Obama’s Right: Ayatollahs Are Making Common Cause With Republicans

The auto-outrage detector of the right-wing establishment is blinking fiercely over an offhand remark made by President Obama yesterday. The President was delivering a detailed address about the Iran nukes deal in the hopes of persuading Congress to ratify it. He covered specifics including the prohibitions that would be imposed on Iran, the provisions for any breach of the agreement, and the consequences of not passing it in Congress. However, the entirety of Obama’s remarks were summarily dismissed by his wingnut critics so that they could hyperventilate over this:

“It’s those [Iranian] hard-liners chanting ‘death to America’ who have been most opposed to the [nukes] deal. They’re making common cause with the Republican caucus.”

GOP Iran

That’s right. The President correctly pointed out that the hard-liners in the Republican Party, in opposing the nuke deal, are taking precisely the same position as the Ayatollahs in Iran. Granted for different reasons, but the factual basis is undeniable. Much of the motivation on the part of the GOP stems from their determination to oppose anything that comes out of this White House, no matter what the merits. And this isn’t the first time that Republicans and other conservatives in politics and the press, have sided with our enemies to satisfy their own political aspirations. Here are a few examples:

  • Republicans declared their opposition to a UN Arms Trade treaty that would regulate the transfer of tanks, large-caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, warships, missiles, etc., between member nations. There were only three votes against the treaty in the UN: Syria, Iran, and North Korea. Consequently, the GOP is aligning itself with three of the most brutally oppressive regimes in the world.
  • Conservative media provides free advertising for terrorists, and they must stop it. While it is reasonable to report on the brutality that is being engaged in throughout the Middle East, and particularly in Iraq and Syria, there is no useful purpose in blanketing the airwaves with images created by terrorists for their own benefit.
  • For several years now Fox News and other conservative media have feverishly demanded that President Obama explicitly associate terrorism with Islam. When you look at who is insisting that the terrorists be called Muslims you will see only the terrorists themselves, Fox News, and their political allies on the right. On the other side is Obama, religion and terrorism experts, and most of the world’s Muslims. So the real question here is why is Fox News and right-wing politicians joining with the terrorists in an effort to brand their heinous activities?

There are other areas of agreement between the American Taliban and foreign extremists. In fact, much of the agenda of the Islamic radicals is identical to the platform of the Republican Party. They both believe that religion should be the foundation of government. They are both virulently anti-gay. They would both enforce a submissive role for women who must not be permitted to make decisions about their own bodies. They both have a perverse obsession with guns. They both want to use education for indoctrination. They both refuse to accept settled questions of science. And they both advocate overthrowing the secular governments that they despise.

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Considering the array of similarities between these groups it is surprising that the right would make such a big deal about Obama’s comments. It only brings additional attention to the policy positions that they share. And the more they gripe about it the more people will be exposed to their repulsive ideological harmony.

Fox News CEO Roger Ailes Flips Off Jon Stewart

The most bitter, paranoid, hostile media boss in the business just affirmed all of those character flaws in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. Roger Ailes was questioned about the end of Jon Stewart’s reign as host of The Daily Show and, while pretending to be above it all, he revealed that he is painfully obsessed with Stewart and delighted to see him go.

ailes-the-hutt

The interview began with Ailes whining about Stewart being “after us for years,” but insisting that “he never made a dent.” That’s probably why they did so many stories attacking him. Stewart has been the target of some scathing insults on Fox News from everyone from Bill O’Reilly (who called Stewart “a key component of left-wing television,” and his audience “stoned slackers”) to Sean Hannity (who called Stewart “a sanctimonious jackass”). Ailes himself demeaned Stewart as a lefty who hates conservatives, adding that “He’s crazy.” Pretty much every time Stewart did a segment that mentioned Fox News even briefly, the dullards at Fox would retaliate with venomous assaults consuming valuable airtime.

Ailes then demonstrated the signature reality distortions for which Fox News is known.

Ailes: As he faces the end of his career, he’s beginning to wonder: ‘Is this as popular as I’m ever going to get? Is this as much power as I’ll ever have? The one person I could never get rid of was Roger Ailes. I tried. I did everything I could.’ This was all a plea to his lefty friends. I think he’s disappointed that he didn’t accomplish that goal, and we, of course, supplied him with half of his comedy. It’s just a matter of disappointment.

Ailes had to reach deep into his anus to pull out the assertion that Stewart is at the end of his career. Stewart is not retiring. He is leaving one job and moving on to other projects. And as for his future popularity, here are a few people who left The Daily Show but whose careers have soared: Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Steve Carell, Larry Wilmore, Olivia Munn, Ed Helms, Kristen Schaal, and Michael Che.

It is also a notable indication of how ego-driven Ailes is to believe that Stewart’s goal was to get rid of him. In truth, Stewart’s goal was to expose the dishonesty, prejudice, and hypocrisy of Fox News, as well as other mainstream media outlets. And that is a goal he accomplished in spades. Nobody regards Fox News as an impartial news source, not even conservatives. And most people recognize that Fox practices a wholly unethical brand of pseudo-journalism and thinly disguised propaganda for the Republican Party. Stewart deserves some of the credit for that.

One thing that Ailes gets right is that Fox News supplied Stewart with much of his material. But that’s an odd thing to brag about. In effect Ailes is conceding that so much of what he airs on Fox is ludicrous bullspit that is ripe for mockery. Indeed it is, and Stewart took full advantage of it.

Elsewhere in the interview Ailes exhibited a severe case of denial. He said that he never worries about Stewart, but that is contradicted by how knee-jerk reactive he and his network are to anything Stewart says. He said that Stewart couldn’t work for Fox because “He would depress everyone.” Like everyone at Fox isn’t already swimming in despair as they anguish over everything that President Obama does and says. He complained about Stewart’s mood saying that “You can’t say that many negative things about people unless you’re really unhappy about something.” Has Ailes ever looked in the mirror? [Note: that was meant figuratively to point out that he and Fox News are the ones that are relentlessly negative. However, if you want to take literally, that works too]

As a parting shot in the interview, Ailes launches an unprovoked attack on his own corporate family:

Ailes: Knowing [Stewart], he’ll direct movies with sort of a left-wing point of view, and America’s a terrible country. Somebody needs to tell him that 90 percent of what Hollywood puts out already does that. He’s going to have to find another niche.

Somebody needs to tell Ailes that 21st Century Fox is one of the top five film studios in the world (it is #4). It also owns one of the four broadcast television networks (Also #4). It is firmly ensconced in Hollywood and is as responsible for its output as any other studio. Perhaps he is upset that it was Warner Bros., not Fox, that released that despicable, unpatriotic, left-wing movie “American Sniper,” that grossed more than any other film in 2014.

News Corpse Presents: The ALL NEW 2nd volume of
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

It is apparent that Roger Ailes is a deeply disturbed and emotionally tormented individual. His loathsome and cantankerous personality is evident in this interview and in the programming on Fox News. It would be almost pitiful but for the damage he causes. And in the end, he must know that Stewart will be remembered far more fondly than he will, and for a far more honorable body of work.