Echoing Drudge, Fox promotes another “apology tour”

Fox News has again run with the Drudge Report's characterization of an Obama administration trip as an “apology tour” -- this time claiming that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “apologize[d] for global warming” in India, even though she made no such “apology.”

Following Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's July 18 remarks on climate change during a trip to India, Fox News personalities have again echoed the Drudge Report and promoted the idea of an Obama administration “apology tour.” On July 19, Drudge posted the headline “Hillary Clinton apologizes for global warming: 'We have contributed most significantly to climate change'...” In fact, Clinton did not “apologize for global warming”; during her speech in Mumbai, India, she stated: "[W]e acknowledge, now with President Obama, that we have made mistakes -- the United States -- and we, along with other developed countries, have contributed most significantly to the problems that we face with climate change. We are hoping that a great country like India will not make the same mistakes."

By 7:24 p.m. ET on July 18, Drudge posted the following headline and image:

Echoing Drudge, Fox News' Neil Cavuto, Glenn Beck, Alisyn Camerota, and Steve Doocy have similarly interpreted Clinton's speech as an “apology” while airing her remarks:

  • On the July 20 edition of Your World, Cavuto teased a segment by stating, “Hillary Clinton, apologizing for American global warming. And get this, India -- India! -- this is India, and we're apologizing to this country?” Before another break, Cavuto stated, “All right, well, so what's more outrageous: Hillary Clinton apologizing for America's hand in global warming, or where she made that apology?” During the segment with Public Citizen's Energy Program director Tyson Slocum, Cavuto repeatedly advanced the idea that Clinton apologized, stating, “We're gonna walk with our tail between our legs and we're sorry that they are polluting the world.”
  • On the July 20 edition of Glenn Beck, Beck stated, “Hillary Clinton is in India to broaden the strategic partnership for -- as I like to call it, on our apology tour.” Later in show, Beck teased "[t]he story behind America's latest apology" with an unidentified male voice reading the following letter: “Dear India, we're real sorry about causing all that global warming and we hope you don't follow in our carbon-laden footsteps and please, send our apologies to China, too. After all, we buy their products. So, it's our fault they're emitting CO2. Love, America.” During the segment, Beck stated, "[Y]ou'll be happy to know our apology tour is continuing. On Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began her trip in India by blaming the U.S. for global warming," and aired a series of graphics depicting the “So Sorry '09 Tour,” one of which stated that on July 20, Clinton “apologize[d] for causing global warming”:

  • On the July 21 Fox & Friends, co-host Doocy teased a segment by stating, “Then, the Great Apology Tour continues. This time Hillary Rodham Clinton is saying the United States is sorry for global warming.” Later in the show, Camerota stated, “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton overseas in India, and looks like she's picking up possibly on the ongoing apology tour ... where President Obama left off.” During the segment, Beck appeared as a guest and remarked, “We're so sorry. We're so sorry that we changed the world in medicine. We're so sorry that we brought television technology, and satellite technology, to the world. We're so sorry -- the microwave oven, what a mistake that was. Gosh, we're sorry for all the innovations that have come out of the United States. ... Oh my gosh, what a horrible society we live in. I can't take it anymore.” He went on: “Stop apologizing. You name the country that has done more good than the United States. Have we had bad periods in our history? Have we made mistakes? Yes -- who hasn't? India?”

As Media Matters for America has noted, Fox News hosts, contributors, analysts, and regular guests have repeatedly characterized Obama's overseas trips as "apology tours."

From the July 20 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto:

CAVUTO: And Hillary Clinton, apologizing for American global warming. And get this, India -- India! -- this is India, and we're apologizing to this country?

[...]

CAVUTO: All right, well, so what's more outrageous: Hillary Clinton apologizing for America's hand in global warming, or where she made that apology?

[...]

CLINTON [video clip]: We acknowledge now with President Obama that we have made mistakes in the United States, and we, along with other developed countries, have contributed most significantly to the problem that we face with climate change.

CAVUTO: All right, Secretary Clinton on that global warming situation in India, apologizing on behalf of the American people for it. In India, one of the most polluted countries on earth, and one that's routinely taken a pass on Kyoto or any other treaty that has them cleaning up their act for the good of the earth.

