Coaches are hired to be fired -- it's just more fun when it's pipsqueak Dan Snyder's team imploding

The little pipsqueak -- er, the "cool guy" with the shades, that's world-class scumbag Daniel Snyder. The other guy, that's . . . well, he's nobody now. He used to be the Redskins' head coach. Don't worry about him.

by Ken

Thank goodness for the Washington Redskins, say I as a New York Giants football fan. It's been a rough football season here in the Big Apple. After that deceptive 5-0 start, the Giants came on to show just how fine a coach the New Tom Coughlin is and veritably stank their way to an 8-8 finish. (Somehow the Jets slipped into the playoffs, but I don't know anyone who takes them seriously.)

We're a tough breed, though, us NY-ers. As bad as the Giants sucked, there has been much entertainment value this season in the truly disastrous performance of our sometime division rivals the Redskins. And there's plenty of fun in watching the Skins in agony, because you know the digestive tract of former-boy-wonder but permanent-scumbag owner Dan Snyder must be dripping acid like a leaky battery. Hurray!

Okay, it means Scumbag Dan gets to fire somebody, which probably makes his day, making him feel like some kind of a big deal. You just have to hope that reality has seeped into this awareness enough that on some level he knows how grotesquelly incompetent he has proved at running an NFL franchise, especially one as visible as the storied one in our nation's capital.

Today was the day, after a season-long death watch, when Scumbag Dan's people dropped the ax on Skins head coach Jim Zorn. They're talking about Mike Shanahan taking over, with presumably full control of the football operation, Scumbag Dan supposedly having learned his lesson. Only the Scumbag Dans of the world don't usually learn lessons, at least not the right ones. So for this Skins-hater, the idea of Shanahan working for Scumbag Dan -- I say, "Bring it on!" That should provide us Giants fans with a measure of comic relief during the struggles of whatever bozo our genius management comes up with to replace the New Tom Coughlin.

TIME WARNER CABLE PLAYS CHICKEN WITH RUPERT M

What made the Giants' season doubly hilarious was the high-stakes game of chicken Time Warner Cable was playing with a scumbag who makes Scumbag Dan look like a choirboy, Rupert Murdoch. (I believe that in some translations of the Bible Rupert makes his first appearance as a public scumbag in the Garden of Eden sequence in Genesis, where other translations have "a snake" or "a serpent" giving Eve that great advice about the apple.)

Rupert, you see, wanted that TWC should give him some astonishing amount like $4 per TWC customer for Fox "content," on the theory that somebody might be watching it. This year's year-end threat had us threatened with losing all of News Corp's TV programming, including American Idol and 24 and the entire Fox Noise Shebang.

So where, you may be wondering, is the downside? Like losing all that crap would be a bad thing? OK, sure, I would miss The Simpsons and House. But sometimes sacrifices have to be made. And as it happens, I've got half a dozen unwatched Simpsons episodes on my DVR, and the House episodes I could catch on USA.

Which brings us to the Giants, who being an NFC franchise are usually on Fox. But there's the joke! Miss the Giants? Hardly! They're the joke. Good riddance. Take them all, please.

MICHAEL WILBON ON "NICE GUY" JIM ZORN

Meanwhiile, on the WaPo website Michael Wilbon's got a nice column, "Zorn's long, sad vigil finally ends." He makes clear that Zorn was in way over his head as a head coach, that the Skins were in fact shockingly unprepared for NFL combat, and yet he's "an especially decent sort," who has been subjected to two years of pretty much nonstop humiliation. He describes him as "a nice person you'd rather go to dinner with than some of the more successful coaches in the NFL."

Wilbon too seems unoptimistic about the prospects of the impending Shanahan regime, not least because of the degree of control he will insist on, which Wllbon insists just doesn't work in today's NFL. He takes obvious delight in the current great fortunes of another nice guy, Norv Turner, who was hounded out of Washington, only to emerge, in San Diego, as the hottest coach in the game.

And you know, it's nice to read Wilbon, rather than watching him and Tony Kornhiser shouting at each other on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption. In fact my new image of sports TV is the hilarious show that Tracy Morgan guested on a couple of 30 Rock episodes ago, where the screen was split into quadrants housing four "sports guys" who simply shout simultaneously at the top of their lungs.

I would have loved to find a clip of it, but NBC seems to be doing a super-efficient job of keeping the Internet scrubbed free of any evidence that anybody is watching let alone enjoying its shows. To be fair, it probably doesn't happen very often these days. And you have to wonder, assuming the new ownership deal for NBC goes through, whether Comcast is going to be as tolerant as GE has been having the 30 Rock people savaging them week after week.

