Pennsylvania’s Rendell praises Fox News’ biased coverage of presidential race

March 31, 2008

OK, new rule. High-profile Democrats and surrogates for the Democratic presidential candidates can no longer go on Fox News and praise the Republican network for its “balanced” coverage of the horserace. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D), I’m looking at you.

For those of you who can’t watch clips online, the video shows Rendell, a major Clinton backer, appearing on “Fox and Friends,” speaking to Steve Doocy, saying, “I think during this entire primary coverage, starting in Iowa and up to the present — FOX has done the fairest job, and remained the most objective of all the cable networks. You hate both of our candidates. No, I’m only kidding. But you actually have done a very balanced job of reporting the news, and some of the other stations are just caught up with Senator Obama, who is a great guy, but Senator Obama can do no wrong, and Senator Clinton can do no right.”

Oh my. Rendell’s argument seemed to be that Fox News is more negative towards Obama than the credible cable news networks, which therefore makes Fox News “fair,” “objective,” and “balanced.”

Fortunately, I know Hillary Clinton doesn’t believe this, so it’s not fair to connect her to these remarks directly. Rendell may have been on the network this morning to represent the campaign, but Clinton made it clear when she pulled out of a Fox News-sponsored debate last year that she considers the network a partisan outfit.

Still, for any real Democrat, especially a former chairman of the DNC, to go on Fox News and praise the network’s coverage is both foolish and frustrating.

Will Bunch helped capture just how wrong Rendell is.

So, if I read this correctly, Fox News Democrat Rendell is endorsing objective reporting like the bogus Fox story that Obama was educated in a madrassa in Indonesia, because it wasn’t Hillary bashing. Even one of Fox’s star reporters blasted Fox’s lack of “objectivity” on Obama recently. Since FNC’s also been critical of Clinton lately, is Rendell calling them “objective” because they run biased stories bashing BOTH Democratic candidates?

This goes beyond the current Clinton-Obama wars. Rendell — in winning elections by the dint of his own personal popularity (and good for him) — has remained willfully ignorant about the broader truths of American politics in Fox News era, even as he ran the DNC while the media obliterated Al Gore in 2000.

In November, it’s all but certain that a) Obama will be the Democrats’ nominee b) he’ll need Pa. to get elected and c) Fox News will be Obama’s worst enemy. Democrats should be thrilled that Rendell has just granted them full immunity.

Maybe someone could direct Rendell to Fox Attacks. If he spent a few minutes there, I doubt he’d repeat such nonsense.

Sadly given MSNBC’s pretty clear bias towards Obama capped by Olberman’s ridiculous special comment- Rendell has a point. But that really says more about MSNBC than Fox.

  • Nice to see Rendell pass the IQ test low enough to qualify as a Clintoncrat. Remember, a Clintoncrat is to a Democrat as oil is to water.

  • It’s not suprising to see a Clinton supporter chasing the Fox News viewer vote, which she needs in order say she’s still got a chance…

    Sad, but not suprising.

  • What I find ironic is the people who think they are the only ‘real democrats’ and use that position to dismiss the thoughts of anyone they disagree with ; they clearly don’t understand the democratic concept at all. But live by the bubble die by the bubble. This attitude is what is making this blog and places like MSNBC as bad as Fox in just a different direction. Complaints about bias on the right become laughable when you are engaging in the same tactic just for your preferred candidate.

    True discussion and real journalism die- but that somes to be the preference of many of those who happily call others idiots while failing to see that they have become what they allegedly hate.

  • Hey Ed.

    Can the democrats win PA in the general election if the black vote in Philly doesn’t come out?

  • Meteor. Earth. Dinosaurs.
    Clinton, Rendell, Ickes….
    All old world democrats.
    Washed out. Flushed out. As ashen and irrelevant as ghosts.

    Will someone please tap them on their exoskeletons and tell them they are extinct?
    Ugly, gray, petty, and in foolish denial… isn’t pretty.

