Shortly after the State of the Union address for Bush's 2nd term, I happened to tune into Fox News. They were doing a commentary on it. Specifically, they were talking about how some people (I believe they may have thrown around 'liberals' to reference this group, but I'm not 100% sure) thought that the hug between the soldier's mother and the Iraqi woman was staged. They also had what seemed like a token black guy, who argued that the hug wasn't staged, but maybe they'd been seated for something to happen, and/or that there wasn't enough information to say.
No one acted like they could figure out what he was saying at first; but then, in an understanding and tolerant manner, the lead guy in the discussion acted like he finally got it, and said "So what you're saying is..." and outlined the argument.
I thought it was complete BS.
First of all, why the hell were they devoting 10 minutes to discussing it? Whether or not the hug was staged doesn't matter. If it was, it was just taking the publicity stunt of having them there in the first place a bit further. I'm sure that with the resources of the Presidency, even I could find one Iraqi woman and one soldier's mother to endorse me on national TV.
Second of all, the entire segment just seemed to be geared towards suggesting that everyone who supported President Bush was right, and that there's a place for everybody. It seemed the message you were trying to get was, "Bush didn't stage the hug, and that makes him a good person."
Finally, the segment just seemed layered against any dissent; planned rather than presented.
That's just the most recent Fox program I've seen. I've seen a 'discussion' where the host cut off the Democratic rep's argument to deliver the "Fair and balanced" slogan. (and oddly enough, the rep seemed pretty inept at representing) I've also seen a show that resembled the Daily Show, except anti-Dem, that delivered the fair and balanced slogan when it ended.
My impression is that Fox news really is just propaganda first, news second, targeted at the general populace. Just turn on Fox sometime; it's pretty evident.
