This week's Fantasy World Award goes to none other than the kings of Fantasy World entertainment, Fox News. Anyone who might have caught the April 3rd episode o
f the totally Fair & Balanced Fox & Friends was subject to some of the most dishonest "reporting" I've ever seen. Their topic for the morning First segment was pork barrel spending. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that not one time was a single segment ever dedicated to pork barrel spending when the GOP controlled congress. Now that the Dems are in control, Republicans and neocons are fiscally conservative again. That brings us to the recent Citizens Against Government Waste report highlighting wasteful government spending. This report was the backdrop for the Fox & Friends segment.
According to the report, pork spending is at it's second lowest point in Bush's two terms. Second only to last years Democratic controlled spending. That means the two lowest pork barrel spending years were the only two years the Dems have been in power. In fact pork spending rose every year Bush has been president until the Dems took over.
Little things such as facts are of no concern to Fox News. In their Fantasy World pork spending has "gone up higher than ever before to $17.2 billion spent on pork projects." Yes, they actually reported it that way. That simply isn't true. Not only is it not true, it's intentionally misleading. The highest ever was in 2006, the year Republicans were swept from power. You don't have to even read the report. Just look at the graph published by the very people FNC cites and you can easily tell Fox is lying. In their Fantasy World, a world where Republicans are fiscally conservative and believe in small governmen
t, pork spending is up "30%." It's a world where the Glorious Surge is working. A world where Bush is the greatest president ever to serve and a world where flag pins on lapels are the prime distinguishing factor of patriotism. It's a world where people, even after having this complete lie pointed out to them, will continue to watch and believe Fox is Fair and Balanced. Heaven forbid their Fantasy World crumble before them.
Fox News is the only channel attainable for the people who live in Fox's world. It's a world where Democrats have cut pork spending in half only to be labeled as kings of pork. It's a world where a news outlet can report outright falsehoods-- intentionally-- and never think twice about it. Only in the GOP Fantasy World can an entire media organization label itself as Fair & Balanced and have a morning show whose hosts are all Republican. There's no need to do a weather segment, it's always sunny in their world.
H/T: News Hounds
Tags:
Fox News, Republicans, Fantasy
4.10.2008
Fox's Pork
3.19.2008
"So"
This week's GOP Fantasy World Award is without question a no-brainer. Fellow Chicke
nhawk, Big Dick Cheney, took all five of his deferments to Iraq, calls the war a major success and then says he isn't concerned about the unpopularity of the war.
Fluctuations? Is he really serious? In his make believe world, 4 years of solid unpopularity is considered a fluctuation and five years of fighting for a war he told us would only last a matter of weeks is considered a huge success.After Ms. Raddatz asked about the economy — which he said was in “a rough patch,” not a recession — the subject turned to the deep unpopularity of the Iraq war. Here’s a transcript of the exchange, released by the network:
Raddatz: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.
Cheney: So?
Raddatz: So? You don’t care what the American people think?
Cheney: No. I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls. There has, in fact, been fundamental change and transformation and improvement for the better. That’s a huge accomplishment.
In Mr. Cheney's fantasy world he gets to float back and forth between the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch depending on which function is under federal investigation at the moment. Also, in his world-- where the sky is always blue-- anyone who doesn't think Bush is the greatest president ever is obviously suffering from a form of hysteria.
Just for review, let's take a look at some of the other fantasy events in Big Dick Cheney's world.
"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."-- August 26 2002
"My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." --March 16, 2003
Iraqis were "providing bomb-making expertise and advice to the Al Qaeda organization."-- September 2003
"Saddam had an established relationship with Al Qaeda, providing training to Al Qaeda members in the areas of poisons, gases, making conventional weapons."-- October 2003.
"I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency." -- June 20, 2005
That's just a quick sampling of Cheney's make believe world. War to Cheney is like a movie where other people do the fighting and Cheney gets to sit back and watch. And then when he's tired of the movie he changes the channel back to Fox News. After all, during Vietnam, when Cheney was of prime fighting age, 5 times he refused to answer his country's call to serve. In his world, it's fantasy to think that doing the actual fighting is more patriotic than sitting on your duff doing nothing.
It's not enough that he has a disconnect from reality it's the assertion that we all should join in on his fantasy world. The sad part is many Republicans do. And for those who do, that's why we have the Fantasy World Award!
