Westboro Baptist Church is a left-wing group, says FoxNews

[Barael]

Who defines fact, in terms of the media, that could not possibly twist that definition to suit political ends?

No, better that there remain media organisations outside government control.

A non-partisan government watchdog organization or an ombudsman? Already plenty of those. I'm no more fond of outright censorship than the next guy but I'd have no problem fining news organizations and/or making them publish corrections if they get caught with their hand in the lie jar.

[FusedMass]

This is a great example.

Some say that HuffPost is just as biased as Fox News. I say they are biased but unlike Fox News they tell the accurate information. Even if they don't write up favor views on Republicans. You can trust what you're reading is the truth even if its mostly Liberal.

Now Fox News lies on purpose and throws out fear and distrust and they know what they're doing. They're selling a product to America and that product is fear. It didn't work helping them get Mitt elected and I think most people know their ways by now.

[Flatspriest]

My guess is that the reason they are calling them leftwing is due to the fact that the founder of the group has run for political office as a democrat in the past.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_phelps

[GennGreymane]

Kkk was founded by Democrats, and the left opposed the abolition of slavery

and the south used to be democrat

things change this dem party is not even close to what it was 100 yrs ago, same with the republicans. hell even 20 years ago the rep party was a differnt story

[matters]

Can someone tell me why a newschannel is allowed to tell lies? I know there is a right of free speech, but to tell lies in a newschannel should have consequenses.

If that were the case then channels like MSNBC would have multiple lawsuits or even be shut down. I would rather watch my Fox news than Rachel Madcow anyday, at least with Fox i get a little more of the truth than any of the more Liberal programs. Watching a liberal news station makes me feel as though there aren't any problems in America and that Obama is doing a superb job.

[Adam Jensen]

More blatant propaganda from Faux News.

Jesus, at least the other networks TRY to be subtle about their bias.

---------- Post added 2012-12-24 at 09:46 PM ----------

Kkk was founded by Democrats, and the left opposed the abolition of slavery

And the Democrats and Republicans had a paradigm switch over the last hundred years, making your point (if you had one?) moot. Who gives a shit what the parties were 100 years ago, what's important is what they are right now.

The party of Lincoln is not the same Republican party as we see today.

[Zathrendar]

It depends, a lot of the Bible is pretty "left-wing" economically, and US liberals have no qualms in enforcing their own curtailment of any liberties they dislike. Both the GOP and democrats are a power-hungry lot. What labeling the Westboro Baptist church as left-wing changes, who knows. So the crocodile tears don't really sit well with me.

I don't think they're under any legal obligation to print reality. And ethics don't mean much when $$$ is involved.

As long as we acknowledge that this applies to nearly all news stations, including state-controlled ones such as the BBC, and don't pretend this boils down to nothing more than money making. Fox is an extension of a political machine, right down to its licensing.

If any of you are getting upset over the application of a label that can arguably be applied to the WBC, you should try and get some perspective and realise how trivial this issue was. Far more egregious was Fox's treatment of Ron Paul, in my view. Who gives a shit whether they call some people no one cares about anyway "left-wing"? The "left-wing" is just a different brand of control freaks to the "right-wing". I know what it is, though. Statheists love to make fun of a group of otherwise inconsequential nuts, and also love to rant about how "biased" Fox is (as opposed to what? CNN? MSNBC? BSKYB? The BBC? Gimme a break.)

[Adam Jensen]

Just a little bit of easily verifiable information about Fred Phelps,


You dont have to like it, but the fact is PHELPS IS A DEMOCRAT. Sorry that doesn't fit with your position, despite how much you hate Fox, they told the truth on this.

He votes democrat, so?

He's still taking a very conservative stance in terms of religion and homosexuality.

---------- Post added 2012-12-24 at 09:53 PM ----------

Why do people always bring up the fact that the Democrats founded the KKK?

Who gives a shit about that? That was ONE HUNDRED FUCKING YEARS AGO. That has no bearing on the MODERN democrat party. And if the Republicans had founded the KKK way back then? SAME DAMN THING. It was 100 years ago.

Jesus, stop pointing at things that occured a century ago and using them to try to make a point about today's parties. Our parties have had major shifts in policies over the last hundred years.

[Zathrendar]

He votes democrat, so?

He's still taking a very conservative stance in terms of religion and homosexuality.

So did the original Marxoids. I guess this just proves how futile terms like "left-wing" are, since they're conflated with social liberalism.

[Flappy]

It's no secret that FoxNews wants nothing to do with WBC. It's also known that they want to be seen as the moral right. So anything (WBC) that can be painted as right wing will be associated (by idiots) with FoxNews.

This is just them protecting their image, from idiots, in an idiotic way.

[FiveDkp]

This is a great example.

