The rotund gent you see at right is being indicted in the city of New York for snatching a McCain campaign sign from the hands of a middle-aged woman, snapping it in half and then punching the GOP supporter, who’s been described as “small” and “quiet,” in the face. Witnesses to the assault said the man gave no indication as to why he was attacking the lady, to whom he said only, “You people are ridiculous!”
What a crazy man. But what’s even crazier is this…
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A round of sympathy for Bill O’Reilly, y’all. The Fox News pundit feels he’s been the subject of unfair “attacks and smears” on his reputation. And that’s completely true; he has been! But also: They’re totally fair and he deserves them, BECAUSE HE IS A HATEMONGER. But despite his reservations about his Q score, he’s allowing Roger Ailes to resign him to the network, so he can continue screaming “shut up” at guests for years to come. A new four-year contract extension (where his $10 million annual salary will likely lift) is expected to be announced today, just in time to shore up O’Reilly’s brand on “fair and balanced” attacks for the next presidential cycle.
We’ve already mentioned how weird it is that a station like Fox News would object to having their broadcasters appear for a half of second in one of John McCain’s political ads, or MSNBC for Obama’s. So far, Fox, CBS, and NBC have all petitioned YouTube to remove videos that feature any of their on-air talent, even if the broadcasters themselves are openly for one of the candidates. These stations petition YouTube to take down any video ads that feature Katie Couric, Major Garrett, or Keith Olbermann, and YouTube so far has been prompt about the removal.
Okay, sure, that makes sense because technically it’s the networks that own the talent’s image, and they can’t risk ratings damage by coming out in favor of a certain candidate, even if it is obvious to everyone in the world which way MSNBC and Fox staffers are likely to vote. Fine.
But now John McCain has the support of a digital advocacy group called the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which agrees that super-short segments of news footage falls under the fair use doctrine. A grateful but befuddled McCain replies, “A what advocacy group?”
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As part of our celebration of Judith Miller joining Fox News as a correspondent — a gig that can pay anywhere from $150-$350k/year — we thought it worth revisiting November 9, 2005, when the Times‘ executive editor Bill Keller wished her farewell: “We wish her well in the next phase of her career.” Well that does sum things up.
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Wolfson, of course, dismisses the chatter. ???People come up to me on the street???on the street!???and ask, ???How can you be on Fox News? How can you talk to Rove?????????? he says. Then he takes a page straight out of the professional-political-class textbook. ???Well, I like Karl Rove. He???s smart. He???s funny.??? He tugs on his Diet Coke, looking genuinely peeved. ???Look, I???m under no illusions about what he and Bush have done to the country. I think Bush is the worst president since Hoover, and Karl has at least some responsibility for that. But on TV, he???s a good colleague.???
–Former Hillary Clinton attack dog and current Fox News analyst Howard Wolfson on the switch to the Dark Side
Judith Miller is the erstwhile New York Times reporter who claimed, having been fed very bad information, that Saddam Hussein was harboring weapons of mass destruction. She was summarily ridiculed, shamed, and slayed at the stake. Fitting, then, that the woman who helped get us into the Iraq war will find work on the television network that’s helped us stay there. Indeed, Ms. Miller is joining Fox News as a contributor, because that is where all once high flying members of the the media-political establishment end up. [Photo: Salon]
Amidst rumors that Elisabeth Hasselbeck might be leaving ABC for more Republican-friendly pastures, the lone dissent on The View cleared up any ideas that she’d be moving to Fox. And she did not enjoy Joy Behar’s comparison of herself to another hate-fuckable blond conservative:
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What a perfect way to start off the weekend! Here’s Alan Colmes’ hate mail, which he has dutifully arranged for your reading pleasure so you can see how the lone liberal(?) on Fox News is treated by his “fans.” Did we mention his cohost, Sean Hannity, just got a huge resign deal?
Some juicy items (all spelled correctly!) after the jump:
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‘Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity has signed on for another tour at the top-ranked news channel. Financial terms of the multiyear deal were not announced. But it would keep him on “Hannity and Colmes” and “Hannity’s America.” It also follows a new radio deal he made with ABC Radio Networks, earlier this year, for a reported $100 million over five years.’ [THR]
A couple weeks ago, we reviewed Spinspotter, an ostensibly useful widget for determining whether or not an article you’re reading contains any sort of media bias. Except it is either really difficult to figure out or completely useless, since Huffington Post and Drudge Report, arguably to of the most spinniest of spin journals, contain no spin, according to Spinspotter.
Whatever. Now there is a second option for those of you looking to pepper the comment sections of various blogs with “reports” of bias in journalism.
