John Cook, over on Gawker, has a bombshell, of sorts, having unearthed documents from the Nixon Library that has Roger Ailes laying out the blueprint for Faux News, decades ahead of time.
Republican media strategist Roger Ailes launched Fox News Channel in 1996, ostensibly as a "fair and balanced" counterpoint to what he regarded as the liberal establishment media. But according to a remarkable document buried deep within the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, the intellectual forerunner for Fox News was a nakedly partisan 1970 plot by Ailes and other Nixon aides to circumvent the "prejudices of network news" and deliver "pro-administration" stories to heartland television viewers.
No doubt, with the dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds of Nixonland, the corpulent liar didn't need the pikers, he just had to bid his time, and launch his own lie factory, were he was The King, and could listen to his lies bounce around, echoing all over the Right Wing Freak Show.
Go read Cook's post, it's overflowing with juicy tidbits
Today, Roger Ailes, the mothernest egg chamber of the vile insects that inhabit the airwaves at Faux News, sitting in on the roundtable, of ABC News' 'This Week'.
I mean, the program also had Barbara Walters sitting in as host/moderator!
I have no idea why Jabba the Ailes decided to appear on “This Week” — but after this beatdown by Krugman, I doubt he’ll be back.
Notice Jabba doesn’t refute Krugman’s charge. He just ignores it, belches up a total non sequitur, then starts spewing Republican talking points. The result? The master propagandist was made to look like an ass on live teevee.
HUFFINGTON: Well, Roger, it's not a question of picking a fight. And aren't you concerned about the language that Glenn Beck is using, which is, after all, inciting the American people? There is a lot of suffering out there, as you know, and when he talks about people being slaughtered, about who is going to be the next in the killing spree...
(CROSSTALK)
AILES: Well, he was talking about Hitler and Stalin slaughtering people. So I think he was probably accurate. Also, I'm a little....
HUFFINGTON: No, no, he was talking about this administration.
AILES: I don't -- I think he speaks English. I don't know, but I mean, I don't misinterpret any of his words. He did say one unfortunate thing, which he apologized for, but that happens in live television. So I don't think it's -- I think if we start going around as the word police in this business, it will be...
HUFFINGTON: It's not about the word police. It's about something deeper. It's about the fact that there is a tradition as the historian Richard Hofstetter said, in American politics, of the paranoid style. And the paranoid style is dangerous when there is real pain out there. I mean, with...
AILES: I agree with you. I read something on your blog that said I looked like J. Edgar Hoover, I had a face like a fist, and I was essentially a malignant tumor...
HUFFINGTON: Well, that's...
AILES: And I thought -- and then it got nasty after that...
HUFFINGTON: ... that was never by anybody that we had...
I suppose, to be fair, we should apologize to malignant tumors, the slanderous analogy to looking like Roger Ailes.
It would be closer to say, he looks more, proverbially speaking, like Joseph Goebbels.
And Krugman's call of Faux News hawking PartyofNoican talking points is on-the-money, as, earlier this month, Newsweek cited ""Roger Ailes is the real head of the GOP";
Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum—which is why God created Roger Ailes. The president of Fox News is, by default, the closest thing there is to a kingmaker in Anti-Obama America. And that, in turn, makes him the de facto leader of the GOP. In a relentless (and spectacularly successful) hunt for cable ratings, Ailes has given invaluable publicity to the tea partiers, furnished tryout platforms to GOP candidates, and trained a fire hose of populist anger at the president and his allies in Congress. While Beltway Republicans wring their hands or write their tracts, Ailes has worked the countryside, using his feel for Main Street resentment to attract and give voice to this year's angriest—and most powerful—voter-viewers: those who hate the Feds, the Fed, and the Ivy League. It was Ailes who put the "party" in the tea parties by giving them a round-the-clock national stage. Next month Fox will have priority access to the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville.
That prompted John Amato, over on Crooks and Liars, to highlight;
Ailes already has been leading the charge to tear down President Obama and has been very successful at that so far. In a year they have changed the political narrative when conservatism and the GOP were in shambles and the country was in meltdown. They were aided by a horrendous economy created by Bush and his conservative cronies of course that Obama inherited. The president has also left his base in the dark too, but FOX News is a real threat to the democratic process in America. PERIOD. I'm not just talking about having a conservative point of view. They created an entire political movement called the tea party movement and not a word from the media about this. Even on TV today, pundits and pols call them a wild card in politics, but that's silly, They make Newt Gingrich look like a moderate republican. When has a media outlet ever turned into an activist organization for one political party and recruited members by sending their hosts on location to do so?