THE WINNER AND STILL CHICKEN-MASTER IS . . .

By the way, if you're wondering about the great war between Rupert M and Time Warner Cable, of course in the end TWC caved. Even after running a campaign to get us customers to urge them to play hardball in the interest of keeping cable costs down, you knew they would be afraid to face customers enraged by the loss of American Idol. So they'll raise our rates even more than they would have otherwise. TWC is a company that lives with both hands in its customers' pockets, squeezing every last penny out of us they can.

(I sometimes wonder why I hate my cable and ISP -- and now phone -- company so much, even though they provide a pretty good service. This is why: the feeling that they're always got both hands reaching deeper into and rummaging around my pockets. In my humbling experience, it's almost impossible to have a conversation with a TWC customer rep without winding up paying more.)

Although I have resolutely opposed "tiered" cable pricing, where you get charged according to which services you use rather than for the total package (the tiered pricing just seems too easy an opportunity for the cable operators to stick it to us with à la carte prices), in this case I would gladly make an exception.

In fact -- and here's my proposal, Time Warner Cable -- I might actually be willing to pony up, say, an extra buck a month for a cable lineup that's Guaranteed Murdoch-Free.


UPDATE: JUST HEARD IT ON THE RADIO --
THE NEW TOM COUGHLIN KEEPS HIS JOB!

Straight from the mouth of management. Defensive coordinator takes one for the team, but Coach The New Tom Coughlin is coming back! Just think how many Sunday afternoons that frees up for Giants fans next fall!

We're 8-8! We're 8-8!

Let's just hope the Mike Shanahan era in Washington gets off to a really horrific start! This one's for you, Pipsqueak Dan!

UPDATE II: IN COMMENTS, A FASCINATING

LOOK BACK AT PIPSQUEAK DAN'S CAREER

A couple of really great comments, including this stroll down Memory Lane as Pipsqueak Dan builds his fortune, leaving kind of nothing behind, reminding us of another famous American pipsqueak. Must read!

#

Barney Frank To O'Reilly: Your Stupidity Gets In The Way Of Rational Discussion

Why would Barney Frank, or anyone interested in participating in a reasonable debate go on Fox at all, let alone on Bill O'Reilly's show? This is a Republican Party slaughterhouse and, although Barney handled himself very well... why bother? No Democrat should go on this asshole's program-- ever.

HOW DOES THE REPUBLICAN SMEAR MACHINE WORK?

Watch how Fox coordinates its vicious and racist attacks against Michelle Obama, spreading Republican Party poison on behalf on John McCain:



You'd almost think Karl Rove is still coordinating the McCain campaign-- or has someone else in place who is. Some think vicious racism just comes sort of second nature to the GOP and it isn't even just Rove and McCain and the Fox imbeciles. Just look at what the New Jersey Republicans have been caught doing today.

BUSH, McCAIN AND THE NEOCON MEDIA SHILLS HARMONIZE: "BOMB, BOMB, BOMB, BOMB, BOMB IRAN"

Just when I was getting pissed off at Obama for not being perfect... or even being awful (like by endorsing a right-wing Democratic hack like John Barrow or for indicating that he might vote for the FISA bill)-- I see plausible explanations for both (that his Barrow endorsement was for the general election but Barrow's internal polling showed him losing to Regina Thomas so he used the ad for the primary; and that Obama will work hard to get the retroactive immunity provision out of the FISA bill in the Senate). That calmed me down, but nothing gets me back on the reservation like seeing the McBush plans for a continuation of all the failures and disasters of the Bush terms both here and abroad.

Friday the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamad El Baradei predicted that if Bush attacks Iran it will turn the Middle East into "a ball of fire" and push Iran into making nuclear weapons. He also said if Bush attacks, he'd quit. In the diplomatic world, El Baradei's remarks are startlingly undiplomatic and strong. It's like calling someone's mother a hooker when you're 10. Is El Baradei hearing something to make him think Bush is planning an attack? Maybe he was just responding to the "Israeli" wargames simulating an attack on Iran (which is widely seen as a U.S. pressure tactic against Tehran and which Iran isn't taking well).

A U.S. leak of an Israeli air exercise reported to be practice for possible bombing of Iran's nuclear sites was seen in Israel on Sunday as a deliberate move to increase pressure on Tehran to halt sensitive atomic work.

