Fox News’ Chris Wallace Makes the Westboro Baptists Look Like Jerks And For Some Reason Think Progress Has a Problem With That
[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here.]
So on Fox News Sunday Chris Wallace ran an interview with the Westboro Baptist’s lead lawyer, Margie Phelps, to discuss their recent Supreme Court victory and just who exactly is going to hell. Wallace did an expert job of making them look like a bunch of jerks by the simple technique of giving them enough rope to hang themselves. Believe you me, this was an intentional ploy to get them to expose their idiotic mentality. I have seen it done dozens of times in cross-examination:
So Think Progress decides that somehow this is an indictment on Fox News. Yes, really.
The title of the post, for instance, suggests approval: “Fox Hosts Hate-Church Lawyer Who Claims Obama Is ‘The Beast Spoken Of In The Revelation.’” And in the post they suggest that this is presented as “legal analysis.”
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court held that even the most repulsive hate speech — Westboro Baptist Church’s anti-gay rallies at military funerals — is entitled to First Amendment protection. At the top of its show this morning, Fox invited one of the leading purveyors of such repulsive speech, Westboro’s attorney Margie Phelps, as its sole commentator on this Court decision. Phelps, who is the daughter of hate church leader Fred Phelps, provided exactly the same kind of thoughtful legal analysis that Americans expect from Fox News[.]
So basically they are upset that this is the only commenter on the decision, on the program that day. But it had already been covered to death by other hosts, so it hardly seems necessary to add more (and that is assuming they are telling the truth). And it is simply a lie to say that this is the kind of “legal analysis” provided by Fox News. A simple search of Patterico’s site for “Megyn Kelly” will turn up many examples of quite expert legal analysis, not to mention that from Greta, and O’Reilly’s femme fatales. Finally, they end by saying:
It’s telling that in a week which featured… [many other important stories], Fox decided to ignore these stories in order to focus on the important question of whether President Obama is the Antichrist.
Well, first, Wallace didn’t choose where this interview went. He asked precisely about whether Obama was going to hell. And that was just after asking if the Supreme Court was going to hell. And if they are trying to suggest that he agreed with them on Obama, then by the same logic, he must think that the entire Supreme Court is going to hell, including the justices conservatives typically like, such as Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and Alito. And it is worth noting that all of those justices, but Alito, ruled in their favor—which is probably why Wallace asked in the first place.
It all raises the question of whether this deception is done on purpose. Its hard to say, but anyone watches that interview and honestly believes that Wallace agreed with this Westboro idiot is so prejudiced against Fox News that they can literally do nothing right in their eyes. If that actually includes anyone from Think Progress (and I think that would be crediting them with too much honesty), then they should find a new job: their prejudice literally makes it impossible to see the truth right in front of them.
And if the author, Ian Millhiser, was simply lying, TP should fire him for being so terrible at it. I only had to watch the interview to see that he was full of it.
[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]
These clowns actually think that all Christians are just like Westboro, and therefore that Fox News ought to fete them.
Sometimes its weird to watch the clowns like ThinkProgress drive themselves to insanity with their own propaganda.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/7/2011 @ 7:42 amAW, isn’t the proper default for any Soros enterprise, to assume they are lying and finding
narciso (bcb6cc) — 3/7/2011 @ 7:46 amout afterwards, they mutilate the transcripts and videofeeds, precisely to preclude anyone actually
getting to the source material.
i admit this post has a certain shooting-fish-in-a-barrel quality to it.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 3/7/2011 @ 7:59 amOut of 349 comments, one person got it…
Most of the geniuses haven’t even got a clue…
aunursa (a2a019) — 3/7/2011 @ 8:00 amI’m referring to the comments to the Think Progress post.
aunursa (a2a019) — 3/7/2011 @ 8:01 amHere is the transcript.
aunursa (a2a019) — 3/7/2011 @ 8:06 amhttp://www.foxnews.com/on-air/fox-news-sunday/transcript/westboro-baptist-church-leader-talks-supreme-court-ruling-sen-durbin-rep-hensarling-budge
aunursa
thanks for the assist. the full wallace interview was exactly what I thought it would be. better, even. I especially love how they said that the S.C. ruling in their favor was God’s will, but not so much Lawrence v. Texas. heh.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 3/7/2011 @ 8:24 amIt’s very funny that people are saying things like “Chris Wallace exposed the Westboro Baptist Church people for what they really are”.
Yeah, “exposed” — like he was cracking something secret and heretofore unknown.
What’s next? “Chris Wallace makes the sun look like it sets in the West”?
Kman (5576bf) — 3/7/2011 @ 8:28 amKman exposes himself for what he really is, a troll.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/7/2011 @ 8:32 amThey have the most startling ignorant view of scripture imaginable, yes the Bible says all nations will be judged, some more harshly than
narciso (bcb6cc) — 3/7/2011 @ 8:32 amother, but not in this interval, they really do belong in the NorthWest Frontier or the Empty
Quarter, than they do in this country,
Leave it to kmart to be, predictably, a flaming douchenozzle.
