Stop the Fox virus

There's an epidemic of political smears that threatens to infect the mainstream media and undermine the health of our elective process. This video tells the story.

You can help fight this epidemic by signing a petition warning mainstream media to be more alert to the danger of compromised journalistic health. Sign the petition.

The video exposes the problem in a nutshell. But to fully understand the magnitude of the problem, consider the following:

Since June of 2007, FOX has spent months trying to smear Obama by associating him with selective quotations from Reverend Wright, as documented by the Media Matters watchdog group here, here, here, and here.

Senator John McCain calls televangelist Rick Parsley his "spiritual guide" and has accepted his endorsement. Here's what Parsley has to say about Islam and America:

I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed...

Bet you didn't know that. That's because Fox and the mainstream media have given it scarce attention, despite the profoundly disturbing implications of a statement like that from the "spiritual guide" to the Republican presidential candidate. Mother Jones has the full story.

Senator McCain has also said he is "honored" and "proud" to receive the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee, who has said that Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for homosexuality, Catholicism is a cult and the "Whore of Babylon", and Jews are to blame for anti-Semitism. Odds are you didn't know this either, because it has been almost completely ignored by the big networks. At the same time, those same networks were putting heat on Obama for having been endorsed by Louis Farrakhan even though Obama, in contrast to McCain, had fully repudiated Farrakhan and rejected his support.

Fox's latest stunt is to give heavy play to the story about the McCain campaign's suspension of a "low level" staffer who had distributed an unauthorized video juxtaposing Senator Obama with Reverend Wright delivering the most inflamatory comments available without context. The Fox hit job is complete with two Greta van Sustern online polls, one insisting that Senator Obama is hiding something about his relationship with Reverend Wright, and an earlier one showing that viewers overwhelmingly took the position that suspension was unwarranted. In other words, race-baiting is okay is the editorial policy of Fox News.

Note: The earlier poll I cannot now find on Greta's blog. In any event, Greta's polls all seem to be overwhelmingly negative on Obama if they deal with him.