Clash of the Titans

Michael Moore took on Sean Hannity the other night in a no-holds barred round of verbal fisticuffs. Truth be told, I found the exchange surprisingly polite and good-humoured, although part of that is undoubtedly because Hannity (sadly) won his bet with Moore on whether Bush would be impeached or prosecuted by the end of his term. At any rate, it's a damn good discussion, at least in terms of overturning Hannity's usual RNC-approved talking points which are usually allowed to go unchallenged. Moore is no pushover and, just based on the facts, he wins this bout hands down:



Speaking of puncturing Republican talking points, Crooks and Liars highlighted some great reporting by Shep Smith, the only journalist at Fox News with any integrity (or, to be honest, the only journalist at Fox News). Interviewing Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barasso, who tries to jam every overused Republican talking point on health care into his allotted time in a flurry of self-contradictory nonsense, Smith comes out strong for the public option, correctly pointing out that if Barasso and conservative senators are so concerned about rising health care costs, why do they refuse to support the only solution that will actually lower costs - a public option to compete with private health insurers?

The unspoken answer, which Smith explictly points to, is that they are paid off by the insurance companies and Big Pharma. Barasso is slippery and evades the subtle accusations with as much canned blather as he can, but Smith's inquisitive questions - as opposed to the right-wing propaganda we generally expect from Fox - makes me wonder how much longer Roger Ailes will keep him there. On the other hand, Smith is pretty much the only real asset Fox News has to back up its laughably false slogan, "fair and balanced". I assume that's why they keep him covering more apolitical news events.