Fox Continues Ignoring Economists To Downplay Debt Ceiling Consequences

From Media Matters:

Fox News figures have continued their assault on plans to raise the debt ceiling ahead of the August 2 deadline, claiming the negative economic consequences of failing to raise the ceiling is "pure fiction" and that Democrats' warnings are "doomsday rhetoric." But economists agree that failing to raise the debt ceiling is an "unthinkable idea."

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Fox Downplays Effects Of Allowing Debt Ceiling To Expire

Carlson: "Some Republicans" Are Asking Whether Debt Ceiling Deadline Is A "Democratic Ploy." On the July 12 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Gretchen Carlson claimed that "some Republicans are saying that August 2 deadline, as I alluded to at the top of the show -- is that a Democratic ploy, or is that a hard and fast date now? Remember, back in April that was the first deadline date, and everyone kind of pooh-poohed it, and before you knew it, in the middle of that horrible earthquake tsunami in Japan, the Treasury secretary moved it." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/12/11 viaMedia Matters]

Hannity: Democrats' "Doomsday Rhetoric Would Have You Believe" That If The Ceiling Deadline Passes, The "Economy Would Crumble." On the July 11 edition his Fox News show, Sean Hannity said: "As the deficit reduction talks continue in Washington, Democrats have been ramping up their efforts to scare the American people into supporting this deal. Now, the left's doomsday rhetoric would have you believe that if Congress does not vote to raise the debt limit by August the 2nd, the American economy would crumble." [Fox News, Hannity, 7/11/11]

Dobbs Calls Debt Ceiling Deadline A "False Date" And "Pure Fiction." On his July 11 Fox Business show, host Lou Dobbs called the August 2 deadline for raising the debt limit a "false date" and "pure fiction." Dobbs made his comments in response to J. Dennis Hastert, former Republican speaker of the House, who said that "the federal government can decide what it's going to pay, when, and where." [Fox Business, Lou Dobbs Tonight, 7/11/11 via Media Matters]

But Economists Agree Failing To Raise The Debt Ceiling Would Have Disastrous Consequences

Politico: U.S. Going Into Default Is "An Unthinkable Idea To Many Economists And Market Participants." From Politico:

Republicans are growing increasingly concerned about the impact a bruising fight over raising the nation's $14.29 trillion debt ceiling could have on U.S. financial markets.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has had conversations with top Wall Street executives, asking how close Congress could push to the debt limit deadline without sending interests rates soaring and causing stock prices to go lower, people familiar with the matter said. Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said Tuesday night that he was not aware of any such conversations.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has warned Congress that without new borrowing authority, the federal government could hit the statutory debt limit by May 16.

Treasury could then implement emergency measures to continuing making interest payments on existing debut until around July 8. After that, the U.S. risks going into default, an unthinkable idea to many economists and market participants who say such an event could drive scores of large banks into failure, send interest rates skyrocketing as foreign investors abandon U.S. securities and crush the already slow-going economic recovery. [Politico, 4/13/11]

MSNBC: If Default Causes Interest Rates To "Rise Too Far, Too Fast, The U.S. Economy Could Face The Risk Of Another Recession." From an April 11 article on MSNBC's website:

Washington is gearing up for a battle over how many trillions the federal government can borrow to pay its bills, and it's shaping up to be an even bigger brawl than the one just resolved over funding the government for the next six months.

While investors viewed last week's budget brinksmanship as a minor event, they are beginning to grow concerned that many lawmakers and ordinary Americans, [sic] fail to grasp the implications of even suggesting the United States would default on its debt obligations.

What is a political football to Congress could end up flattening the economy and hurting consumers by lowering the nation's pristine credit rating and sending interest rates sharply higher.

[...]

So far, bond market investors apparently are not very worried; the United States has never defaulted on its debt and many have long thought a default unimaginable. On Monday, amid the rancorous aftermath of the budget battle that nearly shut down the government, bond prices were flat.

But some investors are betting that bond prices are headed lower. As the Federal Reserve wraps up a $600 billion round of bond buying designed to keep interest rates low, many investors are wondering what will replace that program when it expires in June. On Monday, the giant investment fund PIMCO, which recently dumped its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities, disclosed that it has gone even further and is now selling U.S. debt short -- a bet that bond prices have further to fall. 

