The Examiner
Fox News is in business because their model of success depends on their viewers not knowing the facts. Host of Fox News, Chris Wallace, made the incorrect assertion during an interview Sunday that President BarackObama had a filibuster proof majority (60 out of 100 votes) in the Senate for two years. The actual fact is Democrats only had a filibuster proof majority for 133 days, a far cry from the over 700 days that Wallace gleefully interjected.
This is not the first and will certainly not the last time Fox New has been caught saying completely untrue things on the air.
The statements took place during an interview with the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa. Wallace asked Villaraigosa, “What’s stupid about Obama and the Democrats?” and the mayor declined to engage on the baiting point. The conversation then shifted to Villarigosa explaining that President Obama has found few willing GOP lawmakers to cross the aisle and then paraphrased Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell‘s now infamous war cry that the “number one issue is to block the president.”
Wallace shot back with the fallacy, “But in fairness, the first two years, he (President Obama) had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and a big majority in the House.”
There is certainly nothing fair about telling a lie on the air to millions of people. Villarigosa did not deflect the point as untrue, and that was his failing.
The simply reality is Democrats only had a filibuster-proof majority from September 24, 2009 to February 4, 2010, as was noted by talkingpointsmemo.com
This lie that is perpetuated by Fox News as fact, shows that if a lie is told enough times then it is accepted as truth.
The video can be viewed here, via crooksandliars.com.
Chris Wallace has yet to apologize or issue a retraction.
Related articles
- Chris Wallace falsely claims Obama had filibuster-proof majority for 2 years (rawstory.com)
- Chris Wallace falsely claims Obama had filibuster-proof majority for 2 years – The Raw Story (curmilus.wordpress.com)
- Los Angeles Mayor To Chris Wallace: Republican Platform Looks Like The Party Of 1812 (mediaite.com)
- Fox News’ Tale Of Two Convention Previews (newshounds.us)
- Villaraigosa calls GOP a party for 1812 (politico.com)
- Axelrod To Wallace: Americans ‘In A Better Position Than We Were Four Years Ago’ (mediaite.com)
