Fox’s Non-Denial Denial
Loo Hoo linked to this, and it has me laughing, so I thought I’d share. Fox News says it didn’t "receive the letter" that John Ensign’s cuckold sent to them and they didn’t tip off Ensign to it. But that claim all depends on what your definition of "receive" is:
Tom Lowell, senior producer of "America’s Newsroom," hosted by Kelly and Bill Hemmer, says no one at Fox News ever received a printed letter, but that a booker on the show received an email from Hampton with the letter attached on June 15 — the day before the Senator’s press conference.
"We never received any letter from Mr. Hampton," Lowell told the Huffington Post. "He might have sent it, but we never received it. He did reach out to us about 24 hours before the news conference, and he sent an e-mail to a booker on my staff."
Lowell said that a member of his editorial staff followed up with Hampton that day.
"We followed up with him, but he seemed evasive and not credible, thus we didn’t pursue it," he said. "We certainly weren’t going to rush to air with accusations against a sitting Senator without doing due diligence on the reputability of the claims. [my emphasis]
I guess Fox routinely "follows up" on things they claim they haven’t received, huh?
And when they get around to denying that they tipped off Ensign, they limit their denial to the editorial staff of one particular show.
Lowell also stated emphatically that no one at Fox News reached out to the Senator to alert him about the story.
"I know there are people asking if we alerted the senator," Lowell said. "Definitely no one on our editorial team called anyone in Senator Ensign’s office prior to our announcement. We just hadn’t gotten to that point of confirming the story yet. Somehow, somebody told the Senator something and I don’t know how that happened. [my emphasis]
So at Fox News, its denials that it tipped off a Republican friend all rely on your definition of "received" and "editorial team," but they do agree that somehow Ensign found out about a letter that–they confirm–got emailed to a Fox employee in plenty of time for Ensign to come clean on his affair.
You know, I originally thought this story was going to be your garden variety Republican adultery and hush money. But it’s beginning to get interesting.
Ha! received
Teddy has a great Oxdown.
Great catch, Loo Hoo! FOX appears to have taken to heart the Heinlein rules for effective lying:
That’s what FOX’s statement reads like to me.
Fox is channeling Eddie Haskell from Leave It to Beaver.
Well…which is it? Did you, or didn’t you?
Cynthia Hampton is a whore too.
How many hummers for $2800/month?
Loo Hoo’s linked article also provides a useful summary of how the FauxNooseRum deals with “news”.
All this talk about “Receive” and “openings” and “interns” has me simultaneously longing for the days when Monica Lewinsky … well . . . you get the point.
It also will bring out my frustrated writer’s ambition – to see my work in the pages of Penthouse Forum.
Throw in Republican hypocrisy and … well. we’ve got the makings of a great sequel: “Who’s nailin’ Palin II: Follow the Red Ensign!”
I think a shower is in order….
Give the poor guy a break. Like what else is he supposed to do with his time?
faux gnus
says it all
not a news source
it’s a propaganda network
and all of this just days after Obama singled out the “one television station” that does nothing but deride Obama and the Democrats
gettin harder to spin this as faux gnus doing “Journalism”
it ain’t news, but it sure is entertaining …
Hey, freep! Guh-news are guh-nice! Shades of “Beyond the Fringe” and Open Source and Free Software. I’m sure no guh-normal guh-nu would put a hoof into a Faux Noose.
this story has evolved into a nice soundbite
faux gnus, first to know, last to tell
can’t wait for Colbert and Jon Stewart to rip faux gnus a new asshole
an if Boxturtle shows up, here’s an update; “the Turtle to be found later” has arrived safely
and O-T, I guess we know for sure that impeachment is only about sex
And how. Let’s see, Fox News, NRSC, The Family, various PACs. I gotta get me some popcorn!
It all depends on what the meaning of .. .
So FOX called Ensign at home, right?
Mmmm, I like the taste of blackberries. Heh.
In an age of amazing technology it leaves me all atwitter that this story might have legs.
This story might have legs? Why not toobz?
Another religious fraud Republican in a tawdry sex scandal – what’s newsworthy about that? To me, the story is the freaking religious cult that grips Congress, and the grooming of it by evangelical wingnuts, and the traditional graft passed as a result that is completely ignored because it is religious. Graft is fucking graft, and this is graft. Ensign is a sideshow.
“Amen.”
The way The Family is set up in cells, who knows who is calling the shots. Flat out creepy.
