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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (May 9, 2012)
Opinion Fox News Brings Out the Knives for Obama “Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now” B ERNIE F OSTER Founder/Publisher B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER Executive Editor T ED B ANKS Advertising Manager J ERRY F OSTER Account Executive L ISA L OVING News Editor H ELEN S ILVIS Multimedia Editor D AVID K IDD Graphic Designer M ONICA J. F OSTER Seattle Office Coordinator J ULIE K EEFE S USAN F RIED Photographers The Skanner Newspaper, established in October 1975, is a weekly publica- tion, published each Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc., 415 N. Killingsworth St., P.O. Box 5455, Portland, OR 97228. Telephone (503) 285-5555. E-mail: info@theskanner.com World Wide Web site: http://www.theskanner.com Fax: (503) 285-2900 The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Associ- ation and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re - spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. © 2012 The Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED. To see The Skanner News on your smart phone go to theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. • • • • • • • • Local news Opinions Jobs, Bids Sports Entertainment Music reviews Bulletin board RSS feeds Fox News, the unofficial arm of the Republican Party that claims to be fair and balanced, is conduct- ing an all-out assault on President Obama, doing everything from letting Mitt Romney advisers masquerade as objective commentators to ignoring facts when a high-profile Obama critic or Fox News commentator make unfounded charges. MediaMatters.org, the watchdog group, has cata- logued numerous instances of Fox’s one-sided and unethical behavior. “Fox News has repeated- ly hosted advisers to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney without disclos- ing that they are helping his campaign. Media Mat- ters examined recent appearances by advisers John Bolton, Jay Sekulow, and Walid Phares, who have all appeared on Fox News and criticized the Obama administration. Bolton and Phares are Fox News contributors, while Sekulow is a frequent Fox News guest,” the group stated. “Bolton, a Romney for- eign policy adviser, said on Fox News that Obama’s foreign policy is ‘confused and incoherent and incom- petent’ and defended Romney’s foreign policy experience. Sekulow, a Romney legal adviser, has repeatedly appeared on Fox to attack the Obama administration on a variety of legal issues. And T HE C URRY R EPORT George E. Curry Phares, a member of Rom- ney’s foreign policy and national security advisory veterans, maybe not all veterans, but this one – and they were saying that he was arrogant and taking credit, that he was not humble and had no humility …it’s very boorish to take credit away from those brave men … at the scene, who did actually execute this unbelievable killing of Osama bin Laden.” Fox also allowed guests The personal references by Obama were taken out of context and the president has often given credit to field operatives team, has criticized the Obama administration’s handling of Syria and Afghanistan on Fox.” Greta Van Susteren, host of “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren,” said on May 3: “One year after the killing of bin Laden, Republicans are blasting President Obama for spik- ing the football. And now, a veterans group is slam- ming the president for taking the credit instead of giving it to the special forces.” She aired part of the ad and said, “What I take away from that ad is that the veterans are deeply dis- turbed – this group of get away with a similar line of attack. During the Fox News’ Special Report on May 3, guest host John Roberts announced that a group called Veterans for a Strong America had released an ad “accusing President Obama of spik- ing the football over Osama bin Laden.” Fox aired part of the ad that claimed “heroes don’t spike the football.” Fox contributor and Washington Post colum- nist Charles Krauthammer said on the program: “It isn’t just that Obama has managed to turn a positive, something he did well, into a negative by attacking, using it as a partisan weapon which diminishes him, also it diminishes the solemnity of the event, which was a national event, and he used it, he appropriated it for himself. It is the narcissism, and that is the deeper issue here, how they quote Obama again and again, using the first personal pronoun in his announce- ment of the event. It’s all about me, I, commander- in-chief, I ordered, I did this. What about the guys out there who did it and who risked their lives?” As Media Matters points out, the personal refer- ences by Obama were taken out of context and the president has often given credit to field opera- tives. In his May 2, 2011 announcement that Bin Laden had been killed, the president said, “A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casu- alties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.” He