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It was pretty delightful to watch Fox News try to walk back their attempt to present Cliven Bundy as a folk hero. Once Bundy was outed as a racist, and it became clear that his primary motive for his anti-government tirades was profit, Fox turned the car around and left Nevada as quickly as possible.
While it would be nice to think that Fox may have learned a lesson from the Cliven Bundy debacle, you shouldn’t hold your breath. Fox has a long history of finding unlikely heroes and then quickly distancing themselves when they learn just how unheroic they are. Bundy was far from the first—and he certainly won’t be the last—person that Fox turned into a symbol and then abandoned when things got complicated. From despots to demagogues to the deranged, here are 15 times Fox News championed someone who turned out to be terrible.
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Donald Sterling
He's a terrible racist but—that three letter word often tends to find its way to the end of a thought when race is discussed on Fox News. Last month, Fox brought in the likes of Donald Trump to defend Donald Sterling, and he sang a familiar refrain when discussing V. Stiviano. "She's called the girlfriend from Hell ... she was baiting him and she is a terrible human being." Nevermind Sterling's history with racism, including housing discrimination against minorities, this man is a victim.
Of course, a Fox reporter was on hand at NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's press conference announcing disciplinary action against Sterling. Jovian Lein asked, "Should someone lose their team for remarks shared in private. Is this a slippery slope?"
George Zimmerman
At best, George Zimmerman turned out to be mentally unstable and a bit deluded. At worst...well, we've all got our opinions on that. Because Fox News advocates the style of vigilante justice associated with loosest interpretation of the Second Amendment, they were put in a position to defend Zimmerman throughout the Trayvon Martin trial, and his continuing legal troubles.
Through all of it, Fox News has painted Zimmerman as the innocent victim of the liberal media. One guest, Doug Burns, said, "I know everybody keeps sarcastically saying about he Skittles. You could probably kill somebody with Skittles." Fox has gone as far as to say that Zimmerman should never have been put on trial in the first place, despite killing Martin. On Fox News Sunday, Congressman Steve King said, "The evidence didn't support prosecution and the Justice Department engaged in this, the President engaged in this and turned it into a political issue ..."
Even months after Fox got its desired outcome, they continue to defend and prop up Zimmerman, though Zimmerman continues to have problems with the law.
Ted Nugent
Fox News loves to trot out Ted Nugent as their fun-loving, gun-loving rock-n-roller in residence from time to time. Unsurprisingly, there is some darkness beneath Uncle Ted's libertarian rock star persona. Nugent has called President Obama a "subhuman mongrel." He has since apologize, but he is no first-time offender.
Thinly veiled race-baiting is one of Nugent's favorite tricks. During his 2013 "Black Power Tour" he liked to pull out phrases like "well-fed motherfucker food stamp cock suckers." Nugent also likes to fan the para-military flames of the far right with lines like this one from his song "Stormtroopin'": "Comin' up that street, jackboots steppin' high / Got to make a stand / Looking in your windows and listen to your phone / Keep a gun in your hand."
Here's an interview between Uncle Ted and Bill O'Reilly in which they have a grand old time.
Vladimir Putin
To say that Vladimir Putin turned out to be terrible is kind of ridiculous. We've known that this guy is terrible for a long time. He is a corrupt leader who fuels the oligarchy while jailing and killing dissidents. The challenge for Fox News is that while they may not agree with Putin's actions, he is a strong-willed conservative nationalist hardliner. According to their talking points, that's the kind of leader they like.
Even after Putin has begun annexing the Crimea and parts of the Ukraine, Fox still feels the need to work quotes like "Russia has a real leader," "You got to hand it to Putin," and "That's what you call a leader," into Putin coverage. One Fox contributor compared their fashion choices, "Putin likes to hang out with his shirt off. Obama wears mom jeans." For more Putin loving ridiculousness, check out what Jon Stewart put together on the topic.
Byron Smith
Now that Fox has gotten (almost) every ounce of material they could out of George Zimmerman, they've found a new vigilante murderer to hitch their wagon to. Byron Smith, a Minnesota man, killed two teenagers who broke into his home. But that doesn't tell the whole story. He set a trap for them, laid in wait, and shot them multiple times, taunting them as he hunted them through his house. He chillingly referred to his teenage victims as "vermin."
