I like this guy:
It’s a very fair question. Fox News isn’t a news organization, it is a partisan PR firm for the Republican party. All the things Republicans have accused the media of for years, they are now actually doing with FOX. What Fox produces is not news, it is propaganda, spin, misinformation, and campaign agitprop for the GOP. This should have been clear years ago, but their behavior over the past two years, including hosting tea parties and the Glenn Beck nonsense, should make it explicit.
And really, if I were an actual journalist, I’d worry about my reputation and think twice before working with or for any Fox channel. I know the beltway boys and DC insiders have to play nice with their twisted sister of a “news organization,” but the rest of us should feel free to call them what they are, which is a PR wing for the Republican party.
(via)
Martin
Criminal summons for Profitt. Time to go see the judge, son.
folkbum
That’s my friend Sachin. I’m very proud to be a Milwaukee Democrat today!
kommrade reproductive vigor
Fxd.
Redshirt
Rule for Wingnuts: What they accuse others of, they are guilty of themselves.
Dexter
The reporter was clearly not prepared for this “welcome”.
Keith G
But John, FOX is only there to balance out the public media and Dan Rather – according to my brother.
srv
And those teabaggers are not going take being called racists anymore. Even Tom Proffitt has black friends.
Catsy
That was a thing of beauty.
“Your news organization is not credible.”
Nice to see these people getting called out more and more for what they are. It’d be nicer if it was someone other than a Dem Party volunteer/employee doing it, but I’ll take it all the same.
freelancer
We’ve Got The Right To Choose And
There Ain’t No Way We’ll Lose It
This Is Our Life, This Is Our Song
We’ll Fight The Powers That Be Just
Don’t Pick Our Destiny ’cause
you Don’t Know Us, You Don’t Belong
Comrade Luke
John, are you by chance at the PayPal developer conference? Seems that the whole freezing accounts thing is attracting attention.
:)
Maude
@Martin:
Have they found him yet?
Mark S.
I’ve wondered about that. My best guess is because there are only a handful of big media outlets, journalists are leery of burning their bridges with one of them in case they ever find themselves looking for another job. But it doesn’t seem like the people who work at Fox give a shit about the fee fees of the people who work at other networks, so maybe that’s not what’s going on.
Lev
Well, yes. When Juan Williams is your “liberal” voice, it is not good.
Joe Bauers
@Redshirt:
That is 100% true. The way I would know that a Republican just stole $20 from me is that he would accuse me of stealing $20 from him. They can’t seem to help it.
aimai
I was attacked by some Fox apparatchik when I was clerking the last election–there had been some kind of screw up at headquarters and we hadn’t gotten a good voter list and people were royally pissed off. But the Fox news reporter was just terrifyingly hostile and scary. We aren’t allowed to talk to reporters and we actually have a job to do on election day which we were all trying to do to the best of our ability. There was zero reason to come after the low level poll workers for an obvious paperwork problem–that wasn’t disenfranchising anyone–at the city level. But the amount of bitchery and meanness that this reporter displayed to me, personally, was kind of staggering.
aimai
slag
Not buying it.
Omnes Omnibus
Well done, Milwaukee Democrats, well done indeed.
Seebach
The Case for Obama
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/220013?RS_show_page=0
Martin
@Maude: Doesn’t say, but I would assume so. He doesn’t seem to be resisting any of this, what with issuing a press statement and all.
If I were a judge I’d lay the smallest felony on him I could just to get his voting privileges revoked. What would fuck with a tea partier more?
El Cid
This Democratic Party leader is clearly in league with Al Qa’ida, and James O’Keefe will soon expose him as the child sex trafficker he must be. Also, he is racist against Fox News.
morzer
It’s a pleasure to see Foreign Overseas Xtremist News called out for what they are. They are a propaganda outlet, serving an Australian extremist owner and partly owned by a repulsive Saudi prince. They have no connection with or interest in real news or honest journalism, and they don’t give a damn about America’s best interests, much less those of non-millionaire Americans who don’t work for Big Oil, Big Pharma or Wall Street.
lamh32
OT, but i just wanted to give an update on what’s going on in my neighborhood, as it pertains to the DNC/OfA/Obama efforts to get Afr Am voters to get to the polls next week. It’s fairly long, so I’m gonna post in in segments sorry.
PART ONE:
So I know historically, Afr Am don’t’ really vote in large numbers in midterm elections, but I’m thinking this year may be different.
