Elizabeth Warren’s attack on Fox News parroted Media Matters talking points
Warren’s tweets announcing she would not do a Fox News town hall, unlike other Democrats, mirrored the tweets of Media Matters president and lead anti-Fox News activist Angelo Carusone.
Elizabeth Warren’s polling numbers have been mostly in the single digits for months now, with just a momentary upward blip. She’s even failed to poll well in her home state of Massachusetts and in neighboring states.
Naturally, she’s pulled out all the stops to try and jumpstart her fizzling campaign among the Democratic base, including proposing bloated trillion dollar plans and jumping on the impeachment bandwagon.
Those tactics have failed to move the needle, so Warren has shifted gears in an attempt at get attention by attacking Fox News.
NBC News reports:
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Tuesday she had turned down the chance to appear on a Fox News town hall, lambasting the network as “a hate-for-profit racket that gives a megaphone to racists and conspiracists.”
[…]
“Fox News has invited me to do a town hall, but I’m turning them down — here’s why. … Fox News is a hate-for-profit racket that gives a megaphone to racists and conspiracists — it’s designed to turn us against each other, risking life & death consequences, to provide cover for the corruption that’s rotting our government and hollowing out our middle class,” Warren said.
“Hate-for-profit works only if there’s profit, so Fox News balances a mix of bigotry, racism and outright lies with enough legit journalism to make the claim to advertisers that it’s a reputable news outlet,” Warren continued. “It’s all about dragging in ad money — big ad money. But Fox News is struggling as more & more advertisers pull out of their hate-filled space. A Democratic town hall gives the Fox News sales team a way to tell potential sponsors it’s safe to buy ads on Fox — no harm to their brand or reputation (spoiler: it’s not).”
Here’s her full 7-tweet Twitter thread on the issue:
Fox News is a hate-for-profit racket that gives a megaphone to racists and conspiracists—it’s designed to turn us against each other, risking life and death consequences, to provide cover for the corruption that’s rotting our government and hollowing out our middle class.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 14, 2019
But Fox News is struggling as more and more advertisers pull out of their hate-filled space. A Democratic town hall gives the Fox News sales team a way to tell potential sponsors it's safe to buy ads on Fox—no harm to their brand or reputation (spoiler: It’s not).
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 14, 2019
I’m running a campaign to reach all Americans. I take questions from the press and voters everywhere I go. I’ve already held town halls in 17 states and Puerto Rico—including WV, OH, GA, UT, TN, TX, CO, MS & AL.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 14, 2019
I’ve done 57 media avails and 131 interviews, taking over 1,100 questions from press just since January. Fox News is welcome to come to my events just like any other outlet. But a Fox News town hall adds money to the hate-for-profit machine. To which I say: hard pass.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 14, 2019
In a genuine shocker of shockers, Warren was verbally smacked down on Wednesday by the ladies of ABC‘s “The View” program over her refusal to appear on Fox News:
“Fox News was the top basic cable network in April,” [co-host Sunny] Hostin continued while reading out the network’s ratings data. “It finished in 2018 as the most watched basic cable network for the third consecutive year both primetime and total day viewers”
[…]
Whoopi Goldberg also said that any candidate who could not face the Fox audience wasn’t ready for office.
“People come to [‘The View’] because they know folks are watching, whether it’s on the left or the right, or center,” Goldberg said. “You know what, if you can’t face a Fox audience, you can’t face the U.S. — it’s that simple.”
Watch their segment on Warren below:
The View slams Elizabeth Warren for not going on Fox News:
Sunny Hostin: “It's very dismissive of so many Americans”
Whoopi Goldberg: “If you can’t face the Fox audience, you can’t face the US It’s that simple”
Meghan McCain: “You've got to go to places that are uncomfortable” pic.twitter.com/eIufzwC4mM
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) May 15, 2019
MSNBC‘s Mika Brzezinski even took the Senator to task, first by largely agreeing with her description of Fox News, but then suggesting that she utilize the opportunity to spread the word about “democratic values”:
“But I would argue that a presidential candidate should be able to walk into any situation, walk into any fire, and have the confidence and the ability to put it out by spreading the democratic values and his or her beliefs,” she continued. “And I think they should go into Fox and do all the town halls they can do because Fox, you could argue, is smart to be doing these.
“That is a sign of some sort of change, hopefully, or at least an opportunity for it.”
Brzezinski co-host and husband Joe Scarborough made a similar argument earlier in the segment, saying that Warren should go on the network to try and “reach out to swing voters.”
Watch their segment below:
"I would argue that a presidential candidate should be able to walk into any situation, walk into any fire and have the confidence and the ability to put it out by spreading the Democratic values and his or her beliefs." — @morningmika on Warren turning down Fox News town hall pic.twitter.com/WWQg9eo9Ng
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) May 15, 2019
What has been largely overlooked this week is the fact that some of Warren’s assertions about Fox News are strikingly similar to those made by Media Matters for America president Angelo Carusone in a 17-tweet thread on this very issue a month ago. Carusone is the person responsible for the attacks on the advertiser base of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Tucker Carlson, and Fox News generally.
