{"id":8080,"date":"2012-09-25T04:00:57","date_gmt":"2012-09-25T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8080"},"modified":"2012-09-25T08:26:29","modified_gmt":"2012-09-25T15:26:29","slug":"fox-news-desperation-grows-as-romneys-prospects-decay-into-dust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8080","title":{"rendered":"Fox News Desperation Grows: As Romney&#8217;s Prospects Decay, Anti-Obama Attacks Accelerate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It must be frustrating to be a Fox News producer or editor these days knowing that your professional mission is to advance the campaign of Mitt Romney for president, while Romney himself seems to be working as hard as he can to sabotage any possibility of victory.<\/p>\n<p>Last week was widely considered to be disastrous for the Romney campaign, but what is most notable about the Romney Ticket&#8217;s Series of Unfortunate Events is that they were all the fault of Romney&#8217;s own missteps. Which makes it all the more curious that he appears to be so completely clueless as to his shortcomings. He told an interviewer that there is not a thing wrong with his excellent campaign and that it doesn&#8217;t require any turnaround:<\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Pix\/Campaign2012\/romney-campaign-turnaround.jpg\" alt=\"Mitt Romney Campaign Turnaround\" width=\"500\" \/><\/center><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>Someone must not have conveyed that positive message to the rest of Romney&#8217;s staff. As Rachel Maddow noted last night, Romney&#8217;s campaign has undergone a steady stream of makeovers, resets, retoolings, reboots, and recasting of messages:<\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Pix\/Campaign2012\/maddow-resets.jpg\" alt=\"Rachel Maddow Resets\" \/><\/center><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>So what does poor Fox News do when faced with such a rolling calamity (as conservative columnist Peggy Noonan described Romney&#8217;s campaign)? Well, they litter their reporting with nothing but anti-Obama stories in a desperate attempt to unlevel the playing field and boost Romney&#8217;s fading prospects. Yesterday on the Fox News web site the following stories appeared:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8217;60 Minutes&#8217; interview causes headache for White House<\/li>\n<li>Libya latest example of Obama administration downplaying initial reports of terror?<\/li>\n<li>Obama heads for taping of &#8216;The View,&#8217; as UN summit begins<\/li>\n<li>Romney accuses Obama of trying to &#8216;fool&#8217; voters<\/li>\n<li>Ryan: President Obama will let Medicare go belly up.<\/li>\n<li>Ryan: If Obama &#8216;can&#8217;t change Washington&#8217; we need to change presidents<\/li>\n<li>Obama admits some ads go &#8216;overboard,&#8217; Romney defends campaign in dueling interviews<\/li>\n<li>Obama Shifts Further on Libya Strike, Says Attack Not &#8216;Just a Mob Action&#8217;<\/li>\n<li>White House: Obama Too Busy for Side Meetings at UN<\/li>\n<li>White House pressed on why Obama UN itinerary doesn&#8217;t include meetings with world leaders<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That&#8217;s ten stories with obviously anti-Obama spin. And to make this unfair and unbalanced presentation of the <em>&#8220;news&#8221;<\/em> all the more apparent, there was not even one story that similarly treated Romney. Not one. Zero. Zilch. In fact there wasn&#8217;t even a single story wherein Romney was the lede. That must be because even Fox couldn&#8217;t find anything positive to say about his campaign. Therefore, they stuck to burying Obama in an avalanche of mud.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, on the air at Fox News, they approached their political reporting with a peculiar slant. Just about every story was framed along the lines of <em>&#8220;What Can Romney Do To Turn Things Around?&#8221;<\/em> Or <em>&#8220;How Will Romney Respond To All The Negative Media?&#8221;<\/em> Or this bit of breaking news: <em>&#8220;Gov. Romney Revs Up 2012 Campaign.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Pix\/Campaign2012\/baier-romney-revs.jpg\" alt=\"Bret Baier Fox News\" \/><\/center><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>These are characteristic representations of Fox News&#8217; partisan perspective. They would, of course, never lead off with a headline like <em>&#8220;What Can Obama Do To Maintain His Lead?&#8221;<\/em> The Pro-Romney editorializing at Fox News could not be more transparent. They have gone into overdrive as they recognize the near futility of pulling Romney&#8217;s ass out of the fire of his own making. It is almost painful to watch them squirming like worms on a hot sidewalk who know that it&#8217;s just a matter of time before they become so desiccated they can no longer wriggle in the sun.<\/p>\n<p>The desperation of Fox News is manifest in their manic hyperactivity to pile on Obama, while virtually ignoring the hapless misadventures of Mitt &#038; Co. And this is the sort of misbehavior that we can expect to increase in the few weeks left before the election. At this point does anyone expect to see any future headlines from Fox praising Obama&#8217;s speech at the United Nations or declaring him the winner of a debate? Don&#8217;t bet on it.