the record clearly shows otherwise, especially when it comes to the nonstop rhetorical assaults on President Obama featured in the latter.

The reality, of course, is that not only does Fox's news programming constantly echo themes engendered by its "opinion shows," those news shows regularly feature segments running down and smearing Obama in every way imaginable.

A prime example was a brief segment yesterday on Special Report with Baier about a Facebook page set up to call for the removal of a statue in Indonesia honoring President Obama, who spent several of his childhood years there (Obama's mother was an anthropologist who spent much of her adult life in Indonesia). It is a fairly typical smear of Obama, especially in its singularly ugly tone:

Barack Obama has yet to make a significant contribution to the Indonesian nation. We could say Obama only ate and s--- (expletive) in Menteng. He spent his subsequent days living as an American.

According to AFP, Indonesian authorities are indeed considering removing or moving the statue because of the Facebook petition.

But what makes this newsworthy? What seems obvious is that this is just an opportunity for Fox News to run Obama down by giving free publicity to an unusually low attack on the president of the United States. Seemed like only a few years ago, that was cause for outrage among the Fox talkers.