Fox News was wrong about a foreign takeover of Weatherford. So, Ken Paxton chimed in | Opinion
A friend’s wife told me you can’t trust anything Fox News says.
Not really. But that’s how little basis Maria Bartiromo had last weekend when she spun a scare story about how foreigners were supposedly swamping Weatherford to get driver’s licenses and register to vote.
It was one of the more ridiculous moments in TV. And it just reminds us how newscasts are for news, and shows are just for show.
Bartiromo wrote on X.com and talked on “Mornings With Maria” about how a “friend’s wife” told her she went to get a driver’s license and found the Parker County office in Weatherford “had a massive line of immigrants getting licenses and had a tent and table ... registering them to vote!”
For one thing, if you see a long line of Hispanic applicants at a Texas driver’s license station, that is not because they came from other country.
That is a sign you are in Texas.
Our population is mostly Hispanic. At age 16 — the age to get a driver’s license — Hispanic applicants outnumber whites 2-to-1.
For another thing, the Texas Department of Public Safety said there was never any tent or table there. For good measure, the DPS banned any voter signup tables from all locations Thursday.
The “friend’s wife” might have seen a signup table somewhere else. A Latino youth advocacy group has been among the organizations at courthouses, libraries and public buildings registering young voters.
But voter registrars can only take applications. They can’t turn anyone down.
That’s the job of state and county workers. And the Parker County Republican Party says there hasn’t been any surge of applications.
Anyway, if you’re hunting non-citizen lawbreakers, is it really likely they’re waiting at the DPS office?
Look, I can absolutely guarantee you there is no mass voting by non-citizens.
If there were, the neighborhoods where more non-natives live would have more voters.
Check out the party primary voting last March 5. The Diamond Hill/Jarvis Library, the Northside Community Center and the Worth Heights Community Center had about 200-300 early votes each.
Keller alone had 5,356.
Naturally, since noncitizen voting isn’t a problem at all in Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton jumped on it.
After his office took phone calls from Fox viewers who don’t know Weatherford from Winnipeg, Paxton announced that his office is investigating “potential voter registration of noncitizens” and that Texans can register when they get a driver’s license, anyway.
He also threatened registrars with jail if somebody lies about being a citizen.
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, there are currently zero people in prison in Texas for voting illegally.
So I guess he wants to lock up Texas’ volunteer voter registrars?
This was not the first time Fox has dumped a steaming pile on a deep-red city near Fort Worth.
In summer 2012 — also an election year — “Fox & Friends Weekend” made up a story about Mineral Wells banning American flags.
“There is this city council in Texas,” then-host Alisyn Camerota began, “and they’re saying no more American flags!”
What!? No flags?
What kind of leftist socialist commie pinko town is that?
As it turned out, Mineral Wells simply had a new rule for the town cemetery. Flags had to be in a bracket attached to the marker.
The cemetery was looking like a Walmart closeout sale. It had flags, plastic flowers, hanging baskets, wind chimes, birdhouses, birdbaths, squirrel feeders, chaise lounges and cement statues.
CBS Texas did the story. The headline said Mineral Wells was regulating flags near veterans’ graves.
By the weekend, “Fox & Friends Weekend” warped that into:
“Texas Town Rules To Ban American Flags Displayed at Grave Sites.”
Mineral Wells was besieged with emails, online attacks and even threats.
After the story, “Fox & Friends Weekend” co-host Mike Jerrick sneered in a Tucker Carlson-like tone, “Bring in the common-sense police!”
Yes. Please.
This story was originally published August 22, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