Here are a couple of his tweets, focusing on going after Fox News advertising cycle, and complaining that Democrats going on Fox News for town halls undermined the pressure.
10/ For example, upon Bernie accepting town hall, Fox pitched to advertisers something along lines of: 'Even Bernie sanders can't ignore Fox, so you can't afford to ignore us either."
— Angelo Carusone (@GoAngelo) April 17, 2019
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Let’s roll the tape on Warren’s Tuesday rant again:
But Fox News is struggling as more and more advertisers pull out of their hate-filled space. A Democratic town hall gives the Fox News sales team a way to tell potential sponsors it's safe to buy ads on Fox—no harm to their brand or reputation (spoiler: It’s not).
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 14, 2019
Coincidence? I think not.
In response, Carusone heartily tweeted his approval of Warren’s position:
THANK YOU SENATOR WARREN! https://t.co/JW6yTsME7v
— Angelo Carusone (@GoAngelo) May 14, 2019
Here's a thread that gives a bit more context to the Fox News advertiser issues that @ewarren referenced: https://t.co/w9sRF3AHhD
— Angelo Carusone (@GoAngelo) May 14, 2019
Was just really nice to have a day go by where a leading Democrat didn’t actively undermine years of hard work to hold Fox News accountable. Wish there were more days like today. We’d all be better off.
Onward!
— Angelo Carusone (@GoAngelo) May 14, 2019
Carusone has been on a relentless campaign to get all of Fox News‘s advertisers to pull their accounts. Isn’t it nice to know that a candidate for president of the United States is apparently getting her talking points and marching orders from a far left outfit whose goal, ultimately, is to get a major news network shut down entirely?
Where is CNN‘s mainstream media firefighter Brian Stelter with his dire warnings about how Warren’s stance is a disturbing attack on the freedom of the press? His official position appears to be … neutral – with a bit of amplification of Warren’s point, of course:
My impression: Dems who choose to go on Fox focus on WHO’s watching. They say Fox attracts a big audience, and not all of the viewers are rock-solid Republicans. But the Dems who reject Fox focus on WHAT those viewers are watching. The content. In Warren’s words, the channel “gives a megaphone to racists and conspiracists” and provides cover “for the corruption that’s rotting our government and hollowing out our middle class.”
Typical.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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Comments
Again, my Senator is a crackpot and a fraud. Sad.
I’m also a MA resident, but I don’t think of her as my senator. Her staff won’t even respond to my emails anymore.
Lizzie is running for what?
Grade School Hall Monitor?
Whoopi Goldberg: “If you can’t face the Fox audience, you can’t face the US It’s that simple”
I’d say most of the US doesn’t wanna face Elizabeth Warren…so I see it as a win, win.
It’s not like she has any other talents. This is about it.
I’m afraid I agree with Whoopi on this one. Warren needs to bury the hatchet and break out the peace pipe with Fox News. In order for a Dem to win in 2020, they need to convert Trump voters over to their side. Millions of them. If you won’t go on the network that Trump supporters watch, how do you get your message across? Know what I mean, kemo sabe?
When I saw her on the cover of Slime yesterday, I thought that the library had accidentally placed an old copy on the top of the stack. With that much division even in the MSM, I wonder if we could get “ALL” of them to run as independents.
“a hate-for-profit racket that gives a megaphone to racists and conspiracists.”
So, Warren has no use for that whole “free speech” thing.
No surprise, but it’s nice of her to make it explicit.
She’s not advocating that they be shut down by force, she just hopes advertisers stop doing business with them and they shut down. What’s wrong with that? How does that affect the freedom of speech? Don’t you wish the same for hateful organizations like the SPLC or Media Matters? What’s the difference?
MSCNNBC of course is a collective hive mind of knowledge, truth, and eternal wisdom.
The leftist politicians are making the media skew all the more obvious by protecting and shielding the political activist journalists behind their rants against the other viewpoint.
The softball blowback from that side is not that shocking. The only reason some journalists and (insert whatever you call the hosts of the view here) are calling her out is so they can play the fair and balanced card on the air.
However they would never play that “fair & balanced” card on someone who might be wanting to purchase some advertising time on their show. No, no… that would be “business” and business and profit are bad.
They seem to ignore the fact that many of their watchers work in government to some extent and the underlying engine that funds those pensions they are all chasing is… wait for it… Wall Street. And they bad-mouth it and vote for people who wish to destroy it with amazing regularity.
That means that the other democrat candidates who aren’t afraid to be on Fox News will get more visibility than Elizabeth Warren. I thought visibility was an important consideration if you’re running for president.
How many Dem primary voters watch Fox?
Princess Shrieking Crow Shaky Fist needs to understand that no matter what she pukes out of her fevered mind, she will never be president of anything that matters.
Don’t mind the article photo…Warren seems poised to strike with the most pathetic martial arts maneuver of all time.
Pussy is as pussy does.
Please excuse my untowardness.
Feel free to substitute “coward” for “pussy.”