Lot of stuff going on at Fox News these days and not just the hiring of Sarah Palin as a commentator, although that should be interesting.The real thing that interests me is the emergence of CAIR spokesmen on the network. For the uninitiated, it is the Council for American Islamic Relations. Betcha there is no counterpart to it in your favorite Middle Eastern country.

Anyway, one of the CAIR spokesmen was on Bill O’Reilly the other day, his second appearance in a month. Ibrahim Hooper was discussing profiling of Muslims following the recent Christmas Day bombing attempt. Prior to his appearance, CAIR’s top guy Nihad Awad, among others, had appeared on FOX to refute any the notion that the Fort Hood shooter had any Islamic ties. Oh, almost forgot. After Hooper’s latest appearance O’Reilly called him a ” stand-up guy.” Somehow, he failed to make mention of the organization’s terror connections. Our government has it as an un-indicted terrorist co-conspirator as well as investigating it through the FBI.

(CAIR could be called many things but I suppose a connection to FOX would have not been one of them. The Administration itself barely considers them a news organization, much less a fair and balanced one. But that may charge.)

So, is there any reason, logical or otherwise, as to why these guys should get deferential treatment from the FOX guys? Could be. As Rush is wont to say, one should always follow the money. For our purposes, the money comes from a Saudi Arabian source and goes to both CAIR and to FOX. The financial guy is a Saudi prince named al-Walid bin Talal, who at present owns a 5.5% voting share in the FOX parent company News Corp, run by media mogul Rupert Murdoch. That fact is no secret, as it is readily admitted by News Corp. But, our friend bin-Talal also helps bankroll CAIR as do other Saudis, a fact that is blatantly denied by their leadership, but has been confirmed through State Department and other sources.

So CAIR, who is not a legitimate source for Islamic interests continues to portray itself as such’ when in reality it is much closer to those who advocate violent behavior. Seems that with FOX, they are getting their own bully pulpit to influence American public opinion in a manner not consistent with the usual perception of FOX as one who tilts to the right. Maybe Palin can look into this. Or better yet, what about it Mr Beck? Is there a story here?