Thank You, Obama

Few things set me off like Fox News.

Maybe it's the way they refer to themselves as "fair and balanced" with a knowing wink and a nod. Or maybe it's the cynical way they pimp out their female hosts with highly glossed hooker lips and thigh-revealing camera angles. Maybe it's the predictable production of their Republican skewed panels (plus token illiterate liberal). Or their commercialized outrage. Or the pathetic attempt to portray themselves as representative of True-Blue-America (at least America the way a child's mind would imagine it, with an overabundance of flags and eagles and Jesus and apple pies).

But what sets me into fits of fury -- apoplectic rage, really -- is the coordinated misrepresentation of the truth to suit a partisan agenda. People should not become ill informed from watching the news but this is a documented phenomenon with Fox. And no, the "mainstream media" does not even come close to having a liberal equivalent (except for Keith Olbermann, bless his lonely little heart).

For all of these reasons I am thrilled beyond belief that Obama announced he won't be participating in Fox's joint debate with CBC.

Fox News is not a credible news source. They barely even try to conceal this truth except for those moments when it suits their feigned indignity. I suppose Fox News has every right to exist, and viewers have every right to watch, but let's at least be honest about what they are -- Republican programmed entertainment for people who want their world view affirmed 24 x 7. I don't want Fox News hosting a serious political debate any more than Karl "Turdblossom" Rove wants Air America to host it.

I'll leave it at that.