# John Gibson fo Fox Nwes, a Class Act in the War on Christmas. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 22, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864 "2005-12-22T21:25:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/1 "2005-12-22T21:25:35Z")
Buy his book! [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1595230165/103-0930295-1294266?v=glance&n=283155](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1595230165/103-0930295-1294266?v=glance&n=283155) John Gibson, popular “anchor” on FoxNews thinks there’s a coordinated War on Christmas. Problem is, most of the examples he cites are complete bullshit, based on misheard rumors and interviwes with unhinged people who misconstrue mostly innocent and boring facts into grand conspiracies: [http://www.au.org/site/News2?abbr=pr&page=NewsArticle&id=7719&security=1002&news\_iv\_ctrl=1241](http://www.au.org/site/News2?abbr=pr&page=NewsArticle&id=7719&security=1002&news_iv_ctrl=1241) [http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/6078.html](http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/6078.html) Boy did he not like someone saying so on air! [http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/12/21.html#a6426](http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/12/21.html#a6426) [http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/6155.html](http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/6155.html) > [@](#): > > Eventually, Gibson said, “Don’t come in where I drink… Don’t come visit a bar when I’m in there.” After Rob asked if Gibson was threatening him, Gibson hung up on him. Now that’s one unbalanced journalist! Thank you Jonh Gibson, for being the new generation of anchors: unhinged partisan whackjobs, out to divide the country in order to sell more books and meanwhile presenting themselves as principled and studious journalists. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/2 "2005-12-22T21:37:36Z")
That was a funny clip. I was waiting for cartoon steam to come out of his ears. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/3 "2005-12-22T21:59:36Z")
_Pipe down, Gary!_ Ha! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/4 "2005-12-22T22:07:45Z")
I’m consistently baffled as to how anyone can watch this stuff, regardless of which side you favour. The screaming put out by this guy and Hannity and O’Reilly is what passes for informative discourse? ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/5 "2005-12-22T22:15:03Z")
To give my opinion as a flaming liberal, John Gibson is one of the biggest assholes in TV news. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/6 "2005-12-22T23:20:53Z")
Wow. That was…wow. I wonder why Fox News let Gibson air what was essentially going to be an infomercial for his own book. Shame it didn’t turn out the way he planned it. That was one of the least professional things that I have ever seen. > [@The Tooth](#): > > The screaming put out by this guy and Hannity and O’Reilly is what passes for informative discourse? Informative discourse? Nobody wants that anymore. More and more I think that the only thing people want from the media is confirmation that what they believe is right. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/7 "2005-12-23T00:07:12Z")
Ugh. The keyboard I’m using is pertty awful and awkward, but I could have at least checked for typos in my subject. Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/8 "2005-12-23T00:08:21Z")
[ > [@](#): > > GIBSON: The whole point of this is that the tradition, the religious tradition of this country is tolerance, and that the same sense of tolerance that’s been granted by the majority to the minority over the years ought to go the other way too. Minorities ought to have the same sense of tolerance about the majority religion – Christianity – that they’ve been granted about their religions over the years. > > PARSHALL: Exactly. John, I have to tell you, let me linger for a minute on that word “tolerance.” Because first of all, the people who like to promulgate that concept are the worst violators. They cannot tolerate Christianity, as an example. > > GIBSON: Absolutely. I know – I know that. > \ > GIBSON: No, no, no. If you figure that – listen, we get a little theological here, and it’s probably a bit over my head, but I would think if somebody is going to be – have to answer for following the wrong religion, they’re not going to have to answer to me. We know who they’re going to have to answer to. > PARSHALL: Right. > GIBSON: And that’s fine. Let 'em. But in the meantime, as long as they’re civil and behave, we tolerate the presence of other religions around us without causing trouble, and I think most Americans are fine with that tradition. > PARSHALL: I agree. > GIBSON: In other words, they’d like it in return. ]([http://mediamatters.org/items/200512010018](http://mediamatters.org/items/200512010018)) … ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/9 "2005-12-23T00:11:02Z")