I haven't heard the media complain either that FOX is the only network that has access to the teabagger convention. Once again the Aile's machine chugs along and our country suffers for it as the MSM remains mute.
It's happening, and we have history on this, that we shouldn't ignore.
Now, it will be interesting to see the reaction to Shepard Smith, from inside the chamber, of how many of his colleagues start dissing him (I think it will be a given and Hannity and The Loofah Man will locked-and-loaded), how the Flying Monkeys react.
We’ll have to keep a running check News Hounds today, because they "watch Fox News so you don't have to".
"I hope you will all join me in giving Fox News host Shepard Smith a virtual standing ovation for his emphatic, no-holds-barred stance against torture. If you'd like to send some props to Smith, you can email his show at studiob@foxnews.com."
Fox News' Shep Smith has been known to show a bit of an independent streak once in a while, meaning that he seems less willing to regurgitate FNC's propaganda ...
[Snip]
Overall, he generally comes off as pretty rational (and yes, I do believe that rational conservatives are still in existence.) Smith could probably excel as a legit journalist if he were in some other medium.
I wonder, if Faux News has, oh, I don't know, contingency plans for something like this.
They are not, necessarily, accustomed to such breakdowns.
They have to be worried, about the Flying Monkeys, and dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds, who have heard this (or get pointed to the YouTube), who have been accidentally exposed to this piece of reality.
Roger Ailes, surely, knows how confused they must be today, the pain and anguish they are experiencing.
The switchboard could be on fire by now, all wanting to know, did Shep Smith just pull the curtain back, or did he, somehow, inexplicably, get abducted by aliens, and reprogrammed to speak like ... like ... like a ... oh God ... a Democrat!
We wouldn't bet against complete chaos at Faux News headquarters today.
Or maybe, it is something entirely different.
Maybe it is Shepard Smith, crying for help, attempting to get a message out, seeking assistance to getting out of the hellhole of Faux News.
Oh, is he shrewd.
He couldn't just blurt it out, as no doubt, the screen would cut-to-black, or a commercial, Faux News Security would swoop in, throw a net over him, and spirit him away, for reprogramming, or worse.
No, Shep's a smart cookie.
Take a hot issue in the news, let loose with a raw, emotional, honest response, knowing his signal will be heard, will be carried in the winds, will reverberate through the World Wide Web, and his rescue will come in swift time.
Just in case, run while you can Shep! ... Get out - Now! ...
Don't wait!
Ailes, likely, already as a team of people watching you, perhaps even the dreaded, fear-evoking Jesse Watters will ambush you, forcing you to recant, on-camera.
Run, Shep, Run ...
And, don't look back!
(Hmmm, maybe it's time for MSNBC - Hey, after all, they did hire a former Faux Newser, the world-wide-wonder, Rita Cosby - should give Shepard Smith shelter. They can lose that second-hour rebroadcast of Tweety, and plug in Shep, and go against their droning format of Host-Clips-Talking Heads, and have Shep man a round table, and, to be even more groundbreaking, instead of the same lapdog, MSM journalists, bring in bloggers, to chew over the days' issues ... I mean, if they're going to give Chucky T.a show ... )
Actually, though humor and satire, certainly, can be sucked out of it, it was, when you really think about, pretty disgusting.
We speak of the Bush Clan(the former lackey President 41, the Court-Appointed President 43, and the one that will, mainly due to the previously-mentioned two, never get to be President) calling the "cheeseburger that sweats" (H/T Barry Crimmins), aka Rush Limbaugh, to congratulate him on 20-years of polluting the airwaves.
What Rush Limbaugh has provided this country far exceeds his lucrative income, the result of what Rush calls “confiscatory advertising rates.” For every dollar he has earned over the years, his encouragement to millions of loyal Dittoheads has surely generated much more in new wealth for us all.
Matthews: “Did you see FOX television as a tool when you were in the White House? As a useful avenue to get your message out?”
McClellan: “I make a distinction between the journalists and the commentators. Certainly there were commentators and other, pundits at FOX News, that were useful to the White House.” […] That was something we at the White House, yes, were doing, getting them talkng points and making sure they knew where we were coming from.
