On Tuesday, during a segment on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom, the network’s strategic analyst Ralph Peters heavily criticized President Obama for his handling of the release of former POW Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Peters also lambasted Bergdahl repeatedly during his interview with host Bill Hemmer, calling Bergdahl a “pathetic loser” and a “deserter.” Overall, this segment was nothing but a 4+ minute character assassination of Sgt. Bergdahl, accompanied by claims that the President of the United States “despises the men who served honorably” and “detests the military.”
Below is video of the segment, courtesy of Media Matters:
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This is what passes for reasonable and informed discourse on Fox News. Hemmer just allowed Peters to go off on a rant that was tinged with personal insults and angry statements. Instead of analysis, Peters just went on a tirade aimed at destroying Bergdahl on a personal level while letting Fox viewers know that Obama hates the military and doesn’t care about any troops that have served with distinction. In Peters’ opinion, President Obama just wants to prop up Bergdahl for political reasons and, therefore, will make sure that Bergdahl faces no repercussions for his alleged desertion.
Peters started off right away hammering Bergdahl as he called him a “pathetic loser.” He then claimed that Bergdahl obviously deserted (though he did call him an “alleged deserter” once) but is being rewarded with a “privileged office job.” It appears that Peters thinks that Bergdahl just got done spending five years at Club Med instead of being held captive by the Taliban. Peters also feels that President Obama is going to intervene with any military investigation into Bergdahl’s actions that led to his capture and make sure that Bergdahl doesn’t face any real punishment. Why? Because the President hates the military and wants to see it fail. Or something like that.
This segment was right out of the Fox News playbook. Hemmer allows Peters to make specious arguments and make unhinged statements. Hemmer then soft-peddles Peters comments, stating that Peters is just trying to ask questions and get to the bottom of this issue. At the same time, Peters makes sure to frame some of his statements in such a way that he can plausibly walk them back if he is called out on them. All in all, it was a shameful display from a network that specializes in shameful displays.
Peters has called Bergdahl a deserter since the beginning. The funny thing is, back when he first made his accusations, Republicans in Congress called on him to apologize and for Fox News to punish Peters appropriately. Now, five years later, when it has become politically expedient to slam Sgt. Bergdahl, Peters is given a platform by Fox News to constantly make outlandish statements about the President and Obama.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
