# Is there something I'm missing about this Fox News article **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 14, 2011, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345 "2011-04-14T08:08:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/1 "2011-04-14T08:08:56Z")
…or are Fox News insane? A student described as “solitary”, and who never left his dorm room [commits suicide](http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/04/13/gwu-suicide-tragically-coincides-obama-speech) at George Washington University at around the same time that Obama delivered a speech, and somehow the two are linked, despite there being no evidence at all to suggest that? Gem of a quote: > [@](#): > > GWU officials tell Fox that police were notified about the incident around 2pm, which happens to be at the same time that President Obama was speaking. A source tells Fox that the incident may have occurred earlier, noting that police went knocking on the student’s door at 1:30pm. As of this writing, Fox has not been able to obtain reaction from the White House. > > Read more: [http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/04/13/gwu-suicide-tragically-coincides-obama-speech#ixzz1JU09SayT](http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/04/13/gwu-suicide-tragically-coincides-obama-speech#ixzz1JU09SayT) No reaction from the White House, huh? WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/2 "2011-04-14T08:31:25Z")
Oh sure, and you’re probably one of those people who thinks Vince Foster really committed suicide. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/3 "2011-04-14T09:25:26Z")
I think if you haven’t yet concluded that FoxNews are insane (or, more likely, calculatingly evil) on the basis of everything else they’ve said and done, this probably won’t tip you over the edge. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/4 "2011-04-14T10:43:21Z")
I think Fox blames Obama for when people trip over their own shoelaces. ---
**Author:** ![Martiju](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@Martiju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martiju)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/5 "2011-04-14T10:51:48Z")
I just came on here to post about this. I’m just…amazed. We all know what Fox is like, but this really reaches in an incredible, and completely distasteful, way. Jeez. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/6 "2011-04-14T11:08:13Z")
You know something’s wrong when the majority of the comments, FoxNews supporters and detractors alike, agree that the article is in extremely poor taste. I predict it will mysteriously vanish within 24 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/7 "2011-04-14T11:32:29Z")
I love the headline: GWU Suicide Tragically Coincides with Obama Speech‬ :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/8 "2011-04-14T11:39:36Z")
Is this a general fox pit thread? It was on in the background of where I was at, but no sound. It was Oreilly’s show. I only saw that they had a chart on the screen for an extended period. Numbers made up but it was like this: ```auto --------------------2000---2010 Social Sec 600B 720B Military 412B 689B Medicare 357B 510B Public Broadcasting 312M 379M ``` Now I couldn’t really get the context but they seemed to be talking about Obama’s proposal to increase taxes and generall about government spending. Public Broadcasting is like 19528512th on the list of federal spending. Were they just trying to make people misread “M” as “B” and convince them that public we almost spend as much on public broadcasting as medicare? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/9 "2011-04-14T12:22:22Z")
Well what can you expect to happen to the budget with a (D) in the White House for the past 10 years? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/10 "2011-04-14T12:40:21Z")
The link is that Obama was speaking at the school at the time. This is what’s known as a coincidence, and yes, I’m sure Fox News is hoping its supporters will get a chuckle out of the suggestion there is a connection while its critics will be annoyed by the same. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/11 "2011-04-14T12:42:28Z")
America is controlled by voters; voters get their “information” from media like Fox. I have to believe that the irrationality of American politics is due in large measure to our granting so much power to individual billionaires who control organizations like Fox. (There used to be laws restricting such power, but they’ve been overturned.) Recently the Poincaré and Fermat conjectures have been solved to great acclaim. For me a more important and more difficult puzzle is to understand why so many Americans can listen to Fox boasting about its “Fair and Balanced” reporting without feeling a strong urge to vomit. > [@Martiju](#): > > I just came on here to post about this. I’m just…amazed. We all know what Fox is like, but this really reaches in an incredible, and completely distasteful, way. Jeez. Fox is long since past “completely distasteful” and has moved into bizarre self-parody. If it weren’t for the fact that America’s future is closely tied to that of civilization as a whole, then many many of us would have an attitude of “if Americans are really this inexplicably stupid, they deserve the worst that comes.” ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/12 "2011-04-14T14:28:25Z")
No surprise here. Fox pulls these kinds of shenanigans all the time. Here’s a classic example from a few months back that I started a thread about: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=585697&highlight=sitting+Obama+general](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=585697&highlight=sitting+Obama+general) Anyway, if they could get some mileage out of a headline that said “Obama sleeping with black chick,” I have no doubt in my mind that they would run with it. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/13 "2011-04-14T15:32:21Z")
I’m going with “the author of the article is really fucking crazy”, but it’s entirely possible that Fox editors write the headlines after their writers submit the copy. The author is Kelly Chernenkoff, who has previously been credited with such insane gems as “[Obama to Usher In New World Order at G-20](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/25/obama-usher-new-world-order-g/)” but whose articles have [otherwise had pretty ordinary headlines](http://www.foxnews.com/contributor/kelly-chernenkoff/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/14 "2011-04-14T15:37:45Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Well what can you expect to happen to the budget with a (D) in the White House for the past 10 years? I am a Brit who has never been to the US, and never seen Fox News except a couple of Youtube clips… and I “got” your joke. I need to go cold turkey on political Dope for a while. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/15 "2011-04-14T15:39:59Z")
Its our planet, you just live here. Mind your manners. Keep your distance. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/16 "2011-04-14T15:44:01Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Anyway, if they could get some mileage out of a headline that said “Obama sleeping with black chick,” I have no doubt in my mind that they would run with it. Reminds me of Stephen Colbert’s comment about Obama “he’s always hiding something…I heard he once hid out inside a lady for _nine months_”. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/17 "2011-04-14T16:00:40Z")
When Obama speaks, people die. ETA: Upon further reflection I have likely killed someone, somewhere in the world while I typed this. And so has each and everyone of you. For shame! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/18 "2011-04-14T16:53:23Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > No surprise here. Fox pulls these kinds of shenanigans all the time. Here’s a classic example from a few months back that I started a thread about: > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=585697&highlight=sitting+Obama+general](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=585697&highlight=sitting+Obama+general) > > Anyway, if they could get some mileage out of a headline that said “Obama sleeping with black chick,” I have no doubt in my mind that they would run with it. He also has underage teenage girls in his house ALL the TIME!!! ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/19 "2011-04-14T16:57:07Z")
> [@RedFury](#): > > When Obama speaks, people die. > > ETA: Upon further reflection I have likely killed someone, somewhere in the world while I typed this. And so has each and everyone of you. For shame! Death Note: Obama Nation. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345/20 "2011-04-14T17:00:36Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Anyway, if they could get some mileage out of a headline that said “Obama sleeping with black chick,” I have no doubt in my mind that they would run with it. Sure, now. But I hear Obama used to live with a white woman when he was younger. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-im-missing-about-this-fox-news-article/578345.md?page=2)