Sean Hannity is a big fan of Byron Smith. At least Fox had the decency to have some of their pundits argue against the cold-blooded murder of teenagers as Hannity expressed his admiration. In this clip, Hannity and friends discuss how Smith put the gun under the chin of an already wounded girl and pulled the trigger, and then they have a good laugh about the whole thing.
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase
We all know who the real victims of the 2008 financial crash were: the bankers. As Fox News tells it, Jamie Dimon and JPMorgan Chase have been hit hardest in the aftermath of the financial collapse. In this clip, Stuart Varney discusses a multi-billion dollar settlement between JPMorgan by the government. According to Varney, this sum is totally unfair, as “much of that money is paying for the sins of Bear Sterns and Washington Mutual.” Of course, since JPMorgan owns Bear Sterns and Washington Mutual, they also own the liabilities.
Mind you, much of the fine was levied as a result of JPMorgan’s direct actions, but that isn't the point. Varney's claims are so absurd that Jaime Dimon himself knows they're not true. In 2008, Dimon set aside $28 billion dollars in litigation funds for when all of this came home to roost. He told shareholders, “Any liability related to the assets will come with us.” Thankfully for the poor bank and their shareholders, much of the settlement is tax deductible.
President Des Walsh and CEO Michael Johnson of Herbalife
Fox supports business, even if that business shouldn't really be a business. Hedge fund manager William Ackman has made it his mission to take down Herbalife, which he believes to be a pyramid scheme. His argument is pretty convincing. Fox Business invited Harbalife President Des Walsh on the channel to answer some softball questions and take shots at Ackman after he leveled his accusations.
If you think that segment isn't that easy on Herbalife, you only need to go back two years earlier to find an even more favorable report praising Herbalife on Fox News. It looks like Ackman's claims have gained traction with some powerful allies. Last month, the FBI joined announced they would be investigating Herbalife. Though no charges have been filed yet, things are looking pretty grim for the wellness company.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio
For the last few years, conservatives have had a love affair with Joe Arpaio. This tough Arizona sheriff has made life difficult for inmates and right-wingers have heartily applauded. Fox News has been an adamant supporter of Arpaio. Arpaio is known for for forcing inmates to wear pink and having constructed a "tent city" prison for his inmates (named one of America's worst prisons by Mother Jones). He is also known for advocating tough anti-immigration laws and hyper-localized government. You're looking at a right-winger's law enforcement dream.
It turns out that Joe Arpaio is also guilty of racial profiling. He has been in and out of court over the last several years, as judges have ordered him to accept external monitors. He has repeatedly bucked those attempts, which he views as a violation of the rights of state and local government.
The Walton Family
Wal-Mart, owned by the Walton Family, continues its heroic battle against their underpaid, overworked employees, and Fox News is always the first to tell you of their struggle. Ahead of Black Friday 2012, Fox News invited Wal-Mart V.P. of Communications David Tovar to speak about how the company filed complaints against unions to prevent workers from ruining everyone's shopping season. The program then took a moment to tell Americans how Wal-Mart helps victims of Hurricane Sandy. Oh, by the way, the program was brought to you by Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart has a long history of exploiting their workers. This particular strike was occasioned by Wal-Mart opening its doors at 8 a.m. Thanksgiving morning. Of course, that is just one of many complaints workers have against Wal-Mart. The Internet readily yields dozens of articles like this one from Policy Mic detailing Wal-Mart's terrible labor practices. Most recently, Wal-Mart made news after a report estimated that the company costs tax payer $6 billion in federal assistance for their impoverished employees.
Bob Dudley, BP Executive
Following the BP oil spill, Fox News went with their normal stance of "leave big business alone." Media Matters gathered up a number of examples of Fox News pundits urging the public and the government not to demonize BP. Glenn Beck said that "[The government] have successfully demonized and looted BP." Jim Varney said, "The administration's response has been as follows: demonize BP." Sarah Palin chimed in, "We can't afford to demonize these energy producers."
As it turns out, demonizing BP is exactly what we should have done. Federal investigators found that BP was responsible for 21 of 35 factors that led to the spill. Guess who else was involved: Dick Cheney's own Halliburton. To quote the report: "[The spill was] the result of poor risk management, last-minute changes to plans, failure to observe and respond to critical indicators, inadequate well control response, and insufficient emergency bridge response training by companies and individuals responsible for drilling at the Macondo well and for the operation of the Deepwater Horizon."
