Posted on 08/14/2007 11:48:22 AM PDT by goldstategop
Does it puzzle you when you hear that FOX News loved Michael Moore's "Sicko" or Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt's "A Mighty Heart," which whitewashed Islamic terrorists?
If FOX News is so "fair and balanced," why do they gush over movies that far-leftists gush over?
Three words: Roger Friedman, liberal.
Whenever I hear the phrase "Fair and Balanced," I think of Roger Friedman, FOXNews.com's celebrity gossip writer and self-appointed movie critic. He turns his gossip column into movie reviews when there's an inane liberal propaganda film he wants to tout.
Fox News Channel
When Michael Moore bragged about FOX News endorsing his movie, he was talking about Friedman (Friedman is so far left that he differed on that even with many liberal movie critics who panned "Sicko"). When Rosie O'Donnell--then still co-hosting the view--gushed about another left-wing movie, she bragged, "Well, even FOX News liked it." She, too, was talking about Friedman.
A dyed-in-the-wool liberal, Friedman not only gushed over "Sicko" and "A Mighty Heart," he also chastised America for putting HAMAS financier Cat Stevens on the no fly list and applauded when America panderingly took him off the list and granted him a visa. Among his absurd quotes:
Last year he was refused entry into the United States on suspicion - ridiculous as it was - that he was a terrorist of some sort.
(Emphasis added.)
"Ridiculous"? Cat Stevens went to Israel and paid top HAMAS commanders money which went to homicide bombers. Hardly "ridiculous" to refuse his entry to America. And in another gushing Cat Stevens column, Friedman buys Cat Stevens' denial, lying that the didn't support the Ayatollah Khomeini Fatwa calling for Salman Rushdie's death. Interesting, since the video of him saying it--and wishing that Muslim protestors would burn Rushdie to death--is all over YouTube.
Then there's this:
Cat Stevens is coming home, sort of. I am told that Greek-Brit Steven Georgiou, now known as Yusuf Islam, has been granted a visa and will enter the United States in mid-December.
All I can say is, it's about time.
Yusuf - that's what he wants to be called - was involved in an embarrassing incident in 2004 when he and his daughter were denied entry into the U.S. because his name was found on a "no-fly" list. How utterly ridiculous, since it turned out the person in question was someone else. [DS: Uh, no, it was him they banned. Doesn't Friedman do an iota of research? Incredibly ignorant.]
Let's put it this way: Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam is an unlikely terrorist. Since his conversion to Islam, he may have had odd ideas, but none of them are threatening or dangerous. [DS: Yes, like funding HAMAS. Not threatening or dangerous at all. Or his anti-Semitic comments. Or his support of the fatwa for Rushdie's death.]
Evidence of this can be found easily on Yusuf's first new record album in 30 years. [DS: Yup, great "evidence." If it's not on his new record, it never happened.] . . .
Yusuf knows, however, that anti-Muslim feeling in the U.S. easily translates into panic. [DS: Yes, Roger, keep defaming America to pander to the HAMAS financier.] Maybe that's why he has cleverly covered the Animals' old hit, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood." He is not unaware of an acceptance problem.
But really, there's nothing on "Cup" that could offend anyone and plenty of love and peace for everyone. . . .
When he visits America next month, I hope Yusuf will get a fair airing on TV like "Regis" and "Ellen." If he plays his cards right over the next few months, he might even get that Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction he clearly deserves.
(Emphasis added.)
Friedman got mad when Jolie refused to do an interview with him at the New York "A Mighty Heart" premiere. But when it comes to questions directed at himself, he won't answer. Here's an e-mail I sent him a while ago, which, predictably, went unanswered:
From: Debbie Schlussel
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 11:19 AM
To: roger.friedman@foxnews.com
Subject: ROGER, 2 Questions for something I'm writing about U . . .
For whom did you vote in the last three presidential elections? For whom did you vote for the U.S. Senate from New York in races in which Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer ran (last two elections for both)?
I'm confident that the answers are: Kerry, Gore, Bill Clinton, Hillary, Hillary, Schumer, Schumer.
He's just like liberals and liberal movie critics you'd see on any other network. There's nothing fair and balanced about Roger Friedman, FOX News' entertainment go-to guy.
The next time you hear that FOX News loved this movie or that celebrity, you'll know that means it has a left-wing agenda and, in reality, isn't worthy.
For Roger Friedman, the eternal credo is, "I distort. Don't decide."
