Political Irony

I’ve long wondered how conservative tea-baggers can scream and yell about our government and socialism, while at the same time taking pretty much everything that Fox News tells them on faith, even when it is a blatant lie and goes against real conservative values. A recent survey says that 74% of Republican-leaning Americans say that they trust Fox News.

So I was shocked, shocked I tell you, when at the Constitutional Coalition conference last weekend some conservatives pointed out the hypocrisy of Fox News being the “trusted” news source for conservatives who claim to love America. After all, the owner of Fox News is Rupert Murdoch, from Australia.

But the real kicker is that the next largest shareholder in News Corp — the parent company of Fox News — is Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Speaking at the conference, Joseph Farah, the publisher of the far-right WorldNetDaily, pointed out:

There’s a flaw, a real compromise in Fox that you need to understand. And if you care about national security, you especially need to be attentive to it. And that is that Fox News parent company is News Corp has a significant ownership by a Saudi prince that many of you will be familiar with because right after 9/11 this prince very famously offered Rudolph Giuliani a big multi-million dollar check to rebuild and Giuliani told him to stick the check where the sun don’t shine because this guy was basically blaming America for what happened on 9/11. Well this guy owns a very significant percentage of the News Corp and has let the world know that he can get things taken off Fox News when he finds them objectionable and has in the past. And I really believe this is really dangerous for America.

Another speaker at the conference, conservative author Brigitte Gabriel, pointed out that when Alwaleed was interviewed on Fox News by Neil Cavuto, it was like a “darling high school reunion”. “All of the sudden, Neil Cavuto is interviewing him like a buddy-buddy because he is the boss.” During the interview, Alwaleed made his positions clear: he wants the US to remain dependent on Saudi Arabian oil and he opposes financial reforms (Alwaleed owns a $4.3 billion stake in Citigroup, which spent millions lobbying against bank reforms last year).

Since Alwaleed has bragged about getting news stories on Fox changed, it should not be a surprise to anyone that Fox News is the main cheerleader for the “Drill Baby Drill” mentality that opposes moving American away from a fossil-fuel dependent economy.

Of course, Fox News is not the only media giant that is compromised by its owners. Alwaleed also has a big stake in Disney, who own the ABC TV network.

So, will conservatives wake up to the fact that they are being used, and turn some of their anger against their oppressive (and even foreign) overlords? Not if Fox News can help it.