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Fox Nation breaks out doctored Franken photo

July 02, 2009 1:32 pm ET by Media Matters staff

Franken

As Think Progress noted, during the 2006 elections, the Ohio Republican Party included the doctored "2004 AP photo" of Al Franken - now the Senator-elect from Minnesota -- in a press release attacking then-Senate candidate Sherrod Brown (D) and Franken, who was campaigning for Brown at the time. From Think Progress:

Franken

Previously:

Drudge smears "joker" Franken with doctored photo

Fox News Unhinged Over Franken Victory

Tags: Fox Nation

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    • Author by Victor Colorado (July 02, 2009 1:41 pm ET)
      1  
      Oh, come on! This is an honest mistake, like the time Fox Nation pointed a gun at President Obama's head.
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    • Author by harley (July 02, 2009 1:50 pm ET)
      5 1

      Aaaah, this must be more of that "fair and balanced" reporting that our brain dead teabagging trolls are always talking about.
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      • Author by Victor Colorado (July 02, 2009 1:57 pm ET)
        4  
        And check this comment out from a Fox Nationer:

        Jerboe: I wonder why this photo wasn't used in the campaign, I think it would've been a slam dunk for Coleman.


        Brain dead. Check!

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        • Author by mikeybee (July 02, 2009 2:34 pm ET)
          5 1
          it is interesting, I am actually a member at the Fox Nation (cause I like my news fair and balanced) and tried to post a comment to the effect that the photo may not be legitimate and said a better question maybe "I wonder why Fox Nation is using a doctored photo on its article?".

          oddly enough, my comment has yet to be accepted
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          • Author by Victor Colorado (July 02, 2009 3:24 pm ET)
            3  
            Dakota Kid: For the first time in my life I am afraid for this country. God be with us all.


            And yet, Fox Nation accepts this comment and publishes below its fake photo of Senator Franken.

            (Apparently, "Dakota Kid" was free of fear for his country on 9/11 yet today he is crippled by MN's election of Al Franken.)
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          • Author by Pragmatic (July 02, 2009 4:17 pm ET)
            2  
            Um... yeah. You see that the simple fact that it hasn't shown up, may indeed speak volumes for "Fair and Balanced", right?
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          • Author by harley (July 02, 2009 5:42 pm ET)
            1  
            I am actually a member at the Fox Nation (cause I like my news fair and balanced)


            Then Faux Nation would be the last place you would want to be member of and actually brag about it.
            Report Abuse
            • Author by steeve (July 02, 2009 6:47 pm ET)
              3  
              Come on, he's doing it for laughs.

              I'm on the RNC's mailing list.
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              • Author by harley (July 02, 2009 7:21 pm ET)
                2  
                I'm on the RNC's mailing list.


                Egads, you must have a strong stomach.
                Report Abuse
    • Author by shaggles (July 02, 2009 2:19 pm ET)
      2 1
      I think this is fine. Not very fair and balanced but Senators have to be able to take some ribbing. Is that a pic of Vitter with Franken's head pasted on BTW?
      Report Abuse
      • Author by center-right (July 02, 2009 2:48 pm ET)
        1  
        It is kind of funny.....in a very creepy way
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      • Author by Brabantio (July 02, 2009 4:57 pm ET)
        2  
        Doesn't "ribbing" usually revolve around something that's actually happened? If this had been a screenshot from a movie he was in, that's "ribbing". Otherwise it's hard to take it as being good-natured.
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      • Author by steeve (July 02, 2009 6:49 pm ET)
        2  
        Yeah, it's fine on a conservative blog. Now we just need to get Fox Nation to admit it is one.
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      • Author by skiploader1111 (July 04, 2009 12:13 pm ET)
        1  
        But why does Fox Nation try make it look like Franken made a comedy sketch wearing a diaper and bunny ears? It shows a lack respect for their own audience.
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    • Author by MickD (July 02, 2009 2:25 pm ET)
      5  
      Could you imagine the uproar if a similar doctored pic appeared with Bush and was tagged as legitimate? The Today Show would have run an entire morning special feature.
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      • Author by Pragmatic (July 02, 2009 4:15 pm ET)
        1  
        I'd love to see one of Palin in a pig costume meself :D
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        • Author by Tbone Slickens (July 03, 2009 8:08 am ET)
          1 8
          The left did trot out a doctored pic of Palin holding a gun in a red, white, and blue bikini. That even made it on this forum several times. Just recently in fact.
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          • Author by BillJ-MN (July 03, 2009 10:30 am ET)
            8  
            The phony Franken photo was created and put out by an official branch of the republican party. The Palin photo was put on the internet by an anonymous photo "artist."

