Day: 9/5/2012

Fox News Ratings Collapse On First Day Of The Democratic National Convention

Posted by on September 5, 2012 at 7:52 pm. 4 Comments :

The ratings for the cable news networks on day one of the Democratic National Convention are out and they reveal much about the nation’s political divisions.

First of all, MSNBC won the night. That may seem like a given, but in reality that was a steep hill to climb for a network that rarely enjoys a single program win. Last night, however, MSNBC not only beat its cable rivals, but also two of the broadcast networks. They came in second only to their sister network, NBC.

More significant is the fact that Fox News, the number one cable news network, saw a steep decline, coming in dead last. For Fox to lose to both MSNBC and CNN is a rare occurrence and gives us a fascinating look into the audience composition of the network

We know that Fox News is the channel of choice for Republicans and conservatives. Their devotion is almost cult-like. In multiple analyses of Fox’s ratings it is apparent that their audience is fiercely loyal. They are not inclined to switch channels, even to watch a GOP debate on another network. Their core audience is stuck on their channel regardless of what else is on.

During the recent Republican convention, Fox’s ratings were up only slightly from their normal programming. And the network was down only 2% from what they did during the 2008 GOP convention. That’s how consistent their audience is on a regular basis. However, for the first day of the Democratic convention they sunk about 66%. What could account for that uncharacteristic decline?

Obviously the FoxPods were faced with a dilemma. They had no intention of tuning in some other channel. But their pet channel was broadcasting {yuck} Democrats. So the Tea-publicans that make up Fox’s audience sucked it up and turned off Fox. We do not know where where these viewers went, but it’s a safe bet that they did not venture into Lamestream Media territory. Perhaps they had DVR’ed “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.” But they weren’t watching Fox News.

Pray for Fox NewsThis means that the Fox News audience made a deliberate choice to avoid any exposure to the party they regard as their enemy. They refused to listen to views that Fox has convinced them are dangerous and representative of foreign, Muslim, communist, and godless pagans. They voluntarily separated themselves from the heresy that might have infected their pious souls.

That is behavior consistent with cults. They make a point of disassociating with apostates and blasphemers who might divert them from the true path. Even if those “threats” are close family members. The cult leaders demand strict loyalty. And that is precisely what Fox News gets from their disciples.

OMFG: Mitt Romney’s New Black Leadership Council Chair: Allen West

Posted by on September 5, 2012 at 2:24 pm. 9 Comments :

Just when you think that politics has reached an epic high in absurdity, something happens that makes you realize that there is simply no limit to how monumentally deranged things can get.

Allen West

Last month an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll was released that showed Mitt Romney receiving 0% of the African-American vote. So what does Romney do to address that historic rejection? He chooses wackadoodle congressman Allen West of Florida to chair his Black Leadership Council. Yes, that’s Allen West who has said…

  • I believe there’s about 78 to 81 members of the Democrat Party who are members of the Communist Party.
  • If Joseph Goebbels was around, he’d be very proud of the Democrat Party.
  • President Obama seems determined to punish and wipe out economic success in this country, leveling tax weapons of mass destruction on all taxpayers.
  • Barack Obama is undeserving of the title Commander-in-Chief.
  • [Obama] can take [his message] to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America.
  • You [Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz] are the most vile, unprofessional, and despicable member of the US House of Representatives.
  • Mainstream media’s is no longer reporting the news, they are propagandizing […] Goebbels is doing somersaults and back flips in his grave.

OK, so West is a paranoid, hateful, misogynist who is obsessed with Nazis and communists, but how does that affect his chairmanship of Romney’s Black Leadership Council? Well he is also a bitter opponent of the Congressional Black Caucus who he has disparaged as race-baiters. He diminishes the horrors of slavery by calling himself a runaway slave from the Democratic plantation. He has spoken out virulently against Muslims and immigrants and is hostile to multiculturalism.

The repugnant comments and behavior of West are not aberrations. They are representative of his malignant character. He was nearly drummed out of the Army for engaging in torture against innocent Iraqi civilians. And since all of the incidents noted above occurred prior to Romney appointing him to his Council, Romney now owns all of it. He surely vetted West before bringing him on board.

Allen West is about as welcome an ambassador to the American black population as David Duke. It is incomprehensible that Romney believes that someone as incendiary as West could advance Romney’s interests in the black community. Romney must be shooting for support from African-Americans that is below zero. Either that or he thinks there is a large, secret, self-hating black demographic that will propel him to victory.

Fox News Struggles To Find A Line Of Attack For Michelle Obama’s Speech

Posted by on September 5, 2012 at 4:17 am. 4 Comments :

Day one of the Democratic National Convention is over and now the the biggest threat to Barack Obama’s convention appearance is rising to the level set by his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama.

Michelle Obama
America. We Built That!

The First Lady has set the bar so high that the convention’s headliners, including Bill Clinton, are going to have to bring their best game in order not to be overshadowed. Her speech hit on every level – emotional, political, personal – and served as an inspirational motivating kickoff to the President’s campaign.

The speech was so good, in fact, that Fox News was sweating bullets in an effort to find something to complain about. Immediately following Michelle’s address, Chris Wallace came on and described her performance as “masterful” before descending into criticism that it was negative and focused too heavily on government solutions. Then Fox turned to Bret Baier who also began with praise for Michelle as a prelude to bashing the segment in her speech where she said that the President didn’t “care if you’re a Democrat or Republican.” Baier perpetuated the myth that Obama is a divisive figure when in fact it is the GOP that has engaged in unprecedented obstructionism. Finally, the world’s worst pundit, Dick Morris, published an editorial on Fox News online that conceded that Michelle’s speech was powerful, but asserted that she was selling herself and not the President.

Expect one or more of those themes to be sprinkled throughout Fox’s programming on Wednesday until they find some mud they think will stick. One desperate smear attempt is already taking shape in the form of a soundbite plucked from a DNC video where the narrator says…

“We are committed to all people, we do believe you can use government in a good way. Government’s the only thing that we all belong to. We have different churches, different clubs, but we’re together as a part of our city or our county or our state. And our nation.”

The Fox misinterpretation of that centers on the phrase “Government’s the only thing that we all belong to.” Their tortured reasoning pushes the notion that this is a message that the government owns us. However, the actual context makes it clear that the meaning of the word “belong” in this usage is not ownership, but membership. While we all have different personal associations and relationships, we are all still Americans. That’s the message of patriotic unity that Fox and other right-wing manglers like Breitbart, Malkin, and Ericksen, are trying to twist into statist slavery.

Despite Fox’s efforts, Michelle’s speech is probably going to be received positively by the vast majority of those who see or hear it. It may go down in history as the best speech by a First Lady ever. The writing was sharp and emotive. The delivery was heartfelt and exuded both strength and empathy. And the only problem with it is that it presents an enormous challenge for the remainder of the convention’s speakers to live up to. However, if Barack is worried he doesn’t show it in this picture from the White House where he watched Michelle with his daughters (and a special guest):

Watching Michelle