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
How did ‘A Mighty Heart’ whitewash Islamic Terror? It was sort of...about Islamic Terror.
How much evidence is there that Cat Stevens gave money to HAMAS? I’m not sure that this has been proven.
Schlussel has it right. Anybody who reads Roger Friedman’s column knows he’s a flaming lefty.
because Debbie Schlussel thinks EVERYTHING is a liberal plot against the US.
Debbie Schlussel hates every movie and thinks they are all anti-american propaganda. I am sick of her
I watched a few minutes of MSNBC’s Olberman last night and was sturck by just how childish and whiney he is. It’s nice to see that I won’t have to change the channel to find a lunatic
Probably whitewashed the terrorists by making you feel sympathy for them.
She’s the rights equivalent of a moonbat.
I’ve seen it and don’t have any idea how one could come to that conclusion.
The sooner we get over thinking Fox News somehow has to be all conservative all the time, the better off we'll be. I don't want a propoganda arm, I want a news channel.
I read both reviews when they were ‘up’ on the Fox website, and Friedman panned them both as I recall.
‘boring’ was the term used for both at various points. He was more disappointed about Jolie banning Fox News from a movie about a reporter than anything else.
“she’s dead on about Roger Friedman.”
Even a blind sow can find an acorn once in awhile.
I think Fox calls itself “fair and balanced” because they do have alot of liberals as well as conservatives. Watch MSNBC for about 5 minutes and you’ll feel better! By the way, the best review of “Sicko” is by Dr. Theodore Dalrymple in the current issue of National Review magazine. He’s a British doctor who really tells you about socialized medicine from personal experience! I think anything cable presents has to be judged from other sources. It’s amazing when the guests can even get out about four words before being interrupted by the hosts with their prepared talking points!
Well said. FOX doesn’t claim to be a “conservative” news outlet, that’s just the attack line used by the totally-left, all the time, RAT-controlled competing (and losing) opposition networks.
He must be in charge of Fox and Friends in the morning.
I would rather see c-span seminar callers than revelele with the retards any more.
It has been oprafied beyond redemption.
Instead of emotion, Jolie and Pitt go for propaganda
By Armond White
A Mighty Heart
Directed by Michael Winterbottom
First Brad Pitt, one of the producers of A Mighty Heart, and the film’s star Angelina Jolie, committed themselves to the story of Mariane Pearl, widow of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was beheaded by Islamic terrorists in 2002. But not content to portray Mariane’s suffering and perseverance, Pitt and Jolie bungled their compassion by hiring one of the worst contemporary filmmakers, Michael Winterbottom, to advance a modish perspective that denies the war on terror. “I am not terrorized,” Jolie’s smirking Marianne assures moviegoers.
As A Mighty Heart tells it, America’s foreign policy is to blame for Mariane Pearl’s bereavement and the crimes of Islamic terrorism. Throughout the film, reference is made to the treatment of post-9/11 detainees at Guantanamo Bay as if to rationalize the actions of Pakistani extremists who kidnap and kill an American citizen. Pitt and Jolie surely knew that this political skepticism has become Winterbottom’s specialty in such U.S.-bashing films as In This World and Road to Guantanamo. While a simple tearjerker about a freedom-loving widow would risk an embarrassing emotional display, Pitt, Jolie and Winterbottom maintain their cool status with this fashionably cynical propaganda film. Its effect is not cathartic, just frustrating.
Nothing in A Mighty Heart conveys the magnanimity of its title. Jolie’s Mariane Pearl sits pregnant and helpless in her Karachi apartment waiting for Daniel to return from a dangerous interview with a radical Muslim, then waits for his newspaper editor to rescue him, then waits as a bloodthirsty American diplomat (Will Patton) wrangles with Middle Eastern politicians for news of Daniel’s fate. Winterbottom emphasizes Mariane’s confusion about the international intrigue between governments and newsmedia of different countries. He stirs a hodgepodge of motives and personalities in the manner of Syriana and Babel—but with his particular state-of-the-art muddle.
—snip—
http://www.nypress.com/20/25/film/ArmondWhite.cfm?CFID=1135681&CFTOKEN=75756650
She’s right about Friedman though.
Also, Lauren Green was on with Robert Spencer, a very good segment up on HA, and I realized how much I missed her calm demeanor every morning. She recently had a baby and is back now as the religion editor. But I sure do miss her and E.D. first thing every day!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.