This is one of those moments when the unexpected comes out of nowhere. Of all places FOX & Friends announced to Sen. McCain that Sen, Obama had led the way on asking to increase the FDIC program up to 250K and what was HE going to do....And it gets better....

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Q: Barack Obama already has a proposal to  revive negotiations. He wants to increase the amount of money guaranteed by the FDIC of 100 to 250K . What would Sen, John McCain do? Well let's ask him. Sen. McCain, your serve. Barack Obama has made a bold move.

(Silence and blinking from McCain) McCain: Uh, I, I uhhh talked with the President this morning....

He looked like he was not prepared for that. And then he was forced to admit that he did not save the day when he suspended his campaign last Thursday and went to DC to whip the Republicans to vote for the bail out. He was supposed to be the savior.

Q: So Senator are you saying that you went back to get more Republicans on board so then you are in favor of voting yes yesterday. And in essence then going back...

McCain: Oh, Absolutely.

Q: OK, well then going back last week---did not change enough Republicans minds.

McCain: No, it didn't change enough Republican minds. We're going to have to change enough Republican and Democrats minds...

So McCain is not in control of his party. I guess Newt Gingrich really is running things over there.

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reported this morning that conservatives may have been taking their marching orders from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who “was whipping against this up until the last minute” — despite issuing a statement supporting the bill as the vote was taking place...read on

That's very scary for a number of reasons...

  John McCain should realize he's in serious trouble when even the dupes at "Fox & Friends" are willing to admit that he messed up big time with his housing gaffe. Although Gretchen Carlson and the rest of the crew do their best to cover for McCain by saying, "You need to have gazillions to become president" and "You have to be an elitist to some extent to become president of our country," the overall consensus is that this will come back to haunt McCain.

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The Obama campaign could not have played this better. By injecting into the mainstream dialogue the idea that McCain is really the one out of touch with average Americans, he not only deflects that false characterization off of him, but he also gives the media a reason to make the connection and push the meme every time McCain acts "elitist" (e.g. $520 Ferragamo loafers, Cindy's private planes). The fact that the McCain campaign responded with the Ayers/Rezko/Wright/POW kitchen sink says a lot about how damaging they perceive this attack to be. Brilliant.

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Some idiot got access to press credentials and got into an Obama campaign rally yesterday in Berea, Ohio and began heckling the candidate, demanding he say the pledge of allegiance. Obama handled it perfectly by quieting the crowd and calling the guy's bluff by leading the crowd in reciting the pledge.

A man sneaks into the press area at a presidential campaign event, interrupts him with heckling and attempts to make him look unpatriotic, and how does FOXNews frame the story? Obama SKIPPED the pledge of allegiance! He hates America, don't you know. 

Since when is the pledge of allegiance required to be recited before all campaign events? 

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Only on Fox & Friends. This morning they did a segment on the English language and that there are a lot of words that many people find difficult to spell correctly. I stopped on monkey. I'm including video to complement the comedic irony.

Steve Doocy says that another word many find difficult to spell is the word soldier, because the "i" throws people off. The former beauty queen then pipes up and says -- "Well, the D. There's no D in it." She follows that up by asking if they even make "hardcore" dictionaries anymore. Be sure to hang on (if you can make it) for the finale as Doocy decries:

"So many people are trying to dumb down America and the world! Just leave it the way it is! Study your books, people!"

Teh stupid...it hurts.... This is just screaming for a "Write Your Own Caption"

I've been doing a series for C&L about the myth that will overtake FOX news and other right wing outlets which will try to scare people into keeping both hands on their wallet.. Howie wrote a post called: Anatomy of a Right Wing Myth: Obama is the most liberal Democratic Senator.

Doocy: And in fact there's going to be a real choice because we've looked at the studies which suggest that Barack Obama could be the most liberal Senator, in the US Senate, and meanwhile while John McCain---more in the middle. Would you have a guy to the right or more in the middle?

Doocey screws up his question, but that's OK. You'll see phrases like "could be" and "it's quite possible" and "suggest that" he's the most liberal Senator in Congress. The only study I've seen is the very flawed National Journal one so I wonder Steve will reveal what other studies he has. Is it so hard for the media to tell the simple truth about his voting record. Here's Howie..

If only! Actually there are 39 Democrats with more liberal voting records, although Obama does at least beat perennial Bush rubber stamps Holy Joe Lieberman (CT), Ben Nelson (NE) and Mary Landrieu (LA). His voting record– however you slice it, however you dice it– points to a solidly mainstream centrist– and, to be honest, considerably less liberal than… sssshhhhhhh… Hillary.