Tyson Slocum, who says that she's right. Tyson is the director of Public Citizen's Energy Program. You know, India is a mess, Tyson. And for her to apologize in a country like India, the venue seems weird, does it not?

SLOCUM: No. I mean, look, the fact is that for the last century, the United States has been the single largest contributor to global warming, but this is all part of the diplomatic game that's --

CAVUTO: But what is India doing? What's India doing?

SLOCUM: Well, India and --

CAVUTO: This is not Yosemite here.

SLOCUM: Well, you didn't --

CAVUTO: She's in the most polluted country on earth.

SLOCUM: Well, India releases about 4 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions. The United States, 20 percent, and China just edged ahead of us at just over 20 percent.

CAVUTO: They're growing. They're growing --

SLOCUM: Historically --

CAVUTO: They're the fastest growing country on earth right now --

SLOCUM: Absolutely.

CAVUTO: -- and they're quintupling our growth rate. It's not a stretch to assume that in the next decade or two, they're gonna be where we are right now. So why should we apologize in a country that has a lot to apologize for?

SLOCUM: Because it's just --

CAVUTO: After all, it was China and India that all but opted out of Kyoto. And it was for that very reason that the last president said, you know, this is not a fair playing field when the United States picks up the bulk of the cost and these guys get a pass, right?

SLOCUM: Well, Neil, I agree. And that's why there are other parts of Secretary of State Clinton's remarks that address that. That said, look, India is a -- has had dramatic growth in greenhouse gas emissions, and we have to take a global approach to doing this. This apology is really -- there's nothing binding about it. It's just part of the diplomatic game. The United States under the Obama administration I think has been doing a very good, aggressive job meeting regularly with the Chinese, with the Indians --

CAVUTO: Yeah, but India has been critical of us, Tyson.

SLOCUM: Sure they have.

CAVUTO: China has been critical of us and the environment, and we are more or less going back to say, all right, well, you know, we're sorry for that, but the fact of the matter is you guys have to pull your weight here, and there's very little of that. So these countries are whining about how much money we're committing to it, and it's certainly in the case of China -- they have a lot of money, and in the case of India, they have the economic engine. So shouldn't they be in the position of saying, you know what, you really shouldn't be apologizing; we should.

SLOCUM: Right, well, I mean, the United States is definitely going to be insisting that China and India come to the table with some sort of agreement.

CAVUTO: No, we weren't doing any such -- no, we weren't doing any such insistence.

SLOCUM: Neil -- Neil, they're going to have to do that.

CAVUTO: No, Tyson, on that you and I agree.

SLOCUM: Because there's no way that the climate talks in Copenhagen --

CAVUTO: But that's not happening, buddy. There's none of that --

SLOCUM: No, it is happening. There's a lot of negotiations --

CAVUTO: It's like we're walking with our tail between our legs and we're sorry that they're polluting the world.

SLOCUM: Neil, you're fixated on this apology, and the apology is just one tiny little brick --

CAVUTO: I didn't apologize. I didn't apologize to anyone. I'm sorry you think that I said I'm sorry.

SLOCUM: No, the fact is that the Obama administration is gonna have to get binding agreements from developing countries like China and India to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, because there's no way that the United States can go to the table and look U.S. manufacturers in the eye or U.S. consumers in the eye and say, “We're going to pass domestically a greenhouse gas emission bill here in the United States without asking China and India to do anything.”

CAVUTO: Tyson, if Jack LaLanne came into my studio right now and says, “Everyone eat a salad but Cavuto,” then you know what? People are going to say, “Well, you know, that's just not right, Jack. It's not right.” And this isn't right, and you know it's not right.

SLOCUM: No, it is right to engage in dialogue about global climate change, because all these countries have a role in it, and I think you're going to see some productive results. The Obama administration is very aggressive behind the scenes.

CAVUTO: We shall see. Tyson, thank you very much.

From the July 20 edition of Fox News' Glenn Beck:

BECK: Then, Hillary Clinton is in India to broaden the strategic partnership or, as I like to call it, on our apology tour.

[...]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: “Dear India, we're real sorry about causing all that global warming. We hope you don't follow in our carbon-laden footsteps. And please send our apologies to China, too. After all, we buy their products. So it's our fault they're emitting CO2. Love, America.” The story behind America's latest apology, next.

