The Foxy Business Of Punditry

It's common knowledge that Fox"News" loves them some Republicans in power. They will, and have, done just about anything a "news" organization can do in order to distribute as much propoganda as possible.

When it comes to Barack Obama, it's even more evident that they are willing to do or say just about anything.

But, when it turns out that John McCain should be part of the conversation, the pundits, analysts, and "experts" don't seem to see how that is relevant to the discussion.

During the 1990s, while he served as chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI), McCain distributed several grants to the Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi, including one worth half a million dollars.

A 1998 tax filing for the McCain-led group shows a $448,873 grant to Khalidi's Center for Palestine Research and Studies for work in the West Bank. (See grant number 5180, "West Bank: CPRS" on page 14 of this PDF.)

The relationship extends back as far as 1993, when John McCain joined IRI as chairman in January. Foreign Affairs noted in September of that year that IRI had helped fund several extensive studies in Palestine run by Khalidi's group, including over 30 public opinion polls and a study of "sociopolitical attitudes."

Of course, there's seemingly nothing objectionable with McCain's organization helping a Palestinian group conduct research in the West Bank or Gaza. But it does suggest that McCain could have some of his own explaining to do as he tries to make hay out of Khalidi's ties to Obama.

More from Seth Colter Walls here.

Of course, Sarah Palin has to be defended as well on Fox - for now.

In the continuing saga of "guilt-by-association" on Fox"News", Republican Micheal Steele finally came out and admitted that he thinks it's not relevant because a "liberal" - Alan Colmes, asked the same question of Palin that he is asking of Obama:



You can find more on this and the above story from Newshounds.

Given the fact that Fox is willing to dive head-first into the shallow end of the pool, people began to realize that they would eventually slip-up and have a "guest" or use a "source" that was, to put it mildly, not the best choice.

This happened when Sean Hannity used Andy Martin, a known anti-semitic racist, during his epic "Obama Has Radical Associations Be Afraid" program. Rather than checking to see if his guest had a dark past of his own, he just ran with it because it was another chance to try and make Obama look bad.

Fox finally came out and said that it was a "bad choice". But, so far, Hannity doesn't seem to be bothered with it. After all, he's still getting his paycheck every week.