Falling bond prices hurt more than the investors who hold them. As prices fall, interest rates rise. If they rise too far, too fast, the U.S. economy could face the risk of another recession. Without borrowing authority, the government would be powerless to pay all its bills, much less assemble another stimulus package to revive the economy. [MSNBC.com, 4/11/11]

Ex-Treasury Official: "This Would Make the Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy Look Like A Walk In The Park ... They're Really Playing With Fire." From The Huffington Post:

If Congress doesn't raise the $14.3 trillion debt limit by mid-May, the U.S. government will have to resort to emergency measures to avoid default. One missed payment, which could happen as soon as July if the ceiling is not raised, would likely set off a widespread global panic, causing borrowing costs to skyrocket and severely crippling the nation's economy.

But Republican lawmakers have said they will use the debt limit as a means of enforcing fiscal austerity, insisting they won't raise it without winning concessions from Democrats.

[...]

Meanwhile, Jim Millstein, the former restructuring officer at Treasury, who helped reorganize AIG, outlined how disastrous the consequences of default would likely be. Speaking on CNBC on Tuesday, he said that a Treasury default would affect investors of all sorts, and he criticized those who downplay the consequences.

"This would make the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy look like a walk in a park on a sunny day," he told CNBC's David Faber. "They're really playing with fire." [The Huffington Post,4/13/11]

Fox Has Consistently Downplayed Debt Ceiling Fears

Napolitano: "If I Were In The Congress, I Would Encourage Everybody To Vote Against Raising The Debt Ceiling." On the April 11 edition of his Fox Business show, Freedom Watch, host Andrew Napolitano interviewed Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ). During the interview, Napolitano spoke repeatedly about the debt limit and at one point said, "If I were in the Congress, I would encourage everybody to vote against raising the debt ceiling." [Fox Business, Freedom Watch, 4/11/11 via Media Matters]

Napolitano Has Repeatedly Spoken Against Raising The Debt Limit. Napolitano has frequently used his Fox Business show as well as guest host positions on Fox News to speak against raising the debt limit. As a guest host on the March 10 edition of Fox News' Glenn Beck, Napolitano urged Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) to vote against the debt limit. During the January 4 edition of Freedom Watch, Napolitano said, "It's an easy one for me -- the debt ceiling should not be raised." [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 3/10/11; Fox Business, Freedom Watch,1/4/11]

Hannity: "I Would Not Vote To Raise The Debt Ceiling." During a panel discussion on his April 12 show, Hannity said, "If I was in Congress, I would not vote to raise the debt ceiling." [Fox News, Hannity, 4/12/11, via Nexis]

Bolling: "I Say Let Them Default." On the April 13 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, guest host Eric Bolling told Fox Business host Stuart Varney, "I say let them default. ... What's going to happen?" Varney replied, "Armageddon is going to happen." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/13/11 via Media Matters]

Mark Foley tells Sean Hannity ‘sexting’ children should be legal

By Stephen C. Webster

Mark Foley, the former Republican congressman from Florida who resigned in disgrace after he was caught exchanging sexually explicit messages with teenage boys, made a startling claim on Fox News last night, during his first interview on national media since 2006.

Speaking to Republican opinion host Sean Hannity, who’s been making quite a to-do about sex scandal plaguing Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Foley said he did not think it should be a crime to send sexually explicit messages to children.

To view this particular comment, skip to 1:28 into the fourth video below.

This video is from Fox News, broadcast Thursday, June 9, 2011.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Fox News panel attacks Sesame Street for ‘liberal bias

By Stephen C. Webster

Did you know that “limousine liberals” are using Sesame Street, the popular children’s program on PBS, to undermine the moral values of America?

If that’s a surprise to you, well, you’re clearly not getting enough Fox News in your media diet. (Or you know what Sesame Street is and realize the absurdity of such a claim.)

Here, a panel discussion featured by conservative opinion host Sean Hannity attempts to explain their theory about how puppets and children’s programming can supposedly lead to a totalitarian regime and a destruction of the American family.

Try not to take it too seriously.

Motor City Liberal Comment: Thanks Sean for proving you're the dumbest person on Fox News(and that's saying a lot considering Gretchen Carlson is also on that network). 

