Fox News Liberal - Television Tropes & Idioms

Fair and Balanced™

So, you've decided to make a work of fiction dealing with the great conflict between Bobtopia and Alicevania. Of course, you're a Bobtopian in real life, so you've made the whole thing Anvilicious with all the Bobtopians being Writers On Board and all the Alicevanians being Strawmen.

However, you decide to make one Alicevanian a reasonable person for "balance". The problem is that, in your mind at least, no one who actually agrees with the Alicevanian mindset could be reasonable. The result is a character who goes around saying how Alicevanian they are and exudes all the stereotypes of a Alicevanian despite the fact that their actual behavior indicates they are a Bobtopian. This character may be created when a Strawman Alicevanian gets Character Development.

Named for a Real Life example, namely that people on Fox News identified as liberals are claimed not to actually hold liberal views. Despite the name of the trope, this also covers instances of faux conservatives as well as any other viewpoint this may be applied to. See Blonde Republican Sex Kitten.

There are some real-life politicians who fall into this, but notice there is a major difference between them and the fictional ones. That is to say, it's only noticed in the real world that the fictional ones don't have the views they're supposed to. Instead, they seem to live in some kind of bizarre alternate universe in which they are totally accepted by the "other" Strawmen, if perhaps thought of as more "moderate". The real-life examples should give you an idea of how such people would really be regarded.

Examples

open/close all folders

Comic Books

Film

Literature

In The Last Battle there is a token good member of the Arabic Fantasy Counterpart Culture who believes in ~~Jesus~~ Aslan without knowing it (and similarly the good characters of A Horse and his Boy are Narnians at heart).
- That's much oversimplified. Narnia is (unlike Lord of the Rings) explicitly allegorical. Tash is not "another God like Aslan". It's Satan incarnate, or just a fiction entirely (Aslan's own words suggest it's Satan). However, people being people, they actually just go about their lives and largely ignore him and do what's right. When they encounter real good in the form of Aslan, they immediately recognize it as something familiar.
- People often accuse "A Horse and His Boy" of being racist for using stereotypes, but it was if anything a good way of showing that people can be different, or even attacked by evil, without being evil. This is more of a subversion, if anything, as the Narnia series repeatedly showed traitors on the side of good and ambiguous, if not nice, people nominally on the side of evil, and those groups changing a bit over time. For example, some creatures who fought against Aslan in the first book fought nobly in the second.
In the Author Tract 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.
- That wasn't how this editor understood the book. The main character, his boss and love interest were depicted as rational people who were open to accepting the truth through persuasion—which, in Michael Crichton's universe, at least, is that global warming is a myth. Of the other characters whose views on global warming were questioned, one was the villain, and Crichton apparently wasn't interested in humanizing his villains this time around, and the other two were a pair of conceited, close-minded environmentalist actors. This editor took Crichton's point to be that many environmentalists can be just as close-minded as ultra-conservatives, which is no doubt completely true.

Close Literature

Live Action TV

Harriet Hayes of Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip is a fundamentalist Christian in a cast of liberals who makes the odd comment about how "homosexuality is a sin", yet has no issues with premarital sex and seriously considers doing a male magazine-style photo shoot before deciding not to. It's telling that she gets less conservative in her viewpoint as she gets more Character Development.
- Some of that was Truth In Television, since she was based on Kristin Chenoweth, although Chenoweth really did pose for FHM.
Ainsley Hayes from The West Wing, 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 Wall Banger, coming as it does from a Ronald Reagan Republican.
- Hang on, what about gun control? Are you sure that really happened? I remember a discussion about gun control after Bartlet was shot, but Ainsley wasn't in the show at the time (she was introduced in the next episode).
- In the last seasons (no, not the fourth one), Arnold Vinick takes up this role as well. Vinick is the kind of "classical" Republican more outspoken liberals (I.E. the ones on television) say they can respect. He's anti-government in an old-school kind of way; less regulation, less interference in all aspects of life, from the board room to the bed room. The writers took a solid concept a bit too far; Vinick's not only uncomfortable with the more extreme religious right, he's pro-choice like Gerald Ford and and secretly atheist. It's hard to imagine someone with that profile winning the nomination of today's Republican Party, and that's lampshaded and hand waved a few times in the show. (Vinick's an extraordinary campaigner.)
  - This Troper actually knows a lot of Republican supporters who would support Vinick for the nomination in real life if they trusted Alan Alda(a Democrat) to stay in character for his term.
- 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 likeable 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.
  - Fans have attempted to rationalize all this by speculating that the show takes place in an Alternate History where US politics didn't become as bitterly divisive as it arguably is in Real Life - as such, the moderates have more influence in both parties, allowing for more cooperation and discussion across party lines and enabling a clear moderate (if not left) politician like Vinick to gain his party's nomination where he arguably wouldn't stand a chance in real life.
  - Given that one side is making all the compromises, the definition of "moderate" here may leave something to be desired.
The French Police show "P.J" has Chloé Matthieu, who is a Fox News fascist—she starts has 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.

