Fox Figures Repeatedly Attack Obama As Rigid “Ideologue” Who Won't Be “Pragmatic”

Hannity: Obama Is “Rigid, Left-Wing, Radical Ideologue.” On his Fox News show Sean Hannity said: “I contend, and my analysis of President Obama is that he is a rigid, left wing, radical ideologue. And I've said it many times on the program. I've never seen any inclination in his adult professional life that he has a willingness to be pragmatic to move to the middle to change.” [Hannity, 11/19/2010, via Nexis]

Hannity: Obama Has “No Capacity For Openness Or Change.” On his Fox News show [retrieved from Nexis], Hannity said of Obama: “I think he's a rigid ideologue who showed no capacity for openness or change.” [Hannity, 11/8/2010, via Nexis]

Asman: “I Don't Think He Will” Compromise. Responding to his own question of whether Obama “will compromise with the Republicans the same way Clinton did in 1994,” Fox Business host David Asman said, “I don't think he will. I think he really believes in all this stuff and will stick with it.” [America's Nightly Scoreboard, 11/8/2010, via Nexis]

Gasparino: “Obama's Background Is Not As A Compromiser.” Fox Business senior correspondent Charlie Gasparino said of Obama: “He is not a compromiser. Barack Obama's background is not as a compromiser. He's never ran a state. He was never an executive where you have to attract businesses. He is a legislature. He's an ideologue. Yes, he may give a little around the edges, but, you know -- listen, I don't think he gives away the big parts of his agenda.” [Cavuto, 11/5/2010, via Nexis]

Rove: “I Don't Think He Has A Capacity” To Compromise. On his Fox News show, Hannity asked Fox News political analyst Karl Rove, “Do you think the president has the capacity to pivot, to change? Is he too rigid an ideologue?” Rove responded: “I don't think so. I don't think he has a capacity.” [Hannity, 11/4/2010, via Nexis]

Crowley: “I Cannot Anticipate This Man Tempering His Views.” On Fox Business' Follow the Money, Fox News contributor Monica Crowley said: “You are not dealing with a political animal, a la Bill Clinton, you were dealing in Barack Obama with a pure ideologue, and I cannot anticipate this man tempering his views. Now, yes, the complexion of the Congress is going to change. It may force his hand on some small-bore issues, but when it comes to the brass tacks of the big entitlements and the big spending, he's not going to move at all.” [Follow the Money, 11/3/2010, via Nexis]

Varney: “I Think The Man Is An Ideologue.” Asked whether Obama has “any inclination to move to the center,” Fox Business host Stuart Varney said: “No, I think the man is an ideologue. I think he would have to be dragged kicking and screaming to the center.” [Hannity, 10/19/2010, via Nexis]

Asman: “He Is Married To His Agenda In A Way That Bill Clinton Never Was.” Asman said on his Fox Business show: “We don't think they're planning to compromise with Republicans the same way Bill Clinton did after the 94 midterms. Obama is not Clinton. He is married to his agenda in a way that Bill Clinton never was. He doesn't want to backtrack on the path that he's put the country on. His vision of America is one in which a dwindling private sector becomes the lapdog of an ever-growing government, that managed economy.” [America's Nightly Scoreboard, 10/13/2010, via Nexis]

Santorum: “He Is A Committed Ideologue.” On the October 1 edition of America's Nightly Scoreboard [retrieved from Nexis]. Fox News contributor Rick Santorum said of Obama: “This is the guy who was the most liberal United States senator in the United States Senate when he was there. He is a committed ideologue, and he's not going to change. That's the problem." [America's Nightly Scoreboard, 10/1/2010, via Nexis]

Beck: “He's An Ideologue.” On his Fox News show, Glenn Beck said: “The president tries to make himself appear as a pragmatist, but he's not. He's an ideologue, a pragmatic ideologue but an ideologue nonetheless. He's going to have to endure his own supporters abandoning him. And if that's the case, then he has to make sure that his time isn't wasted. The redistribution of wealth is just starting. The American standard of life is changing.” [Glenn Beck, 9/21/2010, via Nexis]

Crowley: “His Progressive Ideology Trumps Everything.” Fox News contributor Monica Crowley said of Obama: “I think he's such a pure ideologue, that his ideology, his progressive ideology trumps everything, including polls ... policies, and even re-election. I think his fundamental duty, according to himself and his ideology was to fundamentally remake America in a socialist model.” [The O'Reilly Factor, 9/14/2010, via Nexis]

Gingrich: Obama Is Not “Normal, Reasonable, Moderate, Bipartisan.” In an interview attacking Obama's purported “Kenyan, anti-colonial” worldview, Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich said: “I think he worked very hard at being a person who is normal, reasonable, moderate, bipartisan, transparent, accommodating -- none of which was true. ... In the Alinsky tradition, he was being the person he needed to be in order to achieve the position he needed to achieve . . . He was authentically dishonest.” [National Review Online, 9/11/2010]

Fox Highlights Criticism by Democrats of Tax Bill Compromise

Cameron Reports “Democratic Outrage” And “Liberal Frustrations.” Chief political correspondent Carl Cameron claimed there was “Democratic outrage at the president's negotiation with Republicans for an extension of tax cuts and unemployment benefits,” later stating that Vice President Joe Biden “made another closed-door visit to calm liberal frustrations with the president for negotiating with the GOP.” A subsequent report by White House correspondent Wendell Goler stated that “some Democratic critics continued to insist Mr. Obama caved to Republicans.” [Fox News' Special Report, 12/8/2010]

Smith: Biden “Presumably Got An Earful” From Dems Over How Obama “Caved.” On the December 8 edition of Fox Report, host Shepard Smith said that Biden “presumably got an earful late this afternoon as he met on Capitol Hill with House Democrats. Many of them have expressed disappointment that, as they put it, the president caved on his promise not to extend tax cuts for the wealthy.” [Fox Report, 12/8/2010]