With the latest round of fearmongering over Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Jon Stewart had another excellent segment last night where he showed just how duplicitous Fox News is being in looking at the money trail... which leads right back to Fox News.
Then Stephen Colbert took it even further.
Video and transcript below the fold.
Our top story tonight, my weekend, and why it took me an hour and 15 minutes to get a cup of coffee and a bagel on Sunday morning. I'll tell you why.
8/22/2010:
ABC: Dueling protests this Sunday near Ground Zero.
CNN: Supporters and opponents of the project are both staging rallies today.
YouTube video: No mosque here! No mosque here!
(in Woody Allen voice) Yes, yes, excuse me, but there is an Ess-a-Bagel here, so... I just... I understand you're both very angry, I just ... was wondering if I could make it... my son actually loves a strudel... and I....
Of course, that was a crowd shouting at a random Ground Zero construction worker who happened to be walking by wearing a skullcap. Emotions were high, but why was everyone so suspicious?
8/19/2010:
STEVE DOOCY: Where is the money coming from?
BRIAN KILMEADE: Where are they going to get the $100 million from?
ERIC BOLLING: We're following the money trail. Where is this money coming from? ... This guy has questionable ties. ... And here's one we should all really worry about, where's Iran in this?
Yeah, it's a little Muslim guilt by association game. Last week, we called it six degrees of people who don't eat bacon. And I held up a card of people showing you could use the same logic to actually link Fox News with dangerous Saudi money, since the largest NewsCorp shareholder outside the Murdoch family is the Saudi prince Al-Waleed bin Talal.
It's a stupid and childish game I was playing. I was not suggesting that Fox News being in business with bin Talal was actually sinister. I was just using their same reasoning to attack Imam Rauf.
But this morning........... Fox News got more specific about the real danger posed by the mosque's founding.
8/23/2010:
DAN SENOR: The Kingdom Foundation, which has been a funder of Imam Rauf in the past, the Kingdom Foundation, so you know, is this Saudi organization headed up by the guy who tried to give Rudy Giuliani $10 million after 9/11 that was sent back. He funds radical madrassas all over the world...
KILMEADE: And he funds this imam.
The money might be coming from this evil Kingdom Foundation, run by a Wahhabist 9/11-sympathizing American-hating...
No no no, no, that's Rupert Murdoch's partner in NewsCorp. Show me the dangerous money guy behind the Imam Rauf's Ground Zero terror mosque. There we go.
No, you're not changing the picture....
NNNOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Why is the terror funder shaking hands with a two-legged basset hound? Wait, that's Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News!! The terror funder IS Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp partner!! NOOOOOO!!!! NOOOOOO!!!! NOOOOOO!!!! NOOOOOO!!!! NOOOOOO!!!! We're not gonna follow me around? NOOOOOO!!!! NOOOOOO!!!! I guess everyone fainted in the control room.
That's right. The guy they're painting as a sinister money force owns part of Fox News. Let's do as Fox News commands, and follow the money.
This is the proposed "terror mosque". We know that it's a terror mosque, because the money may be coming from a bad guy, who definitely owns part of Fox News. Now we know that he's a bad guy, because we just heard it on Fox News. And by hearing it on Fox News, watching Fox News, I'm increasing their viewership, and their advertising rates go up. Now part of that money goes to the bad guy we learned about on Fox, because he's their part-owner, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, allowing him then to "make it rain", so to speak, on the terror mosque.
My point is this. If we want to cut off funding to the terror mosque, we must, together as a nation, STOP WATCHING FOX! (wild audience applause) It's the only way! Using their reasoning, it's the only way to cut off the revenue stream to these "bad dudes".
Now here's the most curious part about this entire report.
DAN SENOR: ... the Kingdom Foundation, so you know, is this Saudi organization headed up by the guy who tried to give Rudy Giuliani $10 million after 9/11 that was sent back. He funds radical madrassas all over the world...
KILMEADE: And he funds this imam.
Fox tells us the terrible thing about this Kingdom Foundation is where this funder is a very bad guy, but they never mention this fella's name, and they never show this fella's picture, and they certainly never mention that the fella they're talking about is part-owner of their company! Did the gang at Fox & Friends genuinely not know the head of the Kingdom Foundation's name, and the fact that he is one of their part-owners, or were they purposely covering it up, because it did not help their fear-driven narrative? For more, we're joined by Senior Media Analysts John Oliver and Wyatt Cenac. Thank you gentlemen for joining us.
