Free Republic

Fox News Watch discusses the media's sympathy for the Times Square bomber and debate Ellis Henican on whether his main motive was Islam or the fact that his house was in foreclosure, like so many other Americans who don't try to blow things up. Ellis Henican tried to explain the media's apparent sympathy by saying they are just "trying to get inside the mind of this madman" through "understanding." He added that he believes Shahzad came to "these horrible acts through a cocktail of motivations." Jim Pinkerton sarcastically responded, "Now we know why all the millions of people who had...

Here is video of Fox News Watch asking the question, "Are Medical Reporters using the Earthquake for Self-Promotion?" The panel specifically discussed Medical Reporters from CNN and MSNBC and the coverage of their efforts to help the people of Haiti. The panel essentially agreed as a group that doctors covering a story and getting personally involved does not cross a line and is not only OK, but a good thing. They did say it is important not to try and use the involvement as a tool for ratings, though it is difficult to keep those things apart.. . . (VIDEO)

“In a memo e-mailed this week to Pentagon staff members, the Defense Department’s office of security review noted that “this administration prefers to avoid using the term ‘Long War’ or ‘Global War on Terror’ [GWOT.] Please use ‘Overseas Contingency Operation.’” — WaPo, March 25, 2009 [emphasis added] Maybe there is something to Pres. Obama’s post-partisan goal. He seems to have created virtual non-partisan unanimity around the fact that his new term for the war on terror is . . . silly. The crew at Fox News Watch had fun this evening with the absurd new term: “Overseas Contingency Operation.” Just...

Hey Keith: “try to hang onto that gig you’ve got, cause you’re running out of places to work!” That’s a sample of the less-than-reverent advice that Fox News Watch doled out to various members of the MSM this evening. The show took as its inspiration the messages that Pres. Bush left for Pres. Obama and the Bush twins shared with the Obama girls. But the News Watch counsel was considerably cheekier than that of the Bush missives. To be entirely accurate, whereas Jenna and Barbara’s letter was published in the Wall Street Journal, we don’t know what W wrote to...

Chinese divers won a record seven gold medals during the 2008 Olympics. But even they didn't dive as headlong into the Beijing tank as did NBC. That's how you might describe the collective verdict of the Fox News Watch panel this evening on NBC's regime-friendly coverage. The subject arose as part of the show's Year in Review, and began with a clip of Matt Lauer unctuously questioning a ChiCom official: MATT LAUER: There's a recent poll that said some very high percentage of the people in China are happy with their lot in life. Something around 80%. You compare that...

Jim Pinkerton found a graphic way to express his displeasure over Fox News Watch's decision to devote a segment to Lindsay Lohan's latest run-in with the law. With a nod to MSNBC newsreader Mika Brzezinski, who as I chronicled here had torn up a Paris Hilton story in protest, Pinkerton ripped a page or two on tonight's show.FOX NEWS WATCH PANELIST JIM PINKERTON: This speaks to formula, right?. We all know that Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Ritchie are fighting to get the Anna Nicole Smith slot for this year. FOX NEWS WATCH HOST ERIC BURNS: Nicole Ritchie, who has just...

Would you take a paycheck from an organization you consider illegitimate? Neal Gabler apparently would. "I don't want to bite the hand that feeds me my Kool-Aid," claimed Gabler on this evening's "Fox News Watch." He then proceeded to do just that, claiming that Democrats pulled out of the Fox-sponsored presidential candidate debate in Nevada "for the same reason that Republicans would not go on Air America -- it doesn't make any political sense. Why in the world would you want to legitimize a network that spends hour after hour after hour after hour to, to." View video hereInterjected host...

I was curious as to how Neal Gabler would opine. Surely, there was no way the resident aggressive lefty at Fox News Watch would defend the odious statements of William Arkin, who in this column libeled the US military as "mercenaries" and claimed we treat them to "obscene amenities." As it turns out, Gabler didn't, even going so far as to call Arkin's statements "idiotic." However . . . that doesn't mean that Gabler didn't find something to complain about in the way conservatives reacted to the column. Kvetched Neal: "There are literally tens of millions of bloggers out...

On last night's Fox News Watch, Cal Thomas offered critical assessments of the independence of two of his fellow conservative commentators. Even while acknowledging that the two top-rated talkers have recently made comments critical of the administration, he suggested that, by and large, the pair lack political autonomy.In the context of a discussion of President Bush's efforts to shore up support among conservative radio talk show personalities, Thomas stated: "Even Rush Limbaugh, who is seen as being in the pocket of the administration, has been critical of Republicans not being more like Republicans." And: "Sean Hannity, recently - though he's...

by Mark Finkelstein October 1, 2006 - 09:39 Being a regular Fox News Watch viewer, there was nothing surprising, tuning into this evening's discussion of the Clinton-Chris Wallace dust-up, in hearing lefty panelist Neal Gabler take his employer and colleagues to task. Among his moves, Gabler: - Claimed "this network's reputation [presumably as right-leaning] precedes it." - Asserted that Chris Wallace "did not frame the question properly. He asked why didn't you do more? Which is like asking 'will you stop beating your wife?'" - Defended Wallace only at the expense of other Fox colleagues: "He is not a Hannity,...