So how do CNN, CBS, ABC and NBC all allow the paid GOP shills to get away with their Big Lie? Good question. There’s one cooked up National Journal “study” that these clowns keep referring to– yes the same cloddish National Journal that criticized its own ranking of John Kerry as “the most liberal senator” in 2004...read on

After Jim Webb's historic "21st Century GI Bill" passed both houses of Congress overwhelmingly last week, McSame apologists are coming out in full force as they try to explain why the two of them support the far inferior bill being offered by Senator Lindsey Graham. So when The New York Times published a scathing op-ed chiding President Bush for his absence of leadership on this crucial issue, who better to defend the administration than the stooges from "FOX and Friends"? In this particularly egregious example of White House shilling, the entire panel uncritically advances Bush-approved talking points, while Brian Kilmeade argues that this GI Bill is different from the WWII-era one because these troops volunteered, and therefore don't deserve the same benefits.

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After all this is different. People point to, "Well, look what they did after World War II." Well, after World War II, people were conscripted. They said "You’re joining." They said for doing that and winning the war, here’s a college education. Now people are saying "I want to be a military person. I am signing on in a volunteer force."

Kilmeade's argument is so full of holes, it's hard to know where to begin.

On a funnier note, Bill W. writes: "How bad is it when you need Brian Kilmeade to help you pronounce 'vitriolic'? Gawd they are all so stupid."

Agreed, Bill.

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Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy's son Peter took the bronze on Monday's Worst Person in the World segment on Countdown for his pathetic hit job on Senator Barack Obama during a live shot from his school.

William "The Bloody" Kristol won the silver for accusing Senators Obama and Clinton for not condemning MoveOn's General Betrayus ad, when in fact, they both signed on to the Senate amendment condemning the ad.

Bigoted pill popper, Rush Limbaugh, took top honors for his insulting and racist remarks made on FOXNews, in which he accused Bill Clinton of hitting on his date, and referred to Los Angels Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa as the Shoeshine Boy, or a Secret Service Agent. Said Olbermann of Doocy Jr:

"Wow, I wonder which emotion impacts dad more at this moment? Pride that at twenty years old, the boy is already a completely replaceable cog in the vast Rupert Murdoch media manipulation machine, or buyer's remorse when he gets the bill for college and realizes the kid's mind has already been nailed shut."

This clip has been making the rounds on the internets, but for what I believe is the wrong reason. Sure Geraldo makes a dumb remark about the recently-disclosed affair Barbara Walters had with former Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke. But the more interesting part, in my opinion, is when Steve Doocy reads from his notes and describes Brooke as a "Democrat from Massachusetts."

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Although Geraldo and Gretchen quickly correct the record, both Doocy and Kilmeade insist he's a Democrat. Who prepares the script for these guys? I'd be willing to accept it as an innocent mistake if it weren't FOX's pitiful track record on such matters.

Turns out the Rhodes Scholars over at "Fox and Friends" think Abraham Lincoln debated Frederick Douglass in the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. Of course it was Stephen Douglas. Something tells me Frederick would have had a tough time winning a Senate seat back then. Just a thought.

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"Ha. Ha. Rather than spending time mocking their intern, Clayton might have recognized that was Frederick Douglass, the 19th-century African abolitionist leader who certainly wasn't running for any Senate seat."

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Props to the Governator for just coming right out and saying that the real reason Republicans deny Global Climate Change so hotly is that they're beholden to big business.

Kilmeade: But here’s the thing, Governor: A lot of people, a lot of Republicans in particular don’t believe there is Global Warming, there is Climate Change. They don’t believe the green technology and we talk to a lot of them on an every day basis. You’re a Republican, what do you know that they don’t?

Schwarzenegger: Well, I think they know the reality. I think they’re just trying to protect business. And in the end, they’re hurting business. Because we’ve proven in California that you can do both, that you can protect the environment and protect business. Even though in 2003, when I ran and I said that, people didn’t believe it but then we started building the ‘Hydrogen Highway’ and passed the Green Building Initiative and the Million Solar Roof Initiative and the Ocean Action Plan and AB32 to make a commitment to roll back our greenhouse gas emissions and the low carbon fuel standards, all of those things that got world recognition, I think people realize now, ‘wait, this does not hurt our economy, this is actually a big plus' because we’re creating jobs through green, clean technology.

This being Fox though, they had to end a rather lengthy interview on a more cheerful note, with Fox & Friends' Brian Kilmeade looking for some body-building tips. Arnold called him "without a doubt the most muscular television host," whereupon Kilmeade positively swooned.

