They're trying to smear Fox again, but we have a secret weapon they lack: the truth. With J$P Video!

It's our 700th entry, and it finds us back doing the same work we began over two years ago. Yes, the latest distortions and fabrications from the Fox haters' Grapevine, where all the branches have thorns, and the grapes are always sour.

One of the favorite tricks of propagandists involves cherry-picking. If you recall the old tale of the blind men and the elephant, it's along those same lines. Except that, unlike those blind men, the haters deliberately choose anecdotal snippets to wilfully create a false impression. How else to explain this denunciation of John Gibson? He did a segment on the upcoming elections and, well, this just proves everything:

Who [sic] does John bring in for the job? Oh, “fair and balanced” Ann Coulter. And who else?

The point our blogger makes is that there was no one else. Coulter alone. Unfair! Unbalanced! Q.E.D.! Now let's flashback 24 hours, to just one day earlier on Gibson's program. That's the one where John Gibson did an entire segment on the elections, and whom did he bring in for the job? Oh, "fair and balanced" Democrat strategist Laura Schwartz. And who else? Nobody else!



Now we searched, and poked, and scoured this blue blog, but the segment with Schwartz was conspicious by its absence. It didn't even get a passing mention. But the one with Coulter got an entire article. Now why would that be?

Meanwhile, the dogs are loose over at the newshounds (another fine product of the Outfoxed syndicate). Creativity must be in short supply at the pound, because they're recycling distortions like they were old newspapers. Ellen almost uses the identical wording each time: "not a black face in the crowd", "no black faces in the crowd", and now:

I saw not a single black face in the live audience

Yes, it's bowser Ellen, once again hung up on "black faces" in the crowd for an on-location episode of Hannity & Colmes. And the denizens of the dog pound, ever-exploitable, fall for it all over again:

• The fact that there just happened to be no Negroes at that little Fox celebration was a mere oversight. I am sure they tried to invite some blacks and they-the blacks- just couldn't make it ;)
• Hmmm... no blacks in the Fox on the Fox "News" 10th anniversary celebration? Wonder why?
• most people who watch fox must be white!
• If Hannity's white supremacist followers attend the concerts, I can well understand why minorities stay away.

It doesn't matter how many times we nail her on this, she's back, holding her hands over her ears and singing na-na-na-na-I-can't-hear-you. We can dispose of this rather quickly:



And here it is in slow-motion [QuickTime video]:



But it's newspoodle Donna who gets our congratulations for what will likely be The Lie of the Week. It's an unusual LotW because it's in a headline, but don't blame us. We didn't put it there:

Fox On LIne [sic] Toes The Republican Line - Economy Great - War In Iraq - Don't Mention

Her complaint is that during Mr Hemmer's Monday hour, the war in Iraq was ignored. And to prove it:

when it came time for the half hour news, Iraq was nowhere to be seen. So I guess nothing happened in Iraq today.... Looks like in these two weeks leading up to the election that Fox On Line is going to toe the Republican line and tell you how well the economy is doing by the dow numbers and stay away from the nasty subject of the war in Iraq.

Needless to say, the gullible denizens of the dog house lapped it up:

• Boy they can't act fast enough. I first heard about Bush changing his talking points from the WAR to the economy last night.
• It may not be able to be spun, but it can be ignored quite easily. Remember, a lot of Fox's viewers get their news only from Fox. If it doesn't appear on Fox, it didn't happen.
• FNC is nothing more than a lackey for the RNC. Its slavish toeing of the RNC line shows it for the lackey it truly is.
• We ALL know that Fox News gets their "talking points" every morning from the Bush White House so it only stands to reason that Bill Hemmer would devote all of his show on Fox News to the economy and no mention of Iraq. Watch now how ALL the Fox News shows follow in lockstep talking only about the economy

Well, they're convinced anyhow. But let's take another look at deceptive Donna's wording. Iraq was not reported "when it came time for the half hour news". That's a curious way to put it. Why would the newsmutts hone in on 60-second summary of headlines in the middle of the hour? What about the other 59 minutes? Why would they ignore all that Hemmer time? Sorry, Donna. You might be able to dupe the credulous kennel-dwellers, but we're on to you:



What's this? Iraq "mentioned"--no, make that reported on--in the very first segment of Hemmer's program. How can this be? We thought Fox was under orders from the White House not to cover Iraq. And Donna claimed in her headline there wasn't even a "mention" of Iraq on the program. Could that possibly be what is technically termed a "lie"? Just to make it interesting, what about the hours before and after Hemmer's program?



The newspoodles neglected to report on any of these Iraq reports as well. And here's another stunner. Remember, Hemmer's program is going to "stay away from the nasty subject of the war in Iraq". So what led off the program the very next day?



In a metaphysically staggering coincidence, Donna's article on the Tuesday program made no mention of the live report from Iraq. None whatsoever. You know, just like our other friend never said a word about Laura Schwartz.

You'd think if Fox News were as eeevil as these people claim, it wouldn't be necessary to cherry-pick, selectively edit, and outright lie about what they broadcast. Even so, we're loving it. Sometimes writer's block can leave bloggers hungry for an idea to post on. But as long as the Fox haters are around, we'll never starve.