Associated Press
It's probably going to be a little tougher for Fox News to present itself as an independent news organization after its executives tried to recruit a Republican presidential candidate. Bob Woodward has this report today.
Roger Ailes, the longtime Republican media guru, founder of Fox News and its current chairman, had some advice last year for then-Gen. David H. Petraeus.
So in spring 2011, Ailes asked a Fox News analyst headed to Afghanistan to pass on his thoughts to Petraeus, who was then the commander of U.S. and coalition forces there. Petraeus, Ailes advised, should turn down an expected offer from President Obama to become CIA director and accept nothing less than the chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top military post. If Obama did not offer the Joint Chiefs post, Petraeus should resign from the military and run for president, Ailes suggested.
The Fox News chairman's message was delivered to Petraeus by Kathleen T. McFarland, a Fox News national security analyst and former national security and Pentagon aide in three Republican administrations.
That the conversation happened is not in dispute; Woodward has a recording from the meeting. McFarland told Petraeus that Ailes, a former Republican consultant, might even step down from Fox to run the national campaign, and that Fox chief Rupert Murdoch might "bankroll" Petraeus' candidacy.
Asked for an explanation, Ailes conceded that he relayed the message through McFarland, but there's no reason to take his candidate outreach efforts too seriously.
"It was more of a joke, a wiseass way I have," he said. "I thought the Republican field [in the primaries] needed to be shaken up and Petraeus might be a good candidate."
For the record, presidents of news organizations don't usually make unilateral decisions about the strength of presidential candidate fields, and then take steps to improve those fields.
With Woodward, Ailes then threw McFarland under the bus, saying the Fox News analyst he used to reach out to Petraeus was "way out of line," adding, "It sounds like she thought she was on a secret mission in the Reagan administration."
So, Ailes dispatched McFarland with a message. McFarland delivered that message. Asked about it, Ailes believes McFarland was irresponsible.
What a tangled web they've weaved.
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Wake up, Hollywood, fresh material! There's this married general in charge of a whole war, who happens to be dallying on the side with a beautiful woman, and you have
Ailesthe head of a large media corp [cue ominous music] who found about it, and the two combine to take the Oval Office, wherePetrausthe general is forced to sign nastyGOPliberal bills because the evil man is blackmailing him over his affair.A script worthy of the Pelican Brief...but who's the good guy?
speaking of Hollywood.
from Think Progress
POLITICS
Will Kentucky Embrace Ashley Judd’s Progressive Senate Run
going against Mitch?
second good thing well this one is a 100% good thing. from DailyKos
TUE DEC 04, 2012 AT 07:30 AM PST
Sources: Elizabeth Warren to Banking Committee
The last thing Wall Street wanted to happen was Elizabeth Warren getting into the Senate. That happened, so then the fight moved to keeping her out of their way. It appears that their worst nightmare is about to happen: she's in the Senate, and she's going to be in a position of real power over them. The Huffington Post's Ryan Grim is reporting that sources have told him that Warren has secured a key committee assignment.
It gladdens my heart that Dr. Warren is in position to check some of the enormous power of the plutocracy.
Wall Street erred in filibustering Warren's nomination to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, assuming she would retire into obscurity like firmly chastised girls are supposed to do. Now Wall Street's puppets in the Senate are staring across the aisle at her where she can protect the back of her friends at the Bureau.
GOP Right Wing Hawks have similar expectations after their violent chastisement of Ambassador Rice. They resent the feminization of US foreign policy- it is no coincidence that they ejected GOP chair of Foreign Services committee- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen- after she came out in support of LGBT issues. One of her children is harshly treated by GOP policies, and she attempted to do something about it. The GOP stripped her of her position.
The question is whether GOP women will submit to chastisement any differently than their DEM sisters. In my church, they unfortunately do, accepting patriarchal dominance with fatalistic evasion. Some of them tell themselves the lie that it is a noble, civil thing to do, to relinquish their hopes for something more- hopes that awaken such surprising anger, discord and harshness from their "brothers".
One would think that the GOP would be sophisticated enough to understand that these chastity belts are no longer an effective means of interacting with over half of the US electorate. Among the GOP women at my church, I see the simmering rage.
Of course the elders are oblivious- they think all is well, and that the women know and accept their place. It is such a bizarre world they honestly believe is real. Every Sunday is like stepping into a David Lynch film of false normalcy.
I suppose this seems a little distant from how Warren, Ros-Lehtinen, and Rice were treated by the Wall-Street-GOP-Evangelical old boy network. I don't see much hope they will modify their attitudes- they are entrenching- hoping to tough it out.
I guess all the petitions SumOfUs and MoveOn and CREDO had us all sign to support Warren for the banking committee might have worked. I heard the signature totals were huge on this one.
See, Republicans. This is how you appoint people to committees, you pass over their sex, gender, and ideologies to the heart of the matter, are they qualified to serve INTELLIGENTLY on the committee to which they are appointed.
What a non-shocking surprise. Of course, he is nothing more than Rupert Murdoch's lapdog. So, we know where the order came from.
Breaking news... FOX NEWS...
Pardon me while I laugh. I can just hear the backlash now from them.
Good insight into Ailes and FOX can be by Googling "How Roger Ailes Built the Fox News Fear Factory'...Rolling Stone. Interesting how former employee compared him to Chairman "Mao', and the rats waiting to tattle on anyone who strays from the party line.
That was a great article. It is really a great investigative reporting mag , that goes into depth on subjects that need exploring. Matt Tiabbi ...the best . Well worth the price of the subscription even if there is a lot of music fluff too, although the music reviews introduce me to new stuff , what the young whippersnappers are listening to.
