Fox News Fails To Persuade Enough Suckers To Vote For Romney

Pray for Fox NewsDespite their best efforts, Fox News is the biggest loser this morning, having utterly failed in their crusade to advance the prospects of their primary client, the Republican Party. Their sacred mission of partisan deception was proven to be impotent and ineffective.

It was an uphill climb from the start given that they were saddled with a GOP field that included zany characters like Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Herman Cain. The eventual ascendency of Mitt Romney was unavoidable, even though he was a pariah in his own party who regarded him as a flip-flopping, north-eastern, moderate who created ObamaCare.

The campaign devolved rapidly after Romney’s nomination was evident. They never found any footing other than lunatic conspiracy theories that challenged President Obama’s citizenship and patriotism. When all you have are birthers and commie-phobic survivalists hunkering down in bunkers, you are not exactly going to appeal to middle-America.

The Fox News campaign effort relied conspicuously on false themes that never took hold outside the confines of the Fox bubble. They accused Obama of going on an “apology tour;” of disparaging small business owners by saying that they didn’t “build that;” of weakening welfare by removing work requirements; of plotting to ship Jeep production to China. None of it was true, and none of it was accepted by a public who is smarter than Fox thinks they are.

Nevertheless, Fox persisted in forcing their pre-masticated bullshit down the throats of American voters. They featured a parade of Republican politicians and pundits to pound their message into the already mushy brains of their viewers. Among their most brazenly partisan escapades was the broadcast of a four minute anti-Obama campaign-style video that was so egregiously inappropriate that they later pulled it from the air and their web site.

In the end, Fox had to work with the product that was handed to them. Mitt Romney was a flawed candidate who seemed to have no moral center. His primary argument for running was his experience as a businessman. But that item on his resume was dominated by Bain Capital, an investment firm best known for making millions by driving struggling companies into bankruptcy while sucking out fees and profits from loans that would never be repaid.

Romney hit the campaign trail with a brilliant strategy to make himself seem even more out-of-touch than was initially presumed. He spoke about corporations as people, how he wasn’t concerned about the poor, how he likes to fire people, about his wife’s two Cadillacs, and most damaging, about the 47% of the country that he regards as moochers and doesn’t have to worry about.

Wrap all of that into a package that also included a War on Women, an aversion to fact-checkers, and his now-famous Etch-a-Sketching of his prior positions, and you have a recipe for electoral disaster. Not even the unprecedented presence of Super PACS dumping unheard of millions into the GOP effort could rescue Romney from defeat. Although it is heartening to know that folks like Sheldon Adelson, Karl Rove, and the Koch brothers wasted so much money and have nothing to show for it.

This morning Fox News is scrambling to make excuses for coming up short. However, they refuse to take any responsibility for the electoral outcome. In many ways they seem to refuse to even admit defeat. Every story begins with the observation that the Republicans retained control of the House, and ends by saying that the losses were not the fault of the conservative agenda, but the strength of a powerful Obama campaign team and the bias on all the other media outlets.

That sense of denial is what defines the character of Fox News. And it may harden as they dig in to oppose Obama’s next four years. Their purpose for the next week or so will be to absolve themselves of any guilt, and to comfort their shocked audience who, because of Fox’s single-minded partisanship, never saw this coming. But judging from the reactions this morning, it is clear that Fox intends to continue to lie to their glassy-eyed disciples and to lie about their ideological adversaries. So strap yourselves in – it’s gonna be a bumpy four years.

Advertisement:

6 thoughts on “Fox News Fails To Persuade Enough Suckers To Vote For Romney

  1. Someone told me about a right-wing friend of his who was so sure of a Romney win he took it as a forgone conclusion. When I asked why he would think that, I was told the guy only watches Fox News and listens to the regular line up of hate radio starting with Limbaugh. They had him so convinced of a Romney victory, which was based on no evidence and wishful thinking, he accepted that for reality. This person is one of millions of the Foxbots who are today scratching their heads and now have to come up with new conspiracy theories as to why they were wrong, because, they believe, they can not be wrong. Fox and Rush can’t be wrong, it must be something else. I hope in their search some of them find that the source of their world view is a fraud and should never be trusted to tell them anything that resembles the truth.

    • It would be nice if they saw the light, but when true believers are confronted with actual truth that conflicts with their faith, the result is usually pretty ugly.

  2. Chick Todd hit it on the head last night. Right around the time when fox follows rove’s lead in denying their own call…that’s right guys…they actively, on air, listened to the guy that bank rolled romney’s campaign and super pacs to the tune of what, $300m? They took a camera down to their decision desk to question their own network’s call and did it totally at the behest of romney’s biggest supporter. I switched to fix right after NBC called it just so I could watch their heads explode, and oh man did they.

    Anyway, Chuck Todd made a comment about such behavior (maybe it was Rachel?). He made the point that this is normal behavior for a network that and an audience that has had a narrative shoved down their throats. A narrative that tells them that all the polls are wrong and not to be believed, even though I’ve never seen such accurate polling for the states. Keep in mind they were also denying THEIR OWN POLLS. They were told not to believe jobs numbers when they get released, they are fed conspiracy theories that actual congressman come and spew. Denying their own call and their own polls is proof that they are rapidly entering into their own comfortable political reality. Except with that formula, you’re probably going to be disappointed when actual reality comes along and fucks with your bubble. When you are told to deny reality cause it feels bad, or to believe a false reality and to believe in things that nobody else is even talking about, then when you lose you’re going to be super confused and pissed off. Confused and pissed, there you go right there. Fox News’ new slogan.

    Fox news: You’ll end up confused and pissed. And we’ll tell you who to be pissed at.

    …I really like that…..confused and pissed.

    • Well said. Except switch the slogan around so you can put it to the tune of Zeppelin: Pissed and Confused.

Comments are closed.