From Fox News and News Corp Chair and CEO Rupert Murdoch, to Fox Contributor and presidential canditease Sarah Palin, the Fox PR propaganda machine is running on overdrive in full-tilt support for Rick Santorum in tonight’s GOP Iowa Caucuses.
Yesterday, Rupert Murdoch used his brand-spanking new Twitter account, opened New Year’s Eve, to throw his support to Santorum, tweeting from his famously failed iPad on Sunday, “Good to see santorum surging in Iowa. Regardless of policies, all debates showed principles, consistency and humility like no other,” and then on Monday, “Can’t resist this tweet, but all Iowans think about Rick Santorum. Only candidate with genuine big vision for country.”
Murdoch, many will remember, fired Rick Santorum almost a year ago, when he declared that anyone who was seriously considering running for President had to leave the Fox News. Santorum at the time said he had not only not decided to run or not, but was never even asked by Murdoch or his people if he were going to run. Perhaps he just listened in on Santorum’s cell phone?
Clearly, Murdoch is pushing Santorum higher into the field because he see that a Santorum upset will generate controversy and viewership.
Curiously, Murdoch did not fire Sarah Palin a year ago, when he axed Santorum and Gingrich, which — to anyone with half a brain — made it clear Palin was never serious about running.
Sarah Palin did, however, back her boss Rupert Murdoch yesterday, on Fox News, voicing support for Santorum — however disingenuous and, well, false.
“Appearing on Fox yesterday, Palin, after being prompted by the host, insisted she respects Santorum because he puts his religion first, but, according to her, not in a ‘judgmental or condemning way’,” reports Andrew Belonsky at Towleroad today:
“He talked about America’s Judeo-Christian foundation, how important it is that we stand strong on it and that we build upon it,” she said. “Not in a judgmental, condemning way when it comes to anybody’s lifestyle.”
Perhaps Palin is thinking of a different Rick Santorum, because I seem to recall the candidate comparing same-sex love with bestiality, consistently using his power to oppress LGBT people and generally being a complete homophobe.
Or maybe she just doesn’t know what the word “judgmental” means, which very well may be the case.
Notice the keywords Palin used: “lifestyle,” and , in the video, she adds, right after “lifestyle,” “Or any individuals.”
Clearly, Palin is trying to massage the extreme hate Santorum has for the LGBT community into smoothing more palpable to Iowans who see his as so extreme as to be un-Christian.
Any gay, lesbian, or bisexual American who supports Santorum or views Fox News as a legitimate source of information needs to reconsider their principles. For Murdoch, Fox, and Palin to all back the candidate — Santorum — who has build his career as a gay-bashing homophobic bible-thumping anti-gay hate monger says far more about them than they realize.
UPDATE: Today’s Wall Street Journal, a cog in the Rupert Murdoch News Corp propaganda machine, just published a scathing op-ed attacking Mitt Romney.