On Wednesday night, ABC was the lone network to omit from their coverage of the Iran deal rally that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei offered a new rant hours earlier in which he promised the country will not cooperate with the U.S. on any other issue beyond the deal in addition to predicting that Israel would not exist in 25 years.
Phil Robertson

Although Phil Robertson had already dodged a bullet Tuesday morning by giving a clever answer to ABC reporter Ryan Owens, who asked Phil Robertson if “he was a homophobe,” Robertson still wasn’t out of hot water. The famous patriarch of A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” and outspoken Christian conservative is a frequent media target. Predictably, media lefties made it clear who they think the real enemy is.
As news broke earlier in the day that a second American journalist had been beheaded by ISIL, Hannity asked Robertson what America’s options were for dealing with the terrorists. Robinson replied, “In this case, you either have to convert them,” Robertson paused. “Which I think would be next to impossible.” He explained, “I’m not giving up on them, but I’m just saying, either convert them or kill them. One or the other. Maybe that time has come and gone. So I think with this ideology ... we have to deal with this group way more harshly than we have up to this point.” He went on to make it clear he would “rather preach the Gospel of Jesus to them, but would be “prepared” to kill if they were looking for a fight.
Watch the rest of his comments below:
Although Phil Robertson appeared on Tuesday's Good Morning America to promote his new book, reporter Ryan Owens couldn't resist portraying the reality show personality as an anti-gay bigot. Owens reminded viewers of the Duck Dynasty star's interview with GQ where he called homosexuality a sin. Owens pressed, "Would you consider yourself a homophobe?" [See video below. MP3 audio here.]
Robertson retorted, "I'm as much of a homophobe as Jesus was. People who are participating in homosexual behavior, they need to know that I love them." ABC has not been consistent in pressing liberal celebrities about their controversial views. GMA hosts have repeatedly hyped Rosie O'Donnell without questioning the comedienne's 9/11 conspiracy beliefs.

Christian Toto at Big Hollywood reported that Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson spoke at a “Rock the South” festival in Cullman, Alabama that also featured Lynyrd Skynrd and The Charlie Daniels Band.
Robertson’s company recently sold its one-millionth duck call, and Robertson and his son Alan told the crowd they were thankful. Robertson founded the company out of his love for duck hunting, and he now operates a multi-million dollar business. “You don’t think the Almighty ain’t there?,” he said.

Talking Points Memo editor and publisher Josh Marshall contended Thursday that there's been a "relatively consistent pattern" of conservatives lionizing those who "hat[e] or insult...some historically or currently discriminated against group." Some of these newly minted right-wing heroes, Marshall argued, lead with their bigotry; others gain fame for "being kind of nuts" and their bigotry emerges later.
Marshall opined that Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson definitely would belong in such a group, but added that he's "on the fence" about whether Dr. Ben Carson would qualify.

On Thursday's Hannity, Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson appeared to discuss his speech at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. The host suggested Robertson is a “preacher at heart.” The A&E star explained that he views everything through a faith lens and finds himself dealing more with “spiritual warfare.”
The man behind the duck call described his life's mission as one based upon the “gospel of Jesus, Jesus died for the sins of the world.” A simple message, Robertson believes. “God loves you, sent Jesus to die for you.”
Twins David and Jason Benham were working on a pilot for a series to be called Flip It Forward in which they would assist families in building dream homes and fixing up run-down houses when the Home & Garden Television cable channel abruptly canceled the project when the producers learned that the brothers have a history of preaching against homosexuality, abortion and divorce.
As you might expect, gay organizations hailed HGTV's decision while the brothers – sons of evangelical minister Flip Benham – released a statement that said: “If our faith costs us a television show, then so be it.”

[Update, April 7, 10:55 am: the original blog entry inaccurately corrected Phillips for claiming that her husbands, correspondent John Roberts, has the last name "Robertson." In reality, Roberts' legal last name is indeed Robertson. The text below has been corrected to reflect that fact.]
CNN'S Kyra Phillips zeroed on the controversy surrounding Phil Robertson's remarks about homosexuality on Wednesday's New Day, as she interviewed Robertson's son Willie Robertson and his wife, Korie. Phillips played up the "firestorm" after the Duck Dynasty star's interview with GQ, and asked his son, "Is that what you believe?"
However, the correspondent went on to compliment Willie Robertson and his family for how well they apparently have raised their children: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]

Duck Dynasty returned to A&E last night with brand new episodes, the first since the row last month about Phil Robertson's comments regarding sin and homosexuality. The reality show, entering its fifth season, had strong numbers, but they were lower than the season 4 debut. That number was all MSNBC needed to seize on to see a moral victory for the gay-rights groups that had pressured A&E to fire Phil Robertson.
"'Duck Dynasty' ratings dip amid anti-gay flap," thundered the teaser headline on the msnbc.com landing page. Clicking the link brings the reader to Morgan Whitaker's January 17 article, "‘Duck Dynasty’ sees ratings drop in season premiere," which begins (emphasis mine):

Ever since Phil Robertson of “Duck Dynasty” gave an interview with GQ Magazine discussing his views on gay marriage, the folks at MSNBC have been on a tirade against the reality TV star with contributors to the “Lean Forward” network going so far as to say Robertson’s comments are “part of majority white supremacist culture.”
MSNBC’s latest attempt to vilify the “Duck Dynasty” family came during a January 3 segment with host Thomas Roberts, where he and guest Ladd Everitt of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence tried to vilify the family for teaming up with Mossberg to design and sell their own line of firearms. After railing against Phil Robertson for his past comments, Roberts then pushed Mr. Everitt to promote his organization’s anti-gun efforts:
So this family earned $200,000 per episode that season and they represent and they speak to a large swath of the country. Primarily the stereotype almost that you just pointed out. But how do you try to combat that?

The war between Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson and A&E might not be over.
According to a report at the Daily Mail, the Robertson patriarch is looking into ways to move the hit program about his family to "a Christian channel more in keeping with his views."

In two weeks, the Denver Post has clearly exhibited its far-left leaning.
After scrubbing the word "socialist" from an article about the Arapahoe High School shooter earlier in the month, the Post's television critic published a piece at her blog Saturday calling Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson a "hate-speech spewer" and fans of the show "hate-watchers":
