Seldom does a week goes by that one of our local "newspapers" doesn't remind us that Hillary Clinton said that "we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business." As has been pointed out by Clinton's supporters and a number of media sources, the quote lacks context and does not include her plan for miners. Add Fox News (yes, Fox News) to the list of Hillary defenders. This morning, Media Matters headlined a discussion that occurred yesterday on Fox News:

Two Fox Anchors Admit Hillary Clinton Was Unfairly Attacked For Being Honest About Coal Miners

Chris Wallace: Clinton Said "We've Got To Find You Other Jobs, [Which] Didn't Really Get Talked About"

Here's the transcript:

SHEPARD SMITH (HOST): I'm waiting for the politician who eventually, and it probably won't be now, but eventually finds it politically necessary to tell the truth, that globalism is not going away, and that economies are going to have to change fundamentally and there is no bringing back some things that are gone because of realities in the world. That no, you can't have it the way it was. It has to change now because the world has changed. That reality has not been spoken.

CHRIS WALLACE: Let's take an example of that. Because that's kind of what Hillary Clinton was saying when she got roasted for talking about coal miners.

SMITH: That's right.

WALLACE: You're not going to get your jobs back, and the second --

SMITH: Because they're not.

WALLACE: -- and the second half of that, which is, so we've got to find you other jobs, didn't really get talked about. And that explains why it's so dangerous to play the truth card, and to just be honest and open.

Here's a link to the clip. (I could not get it to embed properly.)

If you watch all of the clip, Shepard Smith notes that in the 1980 presidential campaign Ronald Reagan promised to bring back "big steel" to Pittsburgh. Both he and Wallace then agree that "big steel" never came back. (A criticism of Reagan? Is this really Fox News?) Smith then goes on to praise Pittsburgh for "coming back in a big way" because it adapted; from there he suggests that this is what Appalachia needs to do.

Just when I was beginning to think that I may have misjudged Fox News, Media Matters brought me back to reality. Media Matters' top story at noon was how Fox News preempted Muslim Khizr Khan's moving speech last night about his son who posthumously had been awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his actions in the Iraq War. Here's the headline and lede:

Fox News Plays Benghazi Commercial Over Khizr Khan's Anti-Trump Speech At The Democratic National Convention

Fox News Plays Katy Perry Song After Khan Leaves Stage

Fox News ignored a speech by the father of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in 2004 in the Iraq war, instead opting to air commercials during the speech. Fox later went live to a song by pop singer Katy Perry after the speech.

Yeah, that's more like what I expect from Fox.