Jon Stewart On Fox's Fake "Common" Controversy: "It's Almost Impossible To Express How Ridiculous...You All Are"

by Media Matters staff

On the May 11 edition of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart highlighted the absurd hypocrisy in Fox's manufactured controversy over the White House's decision to host rapper Common at a poetry event. As Stewart pointed out, Fox has celebrated musicians with far more violent lyrics, including hosting Ted Nugent--who once told President Obama "to suck on my machine gun"--multiple times. From The Daily Show:

The Daily Show - Tone Def Poetry Jam - Lyrics ControversyTags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Previously:

MSNBC Notes Hypocrisy Of Fox's Attack On Rapper Common

Making Sense of Fox News' Common Freakout

Hypocrisy (Music Lyrics Edition): Fox Attacks Rapper Appearing At White House

FLASHBACK: Bush On Bin Laden: ‘I Really Just Don’t Spend That Much Time On Him’

Just days before President Obama was inaugurated, Fox News host Sean Hannity launched into the president-elect for supposedly “putting our national security at risk” by “flip-flop[ing]” on his pledge to go after Osama bin Laden. Accusing Obama of abandoning President Bush’s efforts in hunting down the Al Qaeda leader, Hannity exclaimed, “Mr. Obama’s change of heart is jaw dropping,” saying Obama was “softening his stance” on hunting down the terrorist. Watch it:

Needless to say, Obama did not relent in going after Bin Laden, and may have even doubled down on his predecessor’s effort. In 2006, conservative Weekly Standard editor Fred Barnes told Hannity’s Fox News that in a recent meeting with Bush, the president had told him “bin Laden doesn’t fit with the administration’s strategy for combating terrorism.” Barnes said Bush told him that capturing bin Laden is “not a top priority use of American resources.”

And just six months after 9/11, Bush suggested in a press conference that Bin Laden was not a top priority for his administration. Asked whether Bush thought capturing Bin Laden was important, Bush scolded those who cared about Bin Laden for not “understand[ing] the scope of the mission” because Bin Laden was just “one person,” whom Bush said, “I really just don’t spend that much time on“:

Who knows if he’s hiding in some cave or not. We haven’t heard from him in a long time. The idea of focusing on one person really indicates to me people don’t understand the scope of the mission. Terror is bigger than one person. He’s just a person who’s been marginalized. … I don’t know where he is. I really just don’t spend that much time on him, to be honest with you.

Watch it:

Towards the end of his presidency, Bush seemed to acknowledge that he would never get Bin Laden, saying, “He’ll be gotten by a president,” without specifying which one.

Now, Obama has fulfilled his campaign promise to capture the terrorist leader, so did Fox News give credit where is due? This morning, Fox and Friends approvingly played a clip of Bush from shortly after 9/11, saying, “President George W. Bush promised to the nation that Osama bin Laden would be caught any way possible.” “We did finally get him,” host Brian Kilmeade said after the clip.

In what is likely to become a chorus on the right, the conservative Heritage Foundation’s president wrote this morning that “Bin Laden’s elimination vindicates U.S. strategy in the region, started under President George W. Bush.”

UPDATEHouse Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) issued a statement praising Bush, writing, "I commend President Obama who has followed the vigilance of President Bush in bringing Bin Laden to justice."

Irony: Hannity Special On "Liberal Bias" Features Laughably Distorted Quotes

From Media Matters:

Sean Hannity devoted an episode of his Fox News show to an hour-long special on what he claimed was the media's "liberal bias." However, several of the quotes he used as examples of this purported bias were deceptively cropped to leave out crucial context.

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Hannity Promises "Close-Up Look" At Media's "Liberal Bias"

Hannity: "[I]t Is Common Knowledge That The Mainstream Media ... Are Biased Against The GOP." From the April 22 edition of Hannity -- his "Behind the Bias" special:

HANNITY: And welcome to this special edition of Hannity. Behind the bias, a close-up look at the Obama-mania media's liberal bias. Now, it is common knowledge that the mainstream media from the major television networks to the country's most influential newspapers are biased against the GOP. Tonight, we'll examine some of the major scandals that resulted from this bias, and the victims that it has left in its wake. [Fox News, Hannity, 4/22/11]

Hannity Deceptively Crops Couric's Description Of Author's Opinion

Hannity Clip Shows Katie Couric Calling Reagan "An Airhead." From Hannity's "Behind the Bias" special:

KATIE COURIC: Good morning. The Gipper was an airhead. [Fox News, Hannity, 4/22/11]

Full Context: Couric Was Citing A Conclusion From A Reagan Biography That Drew A "Tremendous Amount Of Interest And Fire." From the September 27, 1999, edition of NBC's Today:

KATIE COURIC, co-host: Good morning. The Gipper was an airhead. That's one of the conclusions of a new biography of Ronald Reagan that's drawing a tremendous amount of interest and fire today, Monday, September the 27th, 1999.