<\/p>\n<p>As the days grow short, so will Fox&#8217;s fuse on their rhetorical bombs. The good news is that no one but Fox&#8217;s glassy-eyed disciples will ever know there was an explosion because, more and more, Fox&#8217;s influence is confined to an insular group of fanatics who can still tolerate their brand of dishonest and disreputable pseudo-journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It must be frustrating to be a Fox News producer or editor these days knowing that your professional mission is to advance the campaign of Mitt Romney for president, while Romney himself seems to be working as hard as he can to sabotage any possibility of victory. Last week was widely considered to be disastrous [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[152,1,684],"tags":[183,33,260],"class_list":["post-8080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election","category-general","category-media-bias","tag-barack-obama","tag-fox-news","tag-mitt-romney"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-26k","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8121,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8121","url_meta":{"origin":8080,"position":0},"title":"Fox News Appoints Itself As Mitt Romney&#8217;s Debate Coach","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/30\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It's a few days before the first presidential debate of 2012, and Fox News is playing out its role as Mitt Romney's debate coach. With broadcasts that openly display their preference for Romney, Fox News has dispatched their anchors, correspondents and contributors on a mission of shoring up Romney's fading\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7093,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=7093","url_meta":{"origin":8080,"position":1},"title":"Fox Nation&#8217;s Impotent Attacks On Obama&#8217;s Campaign Ad","author":"Mark NC","date":"5\/14\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Obama campaign released a new ad today that points out Mitt Romney's failed record on job creation as the CEO of Bain Capital. It tells the story of former employees of a company that Bain drove into bankruptcy, destroying the jobs and dreams of the people who worked there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8125,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8125","url_meta":{"origin":8080,"position":2},"title":"Mitt Romney&#8217;s Opponent In Wednesday&#8217;s Debate Is Not Pres. Obama","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/1\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"When Mitt Romney takes the stage on Wednesday he will be facing President Obama for the first debate of the 2012 presidential election. However, Obama will only be a subordinate target in the encounter. The real audience Romney will be addressing is the club of wealthy donors who have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8088,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8088","url_meta":{"origin":8080,"position":3},"title":"Fox Nation Admonishes Their Faithful: Don&#8217;t Believe The Polls","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/25\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"As Mitt Romney sinks further into an abyss of electoral sludge, his Pharisees at Fox News dispense divine guidance to their disciples. The word from on high at Fox Nation is: \"Don't Believe the Polls.\" It is true that most of the recent polls show President Obama widening his lead\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7010,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=7010","url_meta":{"origin":8080,"position":4},"title":"Fox News Hypocritically Attacks Obama&#8217;s Fundraisers While Ignoring Romney&#8217;s","author":"Mark NC","date":"5\/2\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"On Monday fox News published a report that purported to unveil \"a veritable army\" of fundraisers working on behalf of President Obama's reelection. The focus of the article was a practice known as bundling where supporters solicit their family, friends, and colleagues, to make a contribution to a candidate's campaign.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7692,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=7692","url_meta":{"origin":8080,"position":5},"title":"The Hilariously Incompetent Campaign Of Mitt Romney And Friends","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/31\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"All the signs of utter collapse are starting to show. Mitt Romney's campaign is stumbling its way through the election season with embarrassing gaffes and blatant obfuscation. The American people know quite well that Romney is desperately trying to hide his record and run on attacks on President Obama. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8080"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8083,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8080\/revisions\/8083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}