Day: 10/31/2013

Fox Nation vs. Reality: Bigfoot’s Epic Battle With ObamaCare And Congress

Posted by on October 31, 2013 at 1:28 pm. 3 Comments :

In takes a monumental heaping of chutzpah for Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to criticize the approval rating for ObamaCare when he is the lowest ranked political leader in the nation with 22% favorability. He lands well below President Obama (49%), Nancy Pelosi (35%), House Speaker John Boehner (27%), and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid(27%). But even this act of audacity is eclipsed by Fox Nation’s brazenly deceitful presentation of it.

Fox Nation
You think this is bad? Read Fox Nation vs. Reality for 50+ more.

The Fox Nationalist’s headline reads “McConnell: More Believe In ‘Bigfoot’ Than Obamacare.” However, that is not what McConnell said. The source article from the Washington Examiner quotes McConnell commenting on ObamaCare’s implementation saying that “just 12 percent of Americans think the rollout has gone well.” So this is not a referendum on the Affordable Care Act itself, just the admittedly glitchy launch of the website. McConnell failed to note, though, that the job approval rating for Congress is only 11%, so the nation regards Congress in even lower esteem than the ObamaCare website’s botched debut.

McConnell went on to note that 14% of Americans believe in the existence of Bigfoot (which is a sorry reflection on America). However, there is no argument that the vast majority of the country believes that ObamaCare exists. So the comparison doesn’t make any sense. If, instead, they had polled on the public’s approval of Bigfoot we might have a more apt (and interesting) comparison. But I still suspect that Bigfoot would have kicked McConnell’s ass off a cliff (figuratively and literally).

Breaking Up With Fox News: Guess Who’s Dumping The Network Now?

Posted by on October 31, 2013 at 9:34 am. 16 Comments :

The YouGov survey group does periodic studies on the reputation and appeal of major businesses and services. It is an indicator of the brands that Americans prefer and regard with respect and esteem.

Included in the study is a breakdown of brand favorability by political party affiliation. Last year the survey had Fox News as the number one brand favored by Republicans above all others (including Chick-Fil-A). The strong showing by Fox was an affirmation of the dependency that conservatives have on an authority to give them direction and validation.

Fox News
No one, not even Republicans, like being lied to: Fox Nation vs. Reality

However, in the intervening year a lot has taken place that has deteriorated the bonds that Republican viewers had with their daddy network. They lost an election that Fox had assured them they would win in a landslide. They launched numerous investigations into alleged scandals that, despite Fox’s endless hype, failed to catch on with the public or to prove any malfeasance on the part of the president they despise. They pursued a doomed strategy to shut down the government and threaten to throw the nation into default in an effort to reverse time and make ObamaCare disappear. And they continue to suffer through a relationship with the acutely demented Tea Party whose disintegrating appeal hasn’t stopped them from launching pernicious primary challenges that will inevitably benefit Democrats.

Not surprisingly, the results of the new BrandIndex survey reflect these realities. While Fox News was number one among Republicans last year, it didn’t even make the top ten this year (and neither did Chick-Fil-A). The precipitous decline of Fox parallels falling poll numbers for the GOP, the Tea Party, and the Republican congressional leadership, to historic lows. So just as the Tea-Publican Party has fallen out of favor with the American people, Fox News has fallen out of favor with those who correctly recognize it as the Republican network.

Fox News was already the product of intense PR that fooled people into thinking it was a broadly popular and influential cable news network, when in fact it is only viewed by about 3% of the American population. Yet despite countless hours of programming, and millions of dollars worth of political promotions, Fox has been pitifully ineffectual at swaying public opinion in the last two election cycles. Perhaps that failure of its core mission has contributed to Republicans abandoning Fox and refocusing on more important matters like the “girliness” factor of the new Marine caps and imaginary threats lurking in ObamaCare.

Having lost the respect of the key demographic segment of its audience cannot be regarded as fortuitous in these months leading up to the 2014 midterm elections. However, in the end, some portion of the GOP faithful will surely return to the Fox fold. After all, where else can they go to get such adoration, affirmation, and {free) airtime?

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