"When the diplomacy of economic and political pressure fails to produce results, a shift is made to gunboat diplomacy," wrote Alex Fishman, military affairs correspondent of Israel's biggest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth.

"As the Iranian regime discusses the European Union representative's most recent offer to halt its nuclear programme in exchange for extensive benefits, the Americans opted to add a bit more pressure in the shape of Israel's air force," he said.

One of the unofficial Bush Regime spokesmen, Neocon propaganda shill Bill Kristol, was on Fox today doing some saber-rattling for McBush. He said that Bush would rather leave McCain to finish his policies in the Middle East-- more war-- but that if he gets the idea Obama will be elected-- largely because of those failed and discredited policies-- he is likely to attack Iran before November.

So while right-wing lunatics scream their heads off that Obama is being supported by Kim Jong-Il and Fidel Castro and while the Bush Regime and McCain's media allies imply that Europeans back McCain-- the furthest thing from the truth on planet earth-- some garden variety Fox propagandist and Kristol have worked out a well scripted act. Please watch their little anti-Obama Kabuki play for the Villagers:

THERE ARE MORE WAYS TO ASSASSINATE SOMEONE THAN JUST WITH GUNS AND PLANES-- TAKE THE MASS MEDIA AND BARACK OBAMA

What the right always fears most is a progressive candidate with charisma, who has the ability to connect directly and powerfully with voters. The Big Money interests can't handle someone who can go directly to the people without coming through them (and the mass media conglomerates they own and control). Perhaps you thought it was only a coincidence that detested right-wing political leaders never get assassinated but that assassination has been very effectively used against JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King, John Kennedy, Jr., and Paul Wellstone. Assassination by media is an even more widely used tool of the far right. They managed to destroy the presidential hopes of millions of Americans by manipulation of a speech by Howard Dean. Now look what they are doing to Barack Obama:




UPDATE: AND DON'T SMUGLY THINK IT'S ONLY FOX AND THEIR DUMMY AUDIENCE WHO PUT UP WITH THIS

A friend of mine just sent me this e-mail:

For 12 minutes, Hardball has been talking about Obama's pastor's statements, etc, using some other paster-- but during most of that time, the banner at the bottom said, "Obama's pastor problem."

Obama does not have "a pastor problem." The pastor of his church, who has no connection to Obama's campaign, said some things five years ago about Americas racism and its history that some people find offensive, but others would agree with, and Obama said he doesn't agree with them. End of story. But the banner says Obama has a pastor problem.

What the banner should say is, "America's mindless media problem" Or, "when will our media grow up?"

I wonder if right wing heads are exploding all over the Buy Bull Belt now with idiots trying to figure how a Muslim can have a pastor problem. Obama responded to all this slander at the Huffington Post today.

FOX NEWS BIASED? JUST ASK FREDERICK OF HOLLYWOOD

There's a whole website, a really well-done one, dedicated to keeping count of Fox's activities as a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party and for the right-wing agenda, as well as cable TV's #1 purveyor of soft-core porn. And then Media Matters does a pretty phenomenal job keeping watch on Fox, it's biases and distortions as well.

But now we find even a right-winger, Fred Thompson (still running for president-- of the United States) complaining about how Fox talking heads consistently twist reality. And he did it on Fox.

In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," host Chris Wallace pressed Thompson on how some conservatives have lambasted Thompson's campaign and showed clips of Fox conservative commentators Charles Krauthammer and Fred Barnes criticizing the former senator.

Thompson said, "This has been a constant mantra of Fox, to tell you the truth." He noted that other conservatives have praised his bid for the GOP nomination and took issue with a Fox promo that focused on polling in New Hampshire, where Thompson is registering in the single digits.

He said he is running second in national polls and has been leading or tied for the lead in South Carolina for "a long, long time."

Thompson, in a firm, but measured tone, scolded Wallace: "...for you to highlight nothing but the negatives in terms of the polls and then put on your own guys who have been predicting for four months, really, that I couldn't do it, kind of skew things a little bit. There's a lot of other opinion out there."

Too bad faux journalist Chris Wallace didn't ask Thompson how he felt about the coverage Fox metes out daily to John Edwards, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

WHAT'S WORSE-- FOX NEWS BEING RABIDLY BIASED TOWARDS THE RIGHT OR CNN BEING RABIDLY BIASED TOWARDS IRRELEVANCE?

Two days ago at a barbershop-- which has since changed its TV viewing policy-- I experienced the extreme right wing propaganda of Fox News for the first time. I couldn't believe what they get away with.

