Fox News Watchdog

In a Fox & Friends appearance, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani falsely claimed that President Obama “didn’t mention the word ‘war’ ” in his State of the Union address. In fact, Obama made at least seven mentions of the word “war,” including calling for the U.S. military to “have the resources they need in war,” adding that “we all have a responsibility to support them when they come home.”

Giuliani
falsely claims Obama “didn’t mention the word war last
night”

From the January 28
edition of Fox News’ Fox &
Friends:

GIULIANI: The reality
is he spent something like a page and a half — on what with a 14-,
15-page speech — on national security,
as if it’s an afterthought. It was a footnote to the speech. It was in the —
when the speech was running over an hour and people were starting to yawn, part
of the speech. National security is a lot more important than that. Part of the
problem this president has had is he hasn’t made national security important
enough. He began with not wanting to call it a war, didn’t mention the word
“war” last night, didn’t
mention the word “Islamic
terrorism” last night. This
would be like Franklin Roosevelt giving a State of the Union speech during the
Second World War and not mentioning Nazism and not mentioning the
war.

BRIAN
KILMEADE (Fox & Friends
co-host): Right. Even when it comes to the budget, too, that should
have been factored in.

Obama
mentioned “war” at least seven times

Obama:
Military “must have the resources they need in war.” Obama repeatedly
mentioned the word “war” in his State of the Union address. For example, Obama
stated: “Tonight, all of our men and women in uniform — in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and around the world —
they have to know that we — that they have our respect, our gratitude, our full
support. And just as they must have the resources they need in war, we all have
a responsibility to support them when they come home.” [Obama's State of the
Union address, 01/27/10]

Obama
mentioned war when citing budget deficit. Contrary to Kilmeade’s
claim that “even when it comes to the budget, too, [war] should have been
factored in,” Obama stated: “At the beginning of the last decade, the year 2000,
America had a budget surplus of over
$200 billion. By the time I took office, we had a one-year deficit of over $1
trillion and projected deficits of $8 trillion over the next decade. Most of
this was the result of not paying for two wars, two tax cuts, and an expensive
prescription drug program. On top of that, the effects of the recession put a $3
trillion hole in our budget.” [Obama's State of the Union address, 01/27/10]

Media previously
claimed Obama “finally noticed” we are “at war” with
terrorists

“War” word fixation is
not new. Following
Obama’s January 7 remarks on the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest
Airlines flight —
remarks
during
which Obama stated, “We are at war. We are at war with al Qaeda” — numerous
conservative media figures falsely
suggested that prior to that speech, Obama had not
characterized the fight against terrorists as a war. In fact, in his inaugural
address, Obama stated that “[o]ur nation is at
war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred,” and he has
repeatedly discussed terrorism as the rationale for U.S. military
action abroad.

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