Some say that HuffPost is just as biased as Fox News. I say they are biased but unlike Fox News they tell the accurate information. Even if they don't write up favor views on Republicans. You can trust what you're reading is the truth even if its mostly Liberal.

Now Fox News lies on purpose and throws out fear and distrust and they know what they're doing. They're selling a product to America and that product is fear. It didn't work helping them get Mitt elected and I think most people know their ways by now.

It is....

Huffington Post freely publishes that Democrats are smarter than Republicans then every person decides to recommend and re-post it claiming intellectual superiority. If it was the other way around then I bet it wouldn't have been published.

WBC is neither left or right-wing. Anyone who claims it is actually Right-wing is hilarious. You can't simply put this on a wing.

[Tikaru]

Anti-gay is left-wing now?

Huh, nobody told me...

[Deleted]

It depends, a lot of the Bible is pretty "left-wing" economically, and US liberals have no qualms in enforcing their own curtailment of any liberties they dislike. Both the GOP and democrats are a power-hungry lot. What labeling the Westboro Baptist church as left-wing changes, who knows. So the crocodile tears don't really sit well with me.

It changes nothing, but just highlights the dishonesty of Fox News. The Westborough Baptist Church are about as far away from any kind of modern left-wing thought as you can get. This is though, no different from other right-wingers who frequently refer to the NSDAP as primarily socialist in nature or left-wing as well. Historical revisionism.

[Nero Duskwind]

Could also be, that they want to push Westboro towards the Democrats. Some form of dicrediting them by connecting Westboro to them.

Kinda hard to do when WBC's singleminded platform is "GOD HATES FAGS" and lines up far more neatly with the GOP's positions on gay rights and marriage equality than that of the Dems. That being said, extremist crazies like the WBC don't particularly affiliate with any political party unless it's to draw headlines and it's rather disgraceful that, in its frantic attempt to disassociate its own rhetoric from the over-the-top views of the WBC, the GOP's media mouthpiece decided to go the extra mile and pin the group on the opposite party.

---------- Post added 2012-12-25 at 04:58 AM ----------

Wow. Did you find this yourself or see it on another site? Good catch.

Let's see, anti-gay marriage, pro-life, anti-science. Yeah, that sure sounds like the left wing to me!

Fox, you never fail to amaze.

They're painting WBC as "left-wing" based on the the man's loose ties to the Democratic Party in his past. Early on in his life, he was a civil rights attorney, during the 80's and 90's he made unsuccessful runs for governor in the Kansas Democratic primaries, and in the 80's, he backed Al Gore. The Fred Phelps of today hardly resembles the leftist crazy that Fox News is painting him out to be given Phelps' own virulently anti-gay doctrines and his open belief that Barack Obama is the Antichrist and he, the Catholic Church, and Satan have formed an Unholy Trinity.

[Lovecrafts]

At least they are standing up for what they believe and not just hiding behind computer screens.

[Nero Duskwind]

Kkk was founded by Democrats, and the left opposed the abolition of slavery

Back before the Civil Rights Movement when the Democrats were the "conservative party." It amazes me how many people completely ignore the political and ideological shifts that both parties underwent during that era.

[Lysah]

Could also be, that they want to push Westboro towards the Democrats. Some form of dicrediting them by connecting Westboro to them.

What if they really are registered democ-

Well their founder has run for office as a Democrat quite a few times

Oh there we go. Please continue to bash Fox any way you can before you do any research, though. The cool thing about American politics is people can believe one thing and vote another, and quite a good number of our voters do.

[Palmz]

My guess is that the reason they are calling them leftwing is due to the fact that the founder of the group has run for political office as a democrat in the past.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_phelps

He's been a democrat since the 1960's and still is a democrat. Fox news is singling out the pastor as the democrat, and not including his entire church! The group that came to protect the mourners from the protestor's was a conservative biker gang. The accuracy of the article is correct. Apparently the blind hatred for Fox News has misguided peoples judgements.

[Tikaru]

Oh there we go. Please continue to bash Fox any way you can before you do any research, though. The cool thing about American politics is people can believe one thing and vote another, and quite a good number of our voters do.

It's their stance on issues that makes them extreme right-wing, not the political affiliation their nutcase leader claimed many years ago.

Last time I checked, being anti-gay was not left.

[Lysah]

Last time I checked, being anti-gay was not left.

You can be a democrat and be anti-gay, just like I can be a republican and be pro-gay. One issue does not form an entire political spectrum, and the WBC really only care about homosexuals. How many times have they picketed soldiers' funerals (the USAF being extremely right wing) saying that they deserve it for protecting homosexuals? Their religious extremeism certainly points toward the right wing if we are to believe historic trends, but don't kid yourself into thinking only right wing people are religious.

Again, this thread is full of massive stereotyping and bigotry and little actual reason.