Announcer: From NBC News, this is TODAY, with Katie Couric and Matt Lauer, live from Studio 1A in Rockefeller Plaza.

COURIC: And good morning, everyone. Welcome to TODAY on this Monday morning. I'm Katie Couric.

ANN CURRY, co-host: And I'm Ann Curry. Good morning, everybody. Matt's back tomorrow. Perhaps he's still celebrating with the American team that won the Ryder Golf Cup tournament yesterday.

COURIC: That's right. We hope he's having a great time. We'll see him tomorrow. But this morning we're going to begin by looking at this new biography of Ronald Reagan called "Dutch." The author was actually hand-picked by Ronald and Nancy Reagan, which is why some of his conclusions are so startling. The author, Edmund Morris, will be here for a three-part interview later this week. But in advance of that, we're going to see why Morris thinks Reagan was an airhead, but still a great president. [NBC, Today, 9/27/99, via Nexis]

Hannity Deceptively Crops Cooper's Report On Plame

Hannity Clip Shows Anderson Cooper Labeling Outing Of CIA Operative Valerie Plame As A "Smear Campaign." From Hannity's "Behind the Bias" special:

ANDERSON COOPER (CNN host): He is the victim of a Bush administration smear campaign. [Fox News, Hannity, 4/22/11]

Full Context: Cooper Was Reporting Wilson's Allegations. From Cooper's July 17, 2003, CNN report:

COOPER: A former U.S. diplomat who investigated Africa's suspected link to Iraq's nuclear weapons program now says he is the victim of a Bush administration smear campaign.

Administration officials say former ambassador Joseph Wilson's report on Niger last year supported the now discredited claim that Iraq had tried to buy uranium in Africa.

Wilson says that is not true. He spoke exclusively to "TIME" magazine today. He accuses the administration of twisting intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat. [CNN, 7/17/03, via Nexis]

Hannity Falsely Depicts Wallace As "Apolog[etic]" For The Soviet Union

After Stating That Media "Apologiz[e] For "America's Enemies," Hannity Suggests Mike Wallace Was Speaking Positively About Stalin. From Hannity's "Behind the Bias" special:

GERARD ALEXANDER, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSITUTE: To have a fundamentally conflicted attitude about not just the United States, but whether the United States is a constructive force in the world, that is something that I think really does separates a lot of liberals and conservatives.

HANNITY: The media have been apologizing for America's enemies from the cold war through the war on terror.

MIKE WALLACE, FORMER CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Many Soviets viewing the current chaos and nationalist unrest under Gorbachev look back almost longingly to the era of brutal order under Stalin. [Fox News, Hannity, 4/22/11]

Full Context: Wallace Was Portraying Nostalgia For Stalin As Surprising, Given His "Atrocities."From the February 11, 1990, edition of CBS' 60 Minutes:

MIKE WALLACE, co-host: During this past extraordinary week in Moscow, Soviet citizens have had a chance to hear with stunning candor reports of a boisterous public debate about the Communist Party unparalleled in the history of the Soviet Union, and it is that current candor, that current glasnost, that is also giving Soviet citizens their most horrifying look at the crimes of their founding father, Joseph Stalin. During the quarter century that he ruled the Soviet Union, at least 20 million Soviet citizens died, victims of Stalin's bloody paranoia, his mindless assault on any and all that he perceived as in any way dangerous to him. An unofficial group called Memoriale in 200 cities across the Soviet Union is digging, researching and publicizing a record of the horrors, the murders, the atrocities committed in the name of, at the direction of Joseph Stalin.

There is a newly discovered mass grave just off the main road linking Moscow and its airport. At the end of a trail, a wooden cross directed a few months ago by Memoriale. Tens of thousands are buried in this ground. No one yet knows how many--slave laborers from Stalin's prison camps. They were among the hundreds of thousands who perished nearby from hunger, disease, exhaustion, worked to death.

[...]

WALLACE: When did this all become known to the Soviet citizens?

STEPHEN COHEN [Princeton University professor]: That is a painful question that's being debated here. People say: We didn't know. We didn't know.

GALENA IVANOVA LEWINSON [Memoriale]: The same thing that happened in Germany when Hitler came. Hitler came. Many people said that: We didn't see anything. Nothing happened--the same thing exactly.