Last night I switched on CNN to watch the debate and although it wasn't pornographic the way Fox is, it wasn't exactly fit for a mass audience. I mean where do they find such low-grade anchors and questioners? It must be difficult. I was relieved when they decided to have audience members ask the questions. And then I turned off the TV when one of the first questions was directed towards Hillary-- who is running for president (of the United States). "Do you prefer diamonds or pearls?" This is CNN, which is desperately trying to catch up to Fox in the ratings by appealing to people as stupid as Fox's audience. Like I said, I turned off the TV and went back to writing about the Republican hypocrisy of Bob Allen, Mitch McConnell, David Dreier, Larry Craig and the regular closet queen crew. It was almost refreshing.

But then a strange thing happened this morning. Maria Luisa, the UNLV student who asked the idiotic question wrote about the whole episode on her My Space page-- and she was as aghast as the rest of us were. She wanted to ask a pre-approved question about the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and CNN made her ask the idiotic diamonds or pearls question. Mark Ambinder at The Atlantic has the whole sad story. Thank God for Keith Olbermann!


UPDATE: AND AS LONG AS WE'RE TALKING ABOUT CNN AND BIAS...

Markos put it well last night when he wondered aloud why CNN has Clinton hack James Carville on spinning the debate at the after-show for Hillary and identified him as a journalist instead of a Clinton hack. Is that fair?

ONE LESS BARBERSHOP TUNING IN TO FOX NEWS-- AND EVERYONE WHO FOLLOWS POLITICS KNOWS McCAIN IS A BITCH

"That's an excellent question"

I just got back from the barber, where I had my head shaved. They had Fox News on. I had never seen it before. I was apoplectic. I mean I've read over and over and over about how biased they are, but... I had no idea they've sunken to these depths of unvarnished Republican propaganda. I was amazed how skewered a vision of reality someone must get from watching this garbage. I asked the barber if he's a Republican or a right-winger. He said "No, not at all." I asked him why he was watching the Republican Party propaganda network and he said he just wanted to hear the news. I explained how they distort the news rather than report it and he switched over to CNN (which was in the midst of one of their exciting cookie recipe reports).

While I watched Fox they went from lurid celebrity-oriented trash to lies and distortions about politics-- just back and forth, back and forth. And do they hate Hillary! One psychopath after another was on there bashing her and bashing her. It's funny that McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, went into hysteria today and referred to CNN as "the Clinton News Network" because of their reporting on the McCain's Bitch Incident. No doubt Davis, who is demanding an apology from CNN for straight, albeit dull, reporting, would have preferred the way Fox handled the story. They got two right-wing propagandists on-- disguised as journalists-- and had each one of them talk about how Hillary is a bitch. Now that's entertainment. (An earlier Fox report completely and gratuitously eliminated the part where McCain calls it "an excellent question.") As part of this investigative journalism the Fox talking head went on and on about how even so left wing a journal as the New Republic "admits" Hillary treats the press badly (i.e.- is a bitch). The part where he kept referring to the New Republic as "left wing" is what finally got me to complain to the barber.

For the record, the New Republic was left wing when it was founded-- during World War I! Even in the 60's I remember it as a progressive publication. But that was when Joe Lieberman was a progressive politician. The New Republic changed right along with Holy Joe and can now be described as a neo-Con rag and a mouthpiece for the DLC. By 1990 it was already swinging right, with a demented gay Republican hired on as editor taking it right into the toilet-- racist, viciously anti-Clinton, and generally with no serious following except from the absolute worst of the reactionary American Likudists. A magazine that could once boast regular legendary contributors with the greatest minds of their day-- men and women like Henry Wallace (an editor), George Orwell, Virginia Wolff, John Dewey, W.E.B. DuBois, Hannah Arendt, Philip Roth, and Reinhold Niebuhr descended into a rightist pigsty reduced to publishing worthless tripe by hacks like Fred Barnes, Irving Kristol, war criminal Michael Ledeen, Edward Luttwak, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Peter Beinart, Robert Kagen, and Charles Krauthammer, basically the collective intellectual "muscle" behind Bush's catastrophic foreign policy. Real left-wing!


UPDATE: NOT JUST GOP PROPAGANDA BUT MAJOR PORN TOO!

Did you ever notice how demented the right-wing family values shriekers are? The louder they scream about other people's values, the more likely they'll be trawling in public restrooms or molesting children or harassing employees with loofahs and falafels. They are a mess! But don't watch the video if you are easily offended by Fox-style soft core porn.

IS FOX A NEWS CHANNEL OR A SOFT CORE PORN CHANNEL?