[...]

BECK: America, you'll be happy to know our apology tour is continuing. On Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began her trip in India by blaming the U.S. for global warming.

CLINTON [video clip]: We acknowledge now with President Obama that we have made mistakes in the United States, and we, along with other developed countries, have contributed most significantly to the problem that we face with climate change. We are hoping that a great country like India will not make the same mistakes.

BECK: Yeah, except I'm thinking India is likely to make the same mistakes. You know, like changing the world. Amazing. They're not rejecting the -- they're rejecting the administration's call to lower emissions because they'd like to bring people out of poverty. India says it has, quote, “among the lowest emissions per capita,” which is true today, since half of the country doesn't even have electricity.

Former ambassador John Bolton is here, author of Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations. My gosh, John. The apology tour just continues. I can't take it anymore. Flying from all corners of the globe -- and I know it's a not a flat earth, and the globe doesn't have corners. That was for Al Gore, by the way. I'm tired of the apologies. Can we stop apologizing? What country hasn't made mistakes in the past?

BOLTON: Well, this really reminds me of Jeane Kirkpatrick's famous quote when she said the San Francisco Democrats, they always blame America first. And the enthusiasm with which Secretary of State Clinton announced that we were the source of the problem --

BECK: Yeah.

BOLTON: -- really demonstrates what the agenda is.

BECK: Well, we really -- we are the -- what is the agenda? I think it's the redistribution of wealth.

BOLTON: Well, I think the Indians threw back a very interesting argument on this per capita carbon emission thing. If you really want to equalize, let's have everybody -- all inhabitants of the globe -- have the same footprint, the same per capita carbon emission, and we'll all be living in grass huts at that point.

BECK: Sure. You know, let me tell you something. And I'm -- you know, I -- who is it? Our new green jobs czar wants to develop the world. That doesn't sound good -- to develop the world.

BOLTON: Well, this is why I think fundamentally, the Obama agenda -- whether it's the cap-and-trade legislation domestically or this new post-Kyoto negotiation he wants to get into -- isn't going to go anywhere. I think this is where his coalition falls apart. Labor union members in this country care about jobs -- their jobs -- and they're not about to give them up for a theory about global warming.

From the July 21 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

DOOCY: Then, the Great Apology Tour continues. This time Hillary Rodham Clinton is saying the United States is sorry for global warming. Glenn Beck, here to weigh in, in three minutes.

[...]

CAMEROTA: All right, welcome back, everybody. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, overseas in India, and it looks like she's picking up possibly on the ongoing apology tour --

BECK: Love that.

CAMEROTA: -- where President Obama left off. Take a listen.

CLINTON [video clip]: We acknowledge now with President Obama that we have made mistakes in the United States, and we, along with other developed countries, have contributed most significantly to the problem that we face with climate change. We are hoping that a great country like India will not make the same mistakes.

BECK: I know.

KILMEADE: Not only does India not agree in this, the Indian people feared -- she traveled with the global warming czar of the Obama administration. When they heard that guy had made the trip, they began to panic in India that they were going to force something --

BECK: No. India, listen to me. We're so sorry. We're so sorry that we changed the world in medicine. We're so sorry that we brought television technology, and satellite technology, to the world. We're so sorry -- the microwave oven, what a mistake that was. Gosh, we're sorry for all the innovations that have come out of the United States.

KILMEADE: They're not asking to be apologized to, but they were all --

BECK: No, no, no, but we need to. We need to. We're such a horrible group of people. Have you heard the story about the smallpox blankets? Oh my gosh, what a horrible society we live in. I can't take it anymore. Stop apologizing. You name the country that has done more good than the United States. Have we had bad periods in our history? Have we made mistakes? Yes -- who hasn't? India? Let's just take a pH balance of the rivers over in India. Why? Because they have absolutely no progress over there. They're living in squalor. These environmentalists drive me out of my mind.

KILMEADE: And you know what the Indian government said? We have to worry about poverty first.

BECK: Exactly right. And you can worry about the environment when you -- when you're not in poverty. Learn that from India. These people are trying to push the United States into poverty. And I mean, just ask yourself, America. Do any of these things that they're doing make sense to you? If they don't make sense, don't do them.