I didn’t have it in me to read about why Bill Kristol quit Fox News, but Steve M decoded it for us:
Politico: In 2011, the Fox News chief asked Kristol to take a negative stance toward a certain individual, effectively helping Ailes in his effort to give that person a bad reputation, the sources said. Kristol refused to get involved in Ailes’ personal arguments and, as a result, there was a “coolness” between the two going forward….
Steve M: Gee, I wonder who “that person” could possibly be. Hmmmm, let me think….
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I didn’t know he had quit. Ten thousand Romneybucks says he’s back on ABC by Thanksgiving
max
It’s a hard, hard world when you can get sacked for being too dumb and too evil for Roger Ailes.
max
[‘Fox: the conservatives’ NPR.’]
srv
You liberals are always stuck looking at the past, while Bill is always looking to the future that America can be. Sometimes futurists get things wrong. Even Asimov thought we’d be flying around in cars now.
Botsplainer
Cariboobie needs to blow Kristol daily for his efforts in making her and her meth-addled extended family a household word (in most homes, make it an epithet).
ranchandsyrup
“She’s good at basketball.”
Nice work, Billy.
wenchacha
Off topic, but there’s been a shooting at LAX, with some wounded. Early reports say a TSA agent was shot.
ranchandsyrup
@wenchacha: shooter also was shot. Described as “white man walking calmly through Terminal 3 shooting people”.
Anoniminous
Poor Billy. His claim to fame is unleashing Palin onto the national stage.
Must suck to be him.
Belafon
And why should any news organization be spinning a positive or negative view of a person or situation?
Yes, this is rhetorical.
Botsplainer
@ranchandsyrup:
Up until 9:00 AM PDT, he was a law abiding gun owner. Now he is a gone rogue loner nut. Nobody could have predicted or known, but it is still too early and too raw to be talking about magazine limitations or gun control.
EconWatcher
In fairness to Kristol, he’s done many other important things in his career, other than his disastrous shilling for Palin. For example, wasn’t he the guy who first let us know that the Iraq war would be a cakewalk?
Belafon
@EconWatcher: Wouldn’t Kristol also be the textbook case for the effects of nepotism?
NonyNony
As mentioned in the link, this is actually the important bit:
I have no problem believing this is true at all – that Roger Ailes has no issue demanding that his on-air “talent” say what he wants them to say, or that Kristol would actually so “no” to this request/demand.
No the problem with this is that this is the actual story. The story is not “Bill Kristol leaves Fox News because of relationship with his boss.” The story is “guy in charge of Fox News enlists his on-air talent to enact his personal vendettas against people he doesn’t like.” That’s the newsworthy bit.
As Danp at nomoremister says – the fact that Politico didn’t make THIS the story suggests that the people there don’t see anything wrong with it.
EconWatcher
@Belafon:
Well, I think W has to be regarded as the all-time, heavyweight world champion in that category.
But yes. I doubt anyone would have ever heard of Billy were it not for his Trotkyist turned neocon dad, who apparently was an actual intellectual, although of an unpleasant sort.
Turgidson
@srv:
He’s looking forward, not backwared, upward, not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!
Fuzzy
Why is Kristol even around any network? He has said nothing of value in a loooong time.
Turgidson
@Anoniminous:
And being wrong but every fucking he ventures an opinion about…although Dick Morris has recently wrested the coveted “wrongest person on the planet” crown from him, for now.
slippy
@Belafon:
Yea, I remember the lovely Irving Kristol quote where he went on and on about how he got his boy this job and that job with his high-powered government connections, and then glibly and without batting a fucking eye said he opposed Affirmative Action because it undercut meritocracy, or some such horseshit.
Considering what a talentless, useless clodhopper buffoon his son is, it’s even funnier.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Fuzzy:
Fixt.
Omnes Omnibus
@slippy:
I think Irving’s view of meritocracy was that he, Irving, had worked his way up on merit and part of his (Irving’s) reward for that was that his kids got advantages. Twisted view, but it’s Irving Kristol so what else would you expect?
Bill E Pilgrim
This would be easier to believe if it included Kristol remarking “Hey, Roger Ailes is a reasonable guy, he would never hold it against me for disobeying his order to trash someone on the air” before later having to quit because Ailes did just that.
If a story about Kristol doesn’t include every prediction he makes being totally wrong, then it’s not really a credible Bill Kristol story.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo): Yes, but back when he was a grad student he was a hell of a softball player. And if you don’t understand how seriously the people in the Harvard Government Department take their softball, you clearly haven’t attended their annual picnic.
Note: The above is intended as a factual statement, though I haven’t attended one of said picnics since I was 8.
Mike G
@Omnes Omnibus:
Right here —
http://thecuckingstool.blogspot.com/2009/09/conservatives-meritocracy.html
boatboy_srq
@NonyNony:
We are discussing Fauxnews, yes? The entertainment channel, not obligated to report actual factual news, yes? This is surprising how, exactly?
boatboy_srq
@Botsplainer: True that. But somebody got to wear their shoes onto an airplane this year, so BSDI and it’s all a wash.
I’m actually surprised, given how anti-Big-Gubmint the Teahad is and how unliked (and probably unlikeable) the TSA is, that this doesn’t happen more often. Flying earlier this year through Flyoveristan I heard a bunch of “concealed carry on aircraft would do away with all this security bull###t” – from folks who clearly wouldn’t know to load ammo that doesn’t puncture the fuselage.
AnotherBruce
I don’t know if I should ask this, but why Palin? What did she do to piss off Ailes?
Mnemosyne
@ranchandsyrup:
My boss’s plane left from that terminal about 45 minutes before the shooting started. We were all a little freaked out until we got a chance to check her flight status.
Joey Maloney
Poor Billy, it must be hard not knowing where your next bag of salted dicks is coming from.
kindness
And yet Serious Village Elders continue to scold us that Fox really is a news channel.
ranchandsyrup
@Mnemosyne: I’ll bet!
Pete Williams at NBC is reporting that LAX shooting suspect 23 yr old Paul Anthony Ciancia, apparently had strong anti-government views
Turgidson
@ranchandsyrup:
How long before some wingnut moran says, without a hint of irony, that none of this would have ever happened if passengers in the airport were all packing heat?
Someone will say it. Just a matter of whether it’s someone with a platform or just some drooling idiot at RedState.
ranchandsyrup
@Turgidson: If everyone in the airport had a gun, there would be many dead people. I know how frustrated I get at the airport…….
If you’re wondering why they are called glibertarians, (sorry for Reason link and TRIGGER WARNING), look here: http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/01/tsa-agent-reported-shot-at-los-angeles-a#comment
David Koch
Kristol didn’t quit.
He was moved out in favor of George Will
Steve S
After reading the first dozen comments, I wouldn’t call them ‘Glibertarians’ so much as ‘Really shitty human beings’.
Cervantes
@Fuzzy: Why is Kristol even around any network? He has said nothing of value in a loooong time.
You answered the question.
Jamey
@ranchandsyrup: Wow, what a bunch of sociopaths.