  • “…the video shows Rendell, a major Clinton backer, appearing on “Fox and Friends,” speaking to Steve Doocy…”

    Is this the same Steve Doocy that dedicated two-hours to bashing Obama on the Fox morning show…so much so that he offended one of his fellow hosts and Chris Wallace?

    If Rendell is into race-baiting, then Doocy is his guy.

  • No self-respecting journalist, Democrat and/or progressive should ever appear on Fox News.

    Lanny Davis, Ed Rendell, Colmes of “HANNITY & colmes”, Geraldine Ferraro, Nina Tottenberg, Juan Williams, etcetera. They should do us all a favor and take a pass…forever.

  • I’m sure Rendell will welcome all of Clinton’s new supporters that Rush will send to vote for her.

    WTF is wrong with these people?

  • I just learned over the weekend, via Air America, that Fox News will be controlling the pool coverage for the Democratic National Convention in August. Basically, Fox employees will be will be running the stationary cameras inside the convention hall and Fox directors will be choosing which camera shots go out to the other networks.

    http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2007/09/fox-news-to-provide-convention-pool.html

    Apparently, straws were drawn or something, and Fox News gets the Democratic convention while ABC News will run the pool coverage for the Republican National Convention.

    Democratic convention organizers insist that the isn’t anything Fox News can do that would reflect their well-known bias. I beg to differ.

    The director could diminish the effect of speeches by cutting away from the speakers during the most dramatic parts to show images of delegates yawning or not paying attention. The cameramen could emphasize how ‘out of the mainstream’ the Democrats are by seeking out and showing an endless parade of delegates who look ‘different’ — like black men with dreadlocks, white men with long hair and beards, women with short hair and flannel shirts and anyone with prominent piercings.

    You can bet that any sign of disunity will be prominently shown. Even if there are only a few delegates with signs supporting someone other than the nominee, each and every one will be shown on the broadcast.

    They could even play with the color contrast and make Obama look dark and menacingly negro, or make the colors of people’s clothes look garish and tacky.

    I don’t think I’m being paranoid here. After all, Fox News is the network that went to court to protect their right to distort the news.
    http://www.relfe.com/media_can_legally_lie.html

    What I can’t comprehend is why Democratic party leaders keep treating Fox News as if they are a legitimate news network.

  • Truth is that MSNBC and CNN don’t report the news in an unbiased way, at least so far as the race for the democratic nomination is concerned.

    They also do not criticize Obama enough, if at all.

    It’s no wonder 48% of us don’t even know who Rev. Wright is!

    I’m not sure that I’d agree that FOX should be praised for their efforts, but at least they dare to question Obama and not caring so much if they lose ratings for doing so.

  • Fortunately, I know Hillary Clinton doesn’t believe this, so it’s not fair to connect her to these remarks directly.

    Must be nice to have it both ways. She looks high and mighty while avoiding the network, but sends her lackey to stroke their ego.

  • 1. truthsquad said: Sadly given MSNBC’s pretty clear bias towards Obama capped by Olberman’s ridiculous special comment- Rendell has a point. But that really says more about MSNBC than Fox.

    Olbermann does 5 hours a week on MSNBC, he isn’t the whole network. Watch Morning Joe if you want to see some continuous Obama bashing. That would be the MSNBC morning show with Joe Scarborough that is on opposite the Fox show Rendell effusively praised.

  • This is more so as a reflection of the politics, forums and audience that Rendell is used to speaking to rather than a validation of Fox as a credible news source.

    Rendell and most PA Dems outside Philly and Pittsburgh really have gotten used to getting their message out thru the prism of Fox news to most moderate and centrist PA voters, Dem and Repugs, because thats all the rest of the state watches, relates to and can get their heads around.

    Unfortunately for the Dem party, most of those Centrist voters also do not really listen to the issues and tend to only accept facts that are based on what their own preconceived notions and politics tell them to hear. so rather than speak to them and lift them up, Rendell and others have learned to triangulate rather than confront and fix the issues.

