The Dishonest Media: Part 99

The dishonest media, part 99, that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo."

What I'm about to tell you is unbelievable but true. As "Talking Points" pointed out on Monday, the most important thing about the Dan Rather/CBS News situation is that fired producer Mary Mapes (search) was in close contact with the Kerry campaign.

Now you can imagine what would happen if the phony story was not exposed and Kerry had won the election. You simply can't have a presidential vote influenced by journalistic fraud.

Now you would think everyone in the media would get this, right? Nuh- uh.Yesterday an analyst from MSNBC blamed part of the CBS fiasco on a FOX News executive.

Now we're used to this kind of slander -- as MSNBC is a ratings catastrophe and desperate people say desperate things. We usually ignore them with the exception of Lester Holt (search), who is an honest reporter. But then this morning "The Los Angeles Times" editorializes about the CBS situation saying, "Maybe Rather got off easy in being allowed to honorably step down from his chair...then again, maybe FOX News should have inspected its acceptance of dubious anti-John Kerry allegations from the Swift boat veterans group. CBS at least investigated the forces that harmed its news-gathering."

Well, that statement by the "L.A. Times" is blatantly false. As everyone who watches this program and this network knows, number one, there's no reason to inject FOX News into CBS' problem. We had nothing to do with the situation.

Number two, “The Factor” is a signature broadcast here at FNC, and we were skeptical of the Swift Boat tactics. So was FOX News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace. So is one of our top political analysts Dick Morris.

So why is The L.A. Times misleading its readers once again? The answer is that paper and others in the hard-core liberal zone hate FOX News and will say just about anything to try to marginalize us.

The big picture here is the truth. How can you as an American make an informed decision if major newspapers are flat-out lying to you? You can't. This is not the first time the "L.A.Times" has attacked FOX News, but this editorial is truly outrageous.

I challenge Michael Kinsley (search), who runs the editorial page, to come on “The Factor” tomorrow and explain himself. What say you, Mr. Kinsley?

And that's "The Memo."

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Out on Long Island where I live, straight talk is the word up. It's generally a No Spin place out there until you get to the Hamptons (search).

So two guys were waiting in line to get into court in Hempstead when they started telling lawyer jokes, like how can you tell a lawyer is lying, you know, that kind of thing. An actual lawyer overheard them and complained, prompting court officials to arrest Harvey Kash (search) and Carl Lanzisera (search). They've been charged with disorderly conduct. Now they have to get lawyers!

The whole thing is utterly ridiculous, especially the lawyer part.