FOX News and The FOX Nation: We ARE the Tea Parties

FOX News, Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdoch, again and again and again you tell us that it’s completely incorrect to associate the coverage and pundits on FOX News with the actions and protests of the Tea Parties/Wingnut Birther crazy movement. Despite the fact that you ran plenty of promos advertising the Tax Day Tea Party protest, constantly interview Stewart Rhodes of the Oathkeepers, have Griff Jenkins and other FOX anchors whipping up and encouraging protesters, and have hired the crazy princess Sarah Palin to give informed opinions on the network, among so many other infractions, you still dismiss any suggestion that you’re trying to pander to the Tea Party crowd and make money off of them as “left-wing lame stream media propaganda”.

So if everything you’re saying is true (we know what a complex relationship FOX News has with the truth) and FOX News genuinely doesn’t mean to associate themselves with the violent, racist, crazy crazies, then what the fuck was this shit you featured on The FOX Nation to celebrate The FOX Nation’s 1 year anniversary? (Click the link for the video, I can’t embed their content).

Yup, that’s right. Glenn Beck has only been on the network for a year too, but by far, FOX’s worst offender for giving a voice to the crazy is celebrating its first birthday. To me, the tone of FOX fundamentally changed a year ago when they brought on Glenn Beck and opened up The FOX Nation for their loving hateful fans. It also changed pretty drastically when President Obama was elected into office at roughly the same time, but of course a political institution like FOX wouldn’t simply change up its coverage just because a Democratic president is now in office, right? Just to make sure they covered all their crazy bases (FOX Nation would lose a lot of fans if they didn’t happen to feature every single aspect of the nebulous Right Wing crazies to make everyone happy) all of the following are a part of the short “Happy Birthday” video for the FOX Nation:

• An introduction from Michelle Bachmann
• Soundbite from Bill O
• Tea Party protesters and signs
• Stephen Baldwin blowing a kiss?
• Glenn Beck juxtaposed with Geraldo (see, FOX News is fair and balanced!)
• Geraldo saying “FOX believes in the American dream” then immediately cutting to footage of angry Tea Party protests
• More Tea Party footage
• Mitt Romney saying how much he loves the FOX Nation
• Andrew Breitbart admitting how he reads FOX Nation and get upset when they scoop him
• Juan Williams (didn’t they fire Juan Williams for being too much of a Communist?)
• More Tea Party protesting
• A colonial Tea Party guy
• American flags
• The “I can cure gay people with therapy” guy, Richard Cohen
• And a closing statement by Rick Perry mentioning that “FOX Nation is the place for information”

Notably absent from the video:

• Ron Paul and/or Rand Paul
• Sarah Palin (she’s their leading talent after all!)
• Joe The Plumber
• Pat Buchanan (probably not featured because he’s more of an MSNBC guy these days)
• Mike Huckabee (FOX News host and potential presidential candidate, very surprised he didn’t make an appearance since that’s like a two-fer)
• Trig Palin (Trig has had a hard year being in the spotlight, no sympathy from FOX?)
• Dr. Orly Taitz Esq. (if Palin is the princess of FOX News/the Tea Parties then Orly is the Queen. IS FOX LEGITIMIZING THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY BY NOT HAVING ORLY ON?)
• Hard-working Americans (FOX Nation is supposed to be for hard-working real Americans, but besides the chants from Tea Party protesters and the Right-Wing celebrity fest, this video features not one regular Joe just trying to get by in America)
• Black people (also a hard-working segment of America that is notably absent from the video. Juan Williams doesn’t count)

Pretty much just as crazy as the people the video was meant for. But why does FOX News continue to pander to and use footage from the Tea Party movement and protests yet at the same time vehemently deny any connection between the network and this fringe “grassroots” group? Does this mean that FOX News, Roger Ailes, and the rest continually lie again and again straight to people’s faces without any regard or backbone?

Is this behavior by FOX anything new to you? Go FOX Nation, congratulations on one whole year of circular-babbling crazy.