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A Fox News Liberal is a character who allegedly provides political balance in the narrative but who in practice, at best, ends up parroting the Golden Mean Fallacy. They can be presented as the Only Sane Man in their party, and their criticisms of said party can also evoke from those in the prevailing party that "See? Even this die-hard conservative/liberal thinks that their party has gone way too far and become way too extreme. *sigh* If only the rest of their party could be as reasonable as they are, they wouldn't be in such bad shape". In particularly extreme versions of this trope, the character forsakes their own beliefs as a means of Character Development, claiming their party line has "gone too far".
There are some arguable real-life politicians who fall into this (most obviously the Fox News Liberals from which this trope gains its name or counterpart MSNBC Conservatives), but suffice to say, Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment is in effect.
See also- Informed Attribute.
Examples
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Comic Books
- Icon from Milestone Comics was created by a Black liberal writer as a supposed Black conservative. However, the in-story reason for him being a conservative is that he was born in the days of slavery when the Republicans were on the anti-slavery side and in modern times his sidekick started convincing him that conservatism is bad for the poor. This doesn't exactly fit the definition, but it approaches it. It's as if the writer wanted to put a conservative in, but as the trope description says, couldn't think of any way for a reasonable person to be one today. This is a complicated example, as "liberals" and "conservatives" of 150 years ago share very few traits with their counterparts of today except for the names, not to mention that he's a two-century-old alien ex-slave and probably wouldn't think like a modern human anyway.
- The abysmal DCU: Decisions election issues were designed around superheroes expressing political opinions about the 2008 election. The problem was that all of the Presidential candidates were fictional and there was no real sense of anything they stood for. Green Arrow seemed to be voting for the Green Party and Lois Lane SEEMED to be Republican (or possibly a Libertarian?) but everyone else's opinion was just obtuse. In the end it seemed to come to a conservative-leaning writer (Bill Willingham) and a liberal-leaning writer (Judd Winick) picking heroes like they were choosing players for their kickball team. Needless to say, the whole story caused a Flame War. Green Arrow's (left wing) and Hawkman's (right wing) political views were already well-established for years, but the idea of ascribing definite political views to all the other characters resulted in fans hysterically fighting over which characters "should" or "shouldn't" belong to which party.
Film
- Similar to the above is Senator Laine Hanson from the film The Contender. Hanson is nominated for VP by a Democratic President and considerable hay is made of the fact that she is a former Republican who contends that the party 'left her' by moving too far to the right. Yet she is an outspoken atheist with a public disdain for religion (which was probably intended to be seen as honest and brave, but which is so clearly intolerant it makes her seem like a frothing bigot), a staunch believer in gun control, pro-choice on abortion, and completely against the death penalty... views that wouldn't have had a chance in the GOP within her political career.
Literature
- In State of Fear, the hero is a good guy who starts out believing in global warming and is shown the error of his ways, but that pretty much everyone else who does is either stupid or evil.
- Julia Shumway, the Republican editor of the newspaper in Stephen King's Under the Dome, is considered by some to be the conservative version of a Fox News Liberal. On the one hand, she doesn't talk about politics at all, and the only reason to believe that she is a Republican is because the author says she is. On the other hand, almost no one (who is sane) mentions politics at all because, well, they're trapped under a dome, and sometimes little things like that have to take precedence.
- Cessy from Empire is one of these; she is a housewife who, at one point in the novel even provides a biblical case for militarism in American foreign policy. At no point does she express any liberal views other than to remind the audience, every few pages, of how liberal she is. Needless to say, she is the only self-described liberal in the book who is not an evil, craven plotter out to destroy America.
Live Action TV
- The West Wing
- Ainsley Hayes, the Trope Namer for Blonde Republican Sex Kitten (BRSK with an extra bit of Southern "y'all", BTW). Presented, at first, as a strong Republican that had previously been a member of the Federalist Society and could smack around expert liberal debaters, she quickly lost or strongly downplayed her initial displeasure about pork-barrel politics, gun control, and what she saw as unnecessary legislation. Her quick decision to leave gun control off the discussion table in response to a politician's attempted assassination is a particular moment, coming as it does from a Ronald Reagan Republican.
- Arnold Vinick, the Republican presidential nominee in the final season, is so moderate that the real-life Republican party would probably never accept him. He's pro-choice, not at all religious, and in much of the U.S., would be considered closer to a Democrat than a Republican.
- In fact, pretty much any Republican character whom the audience is supposed to like and respect gradually becomes one of these if they're around long enough. One particular exception is Speaker of the House and Acting President Glenallen Walken, who proves to be a competent president and reasonably likable man of integrity despite also being clearly depicted as a conservative Republican and military hawk. However, he was only around for three episodes, it's possible this wasn't intentional and in any case, he was played by John Goodman, which goes a long way.