And if no one from FOX contacted Ensign or anyone on his staff, how exactly did Ensign become aware that the Hamptons had been in touch with a major television network, prompting the disclosure?
Let’s see: Nobody in Hampton’s family, not even the wife, would have had any reason to do so. Unless the wife wanted to get a little something additional out of Ensign on her own.
you can’t spell ‘resign’ without most of Ensign.
John Ensign is a surprisingly good-looking guy, with tanned skin, clear-cut yet smoothly handsome features, and a shock of thick white hair to boot. Kinda like Charlie Crist, really.
They could be lovers…they’re so alike. LOL
Perfect.
Now Gringich’s 2012 VP field is narrowed down to Ensign & Vitter running on the Adulterers & Hypocrites for the Defense of Marriage Ticket.
Enquiring minds need to know. Is Ensign into diapers too?
This could be useful to the Democrats in Congress if they had anyone charismatic in a leadership position. Hapless Harry puts everyone to sleep and Nancy Pelosi seems mostly MIA. What will happen is that Noot and Rush will repeatedly explain how it is all the fault of the Democrats anyway. While Fox will gleefully report that, the other networks will dutifly report that. In either case, Noot and Rush get to make their spin without challenge.
I blame the gays marrying. Clearly, Ensign’s marriage wasn’t at risk until its sanctity was threatened by the gays. So his federal marriage amendment to the constitution was really a self-serving attempt to save him from straying, which he previously was only able to do by not riding alone in a car with a woman. Really.
Well, like I said, he does rather remind me of Charlie Crist.
I bet Charlie has no problem riding in a car alone with a woman, though.
Sounds to me as if the Hampton’s had a little blackmail scheme going. “Listen, honey, you just sleep with
this guy and we’ll be set for life.”
And, yes, LooHoo at 6, she is a whore.
Why anyone spends one minute of their precious life talking or writing about FOX is beyond me. Anyone with even a a modicum of intelligence knows who and what they are — those that don’t watch FOX and aren’t changing their mind. What’s the point?
Nobody’s forcing you to read these threads, you know.
So much for ripped from the headlines … We’ve already seen this plot on Law & Order Special Hypocrites Unit.
The first federal judge to be charged with federal sex crimes was impeached by the House today right after the Iran vote. No one voted against the Articles of Impeachment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_B._Kent
I noticed the use of the term non-consensual sex in the Kent case and that Senator Ensign was careful to use the term ‘consensual.’
“I noticed the use of the term non-consensual sex in the Kent case and that Senator Ensign was careful to use the term ‘consensual’.”
Now there’s a distinction without a difference
We’ll sse if Senaror Ensign can produce a copy of his wife’s consent to nearly a year of consensual sex outside of his marriage.
It’s kinda fun reading the words “John Ensign’s cuckold.” I think it must be fun to write them, too, ’cause I’m reading them a lot.
Welcome back, redfish. While you’re not making false straw man arguments about people claiming KSM is anything less than the terrorist he is, you’re being inane, again.
0 for 2, so far, friend. You’re on a roll that will get you banned from the site if you keep it up.
0-2? My numbers are a little higher than that.
Unless of course that sitting Senator is a Democrat who is uppity enough to run for President, in which case anyone we can find who thinks he’s a secret Mooslim terraist gets all the air time he wants.
Marcy, PLEASE keep investigating. This entire story is rotten to the core and I don’t mean because of the sex angle. I’ve been telling everyone I can think of that the tie back to Christopher Ward has something to do with this, but now that The Family is also involved, the smell is getting worse and worse. If US senators lived in a house owned by AIG or Chrysler, for that matter, people would be screaming “conflict of interest” from the rooftops. But because it’s the American Taliban, it’s a non-story?
Exactly whom did Chris Ward rip off (a story told all over DC) and if he did, was he ever even investigated, let alone prosecuted? If not, why not? That usually only happens when crooks steal from other crooks. Is there a connection between the organizations he worked for and members of The Family?
I’m beginning to wonder if Ensign even did have an “affair” with Cynthia Hampton. Is it possible this was an affair of shady finances rather than sex. In other words, the “what you made my wife do” wasn’t sex but something not just immoral but illegal? Illegal enough that even Ensign’s wife would prefer a cheating story to the truth?
I’m not usually paranoid (I ascribe to few conspiracy theories), but the fact that Mrs. Hampton was treasurer to two Ensign organizations blows this affair out of the realm of a mere sex scandal. The money trail is currently leading to some VERY shady places and the chances of the Nevada press looking into this are next to none.