Fox Still Working "Oathgate" Theory
By Logan Murphy Thursday Jan 22, 2009 5:00am(h/t Ben at Media Matters)
We covered this story Tuesday morning and sure enough, the band of morons on Fox & Friends continued to push the debunked theory - that because Chief Justice John Roberts flubbed part of the oath of office (oaf of office?) during Tuesday's inauguration, President Obama just might not be the president after all. More from Media Matters:
During Fox News' inauguration coverage, Chris Wallace stated, "I'm not sure that Barack Obama really is the president of the United States, because the oath of office is set in the Constitution." Wallace later claimed, "I wasn't at all convinced that ... John Roberts ever got it out straight and that Barack Obama ever said the prescribed words." On Fox & Friends the following day, Fox News repeatedly aired video of the oath flub, and Gretchen Carlson asked of Obama, "Is he really president," and went on to claim, "Because there was a flub in the oath of office." However, numerous experts, including one quoted later on Fox & Friends, have reportedly said that an incorrect recitation of the oath is insignificant. Read on...
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Its anarchy!!! I hereby declare myself, Lord FilthyHarry Of The Empire of America!!
Imperial Order #1. Arrest, Convict and remand to Imperial Pound-Me-In-The-Ass penitentiary for life, the entire senior staff of the Bush administration for the last 8 years, (Excepting Dana Perino. Her cute perkiness amuses Us) AND the 5 Supreme Court Justices who voted to usurp power in 2000.
Imperial Order #2. Have Scarlett Johansson brought to Us.
Imperial Order #3. Legalize it.
Imperial Order #4. (To be enacted only upon the completion of orders 1, 2 and 3.) We relinquish power to Obama, Our good work being completed.
Going after Obama for the a "flubbed" oath will only be the first of many harping, teeth gnashing sessions Fox News will air over the next four years. At Fox the Obama honeymoon was over even before the roar of the inaugural crowd had died away.
What your post has to do with mine?
Yesterday Roberts administered the oath again. That's the power they've given the cretinous Foxnews.
"Prezzy O" (Ok, sounds lame, but we need something better than "presdhunt Boosh".) knows that he has many detractors. He is being thorough. I see the effects of this as twofold.
First, he will not even allow the illusion that the executor of the Office of President, now him, should act in ways that seem inappropriate or of questionable legal standing. He will run everything as its supposed to be run.
Second, he's not giving the wingnuts an inch. Not being bound by oath could be a serious accusation, and he's not going to give them that.
Fox news is so sad... it almost seems that they WANT to be hated... I'm just going to feel sorry for them from now on...
I never watch any of these so called news TV news.
Quit in 2003 never going to listen to any of these republican fools ever again!
If there was a choice, I'd much rather watch The Weekly World News Channel (if there was one) than Fox News.
I think The Onion will do in a pinch ;)
But The Onion doesn't have batboy. I miss seeing batboy on my supermarket shelves.
If you've never watched the News Hour with Jim Leher, give it shot. Compared to network/cable news its amazingly sane. They banned a commentator for yelling over another commentator.
Let's see, according to FIXED News:
1. Obama wasn't born in the USA
2. Obama is really a Muslim
3. Obama is a drug addict
4. Obama isn't legally president because Roberts flubbed the oath
Next, they'll blame him for Kennedy's assassination and the death of Caylee Anthony. FIXED News is like The Globe: pure tabloid trash.
Tabloid trash is relatively harmless. But Fox serves as the propaganda arm of the RNC/Right-wing, and in that capacity it will actively seek to derail Obama's presidency and in that context it makes them dangerous.
When a "news" organization spends its money on opinionators rather than reporters, they've got to reach for anything, no matter how insignificant, to have something to talk (obsess) about.
Of course the Chief Justice screwed up. He's a Bush appointee. But FAUX would never discuss that.
and becomes a virtual dictator.
Obama wins the election by a landslide and he's the pretender.
Bizarroland.