    I say this as an Ex Pennsylvanian, who constantly bangs my head against a wall when I see the short selling stupidty of the clowns in Harrisburg, who treat a majority of PA as if it still is and still wants to be treated like a Company town…

  • “Fortunately, I know Hillary Clinton doesn’t believe this….” and “…Clinton made it clear when she pulled out of a Fox News-sponsored debate last year that she considers the network a partisan outfit.”

    Was that about the same time she said that the Michigan and Florida primaries definitely would have no bearing or legitimacy in the nominating process?

    Get real. I know you are doing your best to be neutral – but how much b.s. does one have to eat? PLEASE, Hillary supporters – please wake up!

  • Ok, you got Ed Rendell on FOX, Bill Clinton on Limbaugh and Hillary Clinton sitting knee to knee with Richard Mellon Scaife. What could this possibly mean?

    Hmmmmm…….

  • Hillary has to show up and interview the right-wing rag, the Pittsburgh Review-Tribune? This is a small time newspaper, akin to the Washington Times in tone and stature. The Governor of Pennsylvania, a supposed Democrat, has to go smooze on Fascists and Freaks, the no-news right-wing cable television channel? Having been brought up in Pittsburgh, PA, I wonder what is wrong with these people? The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, founded by William Penn, a noted Quaker leader, has fallen on hard times, I guess. When in trouble, goose-step to the right…

  • This is the first I heard of FOX being the “network” that’ll be running the cameras at the Dem convention. How on earth can the Dems let this pass? Who gives a damn if the networks drew straws! It’s the Dems’ show, and if they want to keep FOX out that should be their prerogative. If they don’t they dumber than they seem have a right to be.

    Can we PLEASE get instant runoff voting so we can get some viable alternate parties in this country? Oh, that’s right, in order to get it the two parties would have to vote for it. Catch-22!

  • Typical! Write a sentence about the party being dumb and have it full of typos. D’OH!

  • I’m not sure what the attraction to HRC is among voters, but her attraction among insiders is disturbing to me. Many of these people seem invested in the status quo — they seem not to have a clue that Fox and Rush and praising McCain’s bullshit are antithetical to the well-being of democracy as that term has been understood historically.

    I don’t know about Obama — maybe he’s no better. But he’s gotten people fired up and thinking that maybe, just maybe, we can make democracy work the way it’s supposed to. If enough of us believed that we are the owners of government perhaps we could actually take it back.

  • Ok, you got Ed Rendell on FOX, Bill Clinton on Limbaugh and Hillary Clinton sitting knee to knee with Richard Mellon Scaife. What could this possibly mean?—Curmudgeon@18

    Would “Vichy Democrats” sound about right?

  • Ed Rendell makes a good point. All but Fox News is obsessed with Obama. Hey, even leftwing bloggers seem to have fallen for the guy. They’ll turn on hum soon enough – poor thing.

  • Honesty & intelligence are not necessary for holding public office but ass kissing and brown nosing are prerequisites.

  • Whether Hillary Clinton “considers the network a partisan outfit” or not is beside the point. She’ll use it and anything else to her advantage, when necessary.

    She went on Fox just last Wednesday, if you’ll remember, to do a litle damage control, and general Obama-bashing, with the aid of some egregiously slanted softballs from Greta van Susteren.
    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,342151,00.html

    Here are a few examples of how she was teed up:

    VAN SUSTEREN: But the issue of the Bosnia problem that you’ve had in the last couple days and the one with Reverend Wright and the hateful speech of his and Senator Obama — if you’re trying to tell the voters why yours is less of a problem that his is less of a problem right now, what do you say?

    To her credit, Clinton did not take the Wright bait there, instead sticking to the “I made a mistake” but “I’m ready on Day One” script.

    VAN SUSTEREN: Well, I guess that — I don’t mean to badger you on this particular issue, but when I look at the issues, I get a little confused. Like, take Iraq. There have been at 85 votes, according to my colleague, James Rosen, in the Senate for both you and Senator Obama to vote on having to do with Iraq. He says, Well, I was opposed to the war in the beginning, but when you look at the 85 votes, you agreed on 84 of them. So it seems to me that, you know, the voters have to make a judgment, and so — do you — do you agree totally on Iraq, or where are you different in the sound bites, so that we get it?

