Dishonest Harry Reid Calls Bush Joke An Attack on Obama

March 10, 2007 | L.N. Smithee

[L.N. Smithee]

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BACKGROUND: This is my response post to a story on the hot new site The Politico. Written by Ryan Grim, it said that the Nevada State Democratic Party excluded Fox News Channel from hosting and televising a scheduled Democratic Presidential debate (per the demands of the MoveOn/Daily Kos types) after Roger Ailes, FNC's CEO, "jokingly compared Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, to Osama bin Laden..."

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This report by Ryan Grim is a prime example of the reason why Fox News Channel is necessary.

Wrote Grim above: "But [Nevada party chairman Tom] Collins and [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid wrote that comments on Thursday by FOX News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, when he jokingly compared Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, to Osama bin Laden, 'went too far,' and prompted Nevada Democrats to end the partnership."

Grim -- whom I would guess understands the basics of journalism -- reported as a statement of fact that "Roger Ailes...jokingly compared...Barack Obama...to Osama bin Laden." But when telling Fox News' side of the story, Grim previews it with a tweak (caps mine): "Fox officials...ARGUED that Ailes' remark about Obama, made at the Radio and TV News Directors Foundation Awards, was meant to poke fun at President Bush, not the Illinois senator."

Only then did Grim actually provide Ailes’ joke verbatim, which is a pedestrian Bush-is-dumb line: "And it is true that Barack Obama is on the move. I don't know if it's true that President Bush called (Pakistani President Pervez) Musharraf and said, 'Why can't we catch this guy?' "

And people say Bush is slow! Earth to Ryan: Fox was not ‘arguing’ that the joke was aimed at Bush, it was explaining the joke to people too thick to understand it. How stupid do you have to be to believe that such a joke was at Obama’s expense and not the President’s? (A: Stupid enough to cancel a debate on the most-watched cable news channel!) Maybe you have been watching those heavily-edited videos by washed-up partisan Hollywood hack Robert “Xanadu” Greenwald, and you are seeing bias where none existed because it was a Fox News figure speaking – not that it’s an excuse.

Thank you, Ryan, for being a living, breathing demonstration of my point. I suppose with a name like Grim, I should have expected a fairy tale, not an honest news report.

[L.N. Smithee]

I was rough on Grim -- deservedly -- but he's nothing compared to Matt Stoller, one of the morons in the moonbat cave known as MyDD.com, who listed a Clinton joke by Ailes as well as the Obama joke. Wrote Stoller early Friday, before Fox's disinvitation: "I hope Barack Obama and Senator Clinton drop out of the Nevada debate. I mean, if the head of a news network is openly making jokes about a candidate being a terrorist or bringing up catty and frivolously painful gossip meant to damage the last successful Democratic President and his wife...it's not in fact a news network."

BTW -- Robert Greenwald, the veteran fact-based quickie TV-movie hack, has a new site dedicated to harassing and smearing Fox News Channel. In addition to producing three Bush-trashing documentaries lost in the Fahrenheit 9/11 hype, Outfoxed, and an anti-Wal-Mart DVD, Greenwald was the Razzie Award winning director of Xanadu, starring Olivia Newton-John and the great Gene Kelly in his final feature film. It is not known if his demise was accelerated by seeing the final cut of Xanadu.

[crosslink]

"Greenwald was the Razzie Award winning director of Xanadu, starring Olivia Newton-John and the great Gene Kelly in his final feature film. It is not known if his demise was accelerated by seeing the final cut of Xanadu."

I fell sorry for this guilt written liberal, I too would want to shot myself if this was my crowning life achievement.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Poor little Barack "Hussein" (don't use my middle name or how I was brought up as a Muslim) Obama who is as far left as most of the socialists that rule the democrat party.

[SkyPilot]

The jokes clearly makes fun of President Bush's intelligence (which I always found ridiculous for a Yale grad, Harvard M.B.A., Air Force fighter pilot, successful businessman, two time Governor or Texas, and two time President of the United States).

The Democrats are just hypersensitive because they know Obama Hussein was born and raised a Muslim. They are paranoid about any perceived link of the Democrats and Islam.

[TYVets]

Oh My Gosh Did Bush call him a fagot?

[tomnbeverly]

Thats it Congress is calling for Bush to go to tolerance and diversity training...

[SkyPilot]

You know, the worst thing about Obama that almost no one will talk about is the racist church he currently belongs to.

The Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago is probably a cult.

Here is their website:

http://www.tucc.org/about.htm

Commitment to the Black Community
Commitment to the Black Family
Dedication to the Pursuit of Education
Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence
Adherence to the Black Work Ethic
Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect
Disavowal of the Pursuit of "Middleclassness"
Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the Black Community
Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting Black Institutions
Pledge allegiance to all Black leadership who espouse and embrace the Black Value System
Personal commitment to embracement of the Black Value System

Substitute the word "black" for "white" by a Republican who attended a church like this, and he would be in prison right now for hate-crimes. Moreover, the media would have torn him apart long ago.

[mkjessup]

I pity the fool that criticizes Obama Hussein, or Hussein Obama, or whatever his name is:

[Dahoser]

A joke that mixes up Obama and Osama is going too far, but a drunk murderer Senator from Massachusetts who does it for real is okay?

[BurtSB]

The politco is a pack of lefties from the wash compost that are trying to peddle a lie that they are not biased .
Ha , every single one of these lefties wrote George Allen hit pieces in 2006. I suspect Soros is financing the entire operation !

[EQAndyBuzz]

"The Democrats are just hypersensitive because they know Obama Hussein was born and raised a Muslim. They are paranoid about any perceived link of the Democrats and Islam."

No they aren't. They are just trying to hide the fact that Kennedy already called him Osama and he got a pass.

[SkyPilot]

Cue the A-Team music.................

[popdonnelly]

So now a joke about Bush is an insult to Obama? Enough, already. These Democrats have such delicate sensibilities, they want to deny their fellow citizens the right of free speech. Sorry, we're not going to toe the liberal line.

[Dave278]

hugo chavez compared President Bush to Hitler and the devil but throngs of libs treat chavez anyway. No double standard there.

[L.N. Smithee]

The politco is a pack of lefties from the wash compost that are trying to peddle a lie that they are not biased . Ha , every single one of these lefties wrote George Allen hit pieces in 2006. I suspect Soros is financing the entire operation !

I didn't have time to research Grim's work, but that would be very interesting if true. We do know that Grim worked for a "MoveOn-type" organization and also a pro-legalize pot movement. Click on his link at the top of the page.

[Piquaboy]

More of Fairy Reid's babbling in the dark.

[Txsleuth]

Heck....CNN actually did have Osama Bin Ladin's picture labeled at "OBAMA" one night...

Why aren't they boycotting that station??

[L.N. Smithee]

Why aren't they boycotting that station??

Because Prime Minister Moulitsas hasn't sent down the order. If there's anything this incident shows is that if he ever does call upon the ratbats to give CNN the FNC treatment, they will.