So did the book really claim you couldn’t wear red and green clothes, or did it just say that red and green napkins weren’t allowed? I know the clothes bit was said by Sponge-Bill-Tent-Pants O’Reilly. ---
**Author:** ![lonesome\_loser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@lonesome\_loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lonesome_loser)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/10 "2005-12-23T00:11:41Z")
Gibson is a perfect fit for Fox. They are all nuts. ---
**Author:** ![homeskillet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7ba0ec/32.png) [@homeskillet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/homeskillet)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/11 "2005-12-23T00:53:06Z")
WOW! :smack: …that is classic insanity only Fox News can muster I may stop by the bookstore on my way home today and pick up Rob Boston’s book Close Encounters, it looks like an interesting read. Tho one person didn’t think so, from [amazon.com](http://amazon.com): "As for homosexuals, it’s very odd to see these people defended by anti-creationist, darwin supporters because in order for “evolution” to work, you still need the male female thing going on. This is “natural/nature”, to use their terms so why persist in suggesting that Christians are “radicals” when they denounce this ridiculous way of living? You can’t have darwin and homosexuality on the same plate if you are an atheist. You can’t have homosexuality in God’s kingdom so where is the logic here? Homosexuality, as demonstrated by Geo. Washington himself when he drummed a soilder out of the army, is un-Godly and un-American. The sooner that people like boston realize this and tell the truth, the better we will all be as a nation. Critical thinking is obviously not this writer’s strong suit. We don’t hear what boston thinks in this book. We hear what the media thinks that a few individual, well known tel-Evanglists think and thus repeated to us by boston." Oh how I love being referred to as _those people_, but it’s hard to get upset by someone who throws words like\* logic \* and \*critical thinking \* around in such a slapdash manner 😃 But I digress… ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/12 "2005-12-23T02:19:06Z")
Details! details! I want to know exactly what the lies are. I saw Bill OR talking to Jerry Falwell the other night talking about their great victory because certain stores have changed their signage from Happy Holidays to Merry Christmas. IS that true? It wouldn’t surprise me that some chains would cave to economical pressure. Still I had to laugh at Bill getting footsy with a whackjob like “Blow them to hell in the name of the Lord” Falwell. But the subject at hand is Gibson. What does his book say? Is he right? Did the school change it’s policy at all because of public pressure? Did he actually say red and green clothing was prohibited? As much as we love to hate him and make fun we still need to know the facts with something substantial to support them. Right?? ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/13 "2005-12-23T03:31:15Z")
How lengthy is this John Gibson book? 6 pages (including the intro by Bill O’Reilly)? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/14 "2005-12-23T04:19:35Z")
> [@AU article](#): > > “The Religious Right is using the season of peace and goodwill to press a radical political agenda and divide the American people,” said [Rev. Barry W.] Lynn. “Santa should leave big lumps of coal in their stockings.” Shame on the good Reverend for using that bad old secularist allusion. The Religious Right _should go to hell_. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/15 "2005-12-23T05:01:28Z")
John Gibson is a major asshole. I remember after the London bombings that he was practically jerking off to the thought of Paris getting bombed instead. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/16 "2005-12-23T06:49:25Z")