JOHN OLIVER: Jon, do you know what? I'm going to go with "they didn't know". Remember, things are hectic on the morning show, plus Gretchen isn't there, and she's the only one who knows how to use Google. More so, it was probably a Hooters Freedom Monday. I just think at the end of the day, they didn't know.
JON STEWART: So, so, you...
OLIVER: Exactly. I'm with stupid.
WYATT CENAC: Nobody's that stupid. They're deliberately hiding the truth. If Al-Waleed wasn't part-owner of Fox News, they'd have gone to town demonizing this guy. They would've said his full name over and over again. Al-Waleed bin Talal! Al-Waleed bin Talal!! And look at these villainous pictures.
You don't even need to doctor 'em!
He already looks like he's about to feed Timothy Dalton to his white tiger!
Fox wants to allude to Al-Waleed, but doesn't want viewers looking the guy up, and learning about their own ties to him.
STEWART: But then, Wyatt, why mention this guy at all? Why get into the money trail of this cultural center if it leads right back to Fox?
OLIVER: I'll take this one. BECAUSE THEY'RE STUPID, Jon! (wild audience applause) Staggeringly, achingly, almost inspiringly stupid! Let's look at the evidence here.
DOOCY (6/14/2010): China is not too far away, and it's a great big country that needs a whole bunch of stuff.
KILMEADE (4/14/2010): When I first saw this logo, I wasn't really thinking this, but upon further review, perhaps I should've been. And that is, if you look at the Nuclear Security Summit logo, what does that have in common with all those other flags there?
GRETCHEN CARLSON (4/20/2009): I just wanted to see how much of an insult it was to be called an "ignoramus". Since I didn't know what it meant, I just Googled it. Ah, for all of you out there who don't know what ignoramus is, like me...
DOOCY: It can't be good.
CARLSON: It's an "ignorant lawyer".
OLIVER: Let's break that down. She didn't know what ignoramus meant, so she looked it up, and she STILL got it wrong! Jon, even... even if they did know Al-Waleed's ties to NewsCorp, the odds of getting them to mention it on the program would be random at best. You do know, they don't even have a teleprompter at Fox News. It's just a man jangling his keys above the camera.
CENAC: Look, I'll give you Kilmeade and Doocy. But, do you know who Dan Senor and Dana Perino used to work for? George W. Bush! And do you know who George W. Bush used to hang with? Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal!
Bom-bom-bomp! That's some evil shit! It's a level of knowing obfuscation that can only come from having a heart of pure evil!
STEWART: Guys, this is obviously a very polarizing debate. There's lots of contradictory evidence. Is there a chance there is perhaps a third, less explosive, explanation? Something else?
CENAC & OLIVER: No, no, no, no.
OLIVER: Absolutely not, Jon. These are the only two possible explanations, because if they're not as stupid as I believe them to be, they are really fucking evil.
CENAC: And if they're not as evil as I think they are, they are stupid. We're talking potatoes with mouths.
OLIVER: No, no, not even potatoes, Wyatt. A potato can still power a digital clock.
CENAC: Ooh, that's a good point, that's a really good point.
OLIVER: Rocks. You're talking about rocks with mouths.
STEWART: I'm glad you two could come to some agreement. Thank you very much.
I wonder if Cavuto will pretend he never, ever, ever even heard of the guy now.
Nation, I am filled with rage about the Ground Zero mosque. I'm so furious that I broke my Fabergé omelet. And I'm not the only one who's angry. This weekend saw more protests in lower Manhattan. I was particularly moved by this sign.
Not only a moving battle cry, but also a very patriotic yarmulke. Rabbi?
Now this gathering of peace-loving hate-lovers was ruined when a Muslim had the gall to walk through the crowd. There he is wearing his Islamic terror hat and his al-Qaeda cozy fleece pullover. Luckily, there were some alert patriots who immediately shouted him down. And just listen to him respond by spewing his Muslim hate speech.
KENNY: Didn't ask who I was. I want no trouble. ... I'm not even Muslim!
