Fox News' Father Morris, MacCallum ascribed political motives to "Merry Christmas" in Obama ad
SUMMARY: Discussing Sen. Barack Obama's newly released campaign commercial, in which one
of Obama's daughters, rather than Obama himself, says, "Merry Christmas," Fox
News contributor Father Jonathan Morris claimed, "I'm sure his advisers were
saying, 'Better not say Merry Christmas.' " Morris continued: "[I]t's not just
about this War on Christmas, that nobody's -- everyone's afraid to say it."
On the December 19 edition of Fox News' The Live Desk, while discussing Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) newly released campaign commercial -- which Obama's campaign website calls its "New Holiday Ad" -- host Martha MacCallum and political analyst Keli Goff noted that it is one of Obama's daughters, rather than Obama himself, who says "Merry Christmas" in the ad. Fox News contributor Father Jonathan Morris claimed, "I'm sure his advisers were saying, 'Better not say Merry Christmas.' " Morris continued: "[I]t's not just about this War on Christmas, that nobody's -- everyone's afraid to say it. There's more to Christmas than just the wording. But the fact that in our political atmosphere right now, political advisers -- 'Don't say it, don't say it. Have your daughter say it. Beautiful.'" McCallum responded by saying: "Yeah, but you know what? I also guarantee, given everything he's been going through lately, that they wanted that Merry Christmas message somewhere in that ad. And they said, 'You know what, let's have your adorable daughters say it.' "
In the ad, Obama -- seated with his wife, Michelle, and daughters, Sasha and Malia -- says: "So from our family to yours, I'm Barack Obama, and I approved this message," at which point his daughters say, "Merry Christmas," and, "Happy Holidays."
From the December 19 edition of Fox News' The Live Desk:
MacCALLUM: Let's look at the Barack Obama ad for equal time - equal time for his ad. Let's check it out. There's a few more coming, too.
[begin video clip]
MICHELLE OBAMA: We'd like to take a moment to thank you and your family for the warmth and friendship that you've shown ours. For sharing your hospitality and your stories.
BARACK OBAMA: In this holiday season, we're reminded that the things that unite us as a people are more powerful and enduring than anything that sets us apart, and we all have a stake in each other, in something larger than ourselves. So from our family to yours, I'm Barack Obama, and I approve this message.
MALIA OBAMA: Merry Christmas.
SASHA OBAMA: Happy Holidays.
[end video clip]
MacCALLUM: That's pretty -- you've got a picture-perfect family going there, he's got the two little kids, and, you know, some of the others did not use family members, but he's, you know -- it's a perfect card.
KELI GOFF (political analyst): That's so brilliant, and the most brilliant part about it is the fact that if you notice who says "Merry Christmas" --
MacCALLUM: His daughter.
MORRIS: Why -- why wouldn't he want to say it?
GOFF: No one's going to go on national television and attack a child for saying "Merry Christmas."
JEANINE PIRRO (GOP attorney): Because we'll be sitting here dissecting why he said it.
MORRIS: Like we're doing.
PIRRO: It's perfect! It's perfect, that whole thing is perfect. It's warm and it's real.
KEITH ABLOW (Fox News contributor): But I think the folds in her sweater formed a cross. But I'm not sure. I'm not sure, I can't say for sure.
MacCALLUM: Father Jonathan, what do you think about the fact that the children say "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays," they're covering the bases for him.
MORRIS: It's very nice, but I always do get a little bit, I would say, saddened when I'm sure his advisers were saying, "Better not say Merry Christmas." OK, it's not just about this War on Christmas, that nobody's - everyone's afraid to say it. There's more to Christmas than just the wording, but the fact in our political atmosphere right now, political advisers, "Don't say it, don't say it. Have your daughter say it. Beautiful."
MacCALLUM: Yeah, but you know what? I also guarantee, given everything he's been going through lately, that they wanted that Merry Christmas message somewhere in that ad. And they said, "You know what, let's have your adorable daughters say it." So, pretty interesting.
MORRIS: "Better not say Merry Christmas." OK, it's not just about this War on Christmas, that nobody's - everyone's afraid to say it.
Haha!! It appears BilldO's declaration of Victory may have been a bit premature! The WOX is surging as planned!
LOL, surging !
My guess is BillO threatened to out Father Morris on national tv if he didn't comply with the GWOC mandates.
Make sure of the pronounciation of GWOC. GWAC is similar and I don't want people getting confused.
Grandparent With A Computer
useage " Seth, there's a GWAC on line 2 that can't double click on an attachment in an email"
Who's afraid to say it? I bet they can't name one single name, but sure makes for a nice strawman.
I notice you didn't say it in your post, Snoopy. Go ahead. You yellow?
I'll say it. MERRY CHRISTMAS.This whole "war on Christmas" denigrates Christmas, our troops, and Christians in general.
I think Fox is seeing the end of it's dominance, and it's scrambling.
sorry for the typos, I'm tired
Does anyone really believe that if Obama doesn't have the courage to say "Merry Christmas" in his ads, he'll have the resolve to match our earlier success at bringing Xmas to those less perfected?
Glad to see Wolfy hasn't lost his touch, nor the Onion either. Thanx and have a "marsupial little crispness*."
:0)
* From Walt Kelly
If the 'war' is Fox News Channel vs. Christmas, I've got my money on Jesus!
But...But...you're Jewish...;)
So was Jesus :)
May have been but he left as a Catholic....Ask the Father if you don't believe me.
Well, both of his parents were Jewish. He may have converted, but under Jewish law, he's still a Jew.