by Mark Finkelstein September 24, 2006 - 07:02 Summer's over, but it's still way too warm for hell to freeze over. And yet . . . The usually reliably liberal Neal Gabler has lambasted Jim McGreevey for his more-than-we-needed-to-know confessions about his homosexuality. Even more shockingly, Gabler singled out Sean Hannity for praise for conducting the toughest interview of the Oprahfied former governor. On last evening's Fox News Watch, there was unanimity from right to left that McGreevey's book, 'The Confession', and his media blitz to promote it, was an unseemly undertaking in which his family paid the price while...

by Mark Finkelstein September 2, 2006 - 19:20 I don't know about you, but by the end of the Bush-bashing festival that was the MSM's coverage of the one-year Katrina anniversary, I was about ready to climb up on my roof with a bedsheet message begging to be evacuated by helicopter. Neal Gabler also had a complaint about the Katrina anniversary coverage: there wasn't enough of it. On this evening's Fox News Watch, Gabler made his comment in the context of the panel's discussion of the John Mark Karr fiasco. Griped Gabler: "The embarrassment isn't that he wasn't guilty, the...

by Mark Finkelstein August 5, 2006 - 21:57 Neal Gabler might not look like an athlete, but don't be surprised to see him lining up for the long jump at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. For on this evening's Fox News Watch, Neal took a leap of logic of Beamonesque proportions. According to Gabler, the fact that a drunken Gibson made anti-Semitic remarks retroactively proves that his 'Passion of the Christ' was anti-Semitic too. Here's how the liberal media critic put it: "The interest here is 'The Passion.' It made something like $400 million. It was accused of being anti-Semitic. The...

by Mark Finkelstein July 9, 2006 - 14:12 Twice in less than 24 hours, conservative columnist Jim Pinkerton left liberal talking-head rivals at a loss for words on the issue of missile defense. Pinkerton's first victim was Neal Gabler, on last evening's Fox News Watch. In the context of the North Korean missile tests, liberal Gabler flatly stated: "Missile defense does not work. That is what we have learned." Shot back Pinkerton: "The Japanese believe in it. That's why they're building it right now." Gabler's silence was golden. Then this morning, Pinkerton made his regular appearance with Ellen Ratner in...

by Mark Finkelstein June 24, 2006 In 2000, that darn MSM elected George Bush by bashing Al Gore. And when it comes to the theological argument as to whether gays and women should be Christian clergy, well, actually, there isn't an argument. There's only one side. The liberal one, of course. Don't believe me? Ask Neal Gabler. The reliably liberal member of the Fox News Watch panel expressed those views on this evening's show. Host Eric Burns asked whether the torture and murder of two US soldiers, coupled with the charges brought against a group of Marines in the killing...

by Mark Finkelstein June 17, 2006 Neal Gabler might have hit a new low when it comes to the coarseness of his criticism. On this evening's Fox News Watch, he castigated as 'sub-moronic' a statement President Bush made during his recent Iraq trip. And Gabler was furious that, in his view the MSM hasn't been sufficiently critical in its coverage of Iraq and the president. To make his point, the normally PC Gabler repeatedly branded the MSM 'brain dead.' Gabler began his assault by pouring cold water on the president's recent uptick in the polls: "the boost is very small....

by Mark Finkelstein June 10, 2006 Jealous guardians of high standards or just . . . jealous? There was a rare bit of consensus on tonight's Fox News Watch, as journalists from left and right came together to excoriate Ann Coulter for what they judged to be her money-motivated excesses in her latest opus, 'Godless: The Church of Liberalism'. The focus was on Coulter's controversial statements about the Jersey Girls - the 9/11 widows turned harsh Bush administration critics. Highlighted was this excerpt from Ann's book: "These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them . ....

by Mark Finkelstein May 28, 2006 Could there be a new sheriff on the block at Fox News Watch? Brash lefty Neal Gabler often manages to get the last word, but on last evening's show he was soundly put in his place by National Review editor Rich Lowry, substituting for Cal Thomas. The topic was the recent press leaks that have compromised a number of highly-classified anti-terrorism programs including the secret prisons for Al-Qaeda members, the monitoring of Al-Qaeda related phone calls and the gathering of phone calling patterns. Predictably, Gabler was highly critical of the prospect of the government...

Has anyone noticed that Cal Thomas looks strange lately with his dyed black hair and apparent face lift and/or Botox? He used to look like a distinguished older gentleman.

by Mark Finkelstein April 1, 2006 Do you support rigorous measures to strengthen border security and tighten immigration controls? If so, you're probably a 'nativist' - read racist - or a rube, or very possibly both. Don't believe me? Just ask Neal Gabler. Here's what he had to say on this evening's Fox News Watch: "The conservative nativists, and maybe that's a redundancy, thought they had a winner here. What a great issue they have," he said sarcastically. "You can beat up on aliens and get all of those white folks for the 2006 election." Conservative columnist Jim Pinkerton weighed...