On the August 14 broadcast of his Fox News Radio show, John Gibson said he and the show's executive producer, known on the air as “Angry Rich,” are “being attacked on a liberal website,” referring to Media Matters for America. “Angry Rich” responded that they were being attacked because "[w]e played some audio of [Comedy Central's The Daily Show host] Jon Stewart crying after 9-11." As Media Matters documented, on the August 10 show, Gibson and “Angry Rich” aired a clip of comments Stewart made on the September 20, 2001, edition of The Daily Show and mocked them. On the August 14 show, Gibson and “Angry Rich” aired the same Daily Show clip that they had aired on August 10 and again mocked Stewart's remarks. Gibson asked: “So, they said I was mean to do that?” to which he said: “Well, I guess I was.”

Gibson also said Media Matters “attacked me and 'Angry Rich' for an unfortunate turn of the phrase last week.” They then re-aired the comment “Angry Rich” made on the August 3 show, documented by Media Matters, that Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards (NC) “whored his wife's cancer as a fundraising gimmick.” Gibson claimed that “what was underlying that statement was not just hyperbole.” As Media Matters also documented, on his August 7 show, Gibson called the statement “unfortunate” while “Angry Rich” said it had been “a poor choice of words.” On neither the August 7 nor the August 14 broadcast did “Angry Rich” apologize for his statement.

Later on the August 14 program, Gibson claimed that "[t]he war on Gibson is real" and that “it is pursued everyday by the people who just can't abide by what you hear on this radio program.” To that, “Angry Rich” replied, “David Brock is listening 24 hours a day.” The comment was followed by an audio clip of an unidentified person singing the words “Gay boyfriend.”

From the August 14 broadcast of Fox News Radio's The John Gibson Show:

GIBSON: We seem to have gotten ourselves into it again, me and Angry Rich.

ANGRY RICH: Isn't it great?

GIBSON: Yeah, it's fabulous. We're being attacked on a liberal website. Is this a Media Matters --

ANGRY RICH: It's on a bunch of sites right now. Media Matters is one of them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE [audio clip]: Google it on Media Matter.

GIBSON: That's one of those watchdogs that supposedly rides herd on us wild and crazy guys.

ANGRY RICH: That's right.

GIBSON: And what was it I was attacked for this time?

ANGRY RICH: Today?

GIBSON: Yes.

ANGRY RICH: We played some audio of Jon Stewart crying after 9-11 to try to juxtapose how he's been bashing Bush for the past six years.

GIBSON: Right, I mean, all this -- you know, you listen to The Daily Show or watch it, it's a funny show. Jon Stewart's hysterical, and, I mean, you know, he just tears this war on terror apart, and, you know, just a couple of days ago, we said, “Let's roll back the hands of the clock and see what he was saying when he came back on the air after 9-11.”

Well, he was all teary and sobby, and, you know, I -- at the time, it's -- I believed him. At the time, I said, “Man, you know, that came from the heart.” But now after listening to --

ANGRY RICH: Six years --

GIBSON: -- six years of him attacking everything that's been done to make sure there isn't another one of those, you just got to wonder.

ANGRY RICH: You got to conclude he's a phony.

GIBSON: Well, that's what I concluded, and we're being attacked for coming to that conclusion. But I ask you, anybody who listens -- or, excuse me once again -- watches The Daily Show, Jon Stewart's a very funny guy. I mean, it's just like throwing, you know, throwing fish to clapping seals.

He walks out on that stage and tosses fish to that audience, and the fish are “Bush sucks.” Boy, and they eat it up. So, we said, “Well, well, well, what did he say?” So we looked back and we found that, gee, he'd gotten all weepy way back then, and it just didn't seem to match with what you hear today.

STEWART [audio clip]: The view from my apartment --

GIBSON: Oh, my God.

STEWART [audio clip]: -- was the World Trade Center.

GIBSON: He's breaking up. Oh, my God.

STEWART [audio clip]: And now it's gone.

GIBSON: Hmmm.

STEWART [audio clip]: And they attacked it.

GIBSON: They did.

STEWART [audio clip]: This symbol of American ingenuity and strength and labor and imagination and commerce.

GIBSON: Yeah. OK. So, they said I was mean to do that? Well, I guess I was. But they also attacked us -- attacked me and Angry Rich for an unfortunate turn of the phrase last week.

ANGRY RICH [audio clip]: A man who whored his wife's cancer as a fundraising gimmick.

GIBSON: Yeah, well, and what was underlying that statement was not just hyperbole. What Angry Rich was referring to was that the Edwards campaign took all of the email that were sent to Elizabeth Edwards, when it was announced that her cancer had returned, and put all of those people on a fundraising list.

So, if you wrote a -- and I think the example I used was if Laura Ingraham, who's, you know, a -- not by any means a John Edwards supporter and herself is a cancer survivor. If she expressed to Elizabeth Edwards a little sympathy and, you know, “Hope you do well and get well,” all of a sudden, Laura Ingraham's going to get a John Edwards fundraising letter. That's the reward for expressing sympathy for Mrs. Edwards having a recurrence of cancer. You get a “Please send John a hundred bucks” note?

ANGRY RICH: What a fraud.

GIBSON: Exactly. There was a little bit of rib there at the end.

[...]

GIBSON: The war on Gibson is real. It is pursued every day by the people who just can't abide what you hear on this radio program.

ANGRY RICH: David Brock is listening 24 hours a day.

GIBSON: I know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE [audio clip]: (singing) Gay boyfriend.

GIBSON: And he's -- I'm sure he'll attack me tomorrow for suggesting that maybe Elizabeth Edwards has somehow broken her own shield by some of her activities and some of her statements.

C. Murphy Hebert is an intern at Media Matters for America.