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CIA Director General Michael Hayden won the bronze on Tuesday's Worst Person in the World segment on Countdown for his claim on last week's Meet The Press that torture is a "legal term" and seemed to be proud that the U.S. hasn't waterboarded anyone in over five years. The silver went to Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy and Gretchen Carlson for misrepresenting DNC Chairman, Howard Dean's statements about Senator John McCain being an "blatant opportunist" and the winner of the gold is perennial winner, Rush Limbaugh.

Limbaugh's Operation Chaos, a plan to get Republicans to cross over and vote Democratic in the primaries, may have backfired on the drug-addled comedian in Mississippi. According to state voting laws, Republicans who actually crossed over to vote in the Democratic contest were not allowed to vote in the GOP primary three weeks later which could cost the party as many as 3000 votes. To make matters worse, it may be just enough to get a conservative Mississippi Democrat elected to Congress! Very nice, Rush...well done.

It was probably the most-watched segment Fox News has aired in months. Last Friday, “Fox and Friends” host Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade, and Gretchen Carlson spent the better part of the morning demonizing Barack Obama over the “typical white person” flap, mainly by removing the quote from context.

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Enter “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace. “Hey, listen, I love you guys but I want to take you to task, if I may, respectfully, for a moment,” Wallace said on the air. “I have been watching the show since six o’clock this morning when I got up, and it seems to me that two hours of Obama bashing on this ‘typical white person’ remark is somewhat excessive, and frankly, I think you’re somewhat distorting what Obama had to say.”

It was only a matter of time before Wallace started backpedaling.

On Monday afternoon — with clips of the confrontation having seemingly ricocheted to every far-flung corner of the Web and with everyone from official Obama bloggers to MSNBC’s Chris Matthews rushing to pat Mr. Wallace on the back — [The Observer] caught up with Mr. Wallace via phone. The longtime newsman said that in retrospect he had mixed feelings about making the remarks.

“I didn’t have any second thoughts about the substance because I still believe what I said was right,” said Mr. Wallace. “But after the fact, you do think to yourself — on a professional level with colleagues I very much like and respect — should I have done that off camera?”

“It’s a close call,” said Mr. Wallace. “I’m not sure I’d do it again.”

Oh, Chris. You’d come so far in the minds of so many.

Wow. There's a headline I never thought I'd write.  What is going on with these FOX anchors?  This morning on "Fox & Friends," anchor Brian Kilmeade walked off the set after repeated attempts by the two other FOX dittoheads to bash Barack Obama for his "typical white person" remark.

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Although it's true Kilmeade took particular offense to the "typical sports guy" swipe by Doocy -- Kilmeade has covered sports for much of his career -- his attempt to put Obama's quote into the context of tense race relations stretching back 60 years was admirable and refreshing. Especially for a channel show that typically consists of three morons piling up on anything Democrat.

It’s not too often that high-profile political figures elected to statewide office are caught buying the services of a prostitute, but as luck would have it, we’ve seen two major examples in the last nine months — Louisiana Sen. David Vitter (R) and New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D).

There are some interesting similarities. Both held public office while hiring prostitutes, both are married, and both are subject to charges of hypocrisy (Vitter for touting “family values,” and Spitzer because he prosecuted prostitution as a state Attorney General). But the controversies are hardly identical — most notably, the statute of limitations had run out for Vitter, while Spitzer may still face charges.

But leave it to Fox News’ Steve Doocy to make a different kind of connection.

“Speaking of hypocrisy, when David Vitter, the senator from down South, was caught up in the D.C. madam scandal, of course, the mainstream media said, ‘Look, this is just part of the culture of corruption with the Republican Party,’ and, in fact, that led to steep losses in the 2006 congressional elections.

“So, you’ve got to wonder whether or not the Democrat [sic] Party is going to take a hit with this and also, nationwide not just in New York State, but also nationwide, will the mainstream media talk about this as being a big scandal in the Democrat [sic] Party, which it is — he’s one of Hillary Clinton’s superdelegates — or will they just say, ‘Look, it’s a story about a single governor in one state and he had a problem and now his wife is really mad at him.’”

There’s been no shortage of analysis and discussion of the Spitzer scandal lately, but this is arguably the dumbest.

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Presented without comment. 

via Huffpo.

Co-anchor Brian Kilmeade asked Earhardt if she ever wore pantsuits herself, and she said she had, but, "Here at Fox, we like to be feminine. So we don't wear the pants." Kilmeade wanted to make sure he wasn't misunderstood, though — he is firmly against pantsuits. "If I was to run for office, I'd run on the pro-skirt platform," he said