Close Live Action TV

Real Life

The Trope Namer: Fox News Channel. Alan Colmes is sometimes hit with this label, but most view him as more of a normal Democrat who's just not loud enough to effectively debate Sean Hannity. Susan Estrich, however, is a perfect example, and has been criticized by Representative John Conyers in the past as a result.
- And now Colmes has left the show, and it's just Hannity. So Yeah.
  - Colmes now just works as a pundit and has a weekly segment on The O'Reilly Factor where he really seems to have come into his own. (Of course, Your Mileage May Vary.)
- Juan Williams, also of NPR, often plays the same role as Colmes on other Fox News shows.
- Oh so very much subverted with Mark Lamont Hill, who could basically be described as the walking, talking, Anthropomorphic Personification of the American Left.
- One could argue that Shepard Smith is a sort of inversion of this trope- he's not a liberal at all nor does he label himself as such, but since he's a Republican who's not as crazy as the rest of the Fox News crew, many of the crazier viewers label him as a liberal.
Any conservative who appears on MSNBC or any liberal who appears on Fox News is bound to get labeled this on some blog or forum.
- Aside, perhaps, from MSNBC host and former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough, who is widely liked by his colleagues, unlike MSNBC's previous token conservative, Tucker Carlson (who, ironically, was very well liked by viewers).
On the other side of the fence, any conservative viewpoint in the Op Ed pages of your college newspaper. Many proudly refer to themselves as the "token fascists."
- This principle applies further up the ladder at papers like The New York Times and Washington Post. Although most papers do employ some conservatives (the Times ran vociferously conservative and hawkish commentator William Kristol for a year, and employs David Brooks, and gave Judy Miller carte-blanche to write whatever she wanted about Iraq; and George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson writed for the Post), they are most treated as the local pet conservative. Their writings - especialy Brooks' - have been often ridiculed by more thoroughly conservative pundits for embracing liberal doctrine in such substantial ways as to be hardly considerable conservatives at all.
- Similarly, Ben Stein, who divides his time between political commentary and acting in Hollywood, was introduced by the studio announcer as "our resident fascist" when he appeared on Norman Lear's show All's Fair in the 1970s.
- According to Stein, it was easier for a communist to get a job under McCarthy Hollywood than it is for a conservative to get a job in Hollywood today. Expressing conservative belief is, according to his admittedly biased opinion, immediate grounds for ostracization and/or dismissal in many film studios, not that one can tell from his career.
  - Guys like Ben Stein and Jackie Mason are more or less allowed under the grandfather clause i.e. they had careers before their opinions were well known to most people. Even then, being outspoken about them can cause trouble even for established veterans of the craft: just look at the way Charleton Heston was treated towards the end, where he had George Clooney cracking wise about his struggle with Alzheimer's, and Mark Wahlberg -star of The Big Hit, Shooter and Max Payne- flat-out insulting him to his face on the set of the Planet of the Apes remake over his involvement with the NRA.
  - Ben Stein's political leanings were well-known before he went into acting; his career prior to Hollywood included a stint as Richard Nixon's speechwriter. Meanwhile, there are several active conservatives in Hollywood (Vince Vaughn, for example, actively campaigned for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004), although they generally keep a lower profile than Stein (or, for that matter, most Hollywood liberals).
  - With regards to Stein, Expelled is justified exclusion. "...the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed". Maybe I'm just easily offended, but its the fucking HOLOCAUST guy! It's the greatest evil in human history, not a fucking political battering-ram!
  - With regards to anything, including life, Expelled is a justified exclusion.
DINOs and RINOs, respectively meaning Democrats in Name Only and Republicans in Name Only, which make up a nontrivial part of the American federal Congress. Lincoln Chafee, for example, was a Republican Senator rated about as conservative as Hillary Clinton by the American Conservative Union. Of course, the Democrats and Republicans are both "big tent" parties that cover a wide variety of related ideologies that don't always get along - try putting Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee in a room together, or Joe Lieberman and Dennis Kucinich, and sparks will most likely fly.
