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There’s never been much love lost between President Barack Obama and Fox News. In the latest turn, the network bristled when Obama singled it out for criticism during a discussion of poverty.
Here’s how things developed at an event this week at Georgetown University. Obama said the country’s politics have created boogeymen out of the rich and the poor.
"Over the last 40 years, sadly, I think there’s been an effort to either make folks mad at folks at the top, or to be mad at folks at the bottom, Obama said. "And I think the effort to suggest that the poor are sponges, leeches, don’t want to work, are lazy, are undeserving, got traction."
To illustrate his point, the president brought up Fox News.
"If you watch Fox News on a regular basis, it is a constant menu," Obama said. "They will find folks who make me mad. I don’t know where they find them. They’re like, ‘I don’t want to work. I just want a free Obama phone’ or whatever. And that becomes an entire narrative, right? That gets worked up. And very rarely do you hear an interview of a waitress, which is much more typical, who’s raising a couple of kids and is doing everything right but still can’t pay the bills."
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As you might expect, that didn’t sit well with Fox News.
Our colleagues PunditFact looked at the response of one of their anchors, and how it stacks up to the facts.
You can read what they found here.
Our Sources
C-SPAN, Obama remarks on Fox News coverage of the poor, May 12, 2015
Fox News, America’s Newsroom, May 13, 2015
White House, Remarks by the President in Conversation on Poverty at Georgetown University, May 12, 2015
PunditFact, Fox's Kilmeade: Colo. food stamp recipients can turn their benefits into cash at ATMs, Jan. 24, 2014
PunditFact, Brad Blakeman says 90% of farm bill goes to food stamps, Nov. 6, 2013
PolitiFact, Bill O'Reilly says poverty hasn't budged since 1965 despite 'trillions' spent, July 29, 2011
PolitiFact, Rep. Tom Cole says food stamp spending doubled under Bush, doubled again under Obama, July 19, 2013
PolitiFact, Chain e-mail claims Obama is handing out free cell phones to the needy, Oct. 28, 2009
MediaMatters, Fox Host Pushes Dubious Theory That Food Stamps Are Designed To "Buy Votes" For Democrats, May 13, 2015