NOT EVERYONE AT FOX IS SO MIS-INFORMED

…The former Army Colonel, Ralph Peters was an adviser at Fox News for a decade.

 

According to Colonel Peters, “I cannot be party to an organization that is  harming our government for profit.”

How many of you have ever heard of the retired Army Lt. Colonel, Ralph Peters? 

 

Since I have stayed away from the Fox News channel for years. I was not aware that a former US Army Colonel Peters served as a contributor at Fox News for about a decade.  Peters had offered opinions  on issues relating to the military, intelligence, North Korea , etc.

 

In fact, recently he weighed in against President Trump’s proposal for a military parade going down Pennsylvania Ave. in the nation’s capital saying, “I served in the military for almost 22 years, enlisted man and officer. Let me tell you: I value our tradition of civilian control of the military. . . . I don’t like the image of heavy weapons parading through our streets and the streets of American cities. . . . we are not a totalitarian nation.”

 

But after all those years in the military and a decade of being involved and up to his neck at Fox, even a conservative military man like  Peters had had enough.

 

This week, the BUZZFEED news organization reported that the retired Colonel “was bailing out of the Fox operation”.

 

Someone at Fox News leaked the email that the Colonel  wrote to his colleagues at Fox, and it pretty much says the truth of what’s happening at Fox News and why a patriot like Peters can’t continue to work with the likes of Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson.

 

Here is the basics of Peters email:

 

“In my view, Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration. When prime-time hosts — who have never served our country in any capacity — dismiss facts and empirical reality to launch profoundly dishonest assaults on the FBI, the Justice Department, the courts, the intelligence community (in which I served) and, not least, a model public servant and genuine war hero such as [special counsel Robert S. Mueller III] — all the while scaremongering with lurid warnings of ‘deep-state’ machinations — I cannot be part of the same organization,. To me, Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.”

The reality is that Hannity and Tucker have been ranting every night on Fox against anyone that was against what Trump was doing  these days in the White House.  

 

As an example, here is an excerpt of a conversation between the Colonel and Tucker Carlson on the “Tucker Carlson Tonight” show on Fox.  It all started when Carlson argued that Russia’s Vladimir Putin, while being a bad guy, could share interests with the United States, such as  the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).

 

Peters: “You sound like Charles Lindbergh in 1938 saying [Adolf] Hitler hasn’t attacked us.”

 

Carlson: “I beg your pardon? You cannot compare me to somebody who made apologies for Hitler. And I don’t think Putin is comparable.”

 

Peters: “I think Putin is.”

 

Carlson: “I think it is a grotesque overstatement actually. I think it’s insane.”

 

Peters: “Fine, you can think it’s insane all you want.”

 

Carlson: “You just up compared me to a Nazi apologist because I asked a simple question. Which is, why does it contravene American interest with a common cause with a group trying to kill ISIS?”

 

Peters: “He invaded his neighbors, broken the long peace in Europe, he assassinates dissidents and journalists, he bombs women and children on purpose in Syria, he is as bad as Hitler. If you don’t like the Charles Lindbergh [comparison] — I will retract that, but you sound like someone in the 1938 saying,"what has Hitler done to us?”

 

Fox became a total supporter of Donald Trump, and Fox has adopted Trump’s attitude toward Russia’s Putin, of which it also ontinues to appear that Putin and the Russians have some serious evidence against Trump.  Apparently, that explains Trump’s on-going  “Bro-mance” with Vlad.  Before all that, Peters was a very out-spoken individual against the Obama administration.  In fact, back in 2015,  on the Fox Business Network, he called President  Obama a “total pussy” for his anti-terrorism policies. Peters was suspended at the time for the outburst.

 

But in his goodbye Fox email, Peters also wrote: “Four decades ago, I took an oath as a newly commissioned officer. I swore to ‘support and defend the Constitution,’ and that oath did not expire when I took off my uniform.  Today, I feel that Fox News is assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law, while fostering corrosive and unjustified paranoia among viewers. Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association. Now I am ashamed.”

 

Fox News then issued the following statement: “[Colonel] Ralph Peters is entitled to his opinion despite the fact that he’s choosing to use it as a weapon in order to gain attention. We are extremely proud of our top-rated prime-time hosts and all of our opinion programming.”

 

In a discussion  with a conservative Blogger, the 65 year old retired Colonel said he couldn’t speak out about his time at Fox News because his contract hasn’t yet expired. He was careful to credit the few hard news people at the network, drawing a hard line between them and the  Fox News opinion folks in prime time.

 

But the former Colonel did address Fox News’ criticism of his email: “It just makes no sense. If I wanted attention, I would have stayed on Fox News and spoken to a few million people a day. I have no intention of seeking other TV news opportunities.  I am not a great-looking guy, I have a high-pitched voice, and I smack my lips. To what end am I looking for attention?” Also: Peters said that the farewell email that was leaked to BUZZFEED “was only meant for internal consumption and Fox is entitled to their views.”

 

It’s nice to see that at least some conservatives at Fox News agree that Fox and Trump are headed in the wrong direction.  At some point, the people will respond negatively to constantly being fed miss-information.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2018