Matthews: “So you were using these commentators as your spokespeople.”
July 25: In his appearance on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan revealed that the White House routinely submitted literal talking points for prime time stars of Fox News like Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity. Air America’s Rachel Maddow talks with Keith Olbermann about the line between political agreement and outright puppetry.
Hmmm ... I wonder, will the Faux news people go to the Bush Grindhouse for the last office party on January 19th, or will they have their own, in-studio?
You want broken chairs and bodies strewn across the stage? Bouncing camera shots of Obama, Wallace and others, heatedly screaming at each other?
The last thing, especially right now, that Obama needs is to have a combative, confrontational Fox News interview, that gets looped to the high heavens (Fox would, likely, launch yet another new network just for that only), so for the next week, all that gets talked about is Obama's combative and confrontational Fox interview?
No, Thank You.
So, he goes Eddie Haskell, smiles at his host, drives his points home, and comes out of there without a ripped shirt.
What's that old newspaper saw - you never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel?
Libby, at Newshoggers, hits it about right, when she says "He's walking a tightrope in this race and while he didn't dazzle with any impressive tricks, he didn't fall off either."
When Obama gets the nomination, he's going to be on Fox News, oh, probably every other minute, and no doubt, they'll be slamming and smearing him.
So, having a edited video clip, of Wallace complimenting, or agreeing with him, that will be something the Obama Camp can have to buttress themselves
Chalk this up to Obama keeping, and acting on, one of his policies - That we should talk to our enemies.
"The point is that Fox News years ago made an obvious decision to appeal almost exclusively to Republican viewers. The good news then for Fox News was that it succeeded. The bad news now for Fox News is that it succeeded.
Meaning, when the GOP catches a cold, everybody at Fox News gets sick. As blogger Logan Murphy put it at Crooks and Liars, "Watching FOXNews getting their comeuppance has been fun to watch. They made their bed, now they're having to lie in it and it's not too comfortable."
If electing Hillary or Obama in November causes an earthquake, there'll be a nearly-as-large aftershock, being the fall of the vaunted leader,. Roger Ailes.
For even one of the best, and mightiest, smearmeisters will have the most difficult time spinning his way out of this one.
Now, the future looks even bleaker, perhaps forcing the Faux News Network to shift into one of those sundown-to-sunrise broadcasters, an extended, barely-watched news infomercial for the freakshow and dittoheads.
But never say never ... Something could happen to change their fortunes ... Maybe some new blood will come along ... Maybe someone like, say, Mary Katharine Ham, to pull them out of the fire ...
"I heard that Al Qaeda causes night to fall" Keith Olbermann
Heads are gonna roll on this one.
You can expect certain things ... Like the Rightwing Freakshow, such as Glen Beck and Stalkin' "M-Squared" Malkin, heads spinning like Linda Blair, foaming that the Environmentalists are to blame for the California wildfires.
You think that uber-newsman Roger Ailes would be on top of his game, especially this week, with the launch of the Faux Business Network. That they would be bellowing and hawking everything in the name of FBN. From Wall Street mergers to Kool-Aid stands (Republican, Red State Kool Aid stands, of course).
One small problem - the memo on this scoop was four-years old, and, if that wasn't noticed, California wasn't mentioned as being part of this attack.
2nd Memo to Roger: Make sure new producers you hire can read, or have eye-glasses
Now just think, you've launched an alleged business network, you have hours-and-hours of airtime to fill and you have this hot scoop on the Number One story in the nation this same week and you blow it!
I mean, Roger, jeepers, you could have milked this for two, possible three, days .. Maybe all week!
"Al Qaeda Set Wildfires To Destroy U.S. Timber Industry"
There's a day of talking heads ... Analysts, Lobbyists, other industry gadflys, egged on by your anchors, predicting dire consequences of no newspapers, no greeting cards (quick cut to Jane Doe, somewhere in Red State America, crying at not being able to send out Christmas Cards this year - Get O"Reilly on this one, so he can launch this years' War Against Christmas bullshit)
Or "Al Qaeda Wildfires Aimed At Crippling California Agriculture"
The Food Industry, Roger ... Oh, Christ, that's three-days, minimum ...