Now let me say that I don’t’ expect some astronomical numbers come Nov 2, it’s just that I only have anecdotal evidence that the Dem and particularly President Obama’s push for Afr Am to vote this midterms are actually working. Are they working in large enough numbers to avert a tidal wave? I’m not sure.
I can only tell you, that in conversations I’ve had, and listening to local “urban” radio and national “urban” radio, people are listening.
Anyway, I thought I’d give ya’ll a little scope on what’s going on. DNC and allies really do have a presence on “urban” radio. I listen to both my “urban” radio stations/program, and also to the 3 major nationally syndicated radio programs. So here’s a breakdown, I’m sorry if it’s too long…
Brick Oven Bill
Glenn Beck just did a show slamming the Republican Party. This post does not make much sense to me.
General Stuck
I read today where the wingnuts spent 2 billion with a B on this election via outside groups. More than 7 times democrat spending. That pretty much makes even Fox News obsolete, at least for elections, and the increasing infection of huge amounts of corporate cash into our politics is a ticket to hell for us all.
El Cid
It may be extremely unlikely, but in the tiny, miraculous case that Democrats keep the House, I urge every Democrat and liberal and so forth every where to call every right wing radio show and network and scoff at them, or even just laugh.
Pipe dream, I know. I’ll never again see that moment after Democrats won in 2006, tuning into Fux & Fiends, who all looked like 400 people had just farted in the studio.
morzer
@Brick Oven Bill:
You’ve suddenly decided you want things to make sense? After a lifetime of wingnut?
Calouste
@Redshirt:
Which means that we can be pretty sure that the GOP is actually committing massive voter fraud as we speak.
Cat Lady
Has anyone seen his countertops?
ETA: and by the way, this is how you do it. Ask the right question, give ’em the microphone, and watch them dig their own grave. This is what Maddow did to Rand Paul.
JGabriel
John Cole:
Are we sure? More and more, it seems like the GOP is the political wing of Fox News, rather than Fox being the PR wing of the GOP.
.
Brick Oven Bill
I take it back morzer, it all makes sense.
$.
JGabriel
So. Do we know if FNC broadcast a report on this meeting and how it turned out?
.
lamh32
@lamh32:
Here’s a timeline of what I’ve been seeing/hearing.
Sept 10, 2010: President Obama calls in for an interview on the Tom Joyner Morning Show (TJMS is a nationally syndicated radio show that can be found in essentially every market where there is a significant enough Afr Am population. It’s pretty true, that you can probably reach more Afr Am voters/listeners/communities going on the TJMS than you can on the internet or TV). October 06, 2010: President Obama calls in for an interview on the Michael Baisden Show (MBS is nationally syndicated and can be found in most major urban areas where there is a large or fair enough population of Afr Am, including NYC, Miami, SC, NC, NOLA, Chicago, etc. If you want to get “in touch” with city-dwellers in urban hotspots, MBS is maybe 2nd best to TJMS.
celticdragonchick
Maybe we should knock some Fox News apparatchiks over and stomp on them.
Just to keep the magical balance faerie working, of course.
We say afterwards that some SEIU/Acorn people did it.
*No, I am not being serious…*
lamh32
@lamh32:
Timeline cont…
October 13, 2010: Michelle Obama calls into TJMS. Here is a transcript of that interview October 14, 2010: President Obama calls in for an interview on the Steve Harvey Morning Show
October 26, 2010: President Obama does another interview on the TJMS today; he also did an interview on Rev Al Sharpton’s “Hour of Power” radio show.
October 27, 2010: President Obama will be doing an interview with the Rickey Smiley Morning Show. The RSMS is also nationally syndicated. Its listeners are heavily populated in the Southern states though. If you want to reach younger people in GA, AL, SC, TX, etc, then the RSMS is the way to go. Of all the shows President Obama does, it’s the Ricky Smiley Morning Show that is usually heard on the majority of the “hip-hop” stations which of course means they are geared towards the younger urban population, which includes not only Blacks, but some younger Hispanics as well.
The Dangerman
Whichever cable/satellite/internet company comes up with the ability to pay for TV Channels a la carte is going to make a mint. It’s fucked I have to pay for Fox because it’s a package deal.
Let’s have a fair capitalist resolution; pay for only what you want and only get what you want. How simple!
geg6
Dude from WI is the awesome, as are his compatriots.