Say hello to The Contrarian:
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Jerome Corsi, krazy konspiracy theorist (that’s a picture of him with “bigfoot evidence”) and frequent Fox News guest (duh) was detained in, and subsequently deported from Kenya after he made it widely known that he was going there locate Barack Obama’s half-brother George and give him a check for $1,000. Somehow giving George money was going to discredit Barack, since Corsi is the author of the error-ridden bestseller, The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality.
But Corsi wouldn’t shut up about his plan, giving Kenya officials ample time to find out and be like “hell no.” Corsi was detained after the American failed to obtain the proper work permit, and got the boot right out of the country.
If you start feeling some sympathy for Corsi, just remember this is the guy who started the whole Swift Boat campaign against John Kerry in 2004.
Below, some footage of Corsi on Fox and Friends spouting his nonsense:
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In the case of firebrand leftist Keith Olbermann versus the inhumanly rich and powerful conservative Rupert Murdoch, the combatants have a history that extends well beyond Olbermann’s almost nightly attacks on Murdoch from his pulpit on MSNBC. A history that belies Olbermann’s constant criticism of the man behind the ugly, ugly Fox News channel and one that deserves to be addressed.
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“FNC averaged 11,098,000 Total Viewers during last night’s vice presidential debate, most among the cable networks and the highest viewership in the network’s 12 year history. CNN averaged 10,685,000, and MSNBC averaged 4,412,000.” [TVN]
Finally, Sarah Palin will have to answer questions about her disastrous interview with Katie Couric. Except whoops, she’s doing it on Fox News, and the big revelation is that she seemed flustered and ill-prepared because she was annoyed that Katie wasn’t asking the right questions. The questions the American People wanted to hear!
Watch after the jump, and decide for yourself if this is what you’ve been waiting for a politician to say all your life:
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Political writer and former Clinton adviser Dick Morris has a little bit of history with Fox’s preferred only liberal, Alan Colmes. The two sparred in August when Colmes called out the creepy foot fetishist for defending John McCain’s hypocritical Iraq policies, and now the duo are at it again, this time over Sarah Palin’s performance in the debate last night:
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Best moments of the debate included Palin winking, Palin telling Biden that his wife’s reward was in heaven (4:15 into the clip), and everyone agreeing on gay rights.
But what did the guys who are paid to analyze the debates think? A pundit round-up, after the jump:
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We’d like you to take a look at something. Last night, presidential debate moderator hopeful Bill O’Reilly had Rep. Barney Frank on his show, to slam him for supposedly recommending to America the type of crappy investments that got us into this economic mess. Screamed O’Reilly while demanding Frank step down as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee: “C’mon you coward! … You’re a coward!” Shining moment stuff here, folks.
And then there’s this clip, of a wee version of the Fox News pundit, who is to Bill O’Reilly what Tina Fey is to Sarah Palin.
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Surprise! This one has nothing to do with John McCain or Sarah Palin or reading or believing women should have their rapist’s babies. This post is purely about the idiocy of Fox News and how badly every ding dong in that place’s employ understands satire and common decency.
ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and the Associated Press are suing Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and Attorney General Lori Swanson for enacting a law to expand the amount of space news orgs have to remain from polling stations. Previously, the law was the crews had to stand 100 feet away from the booths (inside the buildings), but with the new statutes, that 100-foot circle would start outside the buildings, pushing the networks farther away:
“As a polling reporter moves farther and farther away from the polling place, the likelihood of a voter getting into his or her car and driving away, or of melding into a crowd of non-voters, increases.
“Second, as distance increases, it becomes harder to discern those who are voters from those who are not.
“Third, as distance increases, the statistical reliability of the sample itself decreases because it becomes impossible to interview in the scientifically selected pattern (e.g. every fourth voter, every fifth voter, etc.).”
You can see how this be a problem: After polling, most Republicans veer off to the right of a building to go to McDonalds, while most Democrats tend to get in their car and crumple into a tiny ball to cry. It would be really hard to get a random sampling of the pollsters.
As John McCain’s campaign carefully orchestrates a tightly held press unveiling of Sarah Palin to the media, the interviewers allowed to ask Palin questions are carefully vetted not for their journalistic integrity, but by how well they will shape Palin’s image with viewers.
McCain first chose ABC News’ Charlie Gibson because he’s known for not exactly asking hard (or relevant) questions. Then they pushed Palin to Fox News’ Sean Hannity, where, following MSNBC’s tactic with Barack Obama, the network offered to fluff her seat cushions before beginning the softball Q&A. And then came Katie Couric, whose womanhood was intended to lend a softness to Palin’s ball-busting image.
So, in the eyes of media on-lookers, who came out on top? So far, just Gibson and Couric. While Hannity put out the tea and biscuits for Palin, Gibson and Couric completed friendly tete-a-tetes — complete with walk-and-talk segments — that earned them the respect of their peers by doing one simple thing:
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