Rupert Murdoch’s Downright Delusional Twit-Tastic Debate Analysis

Rupert Murdoch is the corporate overlord of one of the biggest media conglomerates in the world. That empire provides him with a vast array of platforms from which to express his extreme rightist ideology. And yet the man who created Donald Trump (and is now his slave) cannot seem to stop himself from posting the sort of stunted half-thoughts that flourish on Twitter.

Donald Trump Rupert Murdoch

The morning after the ABC broadcast of the Republican primary debate in New Hampshire Murdoch was especially chatty. He unleashed a series of tweets that left an impossibly positive impression of his experience of the debate. You really have to wonder what debate he was watching, because his comments seemed astonishingly removed from reality. Let’s have a look.

The first Murdoch tweet was both a general compliment to all of the Republican candidates and a slap at the Democrats. He said “All candidates lifted game last night. Everyone seemed better than alternative Dems.”

This is the first indication that Murdoch has totally lost it. He’s talking about a debate that began with the most hilariously screwed-up introduction ever, wherein Ben Carson and Donald Trump appeared to have been cast into a trance that froze them in their tracks. And it just got worse from there. He didn’t bother to elaborate on why he thought the Dems were so unappealing, but since he is the chief honcho of Fox News we can just assume he’s on auto-hate of everything liberalish.

The next tweet was a bit more specific. He said “Trump better, somewhat contained and more presidential. Rubio inspirational speaker, a winner. But does he have real depth of knowledge?”

If this was Murdoch’s idea of Trump being “more presidential” than I would be curious to see what he regards as appropriate presidential demeanor. Trump was booed repeatedly for boorish behavior including shushing Jeb Bush and insulting the audience. Apparently Murdoch admires a leader who would shush visiting dignitaries and insult voters. As for Rubio’s “inspirational” speaking, that must have been when he masterfully repeated the same memorized catch phrase at least four times as if stuck in tape loop.

The next tweet covered another couple of candidates. Murdoch said “Cruz a great debater performed well, but why do all long-term acquaintances distrust him? Jeb Bush best yet. Easily visualise him in WH.”

Presumably Murdoch was praising Cruz’s debating skills such as when brazenly lied about how he sabotaged Ben Carson in Iowa by inventing a rumor that Carson had dropped out of the race. Or maybe it was when he couldn’t decide whether he loved waterboarding enough to actually use it. And if Murdoch doesn’t know yet why Cruz is so universally disliked, he really needs to come out from under that rock every now and then. As for Murdoch’s tribute to Bush, it was such empty praise that he couldn’t manage to provide an example of why Bush was so much better than ever before.

The next tweet was just more of the same substanceless blather. He said “Christie the tough bullying prosecutor. Not much on big issues. Kasich the safe moderate, everyone’s Vice President. Carson also best yet.”

It’s interesting to see Murdoch actually criticize someone. Especially Christie considering that he was personally lobbied to run for president in 2012 by Murdoch’s lieutenant Roger Ailes. Not surprisingly, Murdoch was soft on Kasich for the very reason he stated: Kasich is (allegedly) a moderate. And once again, He couldn’t explain what Carson did that was such a big improvement despite his obvious blunders. I guess he had already set the bar pretty low.

Finally, Murdoch went off an a tangential tweet to condemn all of the candidates for a shared failing. He said “All really failed to understand immensity of global Muslim problem. No easy answers, but Middle East just a forerunner to sub-Sahara Africa.”

This tells us where Fox News gets its rampant hatred of Muslims (i.e. from the top). Murdoch just hauls off at something he calls a “global Muslim problem” as if it were an outbreak of Ebola, and not a racist assault on 1.2 billion people, most of whom are peace-loving folks who have the very same hopes and dreams for themselves and their families as anyone else.

This Twitter rant exposes Murdoch’s obvious biases, both politically and personally. The fact that he can run a “news” network that is laughably described as “fair and balanced” without being ostracized from the ranks of honest journalists is testimony to how distorted the media has become. Of course, anyone who has paid much attention to Fox News already realizes that it is nothing but a propaganda outlet that seeks to disinform the already intellectually weak and frighten them into a state where they can be manipulated – just like any other cult.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.


Not SNL: The Single Most Hilarious Moment In Any Debate Ever (Video)

At the opening of the Republican debate on ABC the candidates were introduced as they always are and they march out onto the stage to take their place behind their podiums. But last night that plan went haywire in manner that could not have been funnier if it was scripted by profession comedians (video below).

Republican Debate Intro

After introducing Chris Christie, the moderator introduced Ben Carson. For some reason Carson came out from behind the curtain and stopped in the wings looking confused, an expression that is not unfamiliar for him. Perhaps he just tuckered out before he could make it to his podium. The moderator continued with the introductions announcing Ted Cruz, who smiled as he walked past Carson, still befuddled. A stage hand was seen peeking out from the curtain trying to get Carson to take his position at his podium but was ignored.

Then it was Donald Trump’s turn. He meandered out from behind the curtain so slowly it looked like he was just wandering around with nowhere special to go (what debate?). Eventually he inexplicably decided to stand beside Carson in the wings. Maybe he thought Megyn Kelly was out there and he was too scared to proceed. Then again, Trump knows that Carson is a bad-ass who tried to stab one of his childhood friends and hit his mother in the head with a hammer, so maybe he thought Carson would protect him from Kelly. Jeb Bush came out next and breezed by the still loitering Carson and Trump, looking back at them curiously.

With almost everyone else on stage, the moderators finally coerced Carson and Trump to join their colleagues for the debate. Then they almost went on with debate without introducing John Kasich at all. You could hear somebody telling them not to forget Kasich. The moderators then attempted to cover for Carson and Trump’s strange behavior by saying that it was so loud in the auditorium that they didn’t hear. That might have been a decent excuse except for the fact that all the other candidates seemed to hear just fine.

After the debate got started Carson was asked his first question. Before answering he briefly addressed the screwed-up intro saying that the confusion stemmed from him not being introduced second as planned. The only problem with that excuse is that he actually was introduced second, as the video shows.

It’s hard to know whether to laugh at this buffoonery or to be afraid of how severely our democracy has deteriorated to result in these being the choices of one of our two major political parties. Well, actually it isn’t really that hard, you just can’t help but laugh. But afterward you can still be afraid. But what’s most frightening is what they all said during the actual debate. They acted like children tossing around insults, bashing Obama, and trying to out-macho each other with claims about how tough they would be on ISIS and who would do more waterboarding. They were totally incapable of offering any affirmative solutions to real problems. And that isn’t funny.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.