COHEN: People worshipped Stalin as a kind of living god. It was bizarre. It's hard for us to even imagine it. It's hard for Soviet citizens today. I know hundreds of them who lived through that--to remember and imagine and understand how they themselves paid homage to this cult.

WALLACE: Incredibly, even many of Stalin's victims didn't believe it was Stalin who was responsible for all the killings, all the arrests. They continued to have faith in their great leader Stalin and his system.

And we say: We believed in him--a lot of us.

LEWINSON: Yes, yes.

WALLACE: As a matter of fact, a lot of Russians still believe in him.

LEWINSON: Yes. That's a trouble. That's a trouble, and that's a question we can't answer ourselves. You're asking me, but we--I can't answer it myself.

WALLACE: Is there resistance to the work of Memoriale in the Soviet community?

COHEN: Powerful resistance. Stalin's grip on this society has not yet been broken. His legacy is everywhere here.

WALLACE: Many Soviets viewing the current chaos and national unrest under Gorbachev look back almost longingly to the era of brutal order under Stalin. In a Moscow marketplace, we conducted our own informal public opinion poll.

What do you remember of Joseph Stalin?

WOMAN #1 (through interpreter): Ah, about Stalin. I remember all the best things about Stalin. I am simply delighted with him. I remember from my childhood that we could see how he cared about simple people, about our nation, about children.

WALLACE: Would you like Stalin back in the Soviet Union?

MAN #1 (through interpreter): Yes, yes, yes, I would like him back. If this was Stalin's time now, people wouldn't be standing about in the marketplace. Half of them would be in prison now, and everyone would work. As it is, there is no one but loafers here, speculators and loafers.

WALLACE: Why do so many people here like Joseph Stalin? They're for Stalin. Why?

WOMAN #2 (through interpreter): There is so much chaos in this country now that everyone wants a new iron hand complete to bring things back to order.

WALLACE: And they're willing to pay the price of Joseph Stalin if necessary.

WOMAN #2 (through interpreter): Yes, they're ready for another Stalin. They're ready, and they are willing to pay the same price of blood.

MAN #2: I'm a Soviet army lieutenant colonel. I'm 37. What I think--that Stalin is in the same boat with Hitler. He's one of the--one of the most terrible tyrants history has ever known. And I hate this man's guts. He murdered in cold blood tens of millions of people.

WALLACE: OK. If that's true, then why do so many people that I'm talking to here say: We need Stalin back?

MAN #2: Stalinism has very deep roots, and . . .

WALLACE: Why?

MAN #2: . . . in these people.

WALLACE: Why?

MAN #2: Because this country has never had democratic traditions, and now the democracy's an infant in this country.

WALLACE: Look. We are at a market. Food is hard to come by, soap, razorblades, everything is hard to come by, and people are saying: Perestroika, fine, but, you know, we don't have food on our tables, so let's get rid of Gorbachev, get the strong hand of Stalin or somebody like that back.

MAN #2: I do not understand that, no.

WALLACE: But you hear it.

MAN #2: Yes. Yes, I do, and I'm very sorry. I'm very sorry. That means that some time must pass before people realize what--what--that freedom is more than a pan of sausage.

WALLACE: Is it possible that what happened to you, what happened to millions of others, could happen again in this country?

LEWINSON: I don't think so, really. I really don't think so. But it depends on the humans. That's what our Memoriale is for. Memoriale is for that. We hope not, but that doesn't depend on us anymore. It's the young ones. [CBS News, 60 Minutes, 2/11/90, via Nexis]

Motor City Liberal comment: Sean Hannity is probably the most biased person on tv right now and that's saying a lot considering his network is a the unofficial news for a political party, Sean Hannity will push any lie the Republican and the conservative elite wants to be push.

Memo To Sean Hannity: Fox News’ History Of Inciting Islamophobia And Racial And Ethnic Animosity

By Zaid Jilani

Last night, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) appeared on Fox News’s The Sean Hannity Show. While Ellison was prepared to debate a variety of issues from current affairs, Hannity used the opportunity to confront the congressman about comments he had previously made accusing the network of inciting racial and ethnic animosity and Islamophobia. Ellison at first tried to say that he didn’t want to get into an argument about Fox News, but eventually said that the station tries to always associate terrorism with Muslims, failing to appease Hannity, who said it was “offensive” to say Fox incites religious or ethnic animosity:

HANNITY: Well, you actually called out Fox News. You said in a BBC interview, you said that I think that if you listen to Fox News, the station 24/7 is trying to incite and divide Americans along religious lines, scapegoating the Muslim community, and this is a sort of a well-worn, right-wing tactic. Can you give me a specific example?