Surely someone more creative than I can come up with a quick limerick based on the fact that Ailes fails....
First effort--
Petraeus got a suggestion from Ailes
But David’s sex offers blackmails
Fox news is a bust
Not a source you should trust
Murdoch says: Roger—stop with all of the fails.
Murdoch says Roger pull all you can, as the phone hacking scandal report is out and i might be going away.
General Patreus, thought FOX Chairman Ailes,
Could cover if Mitt Romney fails...
But now both men have fallen,
So who can they call in?
The future for Republicans pales...
Within the larger scope of human decency, these are really bad people who place personal ambition way, way, WAY ahead of the common good.
In other words... today's Republican Party.
Yes, this may be off topic of the MaddowBlog post but in response to Rochester12's.
The word intelligence comes from two Latin words: inter + legere. Translated, it means literally "to read between," implying the ability to see differences where only likenesses were presumed and likenesses where only differences were presumed. (Still with me?) It's the ability to make finer and finer distinctions and comparisons, so "this is like that, EXCEPT FOR. . .," and you get the idea.
I'll pick on Shooter here, but he's just representative of what comes from the knee-jerk Republican side. When he says that greed isn't wanting more, it's when I want what he has, that totally misses the point. I have a problem with someone having the mansion, yacht, vacation villa in southern France or whatever if and only if they got it primarily by taking unfair advantage of ordinary people.
And frankly, I see Rupert Murdoch's Inculcation Machine (i.e., Fox News and all of his other deliberately skewed "information outlets") as nothing more than providing clever excuses to cover the methods of conning an unwitting public.
Two quotes that apply to Faux Snooze and Roger Ailes:
"Naturally, the common people don't want war...but, after all it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship...Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country." - Herman Goering at Nuremberg trial in 1946
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."
-Joseph Goebbels
Imagine the vetting of Petraeus for POTUS. No way he would have given that the green light. So this ends up being another completely unfit right winger for elective office, ala Herman Cain.
I don't think there can be many people still in doubt about whether Fox News is anything other than the propaganda outlet of the right wing of the Republican Party, but this should settle it once and for all. "Pravda" of the Soviet era was just as "fair and balanced."
Let's see. GE owns part of NBC. GE's chair is a close ally of the Pres. MSNBC is very progressive in reporting, and very against Repubs. Please stop pretending cable news, on either side, is fair.
Don't these republicans know how to act on their own? There's always somebody telling them what to say and what to do. They are always looking for someone to hold their hand. They are always whining for the President to tell them what to do, but then they don't take his advice. Are they capable of making any decisions?
The people who watch FOX News don't care. They are probably applauding Ailes (prior to the throwing under the bus part...tho they probably don't care about that either).
The real issue is whether the mainstream media gives the story coverage. It is time for the media and respectable journalists to take on Fox News and subject it to the scrutiny it deserves. This is a perfect chance for the media to put down Fox as a "reputable" news source and implicitly question why the FCC allows them so much leeway on the issue of the "public interest" when renewing their license. In addition, the FCC should be looking at Murdoch's consolidation of news media in the country which is reducing competition. I am personally concerned since it was reported that Murdoch was interested in buy the Tribune Companies. He will destroy the second most reputable paper in the country, the Chicago Tribune, and turn the paper into another media shill.
As well as the Los Angeles Times.
I would have thought that Rupert would have learned his lesson about buying Chicago newspapers from the disaster of Chicago Sun Times. It did not go over well.
Murdoch ruined the Sun Times and the best reporters went to the Tribune. I stopped reading the Sun Times when Royko went to the Trib and that was before Murdoch started wrecking the paper.
Roger Ailes has been looking for a man on a white horse since he started working for Tricky Dick 50 years ago. Go read "Nixonland" to get an idea of what scum he really is.
Message to Roger Ailes: your mentor, Richard Nixon, is not only dead but disgraced.
The FOX herds their sheep into a blind bleeting panic in order to make the slaughter of each ignored by the rest. Yet their ratings suggest tere are way too many total morons among us. The fact that they get more than two viewers is bad, the fact that they control the thought process of a million is terrifying and the idea that they are in charge of the republican party is...cool actually since it means the GOP is doomed.
Let's see - Ailes tells McFarlane what to say to Patraeus - McFarland relays it - Ailes thinks MacFarland was irresponsible. That sounds familiar -- Susan Rice should've known her bosses were joking too.
Rosebud?
Anyone watching FOX NEWS really can't help themselves, their INFOXICATED. Fox viewers will read this article and say, those poor fools who will believe this propaganda.
If Fox News is indeed the media wing of the Republican Party, then why have we all forgotten that the FCC mandates that news organizations must report news without distortion or slant? If Fox News is fully embedded in the Republican Party, why isn't more being made of this? Fox News does not deserve a license to broadcast. This seems to have even slipped by Rachel. I really think we need to hammer the FCC and Fox News about this. I cannot be the only citizen that believes that Fox News does not deserve a license to broadcast.
think it has something to do with it being cable not over the airwaves.
Im not sure, but I heard republicans back in the bush day?passed a law saying that fox news was an "entertainment" venue and thats how they can get around being able to lie flat out. Its just entertainment that looks like news.
Yes, I think theres more to be exposed from this. Somewhere its written they can lie. Should be exposed.
To own and operate a media empire that is only hypothetically independent is one thing. When a foriegn national (Rupert Murdoch) actively, overtly, and without any sense of shame attempts to manipulate the american political process that seems to me as being unpatriotic, unconstitutional, and potentially criminal. My common sense tells me that if Rupert Murdoch or any other foriegner did indeed bankroll a presidential candidate this would be illegal and if not certainly violate FCC regulations in some way. Am I wrong?