Chris Christie
Fox News has been back and forth on Chris Christie for a long time. He is certainly a little too blue for the Fox base, but he might be blue enough to be a viable G.O.P. presidential candidate in 2016. Christie became embroiled in scandal just as Fox was ready to welcome the governor back to the conservative fold. Christie has been accused of creating a massive traffic jam in Ft. Lee just to teach an opponent a lesson.
Following this revelation, Fox found themselves in a strange position. Just as Fox had previously looked high and low for ways to attack Christie, now they were bending over backwards to defend him. In another phenomenal segment from The Daily Show, Jon Stewart found some great Fox analyst quotes, including Brit Hume's statement saying, "In this sort of feminized atmosphere, men today have learned the lesson the hard way that if you act like an old-fashioned guy's guy, you're in constant danger of saying something that's going to get you in trouble and make you look like a sexist or make you seem thuggish or whatever." Quite a compelling argument Brit.
Since Bridgegate broke, it seems a damn broke too. Christie has since been mired in controversy including withholding millions of dollars of aid from Hoboken because of a real estate grudge. Christie's headaches look like they'll only increase as we approach 2016.
The Koch Brothers
It's no secret that Fox News and the Koch Brothers have a close relationship. Fox News coverage is instrumental in getting the word out about Koch funded policies and in winning the numerous elections that the Koch Brothers buy each year. The relationship goes beyond even that level of back scratching. Fox is also the Koch Brothers' on-call PR platform. After the Koch Brothers told their 45,000 employees to vote pro-business in 2012, Fox Business brought Koch PR head Nancy Pfotenhauer on television to dismiss critical responses to the Kochs.
If you aren't familiar with the laundry list of terrible things that the Koch Brothers have done and are attempting to do to our country, here's a start. They've been responsible for hundreds of oils spills, systematically work to destroy unions, fight hard against health care reforms, and have pushed for foreclosures on people's homes. Harry Reid recently identified them as one of the main causes—not a cause, but a main cause—of climate change. And that's just the tip of the quickly melting iceberg.
Laurent Gbagbo, Ivory Coast Dictator
The conflicts in many war-torn nations aren't exactly black and white. In many countries in the world ravaged by violence, you can quickly find atrocities on both sides. This is the case with the Ivory Coast. In 2011, much of the international community put their support towards democratically elected president Allassane Outtara, not because he is perfect, but because he was democratically elected. This upset Glenn Beck because Outtara is a Muslim and previous leader Laurent Gbagbo is a Christian. Beck clearly saw an opportunity to further fan the flames of Barack Obama Muslim rumors with this story.
Though Beck made a point to highlight Outtara's hand in a recent massacre (which is factually correct) he stopped at describing Gbagbo's history of human rights abuses as "his own share of issues." This share of issues includes gunning down seven peaceful female protesters, deploying "death squads" into neighborhoods, murdering immigrants, and kidnapping members of the opposition. Gbagbo's abuses continued until he was extradited to International Criminal Court in late 2011.
Hosni Mubarak, Deposed Egyptian President
Mike Huckabee's biggest concern regarding the unrest in Egypt a few years ago was that the U.S. failed to acknowledge that President Mubarak had been a good friend. Essentially, Huckabee would like to see any country near Israel be controlled by dictators so that Israel won't have to share borders with destabilized (albeit democratized) nations. It must be comforting to Huckabee that Egypt is once again a dictatorship courtesy of strongman Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
To be fair, Huckabee did mention Mubarak's abuses, but the former governor seems to think that the best way to fix Egypt would have been to ask our buddy to chill out a bit. Maybe if Mubarak had just gone with a little less torture, imprisonment, and murdering of dissidents things would have been hunky-dory. For a nice primer on Mubarak's human right's abuses, check out this piece from The Daily Beast.
Cliven Bundy
Before we found out who Cliven Bundy really was (a racist rancher who wraps himself in that weird brand of libertarian patriotic-non-patriotism to justify his greed), Fox News made him out to be the person they wanted him to be. Here was an anti-government hero gift-wrapped for the Fox News propaganda machine. Bundy, a Nevada rancher who has been grazing cattle on federal land without paying fees for years, was a convenient symbol of how big government dominates the little guy. Sean Hannity interviewed the man and said, "You and your family seem like really nice people."
The New York Times' Adam Nagourney went to talk to Mr. Bundy and found out that he wasn't so nice. Here's a quote from Bundy on African-Americans (or as Bundy says, "The Negro") in case you've been out on a grazing field these past few weeks: "They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I've often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn't get no more freedom. They got less freedom."