**Harborwolf** > [@](#): > > wow. I wonder why Fox News let Gibson air what was essentially going to be an infomercial for his own book. Well, if John Gibson can do “infomercials” on Fox News, maybe they should hire Esteban as a news anchor? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/17 "2005-12-23T08:46:12Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > The Religious Right _should go to hell_. Ah, yes…more enlightened open-minded tolerance from one on the enlightened open-minded tolerant left. Just more proof of something I’ve been aware of for decades: there is very little difference between those on the left and those on the right. It’s the left, however, that likes to pretend tolerant open-minded moral superiority over the right when in reality it is just as quick - if not even moreso - to want to punish, censor, hate and condemn those on the other side. I can just imagine the response I would get if I were to come in here saying something like ‘The Secular Left should to hell’. Suffice it to say such a response would be nothing like the tepid-to-nonexistant moral outrage **Larry Mudd’s** comment above is likely to draw. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/18 "2005-12-23T09:10:41Z")
> [@Starving Artist](#): > > Ah, yes…more enlightened open-minded tolerance from one on the enlightened open-minded tolerant left. > > Just more proof of something I’ve been aware of for decades: there is very little difference between those on the left and those on the right. It’s the left, however, that likes to pretend tolerant open-minded moral superiority over the right when in reality it is just as quick - if not even moreso - to want to punish, censor, hate and condemn those on the other side. > > I can just imagine the response I would get if I were to come in here saying something like ‘The Secular Left should to hell’. Suffice it to say such a response would be nothing like the tepid-to-nonexistant moral outrage **Larry Mudd’s** comment above is likely to draw. What is this “hell” of which you speak? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/19 "2005-12-23T10:07:24Z")
> [@Starving Artist](#): > > I can just imagine the response I would get if I were to come in here saying something like ‘The Secular Left should to hell’. Let me introduce you to a rhetorical device that is sometimes called “irony.” You will note that the subject of this thread is a lay person who, while ostensibly complaining about how the holiday season is being made too “secular” and (specifically) non-Christian, is demonstrating what a committed Christian he is _ **BY SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS AND BEING VERY RUDE** _. Observe another man (who has commited his life to the service of the church) comment on this man’s hystrionics with the observation that “the Religious Right is using the season of peace and goodwill to press a radical political agenda and divide the American people,” followed up with a **non-religious** , Christmas-themed reference which implies that the “Religious Right” is _being naughty_, while not sounding unreasonably worked up about it. Further observe a third person (perhaps on a message board) pretend to adopt both the tone and the ideology of the _first_ man, and use a similar argument in mock criticism of the second person (whom the third person, you will remember, _agrees_ with.) “I AM OFFENDED THAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ‘HAPPY HOLIDAYS!’ I’M GOING TO KEEP SHOUTING BECAUSE PEOPLE SHOULD BE SAYING ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS!’ ROAR! DON’T REPLACE RELIGIOUS SAYINGS WITH NON-RELIGIOUS SAYINGS! SPUTTER! GASP!” “I AM OFFENDED THAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ‘OUGHT TO GET A LUMP IN THEIR STOCKING!’ PEOPLE SHOULD BE SAYING ‘GO TO HELL!’ DON’T REPLACE RELIGIOUS SAYINGS WITH NON-RELIGIOUS SAYINGS!” See how that works? It appears to turn the man’s anger and agenda _against_ him. Say it with me: I - RON - Y. I know you can grasp this, because you’re a bright boy. Next week, we’ll take a look at “sarcasm.” ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864/20 "2005-12-23T11:41:54Z")
> [@Starving Artist](#): > > Just more proof of something I’ve been aware of for decades: there is very little difference between those on the left and those on the right. > > I can just imagine the response I would get if I were to come in here saying something like ‘The Secular Left should to hell’. Suffice it to say such a response would be nothing like the tepid-to-nonexistant moral outrage **Larry Mudd’s** comment above is likely to draw. I can think of a difference. While I’m not aware of Larry’s personal beliefs 🙂 , folks of the left (certainly on the Secular Left) are not likely to believe in a literal hellfire and damnation. Makng “they should go to hell” pretty much rhetorical. The Religious Right actually believe this shite. Makes it rather different when they suggest someone deserves hell (and they have…funny, I thought that was god’s call?) True, there’s a lot of vitrol on both sides (though I don’t no of many liberals actually branding the whole opposition “traitors”, or calling for executions) and liberals are supposed to be “tolerant”. But then Christians are supposed to be Critslike…and claim moral superiority based on that…so we’re pretty much even there. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gibson-fo-fox-nwes-a-class-act-in-the-war-on-christmas/336864.md?page=2)