Fox News CEO Roger Ailes Honored By Ultra-Rightist Bradley Foundation

Roger AilesConfirming what everyone with a pulse already knows, Roger Ailes, the CEO of Fox News, is a revered figure in the realm of wealthy, right-wing, evangelical, political manipulators. The latest evidence is the tribute to Ailes from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, an organization that rivals the Koch brothers for their advocacy of extremist conservative issues. Huffington Post reports that…

“Over the past decade, the Wisconsin-based Bradley Foundation has given away more than $400 million to fund conservative causes, including school voucher campaigns, anti-union ‘right to work’ laws, pro-marriage initiatives, global warming denial groups and efforts to combat voter fraud.”

The Bradley has also been one of the biggest funders of AstroTurf Tea Party groups like FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity, as well as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a secretive assembly of corporations and politicians who draft custom legislation to enrich themselves.

In his acceptance speech, Ailes spewed typically jingoistic rhetoric that reeked of American supremacism. His words betray a repulsive bigotry that seeps into the reporting on Fox News every day.

Ailes: “We have allowed ourselves to be manipulated by others, many who of whom want to impose their culture and laws under the manufactured utopian idea that all cultures are equal and most are better than America’s.”

Ailes doesn’t say who the “others” are who have been manipulating us. However, his use of the term is just the sort of divisive alarmism that bigots generally employ. Ailes also doesn’t bother to describe what the American culture is. Considering that the United States has grown out of a wildly diverse population of immigrants, it would be difficult to define a specific set of cultural elements that compose an American identity, unless it is one of wild diversity. In which case, it is the imposition of other cultures that has specifically shaped what is unique about us.

Nevertheless, Ailes goes on to state that…

“Traditional American culture influenced me greatly as I created the Fox News Channel for Rupert Murdoch. We knew that a fair and balanced news channel could succeed, as long as no views were rejected and conservative views were allowed to be heard.”

It’s interesting that he claims to reject no views, but only stipulates that conservative views be heard. That subtle prejudice is affirmed in the following paragraph where Ailes praises his network for reporting stories that others do not. He cites as examples the Dr. Gosnell story, the trumped up Benghazi hysteria, and the IRS/Tea Party affair – all conservative leaning news items. And with regard to the IRS, Ailes ventures off into conspiracy theory lunacy by advancing nutty allegations about the hiring of some 16,000 armed IRS agents enforcing ObamaCare (when is he going to give Alex Jones a show on Fox?).

As if to tie up his speech with a demonstration of the ignorance and shallow thinking that is so rampant on Fox News, Ailes makes the absurd (and factually erroneous) statement that…

“You know how I know this is a great country? Because everybody is trying to get in, and nobody is trying to get out.”

First of all, it is ridiculous to try to establish America’s greatness by what those on the outside think. There are at least as many foreigners who hate, or disapprove of, America, as admire it. What’s more, there are millions of people who want to get out of America. Three million leave every year. As for the people trying to get in, they are not doing so because America is great. They are coming because America is rich. Contrary to the worshipers of wealth with whom Ailes associates, that is not the same thing.

It is entirely appropriate that Ailes would receive this tribute from an organization that celebrates Randian-style greed and selfishness. And his acceptance speech perfectly illustrates his devotion to that philosophy. It’s just too bad that the $250,000 award is going to someone who is already a multimillionaire, and whose life has been dedicated to hiring other rich people to tell middle-class people to blame the poor for all of their problems.

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6 thoughts on “Fox News CEO Roger Ailes Honored By Ultra-Rightist Bradley Foundation

  1. I’m not going to comment on Roger Ailes’ award or his skewed views. But your comments concerning America’s greatness (or lack of it) are misleading.

    I don’t think anybody has tried to establish that greatness equals universal agreement by all foreigners. Those who come to the US do so because they believe they have an opportunity for a life here that they won’t be able to achieve in their home country. The reasons maybe be economic, political, religious, lifestyle or a combination of them. Those who think America is the devil stay put. America’s wealth is an enabler — they know they will have the opportunity to work to earn a little bit of that wealth — but so is its laws, way of life and culture.

    Then, your reference to the 3 million Americans who want to get out of America implies they are fleeing. The article mostly focuses on Americans who have taken advantage of the American way of life and its education, and are venturing beyond the borders as entrepreneurs. I don’t think there are too many poor or middle class people leaving to live in Panama City or London.

    As much as these expats may love where they’re living and embrace the lifestyle there, I doubt any are willing to naturalize AND give up their US citizenship. That hardly sounds like a fleeing mob looking for refugee status in London.

    • Except for the few expats who HAVE done just that. Like that guy who got rich off of Facebook and fled to escape paying taxes. And then there are those expats who host websites touting ways for others who wish to become expats on how to avoid all the nasty fees and other “obligations” incumbent on Americans who aren’t as able to become expats. And while they may still live in this country, you’ve got the creeps who may as well be expats since they’ve sent so much of their personal wealth overseas to foreign “havens” to avoid paying taxes on it (at least, until the gov’t comes to its “senses” and allows them to bring it all home, clear and tax-free).

      By the way, one of those expat websites I referenced–well, it showed a PERFECTLY legal way for future expats to move to some countries and never have to pay US taxes (since they’re no longer residing in the States) but never have to give up their citizenship either (something about crossing a border every so many days before their visa for visiting expires–then they come back across the border, with a brand new visitor’s visa, and go about their regular routines, until it’s time to make that little run for the border; if they move to a country with no extradition treaty with the US, the US can’t do anything to force them to pay taxes and it’s a very difficult thing to revoke a person’s citizenship without their consent).

      • Of course there are a few. I seriously doubt many of the 3 million Americans left to escape US taxes.

        The central point is that the American brand isn’t so tainted that Americans aren’t fleeing to other countries and gave up their US citizenship. My guess is that 99.9% of them would come straight back to the US if suddenly the fit hit the shan and they wanted to be safe and free.

        • You’re basing your response on unverifiable, random speculation. Is that really the best you can do? The fact is that Ailes said nobody is leaving, and that is simply false.

          • I’m going by the link to the article you provided, not by anything Roger Ailes has said. Your commentary implies (without verification) that Americans want to get out of America (as in flee).

            Furthermore, I was one of those Americans who lived abroad for almost 10 years. I left to pursue a career opportunity that was beneficial for me and my family. At no time did I ever “get out” of America, and I can assure you that none of the expats I had contact with in 7 or 8 countries felt that way either.

            Actually, there was one. And guess what happened when his business venture went bust? He returned to the USA. He couldn’t really stay because, like some people who immigrate to this country, he didn’t assimilate. He didn’t bother to learn the language or make friends with locals or participate in the culture.

            There are very few middle class or low income Americans who are “getting out” of America (or are even contemplating it) as you imply. There may be some who come here, can’t or won’t assimilate into the culture and decide to return to their country of origin.

            You’re right that Ailes’s comment is false when he says “nobody is leaving”. It is also false when you say that “there are millions of people who want to get out of America”. Of the millions you assert, you provide no evidence to support it. You do provide evidence that Americans move to other countries to take advantage of business opportunities. Even the dude who went to Panama chose it because it was similar to his American roots, and there was opportunity for an entrepreneur to be the first in the market, not because he had an overwhelming desire to leave the US.

            I wonder why he didn’t choose Venezuela or Mexico or maybe even Cuba.

  2. “many who of whom” Ailes said that?

    Meanwhile, with your ongoing permission I’m linking to this column on the appropriate MMFA blog.

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