I have to admit, I fixed my TV so that it doesn't get Fox. So the only time I ever see it is when I'm at my friend Russ' house and he switches it on. So maybe I watched 10 hours of Fox in my entire life. But I'm the one person you'll probably ever meet who just is not into porno. It just has never interested me-- not the magazines, not the videos or DVDs and not the stuff they show on Fox. What I don't get, is how they can be accepted as part of the Grand Republican Coalition and still show all that porn all day. The other thing that always strikes me as odd is that the worst purveyor of porn on TV, that O'Reilly guy, has an audience whose average age is in their mid to late 70s. Do they want to see all that porn???

Why are these rightists always so hypocritical? I mean Pat Robertson endorsing Rudy Giuliani was funny enough. But Fox using graphic, gratuitous, albiet "soft-core" porn all day and all night, day after day after day and then campaigning against "liberals" who allow such undo freedom really gets to the heart of the manipulation and dumbing down of the right-wing base inherent in the 24% of Americans who still approve of the toxic and venal agenda of Bush/Cheney/Lieberman/Fox. BraveNewFilms did a really good clip (with lots of Fox porn images). Enjoy:

ARMY OF DUDE IS BACK AND HE WANTS TO INTRODUCE RUSH TO SOME REAL SOLDIERS

We first met an Iraq-based blogger in the U.S. Army in August, Army of Dude, who doesn't sugarcoat the reports coming out of Iraq. Yesterday, he had something to say about Rush Limbaugh's hypocritical comments on soldiers who disagree with him. (Suggestion, since Limbaugh has been bellowing that his slurs against soldiers were taken out of context: listen to the drug addled draft dodger's own words, in his own context.)

Of course, this is the same Rush Limbaugh who threw a fit about the Moveon.org Petraeus ad, calling it "contemptible" and "indecent." Apparently anyone in the military is above criticism as long as they agree with Rush's brave belief that we should be in Iraq "as long as it takes." And I use the term 'we' loosely, as I believe the closest Rush has ever gotten to combat was watching We Were Soldiers with surround sound.

Over at Salon today, Glenn Greenwald makes the case that this goes way beyond Limbaugh and goes right to the heart of the whole foul Republican propaganda machine. Glenn talks about Fox again trying to convince its mostly very elderly and frightened viewers that poor President Bush is surrounded by "disgraceful military leaders." These rightists want it both ways, don't they?

The Fox commentator and O'Reilly crony of the day is David Hunt and he starts his attack that you might not expect to hear from Fox after a week of non-stop condemnation of MoveOn's newspaper ad" Our generals are betraying our soldiers... Our generals in both the Army and Marine Corps have cared more about their precious careers and reputations than their soldiers and Marines under them... We should be putting these generals on trial. When will Fox condemn itself? When will the Senate and House condemn Fox? Of course, the only really relevant question is to ask when we, the American people, will condemn the whole lot of these right-wing hypocrites and loons and banish them from government entirely.

Even the sleaziest and most opportunistic of political hacks, Piece O' Mitt and McCain have attacked Limbaugh for his idiotic utterances. And you can even watch a White House flack distancing Bush from one of his foremost propagandists:



But so what? Limbaugh is a cyst on the rear end of Bush and McCain and Romney and the rest of these vicious right-wing thugs who have hijacked America fro their own selfish reasons. Forget Limbaugh and his hate comments; he makes them every single day. Instead just keep one thing in mind: More and BETTER Democrats

FOX CENSORS THE EMMYS-- PRACTICE FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION?

I've never been a big censorship fan and I wasn't happy when Fox cut out Sally Fields' Emmy Award speech dedicating her award to military families with kids serving in Iraq. (I know, I know... the Republicans love the war and hate the troops). But what scares me about this is that Fox is the pool carrier for the Democratic National Convention. I don't understand why Democrats choose to treat this anti-democratic and anti-Democratic right-wing propaganda channel as though they were a legitimate news broadcaster. It just makes no sense at all.

IF THE NATION GETS A REAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM FOX TELLS ITS VIEWERS THEIR DOCTORS WILL BE TERRORISTS

Cavuto wants to introduce you to your next doctor

Yesterday Noah posted a kind of interactive media hall of shame. At first I couldn't figure out why he had left out GOP shill and all around heavy handed hack Neil Cavuto. But then Nicole from C&L asked me to tell her what I thought about an "interview" Cavuto manufactured with some clown from the National Review and it dawned on me that to a man of Noah's sensitivities, a lowlife like Cavuto is just so far beneath contempt that it's senseless to even bring him up. Or, as Nicole, in her description of Cavuto, put it, "Fox has not only hit the bottom of the barrel but is now scraping off the crud from underneath it."

