Fox lies about control of the Senate (Updated)

[BobcatJH]

When is the majority not the majority? When Fox News is doing the reporting, of course!

Flipping through the coverage this morning of the new day in Congress, I had the unfortunate opportunity of catching a snippet of Fox News. There, an in-studio host (E.D. Hill) was speaking to a Washington correspondent, Brian Wilson, about the Democratic control of Congress. After laughably lamenting the fact that the now-in-charge Democrats appeared to be casting bipartisanship aside, talk turned to the U.S. Senate.

Wilson repeatedly termed the state of the Senate's control at 51-50 with the Democrats in charge. Unless we've added a state while I wasn't looking, that's a flat-out lie. Even the lower-third graphic at the bottom of the screen called the Senate as it is, 51-49 Democrats. Yet that didn't stop Wilson from lying through his teeth.

Then, talk turned to the health of Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson, recovering from recent brain surgery. Like vultures, both Hill and Wilson speculated what would happen were Johnson unable to perform his duties (the correspondent went so far as to say that, as he had heard, the senator was still unable to speak). But even temporarily without Johnson, control of the Senate still rests with the Democrats, 50-49. Not, as our friends at Fox said, a 50-50 tie with Vice President Cheney casting a deciding vote.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt it (and feel free to set the record straight). I mean, what's more likely? Me being wrong about who's really in charge of the Senate, or Fox lying to its viewers? All signs point to the latter.

UPDATE: It's happened again, during a new report during the 11 o'clock hour. This isn't a fluke; it's a new talking point.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. not lying, just ignorant.

that applies to 50% of Faux Gnus. The other 50% knows better but still lies.

[unpossibles]

4. don't you mean the other 51% LOL

sorry.

;)

[fasttense]

2. Fake News is filled with such arrogant and liars, I can't bear to watch them. n/t

[SteppingRazor]

3. Yeah, I think they're just being stupid, not lying...

but if Johnson were to -- God forbid a thousand times over -- resign or pass on, the Senate would be 50-50, because the Republican governor of South Dakota would appoint a Republican replacement.

[SCantiGOP]

12. not 50-50 this year

Once the Senate is organized today (along a 51-49 split) it will stay that way for two years unless the Senate votes to re-organize. If a Democratic Senator were to die and be replaced by a Republican, the Democrats would never agree to re-organize, and the Republicans wouldn't be able to get a 60 vote margin to cut off a filibuster.

[TlalocW]

5. They're getting 50 by adding in Dick Cheney

Even though he's only supposed to break ties.

TlalocW

[Kagemusha]

6. They're trying to count Cheney I guess.

Silly

[KKKarl is an idiot]

7. The program you were watching is called Fox & Friends

These guys are the worst. They have no journalistic ability. They are just talking heads that are so ignorant that I think about banging my head against the wall every time I hear them. It's all about the Fox philosophy: "Let's put the dumbest people we can find into our shows so that they will keep our dumb audience enthralled". Not even the "soap opera" industry has thought of this one. They throw in a blonde every now & to keep the really dumb males engaged in their propaganda.

[Lasher]

8. Try Media Matters

They watch Faux Snooze so we don't have to.

http://mediamatters.org/

I don't want you to suffer like that.

[KKKarl is an idiot]

11. better yet

try www.newshounds.us They do the best job at watching Fox.

[burythehatchet]

9. My special Fox & Fiends graphic

[Uncle Joe]

10. The 101st Senator represents the great state

of denial, Fox News neocon shills inhabit.