Fox News Sees ‘Violent’ ‘Union Thugs’ Attacking State Senator, But Senator Saw ‘A Lot Of Courteous People’

Fox has been breathlessly hyping a video from Madison, WI supposedly showing “union thugs” attacking GOP state Sen. Glenn Grothman outside the Statehouse. In the video, protesters yell “shame” at Grothman as he enters the building, aided by Democratic State Rep. Brett Hulsey, who escorts Grothman through the crowd and reminds the protesters to be respectful of political opponents.

The video is dramatic, but to Fox News, it’s downright terrifying. Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade saw a “violent” “angry mob,” while fellow Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy found the footage “absolutely scary.” Fox host Sean Hannity said while watching the “frightening” video that he was “concerned for this guy’s safety.” And contributor Michelle Malkin agreed, viewing the video as proof that “the rule of law has been supplanted by the rule of the mob.”

But one key player in this story didn’t find the incident scary — Grothman himself. Despite Fox host Greta Van Susteren’s best attempts, while appearing on her show last night, Grothman said he never “felt threatened,” and that in fact, “there were many friendly people in that crowd”:

GRETA: Senator, were you surprised to see a Democrat step in like that, in that crowd, because itvery unfriendly to you sir?
GROTHMAN: No no no, there were many friendly people in that crowd. I think there were two people, who were kind of part of the protesters, who were kind of designated peacemakers. And there was an EMT there as well. I don’t really feel that I ever felt threatened, but it was nice to had a lot of courteous people in that crowd in addition to the yelling people.

Watch a compilation of Fox & Friends, Hannity, and Grothman’s comments:

Grothman’s comments will certainly not stop Fox from pretending that Grothman was violently threatened; Kilmeade and Doocy still fretted over the “angry mob” this morning — hours after Grothman appeared on Van Suteren’s show. But deceptively characterizing a video is at least a step up from deceptively playing a completely erroneous video, as Fox did Monday.