Take a look at that video (at Nicole's link above). On it Cavuto and the clown try to frighten Fox viewers-- and remember, the average Fox viewer is over 75 years old and very easily frightened-- into thinking that universal health care means thousands of Saudi terrorist doctors will  be working in America and blowing us up in between appendectomies. Fox is on a full time jihad helping the floundering Republican Party to convince Americans to turn against what the vast majority of us want-- affordable, universal health care-- and if they need to use shock and awe of unfortunate elderly folks silly enough to watch Fox, then shock and awe, Cavuto style, it is.

I don't know if they watch Fox in India-- I sure hope not (I'm going there soon)-- but apparently Indian doctors are worried about a backlash against them. And if they think Gordon Brown's cautious pronouncements about careful background checks cast an aspersion on them, wait 'til they hear what Cavuto and the clown were saying!


UPDATE: NOAH STRIKES BACK-- THINKS CAVUTO WOULD BE GOOD BAIT ON A DEEP SEA FISHING TRIP

You’ve kinda hit the nail on the head. I did consider including Neil Cavuto. I had to ask myself, though, where do I stop? Do I even go so far as to include all those newsbunnies and mindless fratboys that inhabit the cable news daytime hours? What about the network morning shows?  Even that former CNN babe and Lush Rimbaugh girlfriend Daryn Kagan? I didn’t want the post to be too long, or DARK, for that matter, and all I could think of at the time for Cavuto involved my walk-in cuisinart, a pail, and an afternoon of shark fishing. The bottom line, though, was that Cavuto is already satire, fully formed. Watching Cavuto is almost like watching the news segment on Saturday Night Live, particularly during the unfunny years. (There’s extra irony there, if you add wingnut Dennis Miller to the discussion.) However, the problem is, of course, Cavuto doesn’t get it. With all this in mind, TODAY, the NOAH Job Placement Service offers the following: For Neil, I am reminded of another Monty Python sketch. I hope they forgive me, but they once did a bit about a disturbing children’s TV show host who tells happy little stories to his enrapt little viewers. The thing is, the host, played by the great Eric Idle, can’t help but delve into pornographic references by the time he gets 4 or 5 sentences in. The stories always involve things like happy little bunnies and kids encountering a man who sells skin mags, sex toys, and such. It fits. When you think about it, if you have to, Neil Cavuto is nothing more, or less, than porn for Republicans. I don’t want to give porn a bad name but that can be said about most, if not all, of the people I listed yesterday. They deal in a world of fantasy that gets rightwingers off. It’s only a matter of time before a kleenex company gets hip to this fact and starts sponsoring these twits.

By the way, did everyone notice the Bin Laden graphic in the picture for the Cavuto post? If Ireland had oil, FOX would just add a few letters and we’d have a fleet on the way there, too. I believe that this is why Bin Laden has never been brought to justice. Always having a boogie man available comes in handy. When he has outlived his usefulness to the warmonger class, he will no longer walk the Earth. Besides, we’ve all heard the story about Daddy Bush watching TV with Bin Laden’s bro on the morning of 9/11.

FAUX NEWS-- WHERE OPINION POLLS ARE MARKETING

One of the most respected media insiders in the polling business requested anonymity when he sent me this post. It stands on its own in terms of perception and relevance.

Most news organizations are businesses, too.  And like many businesses, they often do marketing surveys to help them discern competitive advantages. They also do opinion surveys to generate news stories. What self-respecting journalists don't do is mix their marketing with their content. Since long before Edward R. Murrow, they've at least attempted to build a wall between those two departments. 

Until now. Fox News Channel is quickly discarding any pretense of maintaining that separation.  Buried deep inside the latest Fox News Opinion Poll are two questions clearly designed to help them generate their own talking points. Question 34 reads, "Do you think a television network that is hosting a presidential debate can influence the outcome of that debate?" Question 35 reads, "If a political party agrees to participate in debates hosted by one television network but refuse to do debates hosted by another network, do you think it is fair to say the party is picking the network it believes is more aligned with its vision and so would ask easier questions during the debate?" Strong majorities answered "Yes" to both questions, but that's not the point.

Clearly, alongside legitimate news poll questions, Fox News is pre-testing their own marketing tactics. Watch for Fox to feed Republicans some talking points that sound eerily similar to these poll questions if Democrats like John Edwards continue to reject their debate invitations. Fair and balanced? Most newsrooms do make that their goal, even if they sometimes fail. Fox News doesn't even try.