I fight FOX on my own little level. If I go into a local establishment and FOX is on the tube, I request that the channel be changed. Usually, there is no problem and I often get the excuse that some previous customer had it on and that they don’t generally keep FOX on (yeah, right). But I have gotten pushback a few times, at which point I announce that I will leave if it is not turned off. Only once has anyone called me on it and that is why Sears will never again get my tire business or any other for that matter.
Fuck FOX and fuck their zombies. Hell, even Andrew Sullivan is saying no self respecting Dem should ever appear on FOX. He’s right, for once.
slag
@srv: Isn’t it weird how that problem just keeps coming up over and over for these people? I wonder why that possibly could be.
Zifnab
@Brick Oven Bill: What is a Wookie doing on Endor? Wookies are from Kyshykk!
This. Does. Not. Make. SENSE!
I demand you find my client not guilty.
lamh32
@lamh32:
All of those interviews does not include the interview with Rep Clyburn, DNC Chair Tim Kaine, Dem Pollsters, congressmen, union organization, etc. This also does not include all the radio ads that I heard beginning with Obama’s opening salvo on the TJMS in September. I listen to my local station and the national syndicated programs, and I can honestly say that there is an ad either from the local Dems (Dallas-Fort Worth), the state Dems, or the DNC. Also, everyday not matter what the topic dujour, all these programs I mentioned have allocated segments to GOTV and encouraging people to “don’t sit out”. One really effective one I’ve heard, uses clips from Beck, Rush, Hannity, Fixed News, etc and follows the extreme rhetoric with a simple “OUR President needs you”.
Like I said, I can’t say definitively whether or not this effort will work, we’ll know next Tuesday, but the Obama/OfA/DNC push even if it doesn’t come to fruition can be used as a “test” case for 2012, with the added benefit that Obama will be on the ticket in 2012. And my guess is that in 2012, this effort will reap greater rewards.
morzer
@geg6:
Well, if Sullivan is making that much sense, clearly the Apocalypse is nigh. It’s one of the signs, you know.
El Cid
Meanwhile, NPR is now getting bomb threats through the mail and NPR’s president is getting threatening phone calls at her house. No doubt ACORN and SEIU are behind this.
slag
@geg6: I feel you. I was in the gym at a hotel once and Faux was on the teevee. After spending several seconds looking for the remote to change the channel, I just unplugged the damn thing. I could only assume that no one else was really interested, and if they were…well, I did them a favor.
Zifnab
@The Dangerman: So there’s this crazy new thing. It’s called the “Internetz”. You may have heard of it. They have pretty much every channel – hell, every show – you could conceivably want to watch, all streamed right to your desktop. That’s the future of TV.
General Stuck
@General Stuck:
Actually, the total figure spent by candidates and outside groups is closer to 3.5 billion..
Cain
@Brick Oven Bill:
Interesting regular expression, BoB. Do you know what it means?
cain
Cat Lady
@El Cid:
Someone said Fox sucks once, so both sides do it.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Brick Oven Bill: If Glenn Beck did any such thing, he slammed the word “Republican.” He can do that all day long because TeaParty is the new name for Republicans. He can totally trash the old name because it doesn’t cost anything.
General Stuck
@Cain:
International signal for I’m a dumbass
Just Some Fuckhead
The Chairman would have been well within his rights to knock the Fox guy down and stomp on his head since he barged in like that.
Guster
@folkbum: Where do these people come from? I can barely say if I want paper or plastic.
Damn. Well done.
slag
@Zifnab: I’m on that plan. I wouldn’t say the internetz have all, but they have enough. Streaming still kind of sucks though. At least for all the shows I watch. Which are really just Colbert and Stewart, so maybe it’s better out there in the rest of the internetz. Still not the optimal solution, I don’t think. Unless I’m missing something.
morzer
@General Stuck:
I suspect BOB is just putting his ass up for sale.
The Dangerman
@Zifnab:
(crass comment removed on edit)
Therein lies the problem; right now, they DON’T have every program or event (especially my beloved Sports programming). Right now, what I want isn’t available online or I would have already gone the online route.
Which is why I said cable/satellite/internet in my original post. When the Web delivers the content I want, when I want it, and in the quality I want it, that WILL be the mint I speak of.
kc
Why didn’t the chairman just have the Fox people handcuffed and dragged out of the room?
KIDDING! That was great.
Kirk Spencer
I quit having any trust in Fox News when they won the WTVT suit. That is, the FCC’s rules that news must not be distorted, inaccurate, or untruthful (saving only slander and libel issues) are not laws or regulations, thus a so-called whistleblower suit claiming Fox News had done so had to be dismissed.