ELLISON: Well you know Sean, I tell ya, you know you do this show, you know what you guys broadcast all the time, I mean, I stand by the statement. [...]

HANNITY: This is an incredible charge, this is a charge of bigotry! [...] I’m offended by what you say, and if that’s an accusation of religious intolerance, we’re scapegoating the Muslim community, nothing is further from the truth, and I’d like one example. [...]

ELLISON: I’ll give you one example. One example is that after the King hearings, the hearings that Peter King did, you referred to, you talk about, every time you talk about terrorists and radicalization, you always attached the word Muslim to it, or Islamic.

Watch it:

In response to Hannity’s claim that it is “nothing further than the truth” to say that Fox incites religious intolerance, here’s a far from comprehensive list of some of Fox News’s worst moments of inciting racial and ethnic animosity:

- Fox Host John Gibson Said We “Need More Babies” Because The Majority Of Americans May Be Hispanic In 25 Years [5/12/06]

- Fox Host Steve Doocy Claimed Barack Obama Went To A “Madrassa” And Was Possibly A Muslim Extremist [1/19/07]

- Fox News Managing Editor Said Barack Obama Had “Fairly Controversial” Views About “The White Race” [3/28/08]

- Fox News Host Brian Kilmeade Suggested “Special Screenings” For Muslim American Soldiers After The Fort Hood Shootings [11/7/09]

- Fox News Host Blamed Desecration Of A Tennessee Mosque On The “Stubbornness” Of Muslims Building A Community Center In New York City [8/24/10]

- Fox News Immediately Hired Disgraced NPR Commentator Juan Williams, Who Was Let Go For Making Insensitive Comments About Muslims [10/21/10]

- Fox Host Glenn Beck Said The 3/5 Compromise Was A “Way To Take A Step To Abolish Slavery” [1/6/11]

- Fox Host Sean Hannity Repeatedly Suggested That Middle East Uprisings Are Signs Of “World War III” [2/8/11, 2/10/11, 2/22/11]

- Fox Host Glenn Beck Claimed That The Pro-Democracy Movement In Egypt Was Evidence Of A Muslim-Marxist Conspiracy To Establish An Islamic Caliphate [2/11/11]

- Fox News Radio Reporter Todd Starnes Published Tweets About “Blacks Rioting” At A Burger King And Asking If Muslims “Will Stop Trying To Blow Us Up?” [3/24/11, 9/11/10]

Bill O’Reilly, Jesse Watters, and others at Fox News repeatedly refer to the “Muslim problem” in the world.

All of this racially and ethnically insensitive broadcasting may have had a negative effect on the views of the station’s audience. A recent survey from the Public Religion Research Institute found that there is a “a significant correlation between trust in Fox News and negative attitudes about Muslims.”

Donald Trump: Reagan Was A Con Man Who Couldn’t ‘Deliver The Goods’

By Judd Legum 

Today, real estate mogul Donald Trump proudly declares that Ronald Reagan is the President he admires most. Here’s Trump on the April 14 edition of Hannity:

HANNITY: Who are our past presidents that you admire most?

TRUMP: Well, I really like and knew a little bit Ronald Reagan, and I really liked him. You know, not only his policies, smart guy and so much smarter, you know, I always sort of have to laugh to myself when people try and criticize that level of intelligence. And I loved his style. I loved what he represented. … I thought he represented something very special for this county.

Watch it:

But in his bestselling book, Art of the Deal, published at the conclusion of the Reagan presidency, Trump cited Reagan as an example of someone who could “con people” but couldn’t “deliver the goods.” Trump said Reagan was “so smooth” that he “won over the American people.” But at the conclusion of his presidency, “people are beginning to question whether there is anything beneath that smile,” Trump writes. Here is page 60 from Art of the Deal:

Currently, Trump is the one who is creating “excitement,” doing “wonderful promoting,” generating “all kinds of press,” and testing the theory of how long you can “con people.” After promoting “birther” conspiracy theories about President Obama, recent polls show him leading the Republican field.

M.C.L Comment: I'm shocked Sean Hannity didn't faint from hearing the Donald saying something negative about Ronald Reagan. I bet right after the interview Sean  rushed home stripped to his Reagan Pjs and clutching his Reagan doll whispering in it's hear he didn't mean.