For that matter, nearly everyone who appears on the show and is to the left of the main characters seems to literally adopt the characteristics that Fox News associates with liberals: they are, almost to a person, shrill, mean-spirited, short-sighted, and egocentric. This is especially notable in any episode dealing with free trade, where opponents of free trade always get portrayed as hypocrites, grandstanders, or idiots. Basically, the door swings both ways: if Aaron Sorkin disagrees with you, you're either a nut or a meanie, and it doesn't matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on.
- The French Police show P.J has Chloé Matthieu, who is a Fox News fascist—she starts as a member of a far right Police Syndicate, her uncle ran a election for a far-right party (not named, but probably this real life party), she seems to hate anything and anyone having a common point with Arabs, Muslims, human being with dark skin, homosexuals... Yet she manage to become good friend with Muslims and/or black policemen, has a child with a black man, work part time in a lesbian bar, asked a bisexual colleague to help her take care of her child when she has to work late and implicitly admits than most of her opinions are bogus. It can however be seen as character development, since this comes progressively during the show, and losing her prejudices actually makes her a competent cop.
- Entertainment Weekly editor Mark Harris wrote an article about this, specifically naming Harriet Hayes of Studio 60 and Kitty Walker of Brothers and Sisters.
Real Life
- The Trope Namer: Fox News Channel.
- Alan Colmes, formerly of Hannity and Colmes, is the archetypal example. Whenever he appeared on a Fox program to provide the liberal viewpoint, his positions tended to be more moderate (not actually liberal), and he'd call out other liberals for "extremism". Worse, despite being a co-host on Hannity and Colmes, he'd receive far less air time than Sean Hannity, and was easily shouted down without contest. Al Franken, in his book Lies (And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them), always printed Colmes' name in a tiny font as a reference to this.
- Susan Estrich is a perfect example, and has been criticized by Representative John Conyers in the past as a result.
- Kirsten Powers, a nominally liberal columnist for Rupert Murdoch's right-leaning New York Post, regularly appears on Fox News programs.
- Howard Wolfson.
- Perhaps the best known recent example is Juan Williams, a Fox News contributor who said on The O' Reilly Factor that he gets nervous when he sees people in Muslim garb boarding airplanes, further claiming that it's completely normal for people to feel that way. It's hard to imagine any supposedly "leftist" commentator saying such a thing. Of course, Williams is a reporter; it's not like he's a liberal by necessity. Still, Fox almost certainly invoked the trope by hiring him in the first place, as he was almost always on panels with individuals with obvious right-wing credentials, whereas he was listed as an NPR reporter.
- He still counts as a "Fox News Liberal", but this is a gross misrepresentation of what actually happened. He was making a point to O'Reilly, saying, yes, I do discriminate against Muslims in this way - but I know it's stupid, because how come I don't feel the same way about Christians because of Timothy McVeigh. So yes, he says, there is a problem with Muslim extremism, and let's talk about it, but let's not offend the majority of Muslims who are not violent extremists and in fact love their country. It's unfair to say no "leftist" would ever say that, as if leftists are above human emotions like racism.
- Except for the fact that Williams' comments weren't racist. He was stating a very simple and very understandable fear one has about seeing Muslims who identify themselves as Muslims first and foremost and not as Americans, which while not necessarily meaning that they're fundamentalists, you'll see fundamentalists probably wearing such garb due to their insane dedication to their religion. It goes with the principle of "Toads are frogs, but frogs aren't necessarily toads." Fundamentalists are traditionalists, but traditionalists aren't necessarily fundamentalists. Here's the context:
"I have to tell ya, Bill, when I see people in airports wearing Muslim garb and identifying themselves as Muslims first and Americans second, I get nervous."
- Joe Lieberman, longtime Democratic Senator from Connecticut, turned Independent when he was primaried by Ned Lamont in 2006, who was making exactly this charge. In the years since defeating Lamont in the general election, Lieberman has apparently made it his mission to convince people that Ned Lamont was right; he was an open supporter of Republican John McCain in the 2008 Presidential election and helped sabotage the single-payer option in the Health Care Reform Bill - now called the Affordable Care Act or ACA - even though he was one of the few Senators who actually campaigned on the promise that he would help bring it into law. Suffice to say, his chances in the 2012 election aren't looking good. (on the other hand, he was one of the Senators leading the charge to repeal the increasingly unpopular Don't Ask, Don't Tell law)
- It turns out Lieberman can read opinion polls just like everybody else, and opted not to run for reelection when his term ends in 2012.
- Former United States Senator Zell Miller, who, while never actually changing his party label to Republican, became a more and more zealous advocate for the Republican Party, culminating in red-faced, screaming speech at the 2004 Republican National Convention. As he is still at least nominally a democrat, he is, or at least was, referred to by Republicans as an example of a "sane" Democrat.
- Of course, it must be remembered, Zell was of the generation of Southern conservative Democrats who were slowly realizing that the Democratic party was no longer conservative. It happened all over the south. The whole region changed its party-alignment, but not so much its views.
