Fox Figures Call Obama's Jobs Bill “Class Warfare”

Doocy: Obama's Jobs Bill Is “Class Warfare ... One Of Those Soak The Rich Things.” During the September 13 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Steve Doocy said:

DOOCY: So even though the president of the United States last Thursday said, you know, there's not going to be any class warfare, once again, it is class warfare. It's one of those soak the rich things, where if you make $200,000 or more, like Brian said, your itemized deductions when it comes to charitable things? Gonna be impacted. Your home mortgage? Impacted. Stuff like that. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 9/13/11, via Media Matters]

Hannity: Obama “Could Not Help But Resort To Using The Same Kind Of Class Warfare” In His Speech Today. During the September 12 broadcast of his Fox News program, Sean Hannity said: “And, as usual, the president could not help but resort to using the same kind of class warfare and false choices that we've gotten used to over the past two-and-a-half years.” [Fox News, Hannity, 9/12/11]

Fox Has Previously Cried Class Warfare While Defending The Wealthy From Tax Increases ...

Doocy: Obama Is “Conducting What Is Clearly Class Warfare.” During the August 4 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Doocy said: “I don't get that. He's conducting what is clearly class warfare. The rich versus the not-rich people, and they are going to be willing accomplices?” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 8/4/11, via Media Matters]

Star Parker: "[Obama] Plays Class Warfare." During the August 3 broadcast of Fox News' Hannity, Fox News contributor Star Parker claimed that Obama plays “class warfare.” From the broadcast:

PARKER: The problem is, Juan, is where people are upset about this type of lavish behavior, is that [Obama is] constantly wanting to make wealthy people pay what he calls a fair share, and he's constantly attacking them. He plays class warfare. That's the dilemma. Now he's hanging around with wealthy. He loves wealth. And certainly we know that this is timely for his re-election campaign.

JUAN WILLIAMS (Fox News contributor): Star, hang on, hang on. Hang on, let me just ask you something. What is duplicitous or hypocritical about saying that people who have benefited from life and business in this great country should pay their fair share if you're going to cut entitlements, Social Security, Medicare -

SEAN HANNITY (host): We're not cutting anything.

WILLIAMS: -- for those who are most vulnerable in this society.

PARKER: Because these are the same people who stand in the way of having discussions about fair tax, flat tax, and other ideas that are coming to the table, so that people really pay their fair share.

WILLIAMS: I don't think anybody's standing in the way.

PARKER: What people are upset about, including what the tea party was discussing, is that when you have almost half the country that does not pay any income tax at all, and then to say that others are not paying enough when they account for more than what 60 percent of what is coming in, and now they're asking for us to re-adjust, and look at our budgets, and perhaps stop wasting away this tax revenue -- this president insists on class warfare.

WILLIAMS: But Star, here is the other side of this.

PARKER: -- this president insists on class warfare.

WILLIAMS: No, it's not class warfare.

PARKER: That's what he does. He interjected it yet again. He talked about the poor, the sick and the elderly. [Fox News, Hannity, 8/3/11, via Media Matters]

Andrew Napolitano: Obama, Democrats Engage In “Class Warfare.” From the August 3 edition of Fox Business' Freedom Watch:

NAPOLITANO: [E]very dollar the government spends, it has taken from the pocket of a person who can no longer spend it. Government destroys wealth by taking it from us.

Democrats deride the idea of job creators and thus engage in class warfare as a campaign tactic against people who risk their wealth to create jobs, insisting on tax hikes as a matter -- not as a matter of sane fiscal policy but of what they say is fairness. The Republicans' only victory this past week was in delaying tax hikes. In all else, they failed. Despite being the heirs to a popular movement, the tea party, which brought them to power in Washington on the idea of a fundamental return to the country's first principles, establishment Republicans have prevented Congress from shedding the liberal orthodoxy that the government's grasp of financial resources must continue to increase. [Fox Business, Freedom Watch, 8/3/11, via Media Matters]

Doocy: “The Progressive Income Tax Has Not Been So Fair” To The Wealthy. During the August 3 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Doocy said, "[H]istorically, the tax system in this country, the progressive income tax, has not been so fair." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 8/3/11, via Media Matters]

Fox Complained That A Proposal To Eliminate Tax Breaks On Corporate Jets Was “Straightforward Class Warfare.” After Obama cited tax breaks for corporate jets as an example of tax loopholes that could be closed to raise revenue, Fox News personalities criticized the proposal as unfair and accused Obama of engaging in “straightforward class warfare.” [Media Matters, 6/30/11]

... While Repeatedly Engaging In Class Warfare Itself

Fox Cited Ownership Of Appliances To Downplay Hardship Of Poverty In America. In July, Fox News figures cited a Heritage Foundation report about the ownership of appliances among the poor in America to ask, in Bill O'Reilly's words: “So how can you be so poor and have all this stuff?” [Media Matters, 7/22/11]

Fox's Charles Payne Complained That The Poor “Aren't Embarrassed” That They Need Anti-Poverty Programs. Fox Business' Charles Payne complained that people “aren't embarrassed” that they need anti-poverty programs including food stamps and unemployment insurance. [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 5/19/11, via Media Matters]

Fox Business Pitted The “Takers” Of “Government Handouts” Against The “Makers.” After a National Bureau of Economic Research study concluded that social safety net programs, including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, were highly effective at keeping people out of poverty, Fox Business launched a weeklong series pitting the “takers” of “government handouts” against the “makers” in the economy. [Media Matters, 5/24/11]

Fox Business Hosts Warned That Increased Use Of Food Stamps During A Recession Could Lead To “Economic Dependence.” Fox Business' John Stossel and Chris Cotter warned that an increase in food stamps usage during the recession could lead to “economic dependence.” [Media Matters, 8/17/11]

Fox's Byrnes: “What's Unfair” About The Tax Code Is The Earned Income Tax Credit. Fox Business' Cheryl Casone suggested that subjecting the poor to heavier taxation was “a way to solve America's debt crisis,” while Fox's Tracy Byrnes said that “what's unfair” about the tax code is the Earned Income Tax Credit for low- and middle-income Americans. [Media Matters, 6/26/10]

Fox's Varney: The Earned Income Tax Credit Is A “Welfare Scheme.” On the June 15 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Fox Business host Stuart Varney said:

VARNEY: Whenever you've got a cash welfare system you are going to have people gaming that system. What you have not got on the screen is the Earned Income Tax Credit, which is by far the biggest cash -- I'm going to call it a welfare scheme. That is known as the most corrupt government program. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/15/11]