I loved VP Biden's jab at Justice Robert's memory or lack thereof:
"My memory is not as good as Justice Robert's".
Our new VP possesses the gifts of sarcasm and satire, which make his intelligence very obvious. These traits come with the territory when one is from Delaware.
Chief Justice John Roberts was ushered into the Map Room of the White House on Wednesday night to re-administer the oath of office to President Barack Obama because the original oath on Tuesday had a word out of sequence.
Who's to say Obama didn't say it correctly to himself as he left the podium?
Roberts and Obama were standing on opposite sides!
It wasn't in front of the Capitol!
It wasn't on January 20th!
Waaaaaaaah!
Okay, fine. Obama ain't the President. Joe Biden is - because he took the oath of office first, to secure the line of succession should Obama fail to complete the oath for whatever reason.
We didn't really see Barack Obama and John Roberts: we saw holograms projected on blue screens. Shit, I'm giving Chris Wallace new material! LMAO!
I betcha Faux News and it's followers will now be saying that during the second try Obama didn't place one hand on a bible, thereby invalidating his presidency.
Of course if that brought to the fore the fact that "So help you God" is not in the actual oath, I would love to hear them choke over that.
Funny how Wallace jumped on the bungle so quickly. Almost enough to make one think they had planned it so they could instantly discredit Obama! It's a conspiracy!!
Unfortunately for Fox is shows their bad planning and follow through. Had they waited a couple of days to plant the seed, with their favorite "some say.." as Some say that since he didn't say the actual oath that he's not prez... "Fact or friction, tell us what YOu think"
Just like Olbermann said last night, "Chris Wallace just needs to go back to school."
I'll bet Mike is reeeaaalll proud of his offspring. Not!
For eight years this network has been Dubya's butt plug while he masturbated on the Constitution, and now they spend all day creating a bullshit legal technicality. For the next eight years Fox's agenda is set.
Oh shit, it wasn't just Fox news. On MSNBC this morning they were talking about this and one of them said if President Obama didn't get the oath right the first time does that mean all the papers he signed from then until he re-did it, were invalid? And would he have to re-sign them?
I love the way the Obama group slaps down these petty things by just doing them and moving on. Just like he did with the damned flag pin stuff. He pinned it on his coat and bingo, that pissing and moaning was gone.
Morning Joke is not any better than Faux news. It just isn't.
Don't need Morning Joe, NO.
... historically. Presidents Coolidge and Arthur both had to re-take the oath, and President George Washington held the office for months before taking the oath.
... factually. Obama's presidency was settled when former VP Cheney confirmed the election results, and became effective at 12:01 PM on January 20th.
It's hilarious how FOX and their sycophants always berate the 'mainstream media' for not getting the facts straight, but they can't be arsed to do the same. (Thus, I maintain that the 'MSM' is a fiction of the FOX News crowd.)
Hell, yes. If the media was liberal, we'd be fondly wishing President Nader a happy retirement, instead of throwing shoes at a fake cowboy.
Wonder if any of these news outlets bothered to mention that since the congress voted it, Obama was President as of noon, 1/20 even before he took the oath? Think that might be a relevant tidbit to offer the fact-starved audiences?
But he's not really president until he says the magic words. Joe the Plumber said that so it must be true.
/snark
"Joe" the "Plumber" would know about not really being something, eh?
Sam can just keep his ignorant arse in Israel, so all us murkins will know 'the REAL story' since he's the one reporting it...out there....where he says people shouldn't be allowed....except for him, apparently, cause now he's Sam the Non- War Correspondent.
Israel has some great poontang bars to keep Joe 'the toilet plunger' busy for many years!
after all.
Every once in a long while I turn to Fox News, just to see how much I can stand of their cynical negative hatred of average working Americans, I do it just to see how long I can take their fear and outright hatred of liberal viewpoints and all democrats. I switch them off when I feel anger at their outright bias, which is always within about 30 seconds.
It is my hope that millions of their regular viewers will tire of Fox News and just turn them off.