That was 2003.
j
FOX is nothing bur Pravda on the Potomac. That’s all.
And don’t forget, EVERY reputable “news” organization called Florida for Gore in 2000 except for FOX which relied on Bush’s cousin as their pollster.
http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&q=bush+cousin+florida+fox&btnG=Google+Search
And then the cocktail circuit had to backtrack or else they would be shunned by the GOP and not get primo comps.
Martin
@lamh32: Obama was on Piolin’s show last week. Reaches the Latino community like Joyner reaches the Afr Am community.
These appearances are pretty close to 100% invisible to whites and to the usual media outlets. Comes as a real kick in the ass when suddenly something happens that us whitebreaders didn’t hear about on Fox or Blitzer.
Here’s to hoping it works.
soonergrunt
@Brick Oven Bill: Walk into the light. Don’t fight it. It will all be over soon.
merrinc
@lamh32:
This is very encouraging news on the GOTV front. Wonder how much it’s playing into the GOP ginning up a voter fraud nontroversy.
gbear
@lamh32: Thanks for that timeline. I hope that all that GOTV pays off.
Angry Black Lady
Some jackhole on Twitter tried to claim that I’m a hypocrite because I called Juan Williams a whiny whiner. Turns out he thinks that all black people support all other black people no matter what they do, hence my vote and continued support of Obama, duhvs.
Apparently, all black people have to stick together.
In that spirit: Michael Vick, I’m sorry I said you’re a dickhead. You are actually a wonderful human being, my brother.
BLACK POWER!!
Midnight Marauder
@Martin:
It’s fascinating, isn’t it, the way the traditional media shapes a world that is completely unreflective of what is actually happening on the ground? Hell, if all you did was listen to the traditional media, you would have no idea that Democrats haven’t just been in a fetal position waiting to be obliterated for the past few months, but are actually investing considerable resources into motivating their prime constituencies and ferociously attacking Republicans and their policies in many cases.
When the Republican landslide fails to materialize, I look forward to hearing them stammer out an explanation for this TOTALLY UNEXPECTED result.
Angry Black Lady
@geg6: and yet the Hamster went on Fox after previously saying no Democrat should ever go on Fox. I guess one should never go on Fox unless one likes to bash Obama for stupid reasons like Fox does.
James E. Powell
And really, if I were an actual journalist, I’d worry about my reputation and think twice before working with or for any Fox channel.
Things that actual journalists actually worry about include: the size of their paychecks, status in the Beltway, invitations to the right parties given by the right people, guest spots on talk shows, and book deals.
Things actual journalists never seem to worry about: being wrong or being called out for being wrong, how nearly everyone in the world lives, what the truth is, or integrity.
Legalize
No one in that room knew if that uninvited FOX reporter had a gun or a knife (or not). The way he just barged in like that, anyone in that room would have been totally justified in preventing the reporter’s head from getting in the way of his or her foot.
Lurker
@lamh32: Thank you for posting this. I sincerely hope these efforts bear fruit. I also hope President Obama’s appearances on Piolin and The Daily Show help, too.
FiveThirtyEight’s predicting a loss of the House and a thin hold on the Senate. Anything that keeps Congress from descending into gridlock is most welcome.
AxelFoley
No, we ain’t gonna take it
We’re not gonna take it, anymoooooooooore…
Sorry, got caught up in my hot tub time machine. ;)
John Bird
I’d take it one step further.
The Republican Party is now the political wing of a right-wing machine based in media like Fox News.
I mean, do you really think that the Republican party leadership decides the issue of the day? Or the acceptable policy approaches to resolving it? What is Michael Steele doing? Does it matter? Does anyone care?
The national party itself is a resource machine that is directed by the right-wing media. And the right-wing media is, when it comes down to it, uninterested in politics.
But there’s no conflict, because what the new breed of Republican politicians wants is not high office or political power. They want a steady income and a personal cult based in the media that control the Republicans.
AxelFoley
@Brick Oven Bill:
Holy–you’re back.
Catsy
@Angry Black Lady:
+1 Internets with a side of Internet marriage proposal.
Edited: FYWP.
Uloborus
@General Stuck:
…if this is true, and they don’t get a landslide victory, they’ve wasted an amount of money that would hurt anybody, even a government.
trollhattan
@morzer:
Gonna be a long, hungry winter in BoBLandia.
morzer
@kc:
He should have asked where their work uniforms were. I didn’t see a single pimp outfit among them.
