After President Obama acknowledged the fact that language in the Vietnamese declaration of independence was inspired by its American counterpart, Fox News attacked Obama's remarks as “stupid” and wondered whether he had offended Vietnam War veterans -- an attempt by Fox to manufacture yet another phony scandal.

On July 25, President Obama met with Vietnam's president, Truong Tan Sang, in hopes of strengthening trade ties and military cooperation. During the press conference that followed, the president acknowledged the fact that the Vietnamese declaration of independence used language inspired by America's declaration in an effort to stress the long, if troubled history between the two nations.

Fox analysts Ralph Peters and Oliver North agreed that Obama's statements were “stupid.” Peters accused the president of being uneducated, saying, “This guy doesn't know our past.” In a previous segment, Fox News digital politics editor Chris Stirewalt theorized that the President Obama “may not have studied that or been aware of,” our history with Vietnam, or perhaps got “carried away rhetorically in trying to make his guest feel at home.”

But Obama was merely referencing the fact that the Vietnamese declaration paraphrases the U.S. Declaration of Independence when it says: 

All men are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

Fox has a long history of manufacturing phony scandals, something Media Matters has repeatedly documented.