I disrespect the Huffington Post about as much as I disrespect Fox News (albeit for different reasons)
However, I’m on board with “any excuse to pit Fox”. They went after Mr Rogers seven years after his death. Mr Rogers! I hope they never live that down.
Wrestling = Sports Entertainment
Fox News = News Entertainment
Don’t break Kayfabe, Ailes.
That and because Hannity’s head will never fit through the neck-hole of a sweater, FOX will never forgive Mr. Rogers…
Don’t blame Mr. Rogers.
He was probably brainwashed as a child by that evil liberal Dr. Spock.
Still waiting on that piece about how Rupert Murdoch screwed up entire generations of Americans
(Not holding my breath either)
Here’s the actual video of his acceptance speech. Your quoted segment begins at about 1:45.
I’ve got chills. The kindness of that dear, dear man was so palpable. No one will ever convince me that he wasn’t a saint.
Tangentially, I wouldn’t let my kids watch Barney. I didn’t have anything against his message, but that dorky laugh made me want to punch his purple dinosaur face off.
Of course, in retrospect Barney was normal compared to the creepy weirdness of The Doodlebops and Teletubbies. Keep my kids away from those wackadoodles.
The Devil is always where you least expect him. Or Nyarlathotep, whatever the kids call him nowadays.
Watching Fox and Friends was your first mistake. I can’t stand their mindless drivel. I think Fox News does have some worthwhile content but their dramatic presentation completely overwhelms any content they present.
I didn’t grow up with Mr Rogers, but from what I’ve seen he was marked by gentleness, patience, self-control, soft-spokenness, thoughtfulness, and a gracious caution.
I can see how the party of Newt Gingrich and his kind would find that off-putting. A lot of people are probably spooked by someone that soft-spoken.
Ferret Herder writes:
> She might not have seen it; maybe her parents thought he was a “fruit” like my
> husband’s dad did, and forbade her from watching.
Wow, that’s one screwed-up dad. He thinks any man that doesn’t act like a complete jerk is gay.
That’s a beautiful phrase that says so much about St Fred. 
The description of the audience’s reaction to Mr. Rogers as written in the article is extremely unfair; it also dishonestly leaves out much of his speech to imply a message and effect that were not intended and not there. The audience is clearly absolutely thrilled he’s there to receive the award. Many of them are almost in tears just when he walks up on stage. Everyone under 40 is positively starstruck. There’s not an insincere reaction in the auditorium.
As to anyone who attacks Mr. Rogers, I can only feel sorry for them that they would be so stupid as to misunderstand him. Fred Rogers was not about telling children a bunch of bullshit like “you’re super dooper special indigo child and nobody should criticize you.” The entire point or Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood was being honest to children. He told children the straight dope on a level they could understand. He spoke about divorce once, with a frankness and honesty. He didn’t tell kids they were BETTER than other kids; he told them they were different, which they are, and to be confident in that.
Actually, I was wrong. The entire point of Mr. Rogers wasn’t honesty. It was that he respected children. He thought of them as humans who deserved his respect - with an approach suitable to children, but respectful nonetheless. Never, not once did he PANDER to children. I cannot even begin to imagine Fred Rogers, in real life, spoiling a child.
Fred Rogers respected children because he just respected everyone, of course, but the reason he took to the airwaves with it was to held children respect THEMSELVES. Teaching a children that it is okay to like and respect themselves is not spoiling them. Telling them that they are worth something is not a lie. Telling them that they should be proud of themselves is not a dodge. Those are basic, fundamental life skills. Those are things a well adjusted person needs to have. They don’t equate to thinking you’re perfect; Rogers often spoke to his audience about dealing with the negative parts of themselves, about how to deal with being in trouble or making mistakes or failing at things. It took me all of two minutes to find an example on Youtube of him telling his audience, in essence, “there are some things you simply can’t do.” Not a week went by that he didn’t deal with something like that.
How many people do you know who have at least partially screwed their lives up not because they though too much of themselves, but because they through too LITTLE of themselves? Because they lacked confidence, self-awareness, because inside they were fearful and didn’t respect themselves? How many people have you know who got into crappy relationships because they craved attention and affection? How many shirked from finishing school or getting a better job because they just assumed they’d fail? How many had shitty parents who didn’t like them and spent their lives sorting that out? How many people do you know who never became what they could of because they didn’t think they could? How many do you know? I’ve lost count of them.
Fred Rogers knew a lot of people like that, I bet. He looked at every kid and said “maybe I can help that person understand they deserve their own respect, that they deserve their own hard work.” He did more for Americans in his career than FOX will do if it broadcasts for a million years.
So . . . Providence?
Apparently there is no new news or the internet is full. People are now recycling 6 year old stories.
*Professor retracts Mr. Rogers smears.
By Faiz Shakir on Jul 7, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Yesterday, ThinkProgress noted that Fox News was participating in an effort to “blame Mr. Rogers” for the “sense of entitlement” among some children today. The criticism of Mr. Rogers stemmed from Don Chance, a finance professor at Louisiana State University. Chance later contacted Fox News to issue a statement retracting his attacks:
The reference to Mr. Rogers was just a metaphor. I have no professional qualifications to evaluate the real problems or propose solutions. Mr. Rogers was a great American. I watched him with my children and wouldn’t hesitate to do so again if I had young children.
Chance’s lack of “professional qualifications” didn’t prevent from the mainstream media from catapulting his propaganda*.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2007/07/07/14586/rogers-retraction/?mobile=nc
Posts, too (and see post #17 for the retraction). 
Gah…when you describe him like that he seems kinda creepy.
There really is something wrong in a world in which The Onion is consistently the first publication to take an actual, well-reasoned & unbiased stand on a topic, and an outfit like FOX that insists it is reporting actual news comes off as an Archie Bunker-esque parody of right wing nuttery.
Interesting. Did Fox air his retraction or was it limited to a letter that was republished at a liberal think tank? Because I think the story is topical as long as it remains unretracted by those who reported it.