- Zell Miller, a Democrat who was appointed to one of Georgia's Senate seats as a mid-term replacement, was often rated as being more conservative than many Republicans, and even made a keynote speech at the 2004 GOP convention where he backed George W. Bush for reelection and accused the Democratic party of treason. When Chris Matthews questioned his judgements on the matter in an interview, Miller stated that he wished you could still challenge someone to a duel.
- Bob Casey, the late Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, was denied a speaking spot at the party's 1992 national convention because he wouldn't endorse the candidate. The myth persists that he was barred from speaking for his pro-life views despite that convention (and every one since) featuring speeches from any number of pro-life Democrats.
- On the other side of the aisle, there's former Vermont senator Jim Jeffords, who, sick and tired of being called a RINO, became an independent in 2001 and began caucusing with the Democrats. Needless to say, in a senate divided exactly down the middle (50 Republicans, 50 Democrats, and a Republican Vice-President holding the tie-breaking vote), there was no shortage of controversy from this move.
  - Though it does seem like the people of Vermont have warmed to having an "independent" for a Senator, as they elected Bernie Sanders (a self-admitted "democratic socialist," but belonging to no party) to Jeffords' seat when he retired.
- One of the more unusual examples is Mike Gravel, who lost the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries and switched to the ultra-capitalist Libertarian party despite having views roughly in line with Ralph Nader.
  - It may be of some assistance to him that nobody knows quite what Mike Gravel is thinking. He may well have made an excellent president, so long as he could refrain from staring into his coffee cup and spouting zen on national television.
  - If his campaign ads were any indication, his first State of the Union would have killed us all in seven days, so... not so much.
- One explanation for this trope is that for many years the GOP - at least in its Eastern, "Rockefeller Republican" wing - was the more progressive party on social issues (closer to modern Libertarians, though maybe not as extreme), while the Democrats were the party of southern social conservatives. After the Civil Rights act, among other things, was pushed through by Southern Democrat Lyndon Johnson, the parties essentially traded sides as far as social issues went, though they remained more or less the same on economics. Some older conservative Democrats simply stayed in the party (such as Zell Miller, see above), despite the fact that it had generally moved away from them.
- Another simple explanation for this trope is that most parties would rather win in a region that doesn't entirely match their party's ideology with a candidate that doesn't entirely match the party line than abandon that region completely. This results in conservative Democrats running in the South and much of the Midwest, and many liberal Republicans in the northeast.
A lot of old-school Labour supporters would hand this label to Tony Blair, who took over the party and basically abandoned all of their socialist policies in favour of liberal capitalism, while still relying on their old working class core voters.
- Likewise President Bill Clinton, who was about as far left as Dwight Eisenhower. (Which may say more about Eisenhower than Clinton depending on your outlook.)
  - Eisenhower's mistresses were better-looking, though.
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.
- And then they fired Lisa Ling and brought in Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
- Well, Your Mileage May Vary, but Bush is known to have "spent like a liberal" as far as budgets go (though on substantially different programs), and did try to win over Hispanic voters. He was, however, a Christian conservative with nationalistic beliefs, and so fit better with the Republicans.
- To amplify on that, both of the Bushes were about as liberal as a Republican candidate could be without losing the party base.
  - Hold your nose and pull the lever, because the alternatives were much worse, style of keeping the party base. Mc Cain qualified as that, too.
A lot of southern black Democrats are seen as this, as many of them have conservative Christian social views more in line with the GOP.