Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch at the fact-free world of FAUX News Fraudcasting gave its idiot talking heads on Fox & Friends the new GOP talking points on Monday. Fox & Friends Deceptively Edits Obama's Comments On Small Business:
Fox News this morning deceptively edited President Obama's remarks to make it seem as though he was claiming that small business owners do not deserve any credit for their own success. But Obama's actual remarks show that he attributed the success of small businesses to both the individual drive of small business owners, and to the benefit provided by influences such as great teachers, and government-created infrastructure.
President Obama, during a July 13 appearance in Roanoke, VA, argued that while small business owners' individual talents and drive allow them to attain their own portion of the American dream, credit for such attainment is not theirs alone. Obama pointed out that the success of small businesses can also be attributed to outside influences such as "a great teacher somewhere in your life" and investment "in roads and bridges."
But on the July 16 edition of Fox & Friends, the co-hosts cropped the clip of Obama's appearance to make it appear as though he was making a different point. The clip featured Obama saying:
OBAMA: If you've got a business, you didn't build that, somebody else made that happen.
[...]
The point is that, when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.
Gretchen Carlson reacted by calling the grossly misleading clip "most startling"[.]
Had Fox & Friends provided a more complete accounting of Obama's comments regarding small business and success, Fox & Friends' attempt to gin up outrage would've made even less sense. Take a look. What Fox & Friends provided in their clip is bolded below.
OBAMA: [L]ook, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.
If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.
The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don't do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.
So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That's how we funded the GI Bill. That's how we created the middle class. That's how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That's how we invented the Internet. That's how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that's the reason I'm running for President -- because I still believe in that idea. You're not on your own, we're in this together.
Selectively editing Obama comments is just par for the course for Fox & Friends, a practice that has been widely mocked. This particular instance of selective editing is a part of Fox's regular practice of accusing Obama of attacking small business.
On Tuesday, the Romney campaign picked up Fox News' distortion of Obama's comments, and Fox News is reporting on Romney's use of the false attack they helped to create. Echo Chamber: Fox And Romney Tag-Team False Small-Business Attack On Obama:
Campaigning in Pennsylvania this afternoon, Romney himself repeated the distortion of Obama's remarks, and characterized it as "insulting to every entrepreneur, every innovator in America and it's wrong."
And shortly afterward, on Studio B, Fox News chief political correspondent Carl Cameron reported on how Romney attacked the president using the same quote his colleagues enthusiastically distorted.
To top it off, the Romney campaign posted a video on YouTube that is literally nothing more than 15 seconds of Obama saying just one sentence -- "if you've got a business, you didn't build that" -- over and over.
Following the pattern, we'll likely soon see Fox News reporting on Romney's video of the Obama quote Fox News ripped out of context in the first place.
Because that's how echo chambers work.
Selectively editing Obama comments is also par for the course for the Romney campaign. You will recall that in his very first general election ad back in November, Romney was criticized for selectively editing an Obama comment to deliberately distort what Obama said in a misleading ad. Mitt Romney Ad Misquotes President Obama - ABC News:
Mitt Romney’s inaugural TV ad of the 2012 campaign aired today in New Hampshire just as President Obama traveled to the state, but the ad immediately came under fire from Democrats and fact-checkers for incorrectly quoting Obama.
* * *
Politifact, which monitors the accuracy of campaign statements, gave Romney’s ad a “Pants on fire” rating.
It has been said before and is worth repeating: FAUX News Fraudcasting is not a legitimate news organization. it is the media propaganda arm of the Republican Party, and it is engaging in Big Lie propaganda. It should not be tolerated in a free society, and it should not be tolerated by the mainstream media in policing the conduct of its profession.
The shameless shapeshifter and pathological liar Willard "Mittens" Romney deserves condemnation for his shameless use of "big lie" propaganda.
UPDATE: And completing the closed-loop of the right-wing noise machine, on Wednesday Fox Cheers Romney For Adopting Its Manufactured Attack. FAUX News Frauidcasting doesn't even try to pretend it is a legitimate news organization any longer.
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