This is rich. NewsBusters, the uber-rightist attack dog for the conservative media, is very unhappy about my analysis of the cable news ratings earlier this week. I reported that MSNBC had scored a rare ratings victory over Fox News and that Rachel Maddow, in particular, had not only crushed her time period competition (Sean Hannity), but also beat Bill O’Reilly in the key 25-54 year old demographic. It was a newsworthy milestone and an important trend to keep an eye on.
Tim Graham, the Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center, could not contain himself and penned a column that took issue with my fanciful speculation about adding a new program to the MSNBC schedule with former Rep. Anthony Weiner as the host. Never mind that I explicitly offered the suggestion as a “long shot” and a “curiosity,” Graham built his whole column around the musing. In the meantime, he had nothing whatsoever to say about the the principle subject of my article: the fact that Fox was getting its butt kicked.
Graham and his glassy-eyed followers at NewsBusters really think that Weiner would be a lousy choice to host a new program. Maybe so, but he has a lot more intelligence and personality than most of the Fox News lineup. What’s more, he isn’t even the biggest perv in this group. Bill O’Reilly paid a huge settlement to a former producer for sexual harassment. Dick Morris was caught with a hooker who he paid to suck his toes. And Charles Leaf, a correspondent who reported for Fox, was arrested for having sexually assaulted a four year old girl.
Weiner, of course, did nothing illegal. Although it wasn’t very smart to tweet risque pictures of himself amongst consenting adults, it was a lot less repulsive than assault, harassment, and solicitation. Yet Graham and the FoxPods have forgiven O’Reilly, Morris, et al, but still think Weiner should be banished from the airwaves and, perhaps, from all public life.
That’s so typical of the sanctimonious, judgmental, conservative mindset that claims to revere family values but who elevate deviant freaks like Newt Gingrich, Donald Trump, John McCain, etc, whose multiple marriages are in stark contrast to the values they pretend to hold. They might want to hang on to their stones until they have vacated their glass houses.