Technically, it turns out he's not a Muslim. He's just a guy named Kenny and he's one of the carpenters building the new World Trade Center. Still, it is pretty insensitive of him to seem Muslim so close to Ground Zero. I mean, look at the other black guys in the crowd. They had the sensitivity to be white.
Speaking of scary black guys, Barack Obama. There has been yet another chilling revelation. Jim?
HARRIS FAULKNER, FOX NEWS (8/19/2010): According to a new poll from the Pew Research Center, a growing number of Americans wrongly believe President Obama is a Muslim. Nearly 1 in 5 Americans saying it this year, compared to 11% last year.
1 in 5 Americans believe Obama is a Muslim. Interesting side note. 1 in 5 Americans also believe that polls are Muslim. They do use Arabic numerals. And when asked what faith Obama does belong to, 43% said, "I don't know". And when you break the 43% down, it gets worse. 22% of them said, "I don't know." 31% said, (in suspicious voice) "I dunno." While a whopping 47% said, (with index finger seductively in mouth) "I don't know."
Now, the leader of that last group is Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. On yesterday's Meet the Press, he put this debate to rest.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, R-KY (8/23/2010): The President says he's a Christian, I take him at his word.
OK? Just like when Mitch McConnell says he's not a human-turtle hybrid, I take him at his word. And it's not easy. I have a strong desire to feed this man lettuce and raw hamburger. But I take him at his word.
But there is a way the President can settle this once and for all, and it's the subject of tonight's Wørd.
Losing His Religion
Now, I know for a fact that Barack Obama is a Christian, because during the election, I loved talking about his minister.
REV. JEREMIAH WRIGHT: GOD DAMN AMERICA!
God damn, I miss that guy! (Don't worry, he'll be back in 2012) But, whether the President is a Christian or not, which again, he is, does not matter. What matters is whether we feel he's a Christian. (A certain "Je ne sais Christ") Now, it turns out a full 30% of Republicans feel he's Muslim. Not because they're ignorant crazy racists. (But it doesn't hurt) No. It's because they are true Americans. Right, Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard?
STEPHEN HAYES (8/20/2010): The American public has a long history of believing things that don't necessarily have evidence to support them. 30% of the country believes in UFOs. 30% of the country believes in ESP.
Oh really? Well if ESP is fake, how does he know what all those people are thinking? (They're thinking?) And the President has no one to blame but himself. (C'mon, Biden's right there) I mean, he keeps seeming Muslim. Right, Charles Krauthammer?
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER (8/19/2010): He spent years in Indonesia, and he spent a lot of the Presidency in trying to develop outreach with the Muslim world, speeches in Cairo, in Turkey, appearances in Saudi Arabia and all that. So given the fact that you don't see him coming out of a church with a Bible in hand, as you would a Bush or a Clinton, and the fact that he's had this emphasis on Islam, I can understand how the numbers have widened.
Exactly. Obama has to do things that make him appear more Christian. (Wear Christmas sweaters!) First of all, he should go to church. And I know that he has, but he needs to go to church harder. Maybe Twitter from the pew. ("OMG! Totes worshipping MG!") Or at least, carry a Bible wherever he goes. Like Jesus says in Matthew 5:47...
But even that may not be enough, folks. Obama might have to actually be Jesus. (Also had questionable birth story) Maybe it would help if he wears robes. (Definitely NOT a turban!) Or, maybe he could perform some miracles. (Have Republicans vote "Yes") And, Mr. President, when we call you a Muslim, don't correct us, turn the other cheek. (Not toward Mecca) Or, you know what, just go the full Monty, and let your enemies crucify you. And when you say, "forgive them, Father, they know not what they do," you'll be really accurate. So, if you really want to prove you're not a Muslim, you're gonna have to look like this.
Oh, you know what? On second thought, that really makes you seem Jewish. (Even more guilty) And that's the Wørd.
Pow, and double-pow. A brutal one-two combo from Jon and Stephen last night mocking the shit out of Fox News and the anti-Muslim bigots in this country. Just to further prove them right, Pam Geller whined that Max Blumenthal is a "notorious Jew hater" out to get her. Um, Pam, you idiot, Blumenthal IS JEWISH, or has your brain become addled from doing Oxycontin with Rush?