    Clinton hit that one out of the park, rehashing her “Senator Obama has basically run his whole campaign on a speech he made in 2002” attack.

    Now, Van Susteren is not in the same league as Hannity, Doocy, Hume, et al., but it’s the same network, and the same viewership. As we’ve seen in the past week with her courtship of the other pillars of the VRWConspiracy, Clinton is no way above pulling any lever of power to win.

  • I am a Hillary supporter and came to the same conclusion as Ed Rendell quite some time ago. I started watching Fox for the first time in years. However Rendell is wrong in his implication that Fox hates Hillary as much as the other networks. Not true from what I see. MSNBC and CNN hate her much much more.

  • Wow.
    The comments in this thread and on countless others
    on this and other websites really make it clear…
    Hillary supporters are turning into republicans.

  • Let’s change the world by banning Fox News. Then, let’s make the other changes that this country needs.

    The USA needs to be better liked in the world. We should apologize to all we have harmed by our militaristic past and terrible behavior. We need to apologize to the native American Indians for stealing the continent. It would be nice to give back the western United States as a form of restitution. We need to apologize to the African Americans and provide $100,000 to ever man, woman and child, whether they had slave ancestors or not. The Irish, Japanese, Chinese, Italians, Germans, and Latin Americans have all faced discrimination. Congress needs to aplogize for the nation as well find a way to compensate them as well.

    The country needs to comensate the victims we created from World War 1, World War 2, Korea, and Vietnam. I feel so guilty as an American that we use nuclear bombs on the Japenese to end the war. If we had been better negotiators they would have left China, Korea, and the Phillipines on their own. We should have done more to rebuild Europe and Japan after World War 2.

    We need to abolish all our nuclear weapons immediately and close every single military base overseas. This country has no business being involved in world affairs. Americans are citizens of the world! The United Nations will solve the conflicts around the world if needed. We shouldn’t fear Iran, North Korea, Syria and the Islamic groups in the Middle East. It’s the USA that is to blame! If we just better understood their perspective instead of being arrogant they would embrace us. Can’t we all just get along like President Carter once proposed?

    The USA needs to open its borders to anyone. Its not fair to the other citizens of the world that they cannot enter the country freely. It shows what a flawed society we have. Why should Americans restrict who gets to come to this country? America needs to benefit everyone not just the selfish white mail establishment.

    We neee free and comprehensive health care for everyone. Michael Moore and Al Gore should help set up a government agency to model our new system based on the highly successful one in Cuba. Drug companies should be regulated to only make a fair profit. They should also be forced to give free drugs to anyone who says they can’t or don’t want to pay for them. We also need to free up the trial lawyers to get more and bigger settlements. Not only should they go after drug companies and doctors, they should also go after tobacco, alcohol, fast food restuarants (owned by the good ole boy establishment) and food producers that put too much fat in their products. Americans are not fat by choice. It’s the greedy companies that force people to eat so much and such fat foods.

    The government needs to start an Organic Food Agency. Their goal should be to eliminate all fertilizers and pesticides. We should start by making all schools and governemnt related agencies serve only organically produced food. It’s the right thing to do.

    Oil companies should stop right now! We need to take those profits and deploy them to a better societal good. We need a new cabinent position that will mandate energy efficient changes. The country needs to require mass transportation. It may be slightly inconvenient for the people who live outside of the east and west coast cities, but sacrifices need to be made. It can’t be that hard to car pool in Wyoming.

    Al Gore needs to be appointed to lifetime position to head up a new Environmental Supreme Court. This would and should be more powerful than the current Supreme Court. We need to shut down big businesses that are energy hogs. All the millions of people who work for those compaines can be retrained into green industries.

