Here's the why. That's not all:
Nationally syndicated radio host and former Reagan administration official William J. Bennett, Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund, FOX News Live anchor David Asman, and CBS News Sunday Morning anchor and CBS Radio Network host Charles Osgood have all echoed Hume's false suggestion that FDR favored eventually "supplant[ing]" government funding of Social Security with private accounts, as President Bush has proposed. In fact, what Roosevelt was arguing for "supplanting" was government-funded pensions set up for Americans who were already too old in 1935 to contribute payroll taxes to the Social Security system. Roosevelt advocated "voluntary contributory annuities" -- which differ significantly from private accounts -- to supplement guaranteed Social Security benefits and never proposed replacing Social Security benefits with private accounts.
The big lie rides yet again -- a common sight in this day and age of neo-con righteousness.
A voice of reasonable skepticism from as unlikely a source as MSNBC,
Bloggermann makes no bones about it:
It's premeditated, historical fraud, but you will not see Hume nor Fox News backpedal from it (as Jordan did for his misdemeanor), nor apologize for it (as Jordan did), nor save their masters from its shame (as Jordan did -- of course there is no shame at Fox).
More:
James Roosevelt Jr: Hume's "outrageous distortion" of FDR "calls for a retraction, an apology, maybe even a resignation"
Brit Hume Must Resign You can get the code for the graphic there, if you want to put it on your site.
Lies and the Lying Liars who tell them
Even if this campaign does not lead to any sort of gesture of journalistic integrity on the part of Hume and/or Fox, it continues the pressure for the MSM to measure up to at least minimal standards of accuracy.
It seems pretty obvious when the contrary evidence is a matter of historical record. But when did that stop the radical right before?
I truly believe that pressing the Fact Check Agenda can only benefit the progressive cause.
Cross-posted on RealityBuzz.