3.13.2008
Inaugural Fantasy World Award
PN is proud to announce its first Fantasy World Award! Let me tell you, there were some tough choices. There w
as Jenn at Screwliberals.com with her Spitzer coverage stating that when Republicans get caught they step down. Of course that's not the case at all. Republican Senator Vitter who got caught in a prostitution ring last Fall is still shaking hands and kissing babies never once hinting at resigning. Imprisoned Congressmen and fellow Republican Bob Ney stayed on for months after being indicted and so did Tom DeLay. Democrats aren't any better, and I've never claimed them to be, but suggesting Republicans always do the right thing and step aside is completely untrue.
There were others that also came close, but once I read Jonah Goldberg's "The Left's Patriotism Gap" op-ed in the LA Times the other day I knew right then that we had a winner. And it is with great pride I announce Jonah Goldberg as the winner of the first ever Fantasy World Award!
What color is it in Jonah's world you might ask. Well it's always sunny where Jonah is and where he fights head-on everyday the enemy insurgent liberals taking over our country.
Quoting some select Barack and Michelle Obama speeches super patriot Jonah Goldberg suggests that all Democrats have a patriotism gap:
What is fascinating here is not the sentiment, but what's missing from it. The P-word. To invoke patriotism seriously is to brand yourself either an old fogy or a right-wing bully. If Obama spoke about patriotism with the sort of passion he expends on unity, many would take him for some sort of demagogue.In their world-- the GOP Fantasy World-- being a patriot simply means speaking the P-word. That's it! That's all you have to do to be considered a great American patriot. Have a keyboard, the monitor doesn't even have to be turned on, and write how great George Bush is; how he's led by God; how Iraq is going great; how Republicans always do the right thing when caught with prostitutes and write how Democrats have such an utter disregard for America that they never speak of patriotism for fear of offending someone. In Jonah's fantasy world, gone are the days when patriots actually did any real fighting or demonstrated any sort of service to the country they believe to be the Land of Milk and Honey. In their fantasy world where George Bush is a popular president and Iraq had WMD, a real patriot is someone who's 50lbs. overweight and couldn't pass a military physical to save his life. In their fantasy world where Rush Limbaugh is the lone general fighting on in this global conflict against liberalism, a real patriot is someone who doesn't dodge the word patriot! Never mind dodging bullets, it's not dodging words that are the true test of patriotism.
{...}
And it's a crying shame, despite the fact that the Democrats' rhetorical disadvantage is a huge boon for the Republicans. One cannot credibly talk of love of country while simultaneously dodging the word and concept of patriotism. And, I would argue, one cannot sufficiently love one's country if you are afraid to say so out loud. Better that our politics be an argument about why and how we should love our country, not about whether some do and some don't.
Who in their right mind would consider anything Jonah Goldberg says to be anything close to patriotism? Three years ago Jonah tried to wager his patriotism, because pla
cing bets on our soldiers' lives is what real patriots do, that "Iraq won't have a civil war, that it will have a viable constitution and that a majority of Iraqis and Americans will, in two years time, agree that the war was worth it." In his fantasy world other people fight the wars, it's all a game, a wager of some pocket change. Not only was he dead wrong three years ago, he's still wrong. There is no patriotism gap. Reducing patriotism or ones worth as an American to how many times a person uses the word is a psychological fantasy in it's own right. But it's also a great disservice to our troops doing the actual fighting, to our veterans who have kept us proud and free, to our country as a whole and to a political discourse that must be nearing its end of such rhetoric.3.06.2008
Fantasy World Award!
As a new service to our readers, me and Ryan are announcing a new Fantasy World Award! The Award will be given to the person or blog that best represents the fantasy world the GOP and 25% of Americans who still support George Bush are currently living in.
Many will notice a constant theme lately in my posts, namely GOP/Bush supporters want to convince the reality based community that these last seven years have been tremendous for our country. Iraq and WMD? That's only for those who hate America. Clear objectives for victory with a contingent exit plan when invading sovereign countries? Only if you're a liberal commie wanting to destroy America. Thinking we should find and destroy bin Laden before overthrowing a powerless dictator who had nothing to do with 9/11? Keep sipping that kool-aid punk. What's this, you say you think Executive Powers should be checked with Congressional oversight? Only if you're a terrorist sympathizing bleeding heart liberal. The economy? Never heard of it. GOP doesn't stand for God's Own Party??? That's blasphemy.
The Fantasy World Award will symbolize the reality that exists in a special place where the sun always shines, George Bush is a popular president, Iraq had something to do with 9/11 and Rush Limbaugh is a modern day warrior fighting for the survival of his beloved country. At times, the award may vary to encompass other fantasy events not listed in this post.