JD (0d2ffc) — 3/7/2011 @ 8:33 amThinkregress is the kind of place William the midget racist hilljack plagiarizer Yelverton goes to get his lurnin’.
JD (0d2ffc) — 3/7/2011 @ 8:37 amKman
well, feel free to think this was unnecessary. But let’s not forget that one of your favorite sites was proven to be either liars or so blinded by prejudice that they can’t see the truth.
Personally i found wallace going after her pretty fun viewing.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 3/7/2011 @ 8:44 amJust something I was wondering about; If you hire someone or a group to show up at a funeral and verbally attack the departed and his grieving family, would that be freedom of speech or does it only count as free speech if you do the deed yourself?
j curtis (a1ff55) — 3/7/2011 @ 8:44 am“The Obama Misery Index and the Rise of Obamavilles” is the best blog post I’ve read in a long time. This is why President Obama will be a one-term president! http://t.co/hhFr73z
I can’t recommend this piece highly enough. This will be all the ammo we’ll need when talking to other voters during the 2012 general election.
Dan (403904) — 3/7/2011 @ 8:47 amI’m sorry, they are just evil, only Satan could conjure up such a vengeful and unforgiving lot, willing to visit such wrath on the family of an innocent nine year old girl.
narciso (bcb6cc) — 3/7/2011 @ 8:55 amIf someone could explain to me why Chris Wallace or anyone else in the media – left or right – should give the loons any airtime at all, I’d be happy to hear it.
JEA (b9124e) — 3/7/2011 @ 9:06 amFor God’s sake, Kman, this is the stupidest thing you’ve ever posted. The newsworthy part of this post wasn’t that Chris Wallace exposed the WBC people for what they really are, it’s that Think Progress completely misunderstood what Wallace accomplished.
Even you should have been able to understand that, but I guess you are seeking out new lows to stoop to.
Some chump (4c6c0c) — 3/7/2011 @ 9:23 amKman still refuses to link his own blog, despite saying he is in favor of welcoming dissenting and critical views. Of course, this is because Kman habitually trolls all threads with nonsense, lies, and dumb summaries of what a story is about or what Aaron said. He’s been stalking Aaron for 9 years.
He’s very similar to the Westboro trolls.
Dustin (c16eca) — 3/7/2011 @ 9:36 amAlso, think progress’s deranged summary also reminds me a lot of the Phelps level derangement.
It’s so paranoid and absurd to discuss Fox News the way they always do, and this is just one very easy example of that.
And similar to the Phelps crew, Think Progress generally ramps it up for attention. Aaron says we shouldn’t credit them with too much honesty, and that’s right in both cases. There’s a real element of hatred and paranoia in both Phelps, Think Progress, and Kman, but all of these types of kooks know they are dishonest and crazy, and by ramping up their rhetoric and dishonesty a few notches, they give up on being taken seriously and instead opt for maximum attention whoring.
You can’t understand Kman or Phelps or Thinkprogress without understanding that one step where they just give up on being serious and desperately say nonsense.
Dustin (c16eca) — 3/7/2011 @ 9:43 amif I had a cable news network I wouldn’t invite this Phelps cooze to be on it I would invite piper perabo and shannon woodward and those guys what do the autotune the news and jared padalecki but not james franco
happyfeet (a55ba0) — 3/7/2011 @ 9:57 amI don’t think they are newsmakers, but franco has certainly gone weird since he came back from UCLA.
narciso (bcb6cc) — 3/7/2011 @ 10:00 amJEA
i think its fair to say wallace shouldn’t have brought them on. but on balance, i am glad he did, and vivisected them live on TV. but reasonable minds could disagree.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 3/7/2011 @ 10:02 amYou know, I’m a gay guy who thought Alito had it right, for Westboro is not “debating” DOMA or some legal issue about gay folks. Though I can also follow the First Amendment is absolute argument, even if we have no 1st Amendment right to freely associate and say “I Do” yet. However, the WBC is essentially calling for our extermination by one means or another (they stay vague enough to conform with the law, so far.) They are in effect “yelling faggot in a crowded theater.” Free speech shouldn’t be used to call for anyone’s extermination, even a weird minority not well liked as a group, but accepted now as individuals.
Given the decision, however, I think anyone like Chris Wallace who gives the WBC the airwaves to speak their mind actually does gay folks a good service. For the more vocal WBC is, and the more all the others who will be emboldened by this decision to call for our incarceration, forced “cure,” exportation and even execution, the better it is for gay folks. For the logical disconnect between the reality of us as most all know it, and the claims about us by the loonies grows wider everyday. Wallace just helped push it wider. Good for him.
