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Friday, June 17, 2011

Ignorant and well-poisoning Fox News pundits out to sabotage Ron Paul's candidacy

From:
Fox and Enemies Attack Ron Paul

(The New American) -- by Jack Kenny --

I'm beginning to appreciate Bill O'Reilly's importance to Fox News. He makes the other hosts on the station appear intelligent, well informed, and reasonable. He helps you appreciate Glenn Beck. And Greta Van Susteren, who really does try to be fair. I don't know about "fair and balanced." How do you present "balanced" news? If, as his economic policies are falling apart, do you provide footage of Barack Obama being a good father — taking his children to the zoo, for example? On the Lew Rockwell website, there is a video clip of O'Reilly attempting to be dismissive of Rep. Ron Paul, seizing on Paul's performance in Monday night's candidates' forum in New Hampshire. Referring to a number of polls, O'Reilly insists, "Nobody thought Ron Paul won that debate." Did anyone else emerge as a clear winner? Michele Bachmann got some good reviews, but I don't think she was ranked as the new frontrunner. By the way, did Lincoln win his debates with Douglas? Does it matter? Is O'Reilly waiting for the poll numbers to come in before he takes a stand on expansion of slavery into the territories?

At least "Blowhard" Bill is reasonably polite in this segment, knowing he is talking to John Stossel, someone he can't bully and who is both smarter and more knowledgeable than he. But O'Reilly's apparent ignorance about John Maynard Keynes is revealing. Lord Keynes is the man whose economic theories inspired the New Deal and whose notion that federal "pump-priming" (more deficit spending) is the way to prosperity may yet lead to the downfall of the USA. Yet O'Reilly appears not to have heard the name before and needs coaching on how to pronounce it. One wonders where "Blustering" Bill was in 1971, when Richard Nixon shocked some conservatives by announcing, "We're all Keynesians now." Maybe O'Reilly, the "Faux News" conservative, was so busy shouting "Amen!" to everything Nixon said that he did not hear or remember that tribute to Lord Keynes.

Clearly, Ron Paul and his followers have a lot to do to educate the professional pundits, let alone the general public, on economic history. Maybe they should give up on the pundits and just go to the American people — over the heads of the pundits. As O'Reilly demonstrates, there is plenty of room over their heads.

Ann Coulter presents a different problem. She surely knows who Keynes was and is likely opposed to his economic theories. She has, however, been rightly described as a warmonger and is sometimes called a warmongering witch. I'll leave the witch part to the reader's discretion, but surely the milk of human kindness, if it is in her at all, does not flow from Attorney Coulter's mouth.

She is all over Ron Paul for arguing that government should get out of the marriage business, "straight" or "gay." I understand Dr. Paul to mean exactly what he said, that the federal government should stay out. I don't believe that, as a candidate for the highest federal office, he is proposing to tell the States how to deal with marriage, though his personal preference may be for no government involvement at all. For those on both the left and right who regard the State, preferably the Nation State, as the highest authority, this must appear to be dangerous nonsense.

Ignoring plain English, Coulter sails right past Paul's statement that the "federal government shouldn't be involved" and goes on to argue against the straw man holding that no government at any level should be involved. Now there are libertarians who argue that position, so the straw man ploy is in attributing it to Ron Paul...MORE...LINK

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