Kyle's right. Jesus was a Jew, and not just for the reason he stated (which is correct). Jesus was not a "Christian" or "Catholic" because the Christian religion wasn't begun until well after Jesus' alleged death.
I happen to think that he never even existed. Nobody wrote about him while he was alive, very odd considering there were many historians at that time. Someone who created such a stir surely would have been mentioned. ( Don't bother me with the Flavius Josephus stuff, scholars don't accept that as valid evidence.)
No, I'm a beagle, white with black spots! But here ya go, I even said it in the language of the right wing!
frohe Weihnachten!
If you were yellow your name would be woodstock!
It's "frohliche" you Christmas hating commie!
Good frigin grief.
Could it be that Obama simply wanted to let his daughter say Merry Christmas for no other reason than he wanted to include her?
This has gotten so ridiculous. Must the media dissect everything?
FOX has jumped the shark for sure with this one....
Now having said that, I'd be more suspicious of that so called *floating cross* behind Huckabee in his commercial. Was it simply a coincidence the lighting on the bookcase gave the impression of a cross.
Of course, none of this even matters. Can't we just enjoy the Christmas season without the media politicizing it???
Well said J!!
When Christmas becomes a political football to score points against your opponent, all those involved, from those doing it, to even those discussing it, should be ashamed......it needn't even be dignified from anyone, on any level.
Of course, Huckabee also specifically mentioned celebrating "the birth of Christ". You know, because he's the Christian candidate. Did you know that? He's a Christian, you know!
I believe Obama had political motives with this campaign ad. Gasp!
Hey get it straight (pun intended)! He's not just any Christian, he's a Christian leader!
Boy has the world has changed. When I was little girl our Christian leaders were known as Pastors and they worked in a church or the really good leaders might be found on a more public stage spearheaded moral causes like feeding the poor. I'm surprised the traditionalists don't want to see a return of that.
Forget the "War on Christmas" - I'm more concerned with Faux News' "War on Truth".
But on the positive side, fox news war on showing half nekkid babes to distract bubba from making a rational thought is going well.
this one can never be posted enough. while o'reilly was blathering on about the war on christmas and replacing merry christmas with happy holidays, his and fox's website were selling "holiday ornaments".
http://mediamatters.org/items/200512010010?f=s_search
A good drug dealer never does his own product...
Shouldn't this priest be out clothing the naked, feeding the hungry or burying the dead or something?
I wonder what Jesus would think of one of his reps here on earth shilling for Fox?
I get so sick of these self-appointed Christian victims I could hurl. Constantly whining that everyone is out to get them ... while they plant their 10 story crosses next to the interstate highways and roll their 10 commandment monuments into judicial building rotundas.
That said, I do find it interesting that the ad designers had Obama's kid say "Merry Christmas" and not him. Because you know every millisecond, every little thing in the camera's view (note to F*ckabee, we're not fooled by your "bookcase"), every sound is carefully and painstakingly devised and implemented for the desired effect. Now I think Fux has it's collective head up it's hind end as usual, but I'd be interested in knowing the real reason.
Same here, obviously nothing in these ads are just coincidences. And obviously this CAMPAIGN AD has political motives. Duh.
But I believe it's as simple as them wanting to give the image of the family man at Christmas time, and including the daughter for no other reason than that. I don't think that Obama not saying it is an indication of anything but that.
This is one of those cases of Republicans on the teevee revealing their own horrible motives as they level accusations at us. I take this segment to be an open admission of the right wing strategy to continue to use Christmas for political leverage.
I love it when a media analyst gets out his thinking cap.
You see, our media professionals are far too talented to be wasted on dry data acquisition and fact assessment. That's for your local shopper. Our best and brightest must divine the inner secrets of the mind through extremely subtle clues.
Would that be "subtle" as in "fabricated" ? :-)
Honestly, I didn't know that Dick Morris can magically knows what is happening behind the camera of a commercial he just watched.
That Fox babe is good lookin' but I heard she's dating that priest guy. And thanks Father for telling us "There's more to Christmas than just the wording...". That is brilliant.
Yeah, there's Santa too!
What a croc! Forst off - it's a political ad (so go figure that he has politiclaamotvies! (*gasp*!) But I just saw the ad for the frist time just now, and I thought it was brilliant. I love how he worked in that (awful) disclaimer "I;m Barack Obama and I aprove this messge..." then he looked to his daughter as she says "Merry Christmas." It was perfect!
This idiots at Fox just can't stand to give a Democrat an inch. They just can't stand that these guys won't act like the heathen heretics that they're supposed to be.
The ad was great. Much better that Judi's spot with Santa complete with the mention of a "fruitcake." (Although that seems the perfect way to sum up the Republican field this year...)
George W. Bush is attacking Christmas. We must call Fox news and let them know our President is a secular progressive bent on destorying Christmas. He said Happy Holidays.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/12/20/bush-christmas/
During his end-of-year press conference this morning, President Bush joined with “secular progressives” in the right wing’s contrived War on Christmas, wishing reporters a “Happy Holidays.” Watch it:
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas.
FOX Noise analisis (sic); Clumberfeet said Merry Christmas 13 times! What sort of hidden demonic attack on Christmas is he sending?
Waaaaaaaaaait a minute!!
A politician with 'political motives'???? Now I've seen everything!!!
Must the media dissect everything?
This time, it's not the media. It's Fox News.
It is very said a priest would take part in this stilted commentary. When watching the Obama commercial, the inanity of the Fox pundits escaped me completely. Some demented soul must write these talking points, which the pundits prostitute themselves to deliver.