As for Think Progress — I hate it when our “friends” the liberals & socialists speak about us. They’re as clueless as everyone else sometimes, and do no good for gay folks. And they do not speak for us, we didn’t hire them as spokespeople whatsoever. And they have yet to answer for the decades of torment we have had at the hands of socialist regimes around the world. In Moscow they still beat us. Nor do they seem to make a peep about what goes on in Uganda and Saudi Arabia and such charming hot spots for gay folks.
Yep, this decision, which I believe is wrong in many ways, right in some, is one of the best things to happen for gay folks in quite awhile. The nation is now more or less horrified about the lunacy of the NO GAYS movement as expressed by WBC, and you all will soon begin to see other such calls for our removal from the country by any means by more “reasonable” people of just a lighter shade of the same darkness, now given permission to speak up. Let them and behold the lunacy.
Jim Hlavac (5d99c6) — 3/7/2011 @ 10:18 amJim
so you would favor an approach similar to the germans: everyone can speak freely, but with what i call the “nazi” exception. That is everyone can speak freely, except for advocating nazism or something similar.
i can understand that approach to a certain degree. its almost an anti-trust rule for the marketplace of ideas–that is, the only people who can participate in the marketplace of ideas are those who would not destroy the marketplace, just as we punish those who engage in unfair trade practices.
But I think your approach is ultimately wrong. The “hate speech” trials of Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant show the danger of this approach. And i would think that similar arguments would have been arrayed against pro-gay speech in the 1950’s. At one time your view was a distinct minority, and it was in significant part because of free speech that gay rights have come so far from that day.
Finally its worth noting that they had hate speech laws in Weimar, too, and a fat lot of good it did them. if anything it allows the bad guys to play victim.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 3/7/2011 @ 10:28 amlovely people, Ugandans – I wonder how much aid money we give these animals?
happyfeet (a55ba0) — 3/7/2011 @ 10:44 amThe WBC really show they hate everyone, which again makes me wonder where their real motivation lies.
narciso (bcb6cc) — 3/7/2011 @ 10:54 amthe WBC doesn’t do racism though really Mr. narciso
happyfeet (a55ba0) — 3/7/2011 @ 11:04 amRegarding the Phelp’s theology (and I’m no theologian, so, you know, Whoa Nelly): is it really all that out there? Their way of expressing it is annoying, I suppose, but from a philosophical point of view, what’s the problem?
To my view they’re doing Calvinism one better because at least they posit the possibility of salvation through deeds.
Fritz (ac48cc) — 3/7/2011 @ 11:05 amChris Wallace appears on the Mike Gallagher radio show every Friday, primarily to promote the upcoming Fox News Sunday lineup. Did anyone hear last week’s show (the podcast is subscription only).
The reason I’m curious is that following the Arizona shootings, the Westboro cult planned on protesting at those funerals. Mike Gallagher made an arrangement to allow them airtime on his show in exchange for not protesting. During their Friday discussion, Wallace was aghast that Gallagher would cut such a deal. He condemned the decision as setting a horrible precedent. Gallagher countered that listeners would get a chance to hear the Westboro’ers expose themselves as the ghouls they are.
I’d be very interested if the topic was revisited last Friday.
Blue Ox (ff919a) — 3/7/2011 @ 11:16 amComment by Fritz
Even if many points of Phelps’ theology look like recognizable trees (not that I am saying they do)*, his forest is not anywhere near the location of the true one. I believe his theology is more akin to those who wanted to stone the woman caught in adultery rather than that of Jesus.
*I have never thought it important to try to look at their theology in any depth. When major issues are off the mark, not sure the time is worth examining things further.
MD (from UW-Madison) in Philly (3d3f72) — 3/7/2011 @ 11:58 amYes, there’s no theology I could think of, that would condemn an innocent 9 year old girl, for any
narciso (bcb6cc) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:06 pmreason, that’s when they ‘jumped the megalodon’ if
they hadn’t done that before.
Well, I can grant that almost anything can qualify as a theology or philosophy at the most basic level. I can insist, based on my unreasonable faith, anything whatsoever, and yes, that could be my theology.
Is Westboro practicing Christianity? No. The bible is very clear about love.
Dustin (c16eca) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:07 pmDustin
no, no the bible is very clearly in support of the WB’s. Consider this passage from Matthews:
“And thou shalt be an inconsiderate jerk all the time and with no good reason. Even to the grieving families of little girls who are murdered. And to the families of patriots who gave their lives for their country. Because nothing makes people love Christ more than getting into their face at a funeral.”
Isn’t that in YOUR translation?
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:13 pmYeah, some homo must have ripped that one out of my copy, Aaron. LOL.
IMAO’s Frank reminds me of what my crazy bible actually has in it.
