Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I made the mistake yesterday of wondering what the GOPropaganda machine at FAUX News was up to lately, so I caught a segment of Greta Van Susteren interviewing some woman about a truckers "Ride for the Constitution" in Washington, D.C. this weekend.
I started paying attention when this woman said “We want the president of the United States removed from office. He is a threat to our national security. He is a threat to our way of life.” Wha? Greta let that inflammatory statement go without any questions, and stuck to the FAUX News script of promoting this event.
Don't call yourself a "journalist," Greta. You are a carnival barker.
Here is how the interview was reported. Ride spokesperson says main goal: Impeach Obama:
The trucker protest planned for this weekend, in addition to stating industry-related demands, is taking broad shots at President Obama and politicians in general.
Ride for the Constitution spokesperson Zeeda Andrews, interviewed Tuesday on Fox News’ “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren,” mentioned trucking “regulations” broadly in describing the convoy’s mission, but also pointed to the effort’s main purpose: “We want the president of the United States removed from office. He is a threat to our national security. He is a threat to our way of life.”
Andrews and co-organizer Pete Santilli, an online radio host, have distanced themselves from driver Earl Conlon, formerly the coordinator of the Ride’s bobtail convoy into Washington, D.C. Conlon told the Washington Post he lied to U.S. News reporter Steven Nelson about parts of the convoy’s intentions to maximize mainstream media attention.
The Ride for the Constitution movement was spawned from a Facebook page titled “Truckers to Shut Down America” that went viral following television commentator Glenn Beck’s mention of it on one of his broadcasts.
As reported via the Land Line Media Blog, original demands on the page included “remove Obama from office for crimes of treason and misdemeanors. We want Congressional hearing on Benghazi and Seal Team 6. Louis (Lois) Learner put in jail. No amnesty, remove all Muslims in our government that do not uphold the Constitution. Remove Eric Holder from office for crimes against the people and the Constitution. Last but not least is Fuel prices.” The focus on Obama and other federal elected officials is part of a convoy, consisting of truckers and others, planned for Friday to roll through the District of Columbia.
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Land Line’s publisher, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, issued a statement opposing the demonstration, saying its leaders have no ties with trucking and until recently lacked a trucking-related agenda.
Overdrive blogger Kevin Rutherford has posted several reasons why he opposes the initiative and plans a live call-in discussion on a special online broadcast tonight. As of midday Wednesday, 38 percent of Overdrive readers reported they would shut their businesses down in solidarity with the protest, down from 43 percent on Tuesday.
The focus on “Muslims in government” on the original Facebook page manifesto raised the ire of many. One was Overdrive blogger Wendy Parker, who wrote that while trucking problems are worthy of attention, “All the other ancillary causes need their own platform.”
There is more discussion at the above link.
Media Matters reports Meet The Conspiracy Theorist Behind This Week's Trucker Rally In DC:
In recent days, a series of planned anti-government rallies involving truckers protesting on the Capital Beltway has produced widespread press coverage and been given a publicity boost by Fox News and Glenn Beck. Though the organizers and participants have been presented by conservative media as salt-of-the-earth people with constitutional objections to President Obama and members of Congress, the event is actually being organized by a fringe conspiracy theorist.
Zeeda Andrews -- a co-organizer of the effort who made October 8 appearances on Fox News and Glenn Beck's The Blaze to promote the event -- apparently thinks that President Obama and Osama bin Laden are somehow the same person; that Obama is a secret Muslim; that the Boston bombings were a "false flag"; that the CIA murdered Buzzfeed journalist Michael Hastings; and that the Department of Homeland Security is stockpiling ammunition in order to slaughter Americans.
On her Facebook page, Andrews identifies as a fan of two 9-11 conspiracy theory movies, a documentary that postulates that the government may be secretly injecting aluminum into the atmosphere to block the sun's rays, and a film based on the lectures of British conspiracy theorist David Icke, who believes a secret race of lizard people run the world. (Radio host Peter Santilli, who has appeared in press reports as a spokesperson for the event, is also a 9-11 conspiracy theorist. Santilli made news earlier this year when he suggested Hillary Clinton should be "shot in the vagina" for treason.)
The "Truckers Ride for the Constitution" series of planned rallies received widespread attention earlier this week when Earl Conlon, a man purporting to speak for the event, told US News & World Report that the truckers planned to circle the Beltway and arrest members of Congress for their supposed "treason."
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Andrews was hosted on Fox News' On the Record with Greta Van Susteren last night and provided with a platform to plug the event, which she explained is "peaceful" and will not seek to engage in any unlawful behavior. According to Andrews, the goal of the event is to remove Obama from office, because he "is a threat to our national security. He is a threat to our way of life. He is a threat to our future generations." (The event has also been publicized on Fox Nation, Drudge Report, and websites like WND.)
The conservative media entertainment complex is destroying this country. There was a time that fringe lunatics stayed under their rocks. Now they have talk radio shows, internet shows, and appear on FAUX News.
Hang in there, Meanie. I know it's part of your job to follow the right wing noise machine so we don't have to, but try not to let it get to you. The ratings for this garbage are falling fast. Corporate interests are finally realizing the monster they created has turned on them. I agree the conservative media complex is dangerous, but when the tea people don't serve their masters' interests, the money will stop. When FOX loses its audience, they'll find another gimmick to make money. I wondered where the Koch brothers were hoarding their money to avoid losing their billions in a debt default. But today we learn that even they seem to understand what's going on.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/Trucker_rally_in_Washington_DC_not_hoax_organizer_says.html
As the attached link shows, this whole story appears to be another stunt by some publicity -seeking nobody who wants his 15 minutes of fame and pumped up by FOX. We'll see how many people show up tomorrow. Probably won't be many. But this story is a inevitable result of the right wing Republican Party strategy implemented with the help of Fox and their talk radio allies: a group of hacks who live to market themselves as a brand to increase their wealth at the expense of everyone else. These three years have shown us that Shakespeare was right about "a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing,"
Posted by: Petra | October 09, 2013 at 10:59 PM
Really nobody with any common sense pays much attention to Fox News. Teabaggers, racist, and hate mongers are a large portion of their audience
Posted by: tomj | October 10, 2013 at 04:13 AM