Watch as FOX's Steve Doocy throws a conniption fit in an attempt to link Obama with Bill Ayers.  While it's kind of amusing that FOX can't drop the all-important crawl to get a glimpse of Ayers standing on an American flag, this smear is downright disgraceful. 

Watch them try and fail again here. 

FOX News roundtable, May 6, 2008

http://StopBigMedia.com

Hard-hitting journalism is nearing extinction on television, and the Federal Communications Commission just threw another shovel-full of dirt on its grave when it recently ruled that Rupert Murdoch's TMZ and Pat Robertson's 700 Club meet the test for "a bona fide newscast." Media companies get their broadcast licenses for free. In return, the FCC says that if a TV show is not a bona fide newscast, and it airs a story about a political candidate, "it must afford equal opportunities to other such candidates for that office." This is supposed to keep ideologues like Pat Robertson and Rupert Murdoch in check. But instead the FCC let them off the hook by adding TMZ and 700 Club to the list of bona fide newscasts; even though Congress defined bona fide as newscasts as those that hold "genuine news value" and are not intended to boost or aid any particular political candidate.

Free Press Exec Director Josh Silver has more at HuffPo. 

John Gibson said I was one--that is how it really happened. Listen to his radio show the other day. I almost fell out of my chair laughing. I am on Soros' payroll, apparently, and part of a vast left-wing scheme to destroy McCain (as well as all else that is good and decent, I assume).

That is what my new book, The Real McCain, is about. Murky conspiracies. Not, you know, reporting the facts and stuff. 

It all started when I worked for this fine company last year and the beginning of this year. Not to mention the wealthly liberal guy who owns my publishing company. Hell, I might even start a War On Christmas when nobody is looking!!

I used to enjoy going on your show, John. Where does all the hate come from? Why no love? I mean, can't we all just get along?? In fact, in the spirit of kindness, if you get me the address, I'll send you a signed copy of the book which broke that story you were talking about  on your show(you know, where McCain called his wife a very bad word that rhymes with "runt").

Oh and one more thing. If you can find a way to help get me on Soros' payroll, that would sure be swell. I could use the cash...

How awesome is Howard Dean? Answer: Very Awesome.

In a lesson for how Democrats should act if they go on FOX, Dean appeared on FOX News Sunday (May 4, 2008) to do the job that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were unwilling to do — call out FOX for being “shockingly biased” towards republicans, refuse to be drawn into FOX’s obsession with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and not allow FOX to lie in their efforts to protect the channel’s official candidate: John McCain.

First, Dean smacked down Chris Wallace’s (and the Right’s) misinformation campaign to rewrite McCain’s comment that he wouldn’t mind if American troops stayed in Iraq for 100 years. Wallace brought up an ad featuring McCain’s quote:

WALLACE: Governor, why are you distorting what McCain actually said?

DEAN: Well, I'm not. –snip- I've said publicly that John McCain said that he wants to keep our troops in Iraq for up to 100 years. He himself said that some of that could be occupation like South Korea or Germany.

But the fact of the matter is, first, that anybody who thinks that we can keep our troops in Iraq for 100 years without them being victimized by roadside bombs, suicide bombers and militias I think is wrong and needs their judgment — to look carefully at their judgment.

And secondly, Americans don't want our troops in Iraq for 100 years, no matter what they're doing over there. We can't afford that. We need the money here at home for our jobs.

Nailed it. Americans do not want US troops in Iraq for 100 years — period. The vast majority of the world (including Iraqis) don’t want the US to stay in Iraq for 100 more minutes, let alone 100 more years. And to compare Korea or Germany, with their largely ethnically/religiously homogenous populations, with Iraq and its history of ethnic/religious divisions is either disingenuous, naïve, or just plain ignorant. Also, McCain has said he doesn’t want to leave Iraq until the US “wins” and there’s no more violence. Judging from the past few years, does that look like that’s going to happen anytime soon?

