No news...

...is better than FOX News. Literally...

Wouldn't be Chart of the day week...

...without lifting something from Ezra...




Wanna play 'Find the FOX viewer'?

From the "Me neither" file.

John Amato's not happy with President Obama's gentle hand with BillO…

The Obama administration has heavily criticized FOX News before and so he had another chance to call them out for their propaganda. He chose a much softer approach this time, which is calculated at trying to win over some of their voters, as if that's possible. Does his team really believe that it is? Because I sure do not.

Regarding the latter, me neither.

Neither, though, do I think that the President's approach was calculated to win over FOX viewers. I think the approach was tailored to the forum, not calculated to attract votes, but to avoid You Tube moments showing the President in a pissing match with O'Reilly.

I've only seen the footage from the Super Bowl broadcast, but from that and what I've read of the remaining interview, it seems to me that Obama hit a successful tone, taking a position that I think he shares with most of the country, one that says "Look, Bill, we know you guys are biased. We know you have to pretend not to be. We're all in on the joke, even if we're not laughing. But, sure, you gotta right…"

It was a way of being dismissive without being contemptuous. Maybe the word is bemused. Balanced against O'Reilly's typical "Enough about me, let's talk about what you think of me" act, the President came across as graciously indulgent and presidentially reassuring.

A more biting attack on O'Reilly, who was in the role of invited guest at the White House, would have been more unseemly than the satisfaction might have merited.

Map of the day.

The problem isn't that I think it's real, because I'm not sure. The problem is that I'm not sure...

From the "Every schoolboy should know…" file

David Neiwert explains where the crazy came from in aught-ten...

So who WAS the mastermind of the 2010 Election? If anyone, it was Roger Ailes -- a reality that hardly anyone seems to want to acknowledge, including Democrats. Indeed, this was the Fox Election in every respect. Nearly every candidate who won got major a push from Fox. The most energy came from a Tea Party "movement" almost wholly engendered by Fox's relentless and unapologetic propagndization campaign.

Yep, though Rupert Murdoch's role deserves mention, too. Every schoolboy should know that a non-American billionaire financed the latest un-American movement, too.

From the "Just the facts..." file.

Steve M...

SKY IS BLUE, POPE IS CATHOLIC, FOX NEWS IS PROPAGANDA

And bears, well, you know...except mama grizzlies, I suppose.

Yesterday's quote?

Yeah a bit late, but too good to waste, and still true. Andrew Sullivan…

"On Fox News, if you say something bigoted, you get rewarded, you get promoted, and you get celebrated -- and that's a direct media strategy."

Hat tip to Steve Benen.

I'm not a bigot, but…

…these are bigoted statements...

…whenever I see a Mexican wearing chinos and a white t-shirt, I check my car keys.

…whenever I see a Jew wearing a yarmulke, I check my wallet.

…whenever I see a black guy wearing warm-ups instead of Dockers, I stay between him and my woman.

Every bit as and no more bigoted than what Juan Williams said. The only real difference is that he meant what he said.

This is not about freedom of expression. He's as free to say what he said as I am to type this post. The New York Times, however, is not obliged to publish my snark and NPR is not obliged to broadcast Juan Williams' bigotry.

It's just commerce - Williams is no longer a brand that NPR chooses to feature. He's been a tough sell to a lot of the NPR customers for awhile anyway. He won't be much missed there. It'll be interesting to see how hard right he tacks as a full time FOX propagandist, though.

Floor wax or dessert topping?

Candidate or applicant? Politico talks to Alan Moore, who was a Christine O'Donnell staffer in '08, before going to work for Townhall.com, on her career ambitions…

Moore, who first decided to volunteer for O’Donnell after hearing about her at a meeting of college Republicans, said that at one point, O’Donnell talked to him about winning a lucrative television contract with CNN or Fox News Channel.

‘I informed her that most media organizations prohibit their employees from running for office. She didn’t seem to understand and was more interested in getting a contract,’ he recalled. ‘She was more concerned about getting a TV deal than winning office.’

I'm thinking she still is.

Hat tip to Oliver.

I tend to favor...

..."disgraced former House Speaker," but I gotta admit that "Saudi-funded Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich" has a ring to it.

Yep.

Jed Lewison…

There's lies, there's damned lies, and then there's Fox "News."

Good questions…

…from John Aravosis.

Will top Hillary surrogate Lanny Davis be using his perch atop FOX News to sabotage Obama's candidacy? And if so, will Hillary do anything about it?

Hillary has made a full, gracious and, I believe, sincere endorsement of Barack Obama, but that's clearly not enough for all of her followers. Davis is a professional Clintonian, and was one of Hillary's most ardent and most offensive adherents. He's demonstrably willing to throw the Democratic Party under the bus if he thinks it will help advance the Clinton cause. How responsible should she be for his activities going forward? Would a personal directive from the Clintons be enough to curb him?

I don't know, but I think just such a directive should be made, and if Davis' ensuing activities detract from the Democratic ticket, they should denounce him.

Reject, even...

It's probably true...

...that Barack Obama's appearance on Fox News won't win over any votes among that networks regular viewership, but I can see it having value looking toward November just the same. With a paucity of enthusiasm for John McCain within the Republican base, the obvious move will be the classic Rovian fear card. In this case, the object of fear will be the candidate himself, painting Obama as some sort of exotic, and possibly dangerous, figure. To the degree that exposure to this well educated, well spoken man of moderately liberal persuasion creates a familiarity that de-fuses the fear card, it could mean less enthusiasm, less money, and, ultimately, fewer votes for McCain.

For thos that are fretting that this is evidence that Barack Obama is not taking his place in the vanguard of the proletarian revolution, well, yeah.

Pretty cool, huh?

Via AMERICAblog...

Democratic response beat Bush Iraq speech in TV ratings on FOX and CNN

What we're seeing is more Americans turning to the Democratic Party for leadership on Iraq.

What we need is more Democrats leading on Iraq.

No timeline, no funding. No excuses.

Nope.

Hunter:

So today I'm not thinking I'll talk much about Bill O'Reilly. I won't talk about his bizarre, habitual lying. I won't point out, yet again, that he does things on a regular basis far worse than Imus ever did, but that he gets away with it because Fox News has no ethical standards to maintain in the first place, and so is incapable either shame or dishonor. I won't mention his constant accusations that those that oppose him are Nazis, or Communists, or anti-American, or dissect Fox's particularly virulent brand of yellow journalism, as personified by clowns like O'Reilly, Hannity, Gibson and others.

And I won't bother mentioning that, according to AMERICAblog, Home Depot has backed out of advertising on Bill's show. (Well, maybe -- it seems they can't quite figure out if they're advertising on it in the first place.)

Me neither.

It's a little further from my house…

…but they've got a new customer.

Dear Lowe's Customer,

Thank you for your comments regarding the program, The O'Reilly Factor.

Lowe's has strict guidelines that govern the placement of our advertising. Our company advertises primarily in national, network prime-time television programs and on a variety of cable outlets.

Lowe's constantly reviews advertising buys to make certain they are consistent with its policy guidelines. The O'Reilly Factor does not meet Lowe's advertising guidelines, and the company's advertising will no longer appear during the program.

We are dedicated to providing the best service, products, and shopping environment in the home improvement industry. All three of these are very important to our business, and our customers will always be our number one priority.
We appreciate your contacting us, and hope this information addresses your concerns.

Thank you,

Lowe's Customer Care

Bye bye Home Don'tGo.

Hat tip to Kos.