This is an important verse to me, actually. One of two things I requested at my wedding was this being part of the service.
Dustin (c16eca) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:17 pmway off topic, but the deficit for FEB 2011 was $60,000,000,000 larger than the deficit for 2007. We are in the best of hands.
JD (7b97b3) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:19 pmclang clang clang went the trolley
happyfeet (a55ba0) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:20 pmJD, are you suggesting that paying attention to Phelps is not as important as the pressing issues of our nation’s impending financial collapse?
Dustin (c16eca) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:20 pmfail fail fail went the budget
happyfeet (a55ba0) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:23 pm“lovely people, Ugandans – I wonder how much aid money we give these animals?”
Mr. Feets – Mr. Idi Amin was reportedly a big fan of lady fingers. Refined tastes he had.
daleyrocks (ae76ce) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:33 pmsometimes you just wanna throw up your hands
happyfeet (a55ba0) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:39 pmI was just suggesting that Obama is a feckless lying idiot, Dustin. Team R is advancing cuts that total around 1/4 of FEB’s deficit, and the Dems are offering cuts around 1/40th of FEB’s deficit, and wailing about the evil Republicans. Sorry to go off topic.
JD (7b97b3) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:39 pmWhite House resumes military tribunals at Gitmo. Dishonest disingenuous lying mendoucheous f@ckers.
JD (7b97b3) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:41 pmI was just kidding, JD. I think focusing on Phelps is very worthwhile, as it’s a great highlight of what freedom costs us, but I also think we need to remember that it’s a relatively minor issue compared to the real disaster of our time.
And yes, Obama is a liar. Still amazed some voted for him because he promised deficit reduction.
Dustin (c16eca) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:42 pm“sometimes you just wanna throw up your hands”
Mr. Feets – Zactly and then you got to dance to the music is my feeling.
Cuz this is a love blog!
daleyrocks (ae76ce) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:51 pmDustin
> must have ripped that one out of my copy, Aaron. LOL.
Well, the joke kind of reflects how i approach another touchy theological topic. like i remember my brother in law once saying that everyone who has not found christ will go to hell. And i said to him that i didn’t interpret the bible that way. i said something like, if that was true, Anne Frank would be in hell. Now she was just a 15 year old girl, not perfect, but she had a good heart. i mentioned to him how one of her last diary entries said she still believed that man was basically good, in spite of the contrary evidence that up and killed her a few months later.
So i can’t believe that God would take a girl so wronged in this life and then send her to hell. I don’t know how God’s worked it out. Maybe there is the possibility of after-death conversion, where Jesus explains things to her and she thus becomes a christian after dying. Or maybe jesus meant that bit about getting to heaven “only through me” was more about the way he changed hearts in the world. I won’t pretend to know, but I cannot believe that God would send her to hell like that.
But I guess according to the Westboro idjits, i am going to hell for thinking like that.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 3/7/2011 @ 1:06 pmI don’t care what Wallace asked Durbin–he wasn’t hard enough on him.
Rochf (f3fbb0) — 3/7/2011 @ 1:24 pmFor those having trouble understanding WBC motivations, allow me to indulge in a few Socratic questions.
1. How many members of the WBC are not related by blood or marriage to Phelps?
2. How many are not lawyers?
3. How much has the WBC made in lawsuits over the years?
4. And what were those lawsuits about?
LarryD (feb78b) — 3/7/2011 @ 2:12 pmI didn’t know there was funky before I was even borned
Nobody tells me anything
happyfeet (a55ba0) — 3/7/2011 @ 2:14 pmI learned a long time ago that “Think Progress” is like “Moral Majority” – a term where neither of the two component words applies in reality …
Alasdair (e7cb73) — 3/7/2011 @ 2:30 pm“I didn’t know there was funky before I was even borned”
Mr. Feets – You suffered a deprived unborned childhood. There was indeed a lot of funky back then. Here’s another selection wif dancings and mimes suitable for a luv blog.
daleyrocks (ae76ce) — 3/7/2011 @ 3:27 pmhere this isn’t funky per se but they give it their best
happyfeet (a55ba0) — 3/7/2011 @ 4:09 pmThink Progress is scraping bottom. I would question them: exactly why wouldn’t Fox invite the actual lawyer who argued the case before the Supreme Court? That seems the prudent choice for a news outlet. That she also happens to be Fred Phelps’ daughter is superfluous.
Also, I’m surprised that TP snipes at Fox’s selection of stories to cover; I would think they – being the uber-progressives they are – would be all over anything to do with free speech, but instead they reveal their childish partisan myopia as they they believe the only possible reason to have this segment on is to give a mouthpiece to someone who loathes the president.
Dana (9f3823) — 3/7/2011 @ 6:06 pmThink Progress – Two words, two lies.
Have Blue (854a6e) — 3/7/2011 @ 10:53 pm