Yesterday I caught a news item and the instant I read it I knew it would only be a short wait before some at Fox News distorted it. Much to my non-surprise it was Sean Hannity leading the way.
The news story was from USA Today and was titled, “Billions in aid go to areas that backed Obama in ’08“. While the article sounds damning on the surface when you read the article it all becomes clear. In fact, even the investigators in the article point out that they don’t believe there’s anything nefarious at play here.
This is yet another case of why having “news organizations” with a clear political agenda and pundits of the same bent being supported on it is a bad idea. These people prey on two key elements of their viewership—ignorance and political blindness. Sean Hannity works these two like magic. He took this story, ignored half of it, and then played it as if everyone involved had planned to buy off counties that voted for President Obama. The ignorant will hear it and just believe it. The politically blind hear what they want to hear and add it to their arsenal of misinformation without bothering to even apply common sense to the equation.
Let me state this simply: Anyone who is surprised that more money has gone to New York or Los Angeles than to counties in the middle of nowhere that are mostly dominated by barren landscape is a complete idiot. Remember that a bulk of the stimulus package has gone, so far, to infrastructure projects for things like roads and bridges. So why would a place like Jerome, Idaho get as much of this money as Boston? There just aren’t as many roads and bridges there. In other words, they don’t need it. Sorry about that but those are the facts.
To suggest that someone sat down and planned out how to reward voters for their blue vote with this money is ludicrous and, frankly, bordering on criminal in my view. Kimberly Guilfoyle, a Fox anchor, said on the show, “Absolutely, but definitely expected, right? I mean, come on, we’re not born yesterday. Of course it’s going to go to the blue states. It’s called, like, you know, you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours. It’s very simple.“
Like, you know, maybe you were born yesterday….
