Fox News misrepresents lawsuit to imply that President Obama is curtailing military vote.

This is the relationship that Fox News wants to damage.

Courtesy of the Raw Story:

A Fox News report Friday night suggested that the Democratic National Committee and President Obama’s campaign were suing to strip voting privileges from members of the military and their families in Ohio, even though the lawsuit in no way cuts back on that group’s voting rights. 

“If President Obama gets his way, the special voting rights of some of America’s finest will be eliminated,” host Shannon Bream said. “The campaign is suing to keep members of the military from having extra time to cast their ballots in one key battlegound state.” 

In actuality, the complaint filed by the Obama campaign would reinstate special voting rights that, until recently, extended to all Ohioans and not just those serving in the armed forces. 

The issue stems from the Republican-controlled legislature’s decision late last year to alter early voting procedures. In the past, all voters could cast ballots in the three days prior to the election. But under the new law, only members of the military would be allowed to vote through the Monday immediately before the election, while early voting for non-military citizens would end the previous Friday. 

Naming Ohio’s Attorney General Mike DeWine and Secretary of State Jon Husted—both of whom are Republicans—as plaintiffs, the DNC, Ohio’s Democratic Party and Obama’s campaign filed suit arguing the the new law creates an unconstitutional tiered voting system. 

“This disparate treatment violates 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and can be rectified by the Court enjoining enforcement of statutory changes that eliminate early in-person voting for most Ohioans during the three days before an election,” the parties wrote in the suit. 

The suit would not prevent military members from, “having extra time” to vote, as the Fox report insinuated. Rather, it asks that the court, by blocking enactment of the new law, reinstate the extra time all voters used to enjoy for casting their ballots.

You know because of the constant Olympic coverage on MSNBC I have found myself watching Fox News more than a few times, just to have some background noise on while I work, and have heard THIS particular lie stated more than a few times. 

The problem is that without clarification the Fox News charge sounds legitimate. In fact THIS was the first comprehensive explanation for the lawsuit that I found.

As you can see it makes perfect sense, and in fact the President and Ohio DNC are protecting the rights of MORE voters, not infringing on the abilities of military members to vote. But you would NEVER have been able to figure that out from the lies that Fox was telling.

It is THIS absolutely naked attempt to lie to the American people that demonstrates why NOBODY should ever get their information from Fox News. I cannot tell you the number of times I have found myself actually shouting at my television when I hear them misrepresent an issue or out and out lie about it.

My most fervent desire is that the News Corp phone hacking scandal arrives on our shores as soon as possible, and that Fox News is fully implicated.  I have no doubt they were involved, so now I just want it to be proven, and hopefully it will be enough to damage their credibility enough to get most people to stop listening to them.