Fox News Guest Slams Their Benghazi Coverage as GOP Propaganda

By: Jason EasleyNov. 26th, 2012more from Jason Easley

Fox News hosted Foreign Policy’s Tom Ricks with the hope of furthering their Benghazi conspiracy. Instead, Ricks suggested that Fox’s coverage of the story was due their operating as a wing of the Republican Party.

Here is the video from Media Matters:

The segment was prefaced by a question about a White House Benghazi cover up, but Ricks wasn’t playing along. He called the Fox News coverage of Benghazi hype. Anchor Jon Scott asked how it could be called hype when the first US ambassador was killed in 30 years, and Ricks responded, “How many security contractors died in Iraq? Do you know?” Scott answered, “I don’t.” Ricks continued, “Nobody does, because nobody cared. We know that several hundred died, but there was never an official count done of security contractors dead in Iraq. So when I say this focus on what was essentially a small fire fight. I think number one, I’ve covered a lot of fire fights. It’s impossible to figure out what happened in them sometimes, and second I think that the emphasis on Benghazi has been political partly because Fox was operating partly as a wing of the Republican Party.”

What Ricks was essentially saying here is that Fox politicized Benghazi in order to help the Republican Party. In short, Fox News turned a serious event like Benghazi into Republican propaganda. Tom Ricks isn’t just some foreign policy writer. He has extensively covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has written two of the best books that you will ever read on the subject, Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2003 to 2005, and The Gamble: General Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq.

It is always fun when Fox’s politicization and bias get called out on their own airwaves, but when the person doing the calling out carries the gravitas and expertise of Tom Ricks, the criticism carries even more weight.

When this sort of criticism occurs, the Fox News reaction is to publicly ignore it while retreating even more deeply into their echo chamber.

Tom Ricks probably won’t be back on Fox for a long time, if ever. In the future when they want to fan the flames of their faux foreign policy scandals like Benghazi, the network will turn to trusted propaganda hands like John Bolton to spread the seeds of propaganda to their shut in and intellectually shut out viewers.

Fox News Guest Slams Their Benghazi Coverage as GOP Propaganda was written by Jason Easley for PoliticusUSA.

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14 Responses to Fox News Guest Slams Their Benghazi Coverage as GOP Propaganda

YellowDogYankee

Nov. 26th, 2012 at 2:05 pm

First Geraldo and now Tom Ricks – Fox is going to have to start using a 10 second delay so they can keep their guest’s comments on the party line.
What do you think? 1 0
tom

Nov. 26th, 2012 at 2:18 pm

How fast was that interview over? They have to have scheduled a certain amount of time for Hick, plug his book and then discuss Benghazi. No doubt they where surprised by his response and that this interview wasn’t going to be feeding their talking points and ended that quickly.
What do you think? 0 0
Jo Hargis

Nov. 26th, 2012 at 2:48 pm

Gee, I wonder if anyone over at Fox has noticed that slight odor of something burning yet? =))
What do you think? 0 0
Thinking Person

Nov. 26th, 2012 at 2:57 pm

What a breath of fresh air! I can even say a ray of sunshine!

If there is a controversy, I’ll be the first to say pull up the facts. But, this has seemed bogus from the start. And, frankly, creepy, like the GOP KNOWS what happened.
What do you think? 0 0
- Thinking Person
  
  Nov. 26th, 2012 at 2:58 pm
  
  oh, and so nice to see a smart person sharing accurate information. Hallelejeh!
  What do you think? 0 0
Patrick

Nov. 26th, 2012 at 4:00 pm

This PoliticusUSA sounds as irrationally prejudice and bias to the left as they claim Fox is for the right.
What do you think? 0 0
- djchefron
  
  Nov. 26th, 2012 at 6:20 pm
  
  I guess its true.Facts have a liberal bias.Dont worry pat,just turn that frown upside down
  What do you think? 0 0
- majii
  
