John Gibson (political commentator)

John Gibson

John Gibson is a conservative American commentator and host of the weekday show The Big Story on FOX News since 2000. He was born in 1946 and has worked for numerous media outlets including MSNBC and as a West Coast correspondent for NBC. He is an alumnus of UCLA. He has provided extensive coverage in the past on the O.J. Simpson criminal trial, the American involvement in Mogadishu and the events at the Branch Davidian site in Waco, Texas.

Gibson is the author of Hating America: The New World Sport (2004), and The War on Christmas (2005). The War on Christmas argues that a "cabal of secularists, so-called humanists, trial lawyers, cultural relativists and liberal, guilt-racked Christians, not just Jewish people" are trying to secularize Christmas.

Gibson has also filled in for Bill O'Reilly on both The Radio Factor and The O'Reilly Factor. Gibson is also the host of The John Gibson Show on Fox News Radio.

Gibson vs. the BBC

An outspoken critic of the BBC, Gibson claims that the British Broadcasting Corporation is anti-American. He attacked the BBC in accusing it of having "a frothing-at-the-mouth anti-Americanism that was obsessive, irrational and dishonest"[1][2]. He also claimed that reporter Andrew Gilligan, who was covering the 2003 Iraq War for BBC Radio 4 in Baghdad had "insisted on air that the Iraqi Army was heroically repulsing an incompetent American Military". ^[3]

Gibson's criticisms were rejected by Ofcom when it investigated viewer complaints of Gibson's item. ^[4] It was found that the words he attributed to Gilligan were false, and "the manner in which John Gibson delivered these lines and the fact that he indicated that Gilligan said it “on-air” gave the distinct impression that he was quoting Gilligan directly. It did not appear that he was summarising Gilligan’s reporting. Furthermore, Fox News failed to provide any evidence, except that it felt that Gilligan’s reporting of the US advance into Baghdad was incorrect, that supported this statement."

Controversial Statements

Media pundit John Gibson's controversial statements brought criticism when he referred to religions, other than his own, as "wrong". [5]

When London was chosen to host the 2012 Olympics, Gibson said that he regretted that Paris had not been chosen because it would have subjected that city to the threat of terrorism. ^[6] He also has stated that no one would care if France was a victim of a terrorist attack. [7]

On the July 12, 2005, edition of Fox News's The Big Story, host John Gibson said that White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove should be given "a medal" for outing covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, adding that Plame "should have been outed by somebody." [8]

In his book The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought, Gibson wrote, "The wagers of this war on Christmas are a cabal of secularists, so-called humanists, trial lawyers, cultural relativists, and liberal, guilt-wracked Christians—not just Jewish people." [9]

On the January 19, 2006, edition of Fox News's The Big Story, after the release of a tape by terrorist Osama Bin Laden, Gibson stated, "(Bin Laden) is talking to America's far left and saying, 'You know what. We're on the same side. So why don't you work on that hardhead George W. Bush? Bin Laden told us Thursday that our far left has been working for him. It's their poll results he quotes.'" [10]

In his defense of Ambassador John Bolton and repudiation of the United Nations and the Third World, referring to the Third World - "That latter group includes a huge number of so-called nations, little more than spots on the map that would get invaded, taken over, subsumed, eliminated, except no-one wants to get stuck with their problems of poverty and disease and corruption."[11]

On the May 10, 2006, edition of Fox New's The Big Story, after the release of a letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to U.S. President George W. Bush, Gibson compared the letter from the Iranian President to talking points and positions by democrats. Gibson said, "Terry McAuliffe and the other Democrats should pay close attention to their talking points these days. That nut job running Iran, President -- let's see if I can pronounce it -- Ahmadinejad, sent President Bush a letter, and if it weren't postmarked Tehran, it might have been mistaken for a crank letter from an angry leftist in L.A. or Boulder or Cambridge, Massachusetts. Christians are not acting like Christians, says the Iranian president. Democrat talking point. WMD lies, says the Iranian president. Democrat talking point. Human-rights abuses in Gitmo. Another Democrat talking point. The gap between haves and have-nots. The Iranian president and the Dems in lockstep on that one, too." [12]

On the May 11, 2006 broadcast of "The Big Story", Gibson called for his viewers to have more children. His reasoning appeared to be in part to prevent Hispanics (who he doesn't consider White) from ever being the racial majority in America. [13] [14]

Quotations

Eat a Big Mac and choke on it. [15]
The Euros don't have militaries. [16]
I would think if somebody is going to be -- have to answer for following the wrong religion, they're not going to have to answer to me. We know who they're going to have to answer to. [17]
Republicans stand for parents' right and life, and Democrats have sided for questionable husband and dying?[18]
Because we're going after the people who outed her (Valerie Plame), do I conclude that the American people now want a government run by spooks whose secret identities are protected by law while they pull strings and make things happen in an otherwise open government? No, you don't want that. I didn't think so. [19]
Oh John, you're not saying judges aren't real people, are you? Well, judging by what happened here, I'd say yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. So Jeb, call out the troops, storm the Bastille and tell 'em I sent you.[20] - An appeal for Florida governor Jeb Bush to violate the law and remove Terri Schiavo from a hospital to reinstate her feeding tube
Gays can't have kids -- other than going to the abandoned kids store and getting one or two, or borrowing sperm from someone with more sperm than brains -- so by definition they're out of the marriage game.[21]
It's when America has no problems that people vote Democrat, out of guilt. But when you want something done -- and done right, mind you -- America votes Republican. [22]
He's just a presidential wannabe. Never was and never will be. And it's why every so often he says these crazy things.- Referring to Al Gore [23]
Supporters of the president — and generally speaking, I am one — have upped the ante in the name-calling game over the Dubai Ports World deal to take over six American ports. [24]
So, first of all, you're throwing our boy Scalia under the bus.[25]
I love it when people poop in my mouth. [26]

References

^ Liar, liar. Editorial by John Gibson., published on FOXNews.com on January 29 2004.
^ Standards Cases - Upheld Cases - The Big Story: My Word - Published in Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin Number 11 on June 14 2004.
^ Fox News: Anti National Security - Published on OliverWillis.com on July 12 2005.
^ Missed Opportunity Editorial by John Gibson, published on FOXNews.com on July 06 2005.

Bibliography

Gibson, John (2005). The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought. Sentinel. ISBN 1595230165.
Gibson, John (2004). Hating America: The New World Sport. Regan Books. ISBN 0060580100.

External links