also stated, “We give thanks for the men who carried out this operation, for they exemplify the pro- fessionalism, patriotism, and unparalleled courage of those who serve our country. And they are part of a generation that has borne the heaviest share of the burden since that Sep- tember day.” In a rare dissent from Fox News orthodoxy, host Megyn Kelly said in an interview with the founder of the veterans group, “He [Obama] did give thanks to the others, and of course had to mention the first person in discussing how things went down.” Neither Kelly nor any- one else at Fox News disclosed that Joel Arends, whose group created the veterans’ ad, is a longtime Republican operative. He worked on the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and John McCain and is chairman of the Lin- coln County, S.D. Republican Party. Fox News was created by Roger Ailes, a former media adviser to Richard Nixon and other Republi- can figures. He supported the 1988 scheme to link Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis to Willie Horton, a Black convicted felon. Ailes told the New York Times, “The only question is whether we depict Willie Horton with a knife in his hand or with- out it.” There is no question that Ailes’ network is using a knife this time – to stab Obama in the back. George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine, is editor-in- chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service. Mitt Romney Leads ‘Circle of Clowns’ in Republican Primary Stand-Up Routine I recently saw a fascinating com- mentary where a right-wing pundit, while discussing the pur- ported strengths of Mitt Romney, indicated that Romney had no strongly held beliefs. He went on to say that contrary to other candi- dates who have been described as flip-floppers, Romney did not change from one strong view to another strong view. He never had a strong view in the beginning. My mouth dropped. I could not believe that this right-winger was trying to portray the fact that Mitt Romney, the presumptive Repub- lican nominee for president, essentially believed in nothing – this was a good thing. This has turned the Republican primary race, which had been described as a “circle of clowns,” into a stand- up comedy routine. Can they possibly be serious that the candi- dacy of someone who believes in nothing should be supported by the electorate? On one level, this should not surprise any of us. Romney has been lusting for the nomination and clearly has been willing to say or do anything in order to secure it. This has to be linked with the manner in which both ignorance and irrationality are being cele- Page 4 The Portland Skanner May 9, 2012 Political leaders, particularly on the right, will appeal to the worst instincts within the electorate and play on fears or prejudices in T RANS A FRICA order to win. And if that means shifting one’s opinions, so be it. It just helps, I suppose, when shifting one’s opinion is not par- ticularly painful since one’s original ideas were not that important in the first place. Bill The November elections hold Fletcher Jr. many potential perils. Disap- pointment with what Obama has President Obama for suggesting not done; disagreement with some that it would be great for U.S. chil- of what his administration has dren to attend college matched done; and unease over our eco- with continual denial of climate nomic situations, all of which change (have you checked the could lead many voters who brated by the Republican Party’s staunchest supporters. Attacks on Not only could someone as vacuous as Romney be elected, but in some ways more importantly, very bad and bankrupt right-wing politicians at the Congressional and local levels could also win weather recently?) all points toward an enhanced cynicism that has entered the electoral realm. would otherwise vote in a liberal or progressive direction to sit out the election. This could mean not only that someone as vacuous as Romney could be elected, but in some ways, more importantly, it could mean that very bad and bankrupt right-wing politicians at the Congressional and local levels could also win. For this reason, while you may be tempted to laugh at Romney and his empti- ness, you do so at your own peril. While I am certainly one who has had significant disagreements with the Obama administration, the question I keep asking is: What would a Romney administration look like? I am not as comfortable as former President Jimmy Carter who recently suggested that he could be content with a Romney presidency. It seems to me that a rich man who has no significant or strongly held views is the equiva- lent of a cartoon character. In this case a cartoon character waiting for someone from corporate America to prepare his script. We have too much to lose to let that happen. Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a senior scholar with the Institute for Poli- cy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum, and the co-author of Solidarity Divided.