Nothing would make me happier than to see them have to change their blatant worship of the conservative republican veiwpoint - short of going off the air forever.
... the Karl Rove Stupid Ray.
Because inevitably, when people tune in, they get this glassy-eyed stare. For conservatives and others worshipping at the Temple of W., it's because they're having their programming affirmed. For liberals, it's slack-jawed amazement that such stupidity even made it to the airwaves.
of condescending their viewers. It's all about tax cuts, people, and they get dumb people riled up over immigration and abortion, when they could have just as easily chosen the letter "R" and the color blue, and these same dumb people would consider R and blue to be the most important things in the universe.
little boys like Brit Hume and Chris Wallace give nerds a bad name. At least some nerds At get laid.
As for Rupert Murdoch--when will he finally go away into obsolesence with Bill O'reilly and they can scream at eachother about the conspiracy over why their spoonfulls of apple mush taste so bad?
This is the way it was explained by someone this morning. He is president at noon, but he can't do any official business until he takes the oath. They said this was in Article two if I recall correctly.
I didn't see anything in the Constitution about when a president who is chosen by the Supreme Court is officially the president.
I heard on Olberman's Countdown (MSNBC 5pm & 7pm Pacific) that the oath was flubbed twice before in history, but I've never heard it was re-administered.
for the past 8 years straight and Fox didn't seem to care.
Illiterate screwup George Bush appointed an illiterate screwup, robe wearing neocon to be Chief Justice? WOW! Who could have ever predicted THAT, he, he?
Look, I'm as much of a FOX bashers as y'all, maybe more so, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Roverts totally messed up every part of the oath and Obama messed up at least three times. Reand and look at the following carefully:
The text:
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
The tape:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ve_R7BKIwU
1. Roberts AND Obama said his name in the middle of the required quote
2. Roberts said "execute faithfully" not "faithfully execute"
3. Obama said "execute the Office of President of the United States faithfully" (a Freudian slip Reverend?) not "faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States"
4. Roberts said "Office of President TO the United States" not "Office of President of the United States"
There is only ONE place in the Constitution where the wording of ANYTHING is in quotes and this is it. The Framers obviously thought this important. We all point out, often at great length, how the oath refers to protecting and defending the Constitution (not Das Vaterland) and now all of a sudden we can fudge the words. I. Don't. Think. So.
.....because President Obama could not give the oath to himself!
The Fox news report is factually correct that the oath was flubbed. They are however acting as an arm of the RNC propaganda machine and are totally incorrect when they try to work the idea that Obama isn't the president.
FAUX Noise is upset because for the first time in 8 years, they will actually have to pay their taxes, unlike Cheney whose 'deferred' taxes on stocks from soaring Haliburton blood-money has yet to be brought up.
He was elected. Done. Faux can get over it or STFU. There is no technicalities, and if they think something is wrong, he should tell them to Dick Cheney themselves, and tell them the constitution is just a g-damn piece of paper. Worked for Bush, it'll work for him. Then he should FIRE this idiotic old goat that can't even remember a few lines.
I love that: Go Cheney Yerself!
Muaaahahahahahaha!!!
phrase more in my everyday speech.
... because the oath was re-administered yesterday afternoon.
FOX is only demonstrating their inability to cope with the fact that George W. Bush has slunk off to Texas in disgrace.
should sign an executive order bringing back the Fairness Doctrine before the end of the week.
... ultimately, the left has to be the responsible party and restore reasoned discourse to the airwaves. We need people like Rachel Maddow, for example, as opposed to simply putting loud voices up against ambulatory pustules like Limbaugh.
The operative words are, "before he enters the Execution of his office he shall take the oath" I guess that means before he can do anything legally as president he has to take the oath. Okay fine, I guess they can quibble about what he did during the time between when he took the oath the first time and again yesterday. Thankfully our country has no other problems but this, huh?
Obama could put his signature to an Executive Order affirming everything he did yesterday, no sweat.
FOX is just treading water until there's another incident they can call terrorism and then start up with 'Bush kept us safe.'