No lettuce for salads, which you can tie-in and exploit with the obesity issue ("Al Qaeda Wants To Make Americans Fat!") ... Avocados! ... Reporter stand-ups from Southern California restaurants, camera-shot on a lonely bowl of salsa chips, which, thanks to Al Qaeda, there's nothing to dip them into.
Grapes! ... Wine! ... Here's the tried-and-true Faux News brand of bashing the French ... That the French must be in cahoots with Al Qaeda so they can push up the sales of French wine, over California Wine ... More hours of experts babbling away, quoting Republican talking points ...
The Ratings Buster
And, of course Roger, the scoop of scoops ... The Ratings Buster ... The item that will redefine the maps that this story will place your fledgling network on ...
Using all the power of those skills so deftly employed by the Faux News Network, namely, making up whatever you want to drill home your jingoistic fear-mongering, and after hours and days of teasers about the big story, what it's all about, coming ...
"Al Qaeda Wildfires Seen As Diversion; Goal Is To Overtake Disneyland"
That's right. Osama bin Laden wants to take control of Disneyland and turn it into a Muslim playground ... All woman (including Minnie Mouse) visitors in hijabs ... Out goes the Hall of Presidents, in comes the Hall of Ayatollahs ... It now becomes Country Camel Jamboree ...
You let your "Chatty Kathy's" in the morning dribble out this faux story when you could have trumpeted it for days-on-end with your new business channel ... Aside from building your audience and television footprint, think of all that lost revenue ... Millions, Roger, millions ...
And you know what that means ... Ruppert comes down on you.
So, get busy, hire all those new producers and have them start combing through some more 4-year old intelligence memos ... There's gotta be another non-story story that you can puff up.
Well, we had our first, de facto, runaway poll since launching The Garlic Weekly Poll, with an overwhelming 60% of the voters believing the Fox News Network already had comedy programs on-air with Hannity and O'Reilly.
The much-heralded debut last week of Roger Ailes' idea of humor, saw Fox launch the '1/2 Hour News Hour'. Seeing the words "Roger Ailes", Fox" and "humor" in the same sentence should tell you more than you need to know, and, if not, the program also had a "skit" featuring (gag) Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter as Prez and VP.
'Crooks and Liar's' unfurled the headline "Conservative Comedy Show: So bad it’s hilarious" ... Tom Schales in 'The Washington Post" asked"Thus the question "Can the right laugh at itself?" is neither addressed nor answered" ... And Troy Paterson in 'Slate' positioned the effort with "The mind strains to conceive of political humor that might be less humorous—or, ultimately, less political. Hannity and Colmes trying "Who's on First"? Dennis Kucinich taking sledgehammer in hand to try Gallagher's act? Jimmy Fallon attempting a Thurmond-length filibuster?"
No need to set your TIVO's for the next airing, this baby jumped the shark even before the pixels in your viewing screen lit up.
The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll February 19 - February 24, 2007
Fox News Network has launched a "comedy" show, '1/2 Hour News Hour'. Reviews have, generally, been poor, it has canned laughter, not a live audience and the material is weak. So ...
1. I thought Fox News already had comedy programs on, with Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly Tally 60%
2. I won't watch it. I'd rather become a real estate salesperson in Baghdad than sit through a Fox News comedy program Tally 25%
3. I'll watch, but only if Roger Ailes and Ruppert Murdoch perform skits in drag Tally 12%
4. I plan on becoming a regular watcher. The mainstream media doesn't make fun of the Democrats and Liberals enough Tally 3%
This week’s Poll -Vice President Dick Cheney's recent attacks against Nancy Pelosi and John Murtha, that their strategies will "validate Al-Qaeda", were remarkable in that ...
Scroll up to the top right corner to place your vote
Thankfully, the Garlic poll voters rejected seeing Roger Ailes in drag.
Drop the comedy and stick to touting the RNC's talking points there, big guy
J. Thomas Duffy created and lauched 'The Garlic in 2005.
Mr. Duffy is an accomplished writer, with experience as a newspaper reporter, radio writer, comedy and stand-up writer, the author of three children's books (unpublished, so far) and, and, through a good number of his writing experience, actually received payment for it.
Mr. Duffy is also a Contributing Editor on the blog, 'The Reaction' and a Contributing Writer to the blog 'The Moderate Voice.
In his spare time, Mr. Duffy likes to promulgate that is actually the dog salivating that caused Pavlov to ring the bell.