UPDATE: OBAMA MAKES THE RIGHT DECISION

Just as I posted this I noticed that Obama has come to the conclusion to not participate in the Fox-sponsored presidential debate. He wasn't as fast as Edwards, but he made the right choice. Hill? (MINI-UPDATE: HILL'S OUT TOO: Stoller has the details. Screw you, Fox. It would have been like asking Jews or labor unions to debate under the auspices of the VÖLKISCHER BEOBACHTER in Germany in the 1930s.)

AIR AMERICA INVITES REPUBLICANS TO DEBATE ON THEIR NETWORK-- WITH NO COMMERCIAL INTERRUPTIONS

I only met Mark Green a few times-- his wife Deni is a friend of mine-- but I've read 2 of his books, Losing Our Democracy: How Bush, the Far Right and Big Business Are Betraying Americans For Power and Profit and The Book on Bush: How George W (Mis)leads America. He impressed me-- when I met him and when I read him-- as a smart, articulate guy who understands the threat our country faces from Republican Party rule. Recently Green became the CEO of Air America Radio. The station seems a lot better already.

Today Green sent letters to Ray Hoffmann, Paul Willis, Katon Dawson and Fergus Cullen, respectively the Republican Party chairs of Iowa, Nevada, South Carolina and New Hampshire. Aside from being surprised that Cullen still isn't in prison, I was really happy-- as I'm sure all Americans will be, especially the wingnuts and hypocrites on the right who screamed like stuck pigs when the Democrats decided not to debate on GOP propaganda outlet, Fox-- to know that Air America is offering to host Republican debates on their airwaves.

As the new president of Air America, I'd like to offer to host or co-host one of your upcoming presidential debates.

Why us? First, this would allow your debate to reach many voters. Combining our 2 million radio audience, along with our satellite, internet and web audiences, means that some 2.5 million Americans would hear or read about the debate..

Second, it would allow Republicans to differentiate themselves from Democrats – embracing a debate hosted by a progressive media outlet after Nevada Democrats canceled a debate scheduled to be hosted by the conservative Fox Cable News Channel. The MoveOn organization spurred 265,000 people to complain about the original plan, calling Fox a "mouthpiece for the Republican Party." In reply, Fox's Mort Kondracke called the Nevada Democratic Party's rejection of Fox a "Stalinist" violation of "free speech and free debate." So should you accept Air America's offer, Republicans would both embrace free debate and stick it to Stalin at the same time.

Third, our offer permits you to include any other national media company as a co-host -- like Fox. For example, a panel with Fox representing the conservative viewpoint and Air America the progressive viewpoint would make for a very "fair and balanced" debate -- not to mention that Fox's viewers per evening are coincidentally comparable to our 2.5 million listeners, meaning that several million unique people would hear your debate (assuming next to no overlap between our two disparate audiences).

We would be honored not only to co-host such an event; but also to broadcast it live without commercial interruption on the day that you choose.

I look forward to your response and to working with you on this important event.

I'll let you know if I hear about Mark getting a response.


RIGHT WING PROPAGANDA FOR DUMMIES

Today Matt Stoller laid out all the reasoning behind progressives' revulsion at the prospect of Fox-TV sponsoring a Democratic debate. The article (at the link above) is well worth reading if you don't understand why it was important to derail the deal between Democratic Insiders and an integral part of the Republican Party's propaganda department. Several clueless Democrats, seeking for one reason or another to curry favor with Fox-- publicity in Dennis Kucinich's case, dirty lucre in the case of Liebermanite Bob Beckel-- have been on TV ranting and raving and confusing the issue. As usual, you can count on Stoller to get it right-- and shove it up their asses.

First, we argued that Fox News is not a news channel, but a propaganda outlet that regularly distorts, spins, and falsifies information. Second, Fox News is heavily influenced or even controlled by the Republican Party itself. As such, we believe that Fox News on the whole functions as a surrogate operation for the GOP. Treating Fox as a legitimate news channel extends the Republican Party’s ability to swift-boat and discredit our candidates. In other words, Fox News is a direct pipeline of misinformation from the GOP leadership into the traditional press.