Tattoosydney
@AxelFoley:
Yes, but only as a pale and pathetic shadow puppet of his old self.
morzer
@Angry Black Lady:
JaMarcus Russell wants to know where your admiring review of his fine NFL quarterbacking is.
WayneL
It’s simple.
Fox News is the Home Shopping Network for Republicans. It sells conservative crap and idiots buy it by the truckload, and it’s cost them their life savings.
Who can’t understand that?
baldheadeddork
I think you underestimate how many reporters (and producers, editors, etc) are out of work today, and – more to the point about calling Fox News on their bullshit – how many more fear being unemployed very soon.
Working journalists are reluctant to attack a publisher or network even in good times. It’s become even worse today because News Corp has been maybe the only big media company that hasn’t slashed their newsroom staffs.
polyorchnid octopunch
@Cain: That regexp? Nothing. It’s an illegal expression on the regular expression language, since it is looking for the existence of a character after the string termination.
Martin
@Midnight Marauder: It’s right in line with the Tea Party delusions to return to 1950s America. My mom laid that shit on me a few months ago, and I literally yelled into the phone:
morzer
@Martin:
Well, look on the bright side. There’s one Christmas card you won’t have to worry about taking up space this year.
Svensker
@folkbum:
Great guy!
The Golux
@JGabriel:
This.
I’ve been saying the same thing (at least to myself) for months now. Fox news speaks, the GOP jumps.
EIGRP
@Cain: Douchebag emoticon?
Evolved Deep Southerner
@Brick Oven Bill: Once upon a time I enjoyed your comments and thought that everyone here just didn’t appreciate them for their comic relief value. Hell, I looked forward to your comments once upon a time when I was a lowly lurker. Call it a “guilty pleasure,” right up there with late-80s Jefferson Starship.
But now that I’ve seen you take a leave of absence and try your act over in the comments at Wonkette for a time – only to be summarily ignored – you’re just tiresome now. I imagine you’ve tried your hand in the comments at several places between your last stint as the “resident character” here between the last time around and this one.
If you’re a spoof, you’ve lost your spoof-fu. If you’re not, well … hell, I don’t know. Whatever it is, it’s no fun anymore. All I know is that if people ignore you, you’ll go away. I’ve seen it happen elsewhere. As smart as the commentariat is here, they just can’t resist the troll bait.
I’m reminded of that Simpson’s episode – appropriately a Halloween episode, if memory serves – where the anti-advertising jingle (guest-sung by Paul Anka? Neil Sedaka? Shit, I haven’t watched any kind of television in a while, and I’m not wasting time looking for a link) was “Just don’t look … Just don’t look …”
People, just don’t look. He’ll go away.
Paris
@El Cid: Good thing they got rid of Williams when they did. They probably should have done it in a way not connected with that single incident. But at least its done. The fire breathers will be distracted by some other shiny object on or about Nov 2.
Paris
@John Bird: There is no Republican Party at the moment. The ‘hippies’ (i.e. baggers + M. Steele) are ruling that hen house.
Mnemosyne
@Martin:
And he made that appearance right after his public speech at USC, which is still right there in the middle of South Central. Two birds with one stone, y’all. I’m guessing that only about half the people there were students or faculty.
ETA: Apparently it was kinda like a football Saturday, complete with guys selling t-shirts.
xian
@Brick Oven Bill: “This… does not make much sense to me” should be your motto.
xian
@Midnight Marauder: “When the Republican landslide fails to materialize, I look forward to hearing them stammer out an explanation for this TOTALLY UNEXPECTED result.”
A C O R N
Brent
I keep waiting for satellite internet companies to come up with a solution that gives us quality high speed internet service as well as this type of TV service you are speaking of all through the same satellite signal. This would not only be ideal for everyone, it would also be available to everyone, which if you live in a rural area accessibility is the most important thing. I actually have an entire blog devoted to this subject and would love for you to check it out at mybluedish.com/blog.
lucie13
The sister of a friend, a serious TV journalist, works for Fox News because she has to. In spite of numerous tours in Iraq and years of experience, she can’t get a job elsewhere. (And Fox isn’t even rewarding her for her hard work, sacrifice and personal risk.) I suspect there are a lot of good journalists and professionals working there in the same situation–work there, or don’t work at all.