  Nov. 26th, 2012 at 11:53 pm
  
  Nope, nope, and nope. Jason posted the video clip showing what Mr. Ricks said and the newscaster’s reaction. It was the swiftest interview ever on Fox! Only someone who doesn’t like hearing the truth would call PoliticusUSA as bad as Fox. Fox News is the major reason so many republicans, including Karl Rove, Mitt Romney, and Paul Ryan were caught off guard on November 6. Fox News sold you all a load of bull and you believed it. You ignored all of the internals of the polls and created other polls to sustain the false belief that Romney/Ryan would win the election. PoliticusUSA has never done anything like this, yet, you compare a website that accurately predicted the election to one that had a Karl Rove meltdown on election night. Clearly, these two entities are not the same, but to aid you in your avoidance of the facts, you make a false equivalency. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Patrick, is okay with us at PolitcusUSA, and especially so since President Obama is still in the White House where he will remain for the next four years.
  What do you think? 0 0
- crystalwolfakacaligrl
  
  Nov. 27th, 2012 at 11:55 am
  
  BooFlippinHoo it is a fact that Fox is the arm of the Republican party as all RW news is.
  
  Why isn’t fox investigating who was behind the making of the movie that caused the uprising in Benghazi?
  Why? It might lead to John MCCain, MittRomney,Koch bros etc.
  POTUS and VP have looked both Ryan & Romney dead in the eye and said they will “Get” whomever is responsible.
  And you have mccain flying off the rails…gee why is that?
  Romney looking disheveled in a recent pic?
  I loved how the guest called out fox news loved it.
  That is a keeper for sure! F.A.C.T.S. are a terrible thing to waste :)
  What do you think? 0 0
Pandar

Nov. 26th, 2012 at 4:45 pm

I enjoyed that immensely.
What do you think? 0 0
A Walkaway

Nov. 26th, 2012 at 5:00 pm

There IS one thing that has always made me suspicious since shortly after I first heard about the four people murdered over an offensive video.

You don’t hear that much about Glen Dohtery. He was a personal friend of some of the people who have posted here at PoliticusUSA. He really was one of the good guys (I never knew him or even heard of him until after the fact).

He was a member of the MRFF and fought against the dominionists in the military. Thus, he had some deadly political enemies (anyone who has had real problems with dominionists know how dangerous they really are).

MRFF has been instrumental in stopping the dominionists on many fronts, and exposing the harmful things they’ve done.

If there WAS a denial of aid or major delay from “our side” in coming to their defense… I wonder how much his connections would have had with it?

I wouldn’t put it past the dominionists… who would even violate their oaths for their “God”.
What do you think? 0 0
mjh

Nov. 27th, 2012 at 4:33 pm

Ricks responded, “How many security contractors died in Iraq? Do you know?” Scott answered, “I don’t.” Ricks continued, “Nobody does, because nobody cared.”

That’s right.

Just as nobody cared when $9 billion in cash simply mysteriously vanished in Iraq.

Just as nobody cared when the White House ADMITTED in 2006 that there were no WMDs in Iraq.

Just as nobody cared when, as of the time of the above admission, more than 3000 US servicepersons had lost their lives in Iraq, for essentially no reason.

Just as nobody cared when more than an estimated 10,000 Iraqi civilians had been killed in the war.

Because . . . anyone who DID care, and expressed that care loudly, was branded a “traitor” by Fox news chickenhawk Sean Hannity . . .

.
What do you think? 0 0
Anne

Nov. 27th, 2012 at 6:21 pm

I saw this, too, and I have never seen FOX NOISE cut off an interview so quickly before. I will certainly be looking for his book, because he has earned my respect by taking on these idiots who seem to believe their own lies. They have inadvertently brought attention to this man, instead of marginalizing him like they thought they would.
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Sgt Jeffery Humphrey

Nov. 28th, 2012 at 12:33 pm

I was interviewed in 09 by one Jeff Scharlet about the Dominionist coupe in the military. Harper’s Magazine ran with the story called “Jesus Killed Mohammed” and Jeff did a fair report on it. (Note ate the time the Obama admin had done nothing to curb their influence) But one thing I feel that Jeff had missed was the interconnectedness of the defense contractors such as Black Water, the International Republican Institute (I.R.I headed by McCain and was partly involved in Egypt during the Arab Spring of who Ray LaHood son was arrested in Egypt for operating as a member of the IrI) & Spec Ops. Command. This is just the tip of the iceburg when it comes down to the want of the Theo-fascists to rule America by Mosaic law & their god.

SGT Jeffery Humphrey (Honorably Discharged)
U.S. Army Infantry 1998-2005
Samarra Iraq 2004-2005
Purple Heart recipient
What do you think? 1 0