NEVADA-- REID & SON, INC, PROPRIETOR

I have to say I'm pretty glad to see the Fox-sponsored Democratic presidential debate falling apart. Fox is an unabashed Republican propaganda outlet. The talking heads on it use the word "we" when they're talking about Republicans and right-wing positions and use a disparaging "them" when referring to Democrats. So which idiot handed them a Democratic presidential debate? No one wants to own up to it. Fortunately, though, John Edwards was man enough to pull out yesterday. Matt Stoller over MyDD way, seems to be pointing a finger, at least partially, towards Harry Reid.

This is really quite outrageous behavior from both Tom Collins and Harry Reid.  Fox News is not a neutral news outlet, and it shouldn't be treated as such.  And it's pretty clear that these people are offering Nevada Democrats and activists nothing but bad faith nonsense.  They are willing to scuttle the opportunity for a real debate about the future of the country rather than admit that what hundreds of thousands of Democrats believe is important.

Once again, please call Reid's offices and ask him to not legitimize Fox News as a neutral news outlet.  If you are not in Nevada, use this number: 202-224-3542 / Fax: 202-224-7327

If you live in Nevada, use this number, which is restricted to 775 and 702 area codes: 1-866-SEN-REID (736-7343)

Meanwhile there's another Reid in the news, Rory. First some background. A few days ago a friend of mine at the DCCC was telling me about some of the seats he felt Democrats had an excellent shot to win next year. High on his list was NV-03, a seat Jon Porter barely managed to hold onto in November. Porter managed to garner just 48% of the vote, a percent more than Democrat Tessa Hafen. Porter spent about double the money that Hafen spent on the race, $3,036,397 vs $1,505,340. The district leans increasingly Democrat and Bush beat Kerry by 1% and lost to Gore by 1%. Porter's margin of victory has been dropping year by year. Smart money says he'll be looking for a job on K Street in 2009.

So it might come as no surprise that quite a few Democrats have been looking seriously at the district. Certainly Tessa Hafen, who came up just 4,000 votes shy on her first try, wants another shot. State Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, who lost her bid to win the governor's mansion, is also said to be considering a run against Porter.

But a new name has surfaced lately. Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid-- yep his son-- says national Democrats have been asking him to get into the race. ROTFLMAO. Reid, who is Hillary's state chair in her race for the White House, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he's "thinking about it. I haven't made any decision." Acceptable answer. The next part wasn't, however. And if it reflects what kind of a congressman Reid would be, this is something that should be nipped right in the bud. He said he believed the potential candidates would decide together what was in the party's best interest. Fixing things in backrooms isn't the way we make a strong Democratic Party. Going to the grassroots and showing them why you would make a good representative of their interests is how to determine what's in the best interests of the Party and the country.

These political "dynasties" are just plum anti-democratic. It's bad enough when the Republicans have them. It's super-creepy when Democrats get sucked into this crap.


UPDATE: REID IS BACKING AWAY FROM FOX DEBATE

Chris Bowers has the unfolding story over at MyDD, but it looks like these Inside-the-Beltway power players are starting to get the idea that the days when they could call the shots for all Democrats everywhere is gone. This is a people-powered grassroots party and if they want an authoritarian top down dictatorship, they should switch to the authoritarian top down party, the way their pal Lieberman has. Fox may think they're placating Democrats by hiring reactionaries like Harold Ford to shill for them, but there will be no Fox-sponsored presidential debate in Nevada.


UPDATE: FINIS

Saving face by pointing to Roger Ailes' vicious smear of Barack Obama last night, Harry Reid and Tom Collins wrote a letter to Fox "News" today.

March 9, 2007

Marty Ryan
Executive Producer
Fox News Political Programs
202-824-6425 (fax)
400 N Capitol Street NW, Suite 550
Washington DC 20001

DELIVERED VIA FAX AND EMAIL


Dear Marty,

A month ago, the Nevada Democratic Party entered into a good faith agreement
with FOX News to co-sponsor a presidential debate in August.
This was done because the Nevada Democratic Party is reaching out to new
voters and we strongly believe that a Democrat will not win Nevada unless we
find new ways to talk to new people.

To say the least, this was not a popular decision. But it is one that the
Democratic Party stood by. However, comments made last night by FOX News
President Roger Ailes in reference to one of our presidential candidates
went too far. We cannot, as good Democrats, put our party in a position to
defend such comments.

In light of his comments, we have concluded that it is not possible to hold
a Presidential debate that will focus on our candidates and are therefore
canceling our August debate. We take no pleasure in this, but it is the only course of action.

By the way, is Air America sponsoring a debate among Republicans? I know Fox nixed the idea of co-hosting the Nevada debate with Air America. I bet Air America would agree to let Fox co-host their Republican debate.