Fox Hypocrisy Watch: Jennings Edition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, October 1, 2009

CONTACT Jess Levin (202) 772-8162 jlevin@mediamatters.org

Conservative media falsely equate Jennings and Foley while ignoring own history of defending Dennis Hastert's conduct in Foley scandal

Washington, D.C. -- Today, Media Matters for America called attention to yet another example of the stunning hypocrisy defining the right-wing media's partisan witch hunt against Obama administration officials.

On Monday, a Washington Times editorial titled "Sex scandal double standard" made an outrageous comparison between the behavior of disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), who, in the words of the Times, "was caught chasing congressional pages," and that of Department of Education official Kevin Jennings, who merely counseled a student who came to him for advice.

Sean Hannity has advanced the made-up charge that Jennings covered up a "statutory rape" he was purportedly informed of 21 years ago and has called for Jennings to be fired. However, Hannity defended then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert's well-documented role in the Foley scandal, as did other members of the right-wing media, including Bill Kristol and Brit Hume. For example, Hannity said at the time that the "only thing that Hastert knew about was that there was an e-mail" and suggested that Republican leaders were "innocent people" who were being "smeared."

"The right-wing media's contempt for the facts is matched only by its hypocrisy," said Eric Burns, president of Media Matters for America. Burns continued: "Media conservatives defended Dennis Hastert's real and shameful misconduct as breathlessly as they are advancing made-up charges against Kevin Jennings. The real story here is how Fox News continues to function as the de-facto communications shop for the extreme right wing by relentlessly fueling baseless smears against the Obama administration."

BACKGROUND

In 2006, Hannity and other Fox News figures defended Hastert's role in the Foley scandal. Bill O'Reilly even said the charges against Hastert were part of a "witch hunt."

• Hannity defends Hastert: "The only thing that Hastert knew about was that there was an e-mail."
• Hannity said there's "no evidence" GOP leaders knew Foley was "going after pages" and demanded CREW "phone records."
• Hannity claimed that there was "no evidence" Hastert knew and suggested that Republican leaders were "innocent people" who were being "smeared."
• Brit Hume said: "[I]'s always easy to say what [Hastert] should've done, but when you start thinking about the things he could've done, there's not much there."
• Bill Kristol said: "I think there's no evidence that Hastert did anything wrong, in my view."
• Bill Kristol also claimed, "No one has really proven or even plausibly suggested what [Hastert] should have done that he didn't do."
• Mort Kondracke argued, "Hastert's position is completely defensible."
• Bill O'Reilly stated that "Hastert's you know, being witch hunted down."

While the charge that Jennings "cover[ed] up statutory rape" has been made up by the right-wing media, ample evidence exists proving the misconduct of Hastert. As a House Ethics Committee report issued at the time concluded:

"The Investigative Subcommittee finds that the weight of the evidence supports the conclusion that Speaker Hastert was told, at least in passing, about the e-mails by both Majority Leader Boehner and Rep. Reynolds in spring 2006. Rep. Alexander did not ask either the Majority Leader or Rep. Reynolds to do anything -- each decided to mention the matter to the Speaker on his own initiative. Like too many others, neither the Majority Leader nor Rep. Reynolds showed any curiosity regarding why a young former page would have been made uncomfortable by emails from Rep. Foley. Neither the Majority Leader nor Rep. Reynolds asked the Speaker to take any action in response to the information each provided to him, and there is no evidence that the Speaker took any action."

 

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