Last month I composed an analysis of the ratings success at Fox News this year. Amongst the reasons I posited was this:

“…by heating up the aggressive tone, Fox has fashioned a hearth around which despondent conservatives can huddle. In 2006 they suffered the loss of both houses of congress. Now they have lost the presidency as well – and to what they view as an unpatriotic, Muslim, elitist, intent on driving the nation to Socialism in a Toyota hybrid. So now they congregate in the warm red glow of the Fox News logo that provides them the comfort that comes from numbing propaganda and the righteous smiting of perceived enemies.”

Guess what? My theory has now been affirmed by none other than Fox News Senior VP Bill Shine:

“…one suggestion for FNC’s strong showing is that, to a degree, it serves as comfort food in troubled times for loyal viewers.

‘I think that is somewhat the case,’ said Bill Shine, the network’s senior vice president of programming. ‘There are people who want to check out or read or look at places where they feel comfortable.'”

Thank you, Bill. That validation will serve to lend credibility to my other observations regarding how Fox News repeatedly misrepresents their status in the media. You know, the Mainstream Media that they constantly castigate for being biased despite their prominent role in it.

As a recent example of their deceit, Bill O’Reilly has spent much of the last week parading around the dial in celebration of his 100th month as the top-rated show in cable news. He even went so far as to make comparisons of himself with groundbreaking historical TV programs:

“I don’t think it’s ever been done in any kind of TV milieu. We had our people research all programs going back to the 50s, like Gunsmoke and things like that. Nobody’s ever stayed on top this long.”

Keith Olbermann, however, revealed that O’Reilly isn’t even close to the record he claims. The Today Show has been #1 for 166 months, and Meet the Press for 131. Even worse, the comparison to network programs like Gunsmoke is deliberately dishonest. Gunsmoke was #1 against ALL network programming. O’Reilly never did that. The Factor was never even #1 against all cable programming. He has merely been #1 against cable “news” programming – a much smaller pond.

This is the sort of self-deception that losers have to exploit to maintain their self-esteem. So O’Reilly will continue to boast about feats he has not achieved, and Fox News will continue to provide a home for America’s orphaned conservatives. They will give each other solace as they strive to disseminate falsehoods about creeping Socialism and leftist monsters hiding under the bed.

Fox News is like chicken soup for socially stunted right-wingers.