Fox News Claims That Obama Doesn’t Care About James Foley And Would Rather Play Golf

During a discussion on Fox News’ Happening Now Friday, Fox News contributor and talk radio show host Tammy Bruce claimed that President Obama is indifferent to the world’s issues and doesn’t care about the death of American journalist James Foley at the hands of ISIS. Her comments took place during a segment on the show regarding the optics of President Obama playing golf on the same day after making addressing the nation about Foley’s death. This segment is part of a broader strategy by Fox News to attack the President regarding his being on vacation and the apparent insensitivity of him playing golf while bad things are happening in the world.

Scott started the segment by claiming Obama is taking heat from all sides regarding his decision to play golf after the Foley announcement. However, Scott did not actually reveal any comments from non-conservatives condemning the actions of the President. Instead, he turned to a conservative radio host (Bruce) and a cheerleader for the Bush Administration (Judith Miller) to discuss the ‘optics’ of Obama teeing off shortly after his address. For good measure, Scott also played a clip of former Vice-President Dick Cheney, who made an appearance on Hannity earlier in the week. Scott tried to tie the New York Times into the criticism during the segment, but he made an extremely weak case.

Below is video of the segment, courtesy of Fox News:

Fox has spent days childishly complaining about Obama being on vacation, playing golf and just not being presidential enough. After POTUS had made the announcement regarding Foley’s death, Fox News host Greta Van Susteren wrote a piece on her website chastising the President for not wearing a tie. Seriously. She actually wrote the following:

And by the way, I am all for casual clothes — but he IS the President of the United States and he IS talking about a beheading of an American, not the annual Easter egg roll. Put on a tie. All eyes are on the President and he needs to convey the right message on all levels.

Give me a break! Sheesh.

On Thursday, Geraldo Rivera chided President Obama for playing golf “with his chums from the hood.” Apparently, what really distressed Rivera is that Obama happened to play a round with former basketball star Alonzo Mourning, rather than, as he puts it, “a Senator, a Congressman, a Secretary, a General.” Nope, POTUS had the audacity to insult the entire country by hanging out with another black guy.

Anyway, this is a favorite pastime of Fox News and the conservative media entertainment complex. Every single time President Obama goes on vacation, he is chastised for any leisure activities he chooses to engage in (usually golf) as well as for the amount of time he spends on vacation. If you were to just follow right-wing media, you’d assume that Obama does nothing but take expensive vacation trips all the time. However, the truth reveals that at the same points in their respective presidencies (through August 12th), Obama has taken 38 fewer vacation trips than George W. Bush and spent 252 fewer days on vacation than Bush. Obama has also spent far less time at Camp David (84 days) than Bush (341 days) through the same point.

The thing is, compared to Bush or Republican god Ronald Reagan, who regularly took month-plus long vacations, Obama has been far more engaged and spent far less time away from the White House. Knowing this, conservatives need to create a narrative that Obama is indifferent, disengaged and only interested in playing golf and hanging with his boys from the hood. Therefore, they are going to push this latest cockamamie story. Meanwhile, Congress is in the middle of a five-week recess.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Justin Baragona

Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site's (@PoliticusSports).

Latest posts by Justin Baragona (see all)

• Both Conservative And Liberal Pundits Slam New York Times Over Hillary Clinton Email Story - Mon, Mar 23rd, 2015
• Jon Stewart Drops The Mic After Hammering Fox News Over Its Hypocrisy On Ferguson - Fri, Mar 20th, 2015
• Jon Stewart Compares Netanyahu To GOP For Ginning Up Racist Fears To Win Election - Thu, Mar 19th, 2015