Friday Fox Follies – A New Year’s To Remember

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:42 pm

Now that the Fox “News” Phony War on Christmas is over for another 6 months, let’s look at the network’s War on New Year’s Eve.

When it was announced crazed candidate Donald Trump would be ringing in the New Year on Fox, the howling of righteous indignation was so fierce that Fox “News” was compelled to add that other GOP Candidates would also participate. Democrats? None seen.

It didn’t matter. Eric Bolling and Kimberly Guilfoyle were so enthralled with the magnificent presence of The Donald that you can now Watch These Fox Hosts Miss The New Year’s Eve Countdown While They Swoon Over Donald Trump in perpetuity.

Missed the countdown? YOU HAD ONE JOB!!!

Also captured for posterity: her false denials when the co-hosts on The Five accurately insist Yes, Kimberly Guilfoyle, You Hosted ‘The Trump Show’ On New Year’s Eve. Bad enough that Kimberly Guilfoyle Endorses Donald Trump’s Campaign Slogan As Truth, but then Trevor Noah Mocks Fox News’ New Year’s Eve. Watch:

Even a tuxedo wasn’t enough to save Bully Boy Bolling from the flop sweat. I hope they can top that next year.

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FOX TRUMPS ALL BUT SPORTS: It’s all bread and circuses as Fox News Channel dominates in 2015 ratings – beat by only ONE other network:

But Fox’s final standing for the year at No. 2 for prime time viewership is what’s made history as the first news network to ever finish in the top 3.

It seems the only thing American primetime viewers like better than news is sports. ESPN took the No. 1 spot while TBS rounded out No. 3.

At least sports is more honest than Fox.

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STUN NUG: Or, Gun Nuts spelled backwards. Think about it. But not for too long.

As this week’s Friday Fox Follies is being lovingly crafted from the flotsam and jetsam found on the innertubes, Fox “News” is doing everything in its power to shoot down President Obama’s Town Hall on guns last night. But then, Fox was doing that before last night’s Town Hall. It began almost immediately after President Obama Begins Crying While Delivering Executive Action on Gun Control.

First to react was The Tarantula: ‘I Would Check That Podium For a Raw Onion’: Tantaros Criticizes Obama’s Tearful Address — and, with that, the crazy race was on:

Fox Host Falsely Claims Obama’s Executive Actions On Gun Violence Threaten The Second Amendment • Fox’s Katie Pavlich: If Obama Wants To Do Work On Guns, He Should Work With NRA • Fox Host Questions Obama’s National Security Priorities After Emotional Speech On Gun Violence • Fox Pundit to Colleagues Claiming Obama Didn’t Cry: ‘It Makes Us Look Bad!’

As happens far too often the best analysis comes from Comedy Central. First The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah Excoriates Fox News For Mocking Obama’s Emotional Response To Speaking About Child Victims Of Gun Violence, then Larry Wilmore Slams Fox: Obama ‘Cries About Dead Children and You’ve Got Notes?’ Watch:

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CREDIT WHERE CREDIT’S DUE: Or, even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

To their good for giving him the forum, On Fox, Mark Kelly Highlights Overwhelming Support For Proposed Action To Curb Gun Violence. Also seeing the light on guns: O’Reilly Challenges The NRA To “Be Reasonable” And Accept Universal Background Checks For Gun Purchases.

Two other instances this week where The Falafel King got it right:

O’Reilly Breaks Against Fox News’
Love Affair With Vladimir Putin,
Criticizes Trump For Praising Him

O’Reilly: Trump’s Attack Ad
Against Hillary Clinton Is So Vile
It Might Have Been Made By Hitler

Just when you start to think, “Who are you and what have you done with Loofah Lad?” the old O’Reilly [returns]: “Trump Could Win” Because Americans Are “Fed Up” With Political Correctness. Recognizing a ‘donation in kind’ when he sees one, even Bernie Goldberg Slams Fox: “Trump Gets More Air Time On Fox Than Some Of The Anchors”:

GOLDBERG:  Trump gets more air time on Fox than some of the anchors. And that in and of itself is a plus because if Christie, or Fiorina, or Kasich, or Huckabee, or Rubio got as much air time, I think their poll numbers would be higher. That’s a plus and that wasn’t in the column. Number two, Trump has more than a few friends on Fox and some of them interview him as if they were interviewing a friend. And my rule of thumb is, don’t interview your friends. Especially if they are running for president of the United States.

It’s Trump’s network. He just let’s Roger Ailes pretend to be in charge.

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BENGHAZI’S BACK, BABIES: Or, did it ever really go away?

Here’s How Fox News Plans To Use Michael Bay’s Benghazi Film To Sink Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Run, because Fox’s Megyn Kelly Says That Benghazi Film Could “Pose A Threat To” Hillary Clinton’s Campaign, as another Fox Host Claims Michael Bay Benghazi Movie Will Raise Questions Eight Congressional Probes Have Failed To Answer. A good explainer is Eric Wemple’s Fox News’s love affair with ’13 Hours,’ Benghazi controversy in the Washington Post:

Back when Benghazi, Libya, was big news, Fox News played a big role in making it so. An analysis by Media Matters found that in the 20 months following the attacks, the leading cable news network ran nearly 1,100 news segments on the topic. Four American personnel, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, lost their lives after militants in the Libyan city launched surprise attacks against a U.S. diplomatic post.

The obsession has accomplished a number of things, including the spreading of false information about Benghazi and the fierce politicization of a terrorist attack. Tack on at least one other externality — the extensive, free-of-charge promotion of the “13 Hours” franchise.

Meanwhile, Fox’s Juan Williams Slams Co-Hosts’ Benghazi Obsession, as even he recognizes that attacking Benghazi is really Fox’s way of attacking the Democratic Party front-runner. Meanwhile, Hannity Thinks Smearing Hillary Clinton As An ‘Abuser’ Proves There’s No GOP War On Women. No. Really.