May 4: Kentuckian tells Fox he's rethinking his vote for Obama. Problem? KY hasn't voted yet! (Not until May 20.)

I have joined Brave New Films' FOX Attacks blog! This is the creation of activist and director Robert Greenwald, the movie producer of "OutFoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism." I urge all the Barack Obama and Ron Paul supporters to join this website to denounce the corporate owned media and take the battle onto the Fox News Network.

FOX News Channel is considered by many in the journalist circles as a conservative leaning network. Since October 1996, this network stomped out the competition with their ratings! And through their ratings, the controversy mainly realigns on the commentators constant distortions and fallacies (meaning falsehoods).

Brave New Films and MoveOn.Org have successfully encouraged the Democratic candidates to boycott the Fox-Sponsored Debates after critics pointed out their smear campaigns against Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, two extremely popular Democratic presidential candidates. Now that the candidates have gone on FOX News Sunday and The O'Reilly Factor to reach out to the conservative-leaning and independent viewers, it may seem deniable that the network is "softening" their approach to the candidates.

Hillary Clinton’s interview was a big winner for FOX and Bill O’Reilly. From NY Times:

The first part of the interview set a year-to-date viewership record for “The O’Reilly Factor,” according to Nielsen Media Research, with 3.66 million people tuning in, about one million above average.

Seems like the Clinton campaign can't get enough of helping their new BFF, FOX, despite FOX's 12-year history of dishonest attacks on democrats.

The article also highlights Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe’s baffling endorsement of FOX and how it ended up in a FOX ad. In the ad, McAuliffe congratulates FOX for being the first to announce that Clinton had won the Pennsylvania primary. Since when does calling an election “first” make an alleged news channel more reputable. Did McAuliffe and Clinton’s campaign forget that FOX declaring George W. Bush the winner “first” in 2000 (with the help of Bush’s cousin at FOX’s election desk making the call and the other networks obediently following) is what started the nightmare international clusterfuck that has been the Bush presidency? 

O’Really?

Strange, since 1) The US DID invade Iraq and 2) O’Reilly and Bush have said that the US invaded Iraq:

“I’ll submit that most folks still have no idea why the Bush administration invaded Iraq.” Bill O’Reilly (1/28/08]

“It wasn't all that long ago that we had to deal with a recession, and a stock market correction, and corporate scandals, and attacks on our country, and two wars, and two major invasions as a part of the war on terror…” George W. Bush (6/19/06)

Republicans and their propagandists have unbelievable talents for selective memory and revisionist history. In the next few years, I’m sure they’ll be denying that the Iraq war happened at all. If only that were true.

ThinkProgress has more.

No Republican would go to speak at a MoveOn event. John McCain won’t be going to YearlyKos or the Take Back America conference, and you won’t be hearing him on Air America or see him talking to Keith Olbermann. So why are Democrats told and why do they continue to believe they should go on FOX?

Chris Bowers wrote a great piece for OpenLeft that explains why it’s important for Democrats not to legitimize FOX by appearing there, and why Barack Obama’s appearance on FOX News Sunday was a huge step backwards in the Left’s efforts to identify FOX as what it is — a Republican propaganda mouthpiece. I voiced some similar opinions in a post here.

And then Hillary Clinton appeared on the O’Reilly Factor. Apparently the chance to join FOX and the Republicans to talk about Rev. Wright for the 8 millionth time was enough to make her forget the way that FOX has talked about her, her husband, her daughter, her friends, and Democrats for the last 12 years.

I’ve been seeing and reading a lot about these two appearances in the past few days, and “conventional wisdom” seems to be saying that going on FOX is a very good thing for Democrats to do. When I was on MSNBC last Friday, I was the only one on the panel who felt that Obama was making a big mistake going on FOX. But, as is usually the case, CW is completely wrong.

Democrats, especially prominent ones like Clinton and Obama, should not go on FOX. Never.