            The Franken photo was published by a supposedly serious online news source without pointing out it was phony. The Palin photo was not.

            The Franken photo was broadcast by a supposedly serious television news program without pointing out it was phony. The Palin photo was not.

            Those are significant differences. The Palin photo has never been presented as though it were real outside of a handful of obscure web sites. The Franken photo has been presented as real several times by major media sources and a major (and becoming less so) political party.

            Your effort to suggest equivalence falls far short.
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            • Author by Brabantio (July 03, 2009 11:52 am ET)
              7  
              Some like to point out that the Palin photo appeared on HuffPo, but they were debunking it at the time.
              Report Abuse
        • Author by Col. Harlan Sanders (July 04, 2009 1:56 am ET)
          3  
          Speaking (off topic) of Caribou Barbie, I heard the announcement that she was stepping down as governor on one of the right wing radio shows.The host & co-host were discussing what this meant, in regard to her candidacy in 2012, or if there were other possible rasons.

          One of them suggested that maybe she had had enough of public life, and was going to head a major corporation.

          Oh well, I thought it was pretty cute. Just the ramblings of one of the brainwashed 20(?)%ers, or an early jump on fabricating her business cred to run her with the Mittster (whose failed economic positions the GOP has been whitewashing for a couple of years)??.
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          • Author by ForTheLoveOfEllipsis... (July 04, 2009 11:57 am ET)
            4 1
            No, I think she's martyring herself for future sympathy effect. She practically started her speech with that utter garbage about Trig being attacked constantly in the media. Strange that I haven't heard any of those alleged attacks! About the only thing I have to say about Trig is that he deserves a better mother than the one he got handed...
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            • Author by Col. Harlan Sanders (July 04, 2009 2:38 pm ET)
              1  
              Probably right, FTLOE. I just got a good laugh out of the "heading a large corporation" theory.
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            • Author by LuvLuLu (July 04, 2009 7:39 pm ET)
              1  
              There was a photo of Sarah Palin holding Trig that was photoshopped and the baby's face was replaced by the face of someone else.

              Sarah Palin tried to claim that was an unfair hazing of her special needs child.

              It wasn't. It was hazing her. That's why the person doing the photoshopping removed the baby's face and left her face.

              She tried to claim that David Letterman's joke was attacking her daughters. It wasn't. It was making fun of Sarah Palin herself.

              Yeah, she's a martyr allright. My mom was one, I recognize the behavior.
              Report Abuse
    • Author by Obama '12 (July 02, 2009 4:38 pm ET)
      1  
      These guys need a time out, and there shouldn't be a place on TV for them. If I learned anything useful from the Neo-Convicts, it is to NEVER argue with facts or comedians. You will lose every time.
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    • Author by Pinhead (July 02, 2009 6:13 pm ET)
      3  
      I wonder where they "Drudged" up this photo?
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      • Author by Easy to refute wingnuts (July 04, 2009 2:57 pm ET)
        1  
        I'll bet Drudge gets some of his eggs from the bunny...
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    • Author by Ribelin2000 (July 03, 2009 5:55 pm ET)
         
      This is just like last year, when the two journalists from the New York Times had their pictures doctored by Fox News without giving any indication that the photos were fake. Bill O'Reilly-you know, Mr. "Fair and Balanced" himself-actually even defended this on his show, comparing it to an illustration of him that once ran in the NYTimes!
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