    The USA needs to legalize all drugs. If people want to quit, there needs to be free rehabilitation. It’s not the person’s fault that they get addicted. In fact, it’s because its one way the government conspires to hold down people of color.

    We need a new governemnt agency to oversee the closure of prisons. The white establishment uses these institutions to lock up people of color in order to hold them down. The people in jail should be set free, or in the rare case, if needed, rehabilitated by the government. These people have done nothing to deserve to be there.

    We need to have a government agency that values all jobs appropriately so that comparative worth is taken into account. Women have been oppressed since the beginning of time. It’s not fair that a child care provider does not make the same wage as the construction worker. It’s simply a bias against women. Teachers need to be paid based on their knowledge and experience. The government agency should determine how much each of them makes. A Phd in Ural Studies deserves just as much salary as the Phd in brain disorders. It needs to be totally fair. All private schools should be banned. Every child needs to go to a public school where they can be educated by unbiased teachers.

    In each of our public schools we need to have many more subjects taught in other languages. It is not fair that children have to learn English. This infringes on their rights. All government material needs to be printed in whatever language a person wants to speak.

    We need to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour and set a mandatory 35 hour work week, and include 8 weeks of vacation as they do in Europe. The government should change the law to include unlimited unemployment benefits. If someone is not working, it’s not their fault!

    People should not be responsible for mortgage payment issues. It is the greedy Wall Street white male establishment that tricked them into buying a home they could not afford. There should be a long term moratorium on mortgage foreclosures. Big business is to blame.

    Congress should pass a law that prohibits factories from closing. To accomplish this we need a law that states at least 50% of all board of director positions should be held by union officials who will decide if and when a plant needs to be closed.

    We need to start taxing the rich so that they pay their fair share. The maximum personal rate should be 90% on individuals and corporations so that everyone can share in the wealth, not just a handful.

    The USA should immediately grant same sex marriages. Further, we need to be conducting seminars starting in grade school to educate our children on alternative lifestyles.

    Affirmative action needs to increase to overcome the past sins of our nation. Every minority group needs to be given special consideration. White males have dominated this country for too long. Nobody else has even had a chance. If someone is unhappy with their station in life it’s because a white male has held them back!

    Fur should be banned in the United States. A federal commision should be set up to eliminate all uses of animal fur in our society. Eventually, we need to move toward banning the use of all animal products.

    The constituion and all government documents should be rewritten to remove any reference to God. It offends some people that the country was founded by our ancestors seeking religious freedom. It’s not fair that some people be offended.

    Finally, this would all be possible if Fox News and all the talk radio stations were banned. These are biased, self-interested, bigoted, sexist, homophobic, mean spirited, unenlighted people who only want to hold down everyone else with the exception of white males.

  • All the hardcore conservative Fox pundits have been bashing McCain and threatening to vote for Hillary. Of course a Hillary supporter will praise them for it. Hillary is in this race to win, unfortunately, she sees this the same way that Republicans do. Forget about the hearts and minds of the voters, win the election. The rest can come later.

  • The coverage on the TV is only a hair less incendiary than the Obama thugs on the internet. Channeling John Lennon, if you say you want a revolution you can count me out. You can repeat the mantra Fox news all you want, but that talking point is so last year. Yes Fox is excreble (sp?) in so many ways, but it is transparent in their excreble-ness, especially since they are the same talking heads from years ago, who we all saw through years ago. The excreble-ness of Dan Abrams and Roland Martins and Eric Michael Dyson and David Schuster and Chris Matthews (o.k., not him, nothing new about him) is a new revelation. Go ahead, burn down Denver if you don’t get your way (where I Iive, by the way) but you’re going to lose this election if you can’t bring yourselves to treat us with respect.

  • It’s the truth. Fox attacks clinton and obama equally—I call that fair and balanced. Lately they’ve been hitting obama harder because the liberal elites in the media keep repeating that Obama “is going to get the nomination”. MSNBC is so skewed towards obama that it is nauseating. These Obama propaganda shows like “Countdown with Ogreman” are disgusting.

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