In a strikingly short interview, Fox News' Fox & Friends' Juliet Huddy hosted anti-abortion activist Bob Enyart to discuss the availability of birth control to students at a Colorado school, who have their parents' consent. Ignoring Enyart's multiple convictions and jail sentences that included abusing his stepson, as well as his history of outlandish and disrespectful behavior towards victims of AIDS, Fox gave Enyart a platform to say that the reason teen pregnancy has increased in Denver is because “Kids are told that they're animals...and we shouldn't be shocked when they behave like animals.” It's no surprise that Huddy cut him off pretty early on in his rant:
BOB ENYART (COLORADO RIGHT TO LIFE): This fails because it's wrong. Adam city high school, a denver suburb tried this. The pregnancy rate went up 40% and the headlines nationwide were 108 babies born in one school year. It's a tragedy. God did not make 14-year-old girls to be used by boys. This is a mistake.
HUDDY: But the fact is in Denver, 41 1/2 out of every 1,000 girls, 15 to 17 have babies. That's a pretty high number.
ENYART: That -- the major reason for that is that our school curriculum today all over the country is officially godless. Kids are told that they're animals, that they've evolved from animals and then we shouldn't be shocked when they behave like animals. We need to teach kids that they're special. Girls are worth waiting for. They're worth waiting until marriage. They're not there to be used by boys and this policy --
HUDDY: Lori [Casillas (COLORADO YOUTH MATTER)] -- go ahead, real quick, “this policy” - Ok, Lori, I I want to get your side. I'm sorry, I'm sorry Bob, to cut you off. I need to get to Lori, though.
After a brief rebuttal by Lori Casillas, from Colorado Youth Matter, the interview was abruptly over, signaling that perhaps producers regretted having Enyart on to spout his views about evolution being taught in schools and “girls” not being taught to “wait...until marriage.”
Fox hosted the same Enyart who, in 1999, was convicted of misdemeanor child abuse for beating his now-stepson with a belt, and served 60 days in jail. Enyart was jailed again in 2009 after being convicted of trespassing during an anti-abortion protest of the Focus on the Family headquarters. He also excused the murder of Dr. George Tiller by an anti-abortion extremist as simply “an occupational hazard,” and likened Tiller to a “Mafia hit man,” saying:
If a Mafia hit man gets killed, people recognize it's an occupational hazard.
Fox hosted the same Enyart who read the obituaries of gay AIDS victims live on his former T.V. show while playing the song "Another One Bites the Dust." First-class all the way.
Fox & Friends has displayed a disturbing pattern of not vetting its guests prior to giving them airtime. In March, Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy appeared to be thoroughly embarrassed by the wacky statements tea party activist Victoria Jackson made during an interview with him. And after Brian Kilmeade hosted right-wingnut radio host and homo/Islamophobe Bradlee Dean to protest building a mosque in New York City, we asked: “At what point will Fox News either take responsibility for vetting the guests before allowing them a platform to speak, or take ownership of the hateful positions its guests spout?” The answer, apparently, is: not today.