means.
Shorter JWG: Ironicalness is lost on me.
“He said something racist, v. he is a racist. They overlap, but not perfectly”
Someone please write this down. Cause you better believe that wasn’t the standard when Trent Lott said something that was completely innocuous and unrelated to race, yet it was immediately twisted into some horribly racist ideology.
What’s good for the goose and all that….
I’m not one of the crybabies who whine about which network is more biased.
Translation: I am too a tough guy. Am so. Yes indeedy. You can tell because I said so on a blog comment. Heh. Take that.
I view it more as diarrhea.
Actually my point was how stacked the panel was with cons. Right about now Denver is packed to the gills with liberals but Fox couldn’t find one.
The absurdity of watching a bunch of Fox News hacks claim that Biden is a bad pick without pointing out that McCain is a much worse candidate is hilarious.
They were not talking about whether he was a good candidate or not, they were talking about whether he was a good choice to complement the candidacy of Obama.
They were not talking about whether he was a good candidate or not, they were talking about whether he was a good choice to complement the candidacy of Obama
And shocker of all shockers, the right wing pundits appearing on the Republican TV network all decided that Biden was a bad pick. What are the chances?
Jay,
For the last 12 years, Republicans have been playing one theme in front of the Wall Street and Ivy League set and another to Blue collar workers. I am sure you don’t care because you are probably every bit the monarchist that your representatives are, but I don’t intend to sit by and watch this country go royalist.
I am therefore extremely pleased that we brought in a fighter. I intend to watch with glee until Republicans sing soprano.
What’s good for the goose and all that….
Of course it is. I’ll not condemn anybody based on one or two iffy comments (i.e. not ridiculously inflammatory), regardless of party.