Well Sambolinio what about this; How many times have they put in the words "So help me god" at the end? Does that mean that every Prez who said that was not the Prez?
No. Look up the concept of "in quotations".
Then Senator Joe Biden administered the oath of citizenship to my Italian grand-mother, therefore Joe Biden is well versed in how to properly give an oath and his jab at Robert's poor memory was more than appropriate.
.....aaaaand next on faux and friends, Brian will tell us all about breakthrough science on rocket fuel efficiencies and how that will effect tragectory extrapolations for future space missions.
Steve: Neatoe!
Gretchen: Oh goody, goody, goody!
credit for giving Roberts a chance to get it right...
Glad that this will now be a long-forgotten footnote very shortly.
Even Fux will have to find something new. Gotta be some fresh coeds a'missin' in Aruba soon.
Bet you they mention it on Obama's last day in office.
But take note in knowing that over that said...8 years...Fox Noise will be losing a lot of its audience to natural causes...
Can you believe in Texas, they're debating how to teach evolution again?
The wording that science teachers want to change, and conservative nards want to keep is, "To teach evolutions strenghts and weaknesses," which seems to imply there's controversy among the scientists, which isn't really the case.
High School is soon enough, but not to debate the "weaknesses," but where the research is going next.
But they teach it this way to elementary school kids. Would they teach them the strengths and weaknesses of American History?
They make it sound traditional (and about censorship), because it's been this way for 20 years. But this committee only meets once every 10 years.
First I would say they have a good case against evolution just by how fu*king stupid the members of the committee are in their reasoning. Their brains do not indeed seem to have evolved.
In the mid-90's, UT almost lost it accreditation.
http://www.triumphbooks.com/filebin/FullSizeF...
... how is believing in a magical sky dude who scooped up some mud and made it into a living, breathing man any different from believing that already living single-celled organisms slowly combined over time to form a more complex organism called man?
Invisible being or random chance.
The Egyptian Gods Ptah and Khepera, the Babylonian Goddess Inanna, the Greek Titan Epimetheus (brother of Prometheus), all did the same trick with clay, doubt you'll hear about that in biology case. Khepera (a scarab beetle) did it by rolling up crap.
Did Prometheus have a sister named Amateurmetheus?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc9vqXjZKfA
No dog humping leg in this one.
If you choose invisible being, that slams the argument shut, and no other proof need be given. That's the easy way out. If you choose random chance, then that requires knowledge and discussion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WvWrzZIE5w
A teacher reads Aesop's "The Tortoise and the Hare" to her classroom. She breaks the class into two groups and asks them to discuss the story among themselves.
Group A discuss the meaning of the story and if in real life it really is true that "slow and steady wins the race" and why Aesop might have thought it was important to convey this message.
Group B argue about where the track was and who owned it, what color the hare was, and if there was any cheating going on by the tortoise.
They're both discussions about "The Tortoise and the Hare"; what's the difference?
When I read the first line: "Can you believe in Texas, they're debating how to teach evolution again?"
I took it to mean, TX had decided to teach evolution again but had forgotten how, so were trying to figure it out.
.
If you test the DNA of Flarduh or Texas politicians you'll find it to be one and the same as an extinct Dodo bird.
A member of the Texas House told his colleagues:
Members, in Texas we're sure of three things; you git born, you go die, and in between you can have a gun if you want to.
http://www.triumphbooks.com/filebin/FullSizeF...
I suggest that Fox covers bush and cheney's life out of office and leave the rest to the adults.
be regular (weekly?) updates from the ranches. I expect that they're ramping up their Paraguay bureau as week speak.
Last night I watched two documentaries on PBS on the history of comedy, the first was slapstick, the second controversial cutting edge comedy. They went into the arrests of Lenny Bruce, and the censorship of George Carlin, but kept bleeping out Carlin.
Irony, thy name is Dallas.
Especially good coverage of Smothers Brothers.
Where you can teach your daughter irony and sewy.
http://www.dallascowboyscheerleaders.com/camp...
