Fri, Jul 30, 2004 12:11pm ET

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FOX talking heads obsessed with Democratic "hate"

Immediately after FOX News Channel's broadcast of Senator John Kerry's (D-MA) acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention on July 29, as delegates in Boston's Fleet Center celebrated their nominee amid confetti and balloons, FOX News Channel political contributor and U.S. News and World Report senior writer Michael Barone summed up the delegates' reaction to Kerry by claiming, "This convention body is really more about hate." He insisted: "They haven't been in love with John Kerry throughout the primary period," even as his words were nearly drowned out by the festivities surrounding him.

From FOX News Channel's July 29 coverage of Kerry's speech:

BARONE: When I first started going to these Democratic conventions, they were sort of all about love -- the love of different Democrats for different presidential candidates, and the winning candidate would try to win the love of people that had been for the losing candidates. This convention body is really more about hate -- hatred of [President] George W. Bush. That's what is motivating these people. They haven't been in love with John Kerry throughout the primary period.

Similar comments pervaded FOX News Channel's convention coverage. On the July 28 edition of Special Report with Brit Hume, FOX News Channel managing editor and chief Washington correspondent Brit Hume kicked off the show's panel discussion by observing, "There is not much doubt about what unites the Democrats here. And it isn't particularly John Kerry. It's really the fear and loathing of George W. Bush."

On the July 26 edition of Special Report, Hume asked a provocative question to urge viewers to stay tuned for the show's upcoming panel discussion: "Next on Special Report, can the Kerry camp really keep all that Bush hatred among the delegates from boiling over on to the convention platform? Well, we'll try to find out more about that next. Stay tuned." When the panel discussion began, Roll Call executive editor and FOX News Channel contributor Morton M. Kondracke followed Hume's lead, saying, "You know, there was so much Bush hatred among the Democratic activists here at the convention that if they start throwing them red meat, God knows what might happen."

Also on July 26, John Gibson -- host of FOX News Channel's The Big Story with John Gibson -- devoted his entire closing "My Word" monologue to the topic of Democratic hatred. In the monologue, he declared: "It's true that hating George W. Bush has been the fuel that has driven the Democratic machine for months, if not years, but it's going underground for now. ... [T]he Dems can try to hide the fact that what motivates Democrats this year is how much they hate George W. Bush."

—G.W.

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