A perfect display of their famous fairness and balance was showcased today on Fox and Friends, when the morning crew just couldn’t stop gushing about Ronald Reagan. In fact, they managed to name drop the former president 12 times in three minutes and sixteen seconds, which has got to be some kind of Reagan record (non-Palin category).
Here is the video from Media Matters:
I am not going to transcribe the whole Reagan love fest, but Fox News claimed that when the Reagan appointed federal judge ruled health care reform unconstitutional Ronald Reagan’s legacy was causing Obama problems. Fox News legal analysis Peter Johnson Jr, said, “Great moments of Mr. Reagan are giving President Obama a serious headache this week.” Just in case you weren’t sure where this was going, Johnson later discussed how Obama was not like Reagan, “We will be over the next 30 years in the same fashion enduring in some cases the legacy of President Obama in terms of his federal court and Supreme Court appointments.”
It is amazing that Fox News managed to name drop Ronald Reagan 12 times in 3 minutes. In a single segment, they mentioned Ronald Reagan every 15 seconds. The funny thing about all of this is that Ronald Reagan would be rejected by today’s Tea Party. Can you imagine the Tea Party embracing Reagan’s call for saving Social Security? Ronald Reagan believed, to a degree, in the social safety net. He never discussed getting rid of Social Security or Medicare. The Tea Party would be livid at Ronald Reagan today.
Picture how the right would react today if Reagan granted amnesty to illegal immigrants? The Red States would go insane with rage, and yet, Fox News continues to mythologize a Ronald Reagan that didn’t exist. It is one thing to make reference to Reagan’s 100th birthday, and bring up his name a few times, but 12 times is unbelievable. Still Fox News and their defenders will claim that the network is fair and balanced, but the egregious invocation of Ronald Reagan’s name has move beyond worship and straight into parody. This was Fox News spreading Ronald Reagan propaganda and lapsing into comedy as only they can.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Feb. 2nd, 2011 at 7:06 pm
It doesn’t matter how much they drop the name, it still wont make him a great president or a great conservative. He knew what to say, but he didnt know the economy and we are still paying for him
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majii
Feb. 2nd, 2011 at 8:59 pm
On the 2010 Presidential Scholars List, President Obama was listed at #15, two places above Ronald Reagan, so I guess the bots at Fox are right. President Obama is not like Reagan. He’s better. He had a rating of #15 after 2 years in office as opposed to Reagan’s rating at #17 after 8 years in office.
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Anne
Feb. 3rd, 2011 at 1:13 pm
Although Reagan would be considered a RINO among his ardent worshippers today,
he has indeed left a legacy that includes the embrace of anti-intellectualism, the ludicrous idea that government is a problem (from people who work to get elected to government, go figure!!), and the crushing of unions that are often the only things preventing unbridled exploitation of workers. Another unpalatable legacy is the idea that any photogenic yokel who presents himself/herself as a “ril ‘Merikan” can run a large, complex country without the intelligence and knowledge of those they call
“elite.” Those who want to emulate him as a president overlook the fact that his time has come and gone, and the fact that more of us are aware of how damaging a lot of his policies have been to this day.
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DannyEastVillage
Feb. 3rd, 2011 at 10:02 pm
@ Shiva; he did NOT know what to say: it was all written down for him. And he could not remember what he’d said immediately after he’s spoken.
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