Over at Redstate, they are saying that because Biden wasn't sworn in until after 12:00 (I believe it was 4 after), Bush and Cheney were no longer POTUS/VPOTUS and Obama/Biden weren't official, so that made Condi Rice pres for four minutes...making her the first woman and black POTUS.
I got a chuckle out of it.
And honestly, who cares? As long as each one of those lying, destroyers of America are gone (but not forotten, please...trials, please!), that is all I care about.
Buh bye a$$holes...each and every one.
But by their logic, shouldn't kindanasty rice have been sworn in to be president even for four minutes?
That sounds like something the Onion would have come up with. (the part about Condi being president for four minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePaHG6g7uFw
... because the order of succession falls to the Speaker of the House before it goes to SecState. So Nancy Pelosi was president, not Condoleezza Rice.
Having been voted on by the congress, Obama and Biden were officially in their roles as of noon, regardless of anything else.
IF that were the case, Pelosi, not Condi was President. SecState is fifth in line. Either they're too stoopid to know that or they realized their heads would explode if they even thought it.
Uh oh. When I typed "Condi" I think I threw up in the back of my throat a little bit. Thanks god that won't happen too often now.
... unless you live in California, you've got it easy. She's coming back to Stanford (in the Bay Area, where I live) to be provost.
Ewwwww.
I think she should be disqualified on the grounds of intellectual dishonesty.
Maybe I'm confused, but had that been the case, wouldn't Pelosi have been the president?
something about Pelosi having to give up her seat or make an official statement that she was no longer in congress. I didn't pay much attention to it other than giving it a head shake.
I agree...Pelosi should be the next in line...but the constitution apparently does have further succession stated.
Ok, back to work. Ciao!
And if aliens kidnapped Obama, Joe Biden wouldn't actually be the President until he stopped being Vice President.
Waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh.
When Faux and Friends gloms onto a wingnut free-association talking point, you know that talking point has jumped the shark.
So, did they not have anything to say about Gitmoclosingate?
Somebody should tell Justice Roberts that if he can't do it right the first time, he shouldn't do it at all. And no excuses for "Mission Accomplished" brain syndrome either.
..but NOW, all of a sudden, FAUX News is worried about constitutionality? Gimme a break, Rupe! The FORMER PRES and VP shred the constitution and you're worried that Obama didn't say the oath correctly or that he didn't use the bible? You guys at FAUX need lives!
because the ICC can execute as conspirators "journalists" who promote war crimes.
Andrea Mitchell was on Scarborough this morning catapulting the same nonsense. She, without trepidation, opined about how all of Obama's new executive orders may not be valid and may have to be resigned blah blah blah.
...except, you know, that whole 'getting elected' business.
These people are ridiculous. Anyone talking about this "Oathgate" thing as if it's serious should be instantly moved into the fringe nutcase category and ignored from here on out.
one word out of place and it won't work, the magic fails to happen and the president elect remains an ordinary person, but if he gets it right then a magical transformation takes place.
The Rite of Transpolitician.
Reslug Wing-Nut cases on Faux Noise, for braindead idiots, are so desperate to make up anything about Prez. Obama that they sound so damn stupid and jealous of their total loses.
The first thought that crossed my mind when Roberts screwed it up was that the NeoCons are going to jump all over this and try to say that Obama is illegitimate. Must have crossed Obama's mind also because he retook the oath!
GOBAMA
And this is why I can't understand why Dems ever, ever appear on this funky network.
jesus christ look at that stupid fuckin blonde bitch
Rofl.
how airheaded can you act? if she indeed is "acting". looks like she desperately needs something to shut her up
btw talkin about the one that pops up at 1:16, not the first one
really. I. Can't. Fucking. Believe. It.
There's only one thing for it:
IMPEACH ROBERTS!
so you can constitutionally be president after not actually winning an election. but you can't be president when the guy administering the oath screws up one word?
do these people have no sense of self awareness?
Uh. Roberts flubbed it, not Obama.
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