"He's got hiiiiiighh hopes...."
Posted on 01/25/2015 7:54:00 AM PST by shove_it
Fox News is not exactly known as an ally of the Obama administration, especially when it comes to disputes between Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, or disputes between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Yet two prominent Fox News hosts, Chris Wallace and Shepherd Smith, harshly criticized Boehner and Netanyahu on Friday for secretly arranging a Netanyahu speech to Congress that is transparently aimed at undermining President Obama, and set up without the White House's knowledge.
The White House, State Department, and many foreign policy observers, including prominent former US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, expressed outrage over the move. And, in a sign of just how many lines Boehner and Netanyahu crossed, so did the two Fox News hosts.
"I agree 100 percent," Wallace said when Smith read a quote from Indyk criticizing the Boehner-Netanyahu maneuver. Wallace went on:
And to make you get a sense of really how, forgive me, wicked, this whole thing is, the Secretary of State John Kerry met with the Israeli Ambassador to the United States for two hours on Tuesday, Ron Dermer. The ambassador, never mentioned the fact that Netanyahu was in negotiations and finally agreed to come to Washington, not to see the president, but to go to Capitol Hill, speak to a joint session of congress and criticize the president's policy. I have to say I'm shocked.
Smith said, "it seems like [Netanyahu's government] think[s] we don't pay attention and that we're just a bunch of complete morons, the United States citizens, as if we wouldn't pick up on what's happening here."
Wallace pointed out that Netanyahu might face political backlash in Israel over this "very risky political strategy," which could damage Israel's relationship with the United States.
Here is the backstory: On Wednesday, Boehner announced that he had invited Netanyahu to come speak to a joint session of Congress in late February (later pushed to early March) on Obama's nuclear negotiations with Iran, which both Boehner and Netanyahu oppose, and which Republicans are seeking to blow up by forcing new, deal-killing sanctions on Iran. What made this such a remarkable breach is that Boehner had reached over Obama to make the invitation, which he and Netanyahu kept secret from the White House. That is a major breach in US foreign policy, which is supposed to be unified; things like official visits by heads of state almost always go through the White House.
Perhaps worse, Republicans are letting a foreign leader use the floor of Congress to bash the American president, thus not just allowing but helping a foreign country meddle in American foreign policy. (This is not the first time either. Republicans invited Netanyahu to speak to Congress in 2011, an opportunity he also used to lambast Obama.)
For his part, Netanyahu is once again attempting to undermine the American president who is by far his most important ally, and is using Congress as a campaign stop on his own bid for reelection in Israel's March elections.
"BIBI AND DERMER MIGHT HAVE FINALLY GONE TOO FAR"
While backlash was anticipatable, Netanyahu likely did not imagine it extending to Fox News.
"After watching this I think Bibi [Netanyahu] and [Israeli ambassador to the US Ron] Dermer might have finally gone too far," Lisa Goldman, the director of the Israel-Palestine Initiative at the New America Foundation, wrote on Facebook of the Fox News segment. "They miscalculated the American Zeitgeist and didn't realize that when a foreign power, even a favorite ally, shows a lack of respect for US institutions, a red line has been crossed."
To Goldman's point, both Smith and Wallace, in expressing outrage at Netanyahu, pointed out that the Israeli leader had defied President George W. Bush's demand that Israel cease settlement growth in the West Bank, and had resisted Bush's efforts at an Israel-Palestine peace deal. The issue, for them, was not principally one of partisan politics, but of this ostensible ally repeatedly mistreating the United States and its president, regardless of political party.
If the Netanyahu government and Ron Dermer's embassy are watching this, and they certainly should be, they should be alarmed that even this crucially important element of their American support base is beginning to see the Netanyahu government as less of an ally.
That is because their second largest shareholder is a Saudi prince.
This is the end result of Islamics taking over our media.
This isn’t the first time Chris and Shep have taken up liberal talking points.
The same people who did, or would have, cheered congress’s negotiations with the Sandinistas are the same ones who decry congress influencing this foreign policy issue.
It’s all partisan. Congress was given great power to influence Executive powers such as foreign policy and war.
Meanwhile John Kerry arrived in Nigeria this morning for talks on the upcoming Nigerian elections.
I change the channel when those two bufes come on.
Chris Wallace and Shepherd Smith have their panties in a twist.
Those two idiots are a small part of Fox News. Misleading headline.
Iran is building nukes they openly say they will use on Israel and the US. The west idly stands by for 20 or more years and does nothing.
And we get this crybaby blather to worry about. C’mon men, time for big boy pants.
"He's got hiiiiiighh hopes...."
Doesn’t Jimmy Carter visit people without the White House’s “permission”?
Wallace and Smith are the Fox News Closet Liberals. Remember who is Wallace’s father and the seed didn’t fall far from the tree. Smith is in more than one closet.
Well stated. They aren’t the most “ fair and balanced “ representatives on the channel.
I’m with Boehner on this one. How refreshing to see a politician do something for the U.S. and Israeli people for once instead of doing it for their own ego. Wallace, Shemp and Obama can all KMA on Main Street and I’ll give them 15 minutes to draw a crowd.
What the left really fears is BiBi will be bring pics of extreme damage he did to Iran’s processing facilities a few days before his trip to DC.
What does the constitution say about this Ya know, that document that Obama has crumpled and thrown into the trash can so many times.
Wallace hardly has a conservative bias. Shep Smith is a liberal twit most famous for blaming Bush for the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
secretly arranging a Netanyahu speech to Congress...
++++
What was so secret about it? Boehner jumped full face in 0’s ferret face PUBLICLY.
Chris Wallace and Shep Smith are the epitome of the long cast of liberals on FoxNews. Of course they will have their panties in a twist.
Chris Wallace and Shepherd Smith ..????
Since when didn’t somebody notice these two are some of the most leftist at FOX.
To say FOX is “outraged” .. is just a bunch of garbage .. and the usual from the left .. because they are so jealous of the FACT .. FOX has been #1 in almost any time slot for many, many years.
DITTO!
Boner really surprised me happily on this one. Shoving it right back up 0bama’s Obama.
Actually I think Megan Kelly is the voice of Fox news now she has become a dynamo which has made the arrogant O’Reilly very jealous!!!!
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