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#OCCUPYOREGONMATTERS: Or, #SendSnacks.

Nothing demonstrates the strains of racism and classism bubbling just under the surface on Fox “News” than the difference of how it treated peaceful #OccupyWallStreet and #BlackLivesMatter protests versus how it treats domestic terrorists with guns named Bundy.

Fox’s Borelli Defends Oregon Militia’s
Armed Takeover Of Federal Property,
Unlike Black Lives Matter ‘Thugs’

Fox Overlooks Oregon Militia
Threat To Law Enforcers At
Federal Wildlife Refuge

Once bitten, twice shy: On Fox, O’Reilly And Hannity Go Silent On Armed Oregon Militia:

Hannity and O’Reilly’s silence on the armed Oregon protest is striking given how aggressively both hosts have criticized protesters affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement. Bill O’Reilly has compared the protesters to the Ku Klux Klan, asserted that the protesters “basically hate their country,” blamed them for “the rise of fascism on American college campuses,” and branded them a “hate group.” Not to be outdone, Sean Hannity has also likened the movement to the Ku Klux Klan and labeled the cause as “overt racism.” The disparate coverage on The O’Reilly Factor and Hannity of the Oregon protesters and Black Lives Matter protesters highlight what some have called a “racial double standard” in the media’s coverage of protests.

The primetime hosts’ silence on the Oregon protest isn’t an isolated event. In 2014, Hannity and O’Reilly both praised Cliven Bundy, the father of three of the men helping to lead the Oregon protest, during his own standoff with federal law enforcement at his family’s ranch. The hosts both promoted and praised the rancher, who refused to pay fees for allowing his cattle to graze on public land, as a “hero.” According to a Media Matters study, Fox News devoted 4 hours and 40 minutes of prime-time programming to cheerleading for Bundy’s cause.

Not mentioned? How they turned on Cliven Bundy the minute he revealed his racism.

In fact, the difference in treatment was so blatantly obvious that it didn’t take the Media [to] Call Out “Racial Double Standard” In Coverage Of Oregon Militia, because it was the source for dozens of HIGH-LARRY-US internet memes.

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MEGYN MANIA: Had this alliteration been coined by FFF, I would have been saying, “See what I did there?” That it was a rubric this week on the front page of Mediaite — filled with both new and old headlines about Megyn Kelly — is just plain silly.

However, it shows that Kelly is getting the star treatment again after Vanity Fair’s cover story, which is nothing more than another magazine whitewash of Kelly’s Wide World of White Privilege. Read Blowhards, Beware: Megyn Kelly Will Slay You Now if you must, but here’s the opening scene-setter:

It’s 8:50 P.M. at the Kelly File studio. The crew dudes finish shining her glass desk, through which viewers can see her shapely legs. Two makeup women, armed with blow-dryer and hair spray, put the finishing touches on her glistening tresses. And Megyn Kelly, Fox News’s breakout prime-time star, girded in a snug black dress and four-inch strappy heels, is champing at the bit to make another presidential contender—this time Jeb Bush—squirm in his seat.

A more critical story is Vanity Fair Too Dazzled By Megyn Kelly’s ‘Star Power’ To Fairly Report Her Bias And Bigotry.

You don’t have to read the Vanity Fair article for this inside glimpse into the Kelly-Trump feud in Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly says she ‘can’t be wooed’ by Donald Trump:

“He would send me press clippings about me that he would just sign ‘Donald Trump.’ And he called from time to time to compliment a segment,” Kelly, 45, told Vanity Fair. “I didn’t know why he was doing that. And then when he announced that he was running for President, it became more clear. But I can’t be wooed. I was never going to love him, and I was never going to hate him.”

Among the headlines that had Mediaite gushing were Anti-Gay Marriage Dude Tries to Mansplain the Supreme Court to Megyn Kelly and Megyn Kelly Destroys Bundy Mob Leader With Just An Icy Stare.

The last headline is BS, of course. The likelihood that Bundy had a monitor and could see Megyn Kelly’s “icy stare” is pretty slim. That’s rarely done in the field with an interview subject. A more critical take on her “icy stare” can be read in Megyn Kelly Lets Ammon Bundy Ramble About His Extremist Anti-Government Views Without Challenge.

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A FOLLOW-UP: Several weeks back FFF reported the arrest of Scott Orton, who had been using the Fox Nation web site to make death threats against the president and offered bounties on the heads of several people. This week we learned from Ellen (at my old stomping grounds) that Fox News’ Murder-Plotting Fan Free Pending Trial:

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FOX BYTES: Fox Allows Pollster Frank Luntz To Shill For Marco Rubio Without Disclosing Financial Ties • Sean Hannity’s HUUUGE Birther Flip-Flop: Obama Vs. Cruz • Fox & Friends Praises Courageous Mayor For Defending God Against Pretty Much Nobody • Fox News Journo Defends Pool Photog Targeted by Trump • Trump goes on Fox and defends Obama’s gun violence tears: ‘I actually think he was sincere’ • Fox’s Bolling: If Bernie Sanders Taxed Businesses His Way, “We Wouldn’t Have The iPhone” • Fox & Friends Tells Women Why They’re To Blame For Lack Of Respect Around The Office • You Heard It on Fox News: A Woman’s Body Is Her Own • Fox Business Clarifies Bathroom Rule to GOP Candidates: ‘We Will Not Show Empty Podiums’ • Fox News’ Primetime Lineup Ignored Ted Cruz’s Proposal To Deport 11 Million Immigrants And Halt Legal Immigration

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Headly Westerfield runs the Not Now Silly Newsroom, fabled in story and song.