Dr. Carlos Gonzales on the jumbo-tron in Arizona Stadium. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

FOX News pandered to their base with their lopsided coverage of yesterday’s amazing healing event in Tucsonby dissing Tucsonans for not being somber enough after Saturday’s massacre, characterizing the touching Yaqui blessing delivered by Dr. Carlos Gonzales of the University of Arizona College Medicine as “peculiar”, and putting down the audience for greeting President Obama and the news of Gabrielle Giffords’ recovery with cheers.

FOX pundits called the 26,000+ crowd in Tucson “raucous” and criticized us for “whistles” and “whoops” when we learned that our Congresswoman had opened her eyes. (This is the wild west. Don’t they know that?)

Check out the 17+ minute FOX video coverage below.

At about 8:12 minutes, FOX pundits diss the Tucson audience for cheering too much. They say that the event became “out of control” and turned into a “pep rally”. They really didn’t like it when Gonzales said he was a Mexican/Yaqui and a 5th generation Arizonan– although these statements brought great cheers from Tucsonans in McKale Center and in Arizona Stadium.

At about 9:17 minutes, the FOX pundits say Tucsonans are “not mournful enough” and blame that on the crowd containing too many UA students. (I was in Arizona Stadium; although that crowd was mostly not students, our reactions paralleled the McKale audience.)

At about 9:25 minutes, the FOX pundits mock the Yaqui blessing as “too long” and “most peculiar” and say that he was blessing the “doors of the auditorium”– not knowing that Gonzales was honoring the four directions and what they signify.

They did like UA/Giffords intern Daniel Hernandez (about 12:11 minutes). What’s not to like about him saving his boss’ life? But they put down President Obama, saying that the speech will “affect the perception of the president”; I think it affected his perception in a positive manner!

The FOX pundits said it was a “lovely speech” (killing it with faint praise), but it had “too much politics”. (What politics?, I ask.)

Toward the end, the FOX pundits foreshadow what is to come, warning that next week, it will be business as usual on FOX News. Togetherness and no hate speech? Forget about it. That is not in their script.

Last week the US House of Representatives voted to extend the Bush Era tax cuts to poor and middle class but not to richest 2% of Americans. On Saturday, predictably, all Senate Republicans (including our own John McCain and Jon Kyl) + 5 Blue Dog Democrats killed the limited tax cut extension and continued to hold out for full extension of the tax cuts to everyone.

A CBS News poll shows most Americans favor a limited extension of the Bush Era tax cuts. (Source: CBSNews.com)

A recent CBS News poll shows that Republican grandstanding for the rich is out of step with most Americans. According to CBS, 53% of Americans favor extension of the cuts to income under $250,000, and only 26% favor extending the cuts to all Americans, including the wealthiest. You’ll note that only 10% of those “free-spending” Democrats want to extend the cuts to everyone, while 46% of those “fiscally responsible” Republicans want full extension.

Why are Congressional conservatives fiercely fighting for full extension of the Bush Era tax cuts? Their fight has even put national security at risk, according to Newsweek, because they have vowed to not vote on anything– not even the New START Treaty– until the tax cuts have been extended to all. Obviously, the vast majority of the constituents in Kentucky (Mitch McConnell’s state) or rural Southern Ohio (John Boehner’s district) or Arizona (John and Jon’s territory) will not benefit from extension of cuts to the richest 1% of Americans. So, why have these four men been been hawking millionaire welfare for months?

Besides the obvious link between the Republican Party and rich, conservative donors– let’s look at the Republicans’ cozy relationship with FOX News.

• Since its inception, FOX news has been a faithful 24/7 mouthpiece for the right.
• Before the midterm election, FOX News’ parent company even donated money to Republican candidates.
• Failed right-wing politicians– like Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and Karl Rove– often land high-paying pundit jobs with FOX after their political careers dwindle.
• FOX News regularly promotes Republican ideas and candidates while hammering all things progressive.

Now thanks to Newsweek, Ed Schultz, and Rep. Alan Grayson, we learn of another reason why FOX News has been pushing for full extension of the tax cuts: their millionaire pundits stand to lose millions if tax cuts for wealthiest Americans are not extended. According to Grayson’s speech and his comments on the Ed Schultz Show (below), here is how much more in taxes popular right-wing pundits would have to pay if Congress does not extend tax cuts to all Americans:

• Rush Limbaugh – $2,689,135
• Glenn Beck – $1,512,352
• Sean Hannity – $1,006,352
• Bill O’Reilly – $914,352
• Sarah Palin – $638,352
• Newt Gingrich – $247,352

So, FOX News donates to Republican candidates and peddles their ideas, and Republican Senators and Congressmen return the favor. After all, it’s all “fair and balanced” in the “no-spin zone.”

P. S. Glenn Beck makes $33 million a year on FOX? And he has the nerve to say government workers are overpaid?