- If we can count Joe Lieberman and Zell Miller, we can certainly count former Senator Lincoln Chafee, who in the Senate, got an ACU rating lower than Hillary Clinton, and later quit the party when he ran successfully for governor of Rhode Island.
- Self-proclaimed conservatives who appears on MSNBC can get this label just as much as their Fox News counterparts.
- An example of this is MSNBC host and former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough, who is widely liked by his colleagues, unlike MSNBC's previous token conservative (who engages in actual conservative positions much more than Scarborough), Tucker Carlson (who, ironically, was very well liked by some viewers).
- Scarborough is definitely an example of this and could be seen as MSNBC's own Alan Colmes. He'd often call out other Republicans for "extremism" and attack most prominent people in the Republican Party; for a "conservative" commentator, he attacks those in the GOP more harshly than he does to the Democrats. Even Colmes doesn't often go on angry rants against commentators that are supposed to be on his side of the aisle. Scarborough complains that the party he's allegedly a supporter of allegedly engages in "violent rhetoric". Strangely and paradoxically, however, Scarborough did have a rather conservative voting record back when he was in the House of Representatives, so it's a trait that was picked up after becoming a host.
- Subverting this trend is Pat Buchanan, who made regular appearances across MSNBC, despite being quite firmly and famously right-wing. However, after a nastily intense confrontation on The Rachel Maddow Show, Buchanan is no longer seen on the evening liberal bloc of shows.
- Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele is now an MSNBC Political Analyst, to the great delight of Rachel Maddow, who enjoys him precisely because she disagrees with him on almost every conceivable point and yet, although he's made a few pointed jabs at liberals in his time, he's never become actually mean-spirited in her perspective.
- The View likes to have a Token Conservative on the panel, and they usually try to make sure that she's a Blonde Republican Sex Kitten or, even better, The Ditz, in what some have interpreted as an attempt to make sure she's not taken seriously. At least one was booted from the show and a lot of the commentary about the decision seemed to imply that it was because she was holding her own a little too well and actually being conservative, and that the show wanted to find someone meeker and more likely to agree with the rest of the women.
- David Brooks is a Republican version of this trope. Despite being the in-house "conservative" at the New York Times and the PBS Newshour, he quite frequently seems to agree with his liberal colleagues, is known for criticizing the Republican Party, and in general seems much more comfortable and at-home in segments where he's surrounded by liberal commentators rather than conservatives. Brook's criticisms of the GOP have resulted in many conservative commentators absolutely loathing Brooks. Many people have argued that Brooks is basically the Republican equivalent to Alan Colmes: hired simply for the purpose of being meek, milquetoast, and easily won over by the other side's arguments.
- Atheists have S.E. Cupp, who calls herself an atheist who “really aspires to be a person of faith some day.” She generally appears on conservative slanted outlets like Fox News Channel to push a very pro-Christian point of view and to agree with the others that any outspoken atheist is a nasty, nasty person. In fact, one of her books is titled Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media's Attack on Christianity.
- Columnist Andrew Sullivan, who claims to be a conservative despite being a fervent supporter of Barack Obama, attacking prominent Republicans and their positions whenever he can, and as strongly and sounded just like a liberal would, and often defending said Democrats, like the aforementioned Obama.
- Many libertarians know some figure or another who calls themself a libertarian who they beleive is either simply a down-the-line Democrat or Republican who they think should proclaim status in that party instead of claiming to be one of them, believing their libertarianism is an Informed Attribute.
- Glenn Beck is a prime example of that. He claimed to be a libertarian, but most libertarians viewed him as a complete evangelical-type figure who really only had libertarian views on economics and nothing else. (Note, most libertarians despise the social views of evangelicals).
- The Tea Party is an interesting case. It was started by the libertarians and fiscal conservatives, but was very quickly hijacked by the evangelical social conservatives. Although a lot of local Tea Parties remained libertarian in character, it seemed like the most prominent Tea Party groups had been totally hijacked by the evangelicals. Many libertarians then grew disgusted, saying that the Tea Party's image was Ruined FOREVER once liberal news outlets and commentators began using the evangelical-dominated segments of the Tea Party to (quite successfully) stereotype the entire movement.
- In Russia, the Fair Russia party claims to be for progressive social reform and democracy, but ends up supporting Vladimir Putin a lot of the time so as to not provoke his anger and get kicked out of the Duma.
- The farthest fringes of any ideology, of course, tend to see anyone on their side who's not frothing at the mouth as this.
- For that matter, a little game you can play is to go on a forum with extremist views asking for a more moderate or sensible view. Count how many posts it take for the concern troll accusation to be thrown out.
- Wikipedia-alternative Conservapedia contends that all liberals are literal Fox News Liberals. The relevant entry claims that liberals have no views of their own; they're merely pretending to be not conservative because they want attention, and the only thing you can really do about it is wait until they get it out of their systems and accept that conservatism is inherently correct.
- Well, to be fair, that website was overrun with trolls a long time ago. The views expressed there are often Strawman Political views posted by the trolls...hopefully....
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