An interesting look inside Fox News, with a focus on Ailes and his centrality to the company. As usual with Murdoch properties, one sees an emphasis on business over ideology, even when the business is ideology, which makes the brief moment of crazy when Ailes tell Axelrod that he fears that Obama wants to create a national police force all the stranger.

Pretty much everyone who has commented here about the thin roster of GOP presidential candidates agrees that it's early days yet and someone viable will emerge, but the insight into Fox and the candidates is pretty telling nonetheless.

I think the GOP contenders have a real positivity problem that is going to be hard to overcome -- where's the vision for when the cutting is done?

Comments

[polifrog]

Ed, is this piece being brought to our attention for its fictional prowess?

...tales of voter intimidation by the New Black Panther Party, ACORN fraud, Obama’s czars, and Obama’s rumored $200 million–per–day trip to India.

Tales?

The term "Tales" is much more appropriately used in description of nearly this entire piece.

I can only hope you folks believe this nonsense as you will be as behind the curve as Axelrod was in the comment below, assuming any truth to this piece:

Later, Axelrod related in a conversation that the exchange was the moment he realized Ailes truly believed what he was broadcasting.

More interesting would be understanding the genesis of Axelrod's assumption.

Generally working assumptions are based on personal experience. Presumably in Axelrod's experience presenting information to the public such that reaching a desired outcome is achieved is the ultimate goal independent of whether he actually believes that information or not.

Imagine his surprise in realizing that Ailes, the owner of an information factory (FOX), relays information that he believes rather than using FOX to manipulate others with disinformation for personal gain.

The liberal dominance of media has certainly created odd expectations from our liberal elites.

[American Man]

More personal attacks from a desperate media who increasingly see their lies and propaganda exposed for what it is: anti-American filth which only serves to undermine our national defense.

This blog was better when you were gone. I get the feeling you aren't happy with it, mostly due to idiotic commentators like manchild Ian and the like, and wish it would go away. I urge you to take action and let this blog vanish into the great abyss.

[Dan]

American Troll: Download the new Lady GaGa CD and all will be revealed. And if you ask politely I bet your wife will spare you your beating this week.

[Ron]

Well based on the potential GOP candidates thus far, we can pretty much assume Obama will get re-elected. For starters Obama got Osama and he handled the Lybia crisis pretty well. That really bolsters Obama's credentials on foreign policy. While the economy still isn't where we want it to be, it is slowly improving so we are on the right track. People forget the economy was in free fall before he took office and Obama managed to stabilize the economy. There are a number of problems with the GOP. They don't have a vision, they just support the same policies that got us into this mess during the Bush years. The government hands off approach really hurt us. Republicans are not enthusiastic about the candidates and the GOP plan to butcher medicare is really going to haunt them in 2012. If we see just as many people vote for Obama in 2012 as we did in 2008, there may be enough votes for the democrats to take back a number of house seats in Washington.

[Ron]

BTW based on a number of polls, the democrats can take back the house in 2012 giving democrats total control of Washington again.

[polifrog]

Ron, your dreaming.

In a recent Rasmussan poll Obama was unable to break 50% against an unknown garnering only 43% to 19% against Thaddeus McCotter, an unknown who hasn't even declared his intent to run.

In Libya Obama alone was more paralytic than the entire UN bureaucracy and failed to lead until he could fall inline behind the UN thus loosing momentum for the rebels.

And as for Pakistan, not only was Obama's taking of Osama based on Bush anti-terrorism methods campaigned against by Obama but what could have been an easy PR victory became an exercise in reshuffling the deck as evidence repeatedly did not match the administration's story.

Hell, Obama getting credit for capturing Osama would be like his receiving a Nobel Peace Prise without doing the work ... a joke.

As for the GOP, they are the only source of new ideas.

[bubba]

"Ron, your dreaming."

Obama fails to break 50% against a generic Republican candidate in ANY of the major polls. In the generic congressional polls, Republicans poll better than Democrats in most polls. Plus, numbers for Democrat Senate seats up for election in '12 favor the Republicans taking control of the Senate again.

[Thomas]

Now all republicans have to do is find a generic candidate.

[glenwoodobserver]

O to speak with such certainty about outcomes yet 15 months away! Is there a prize for who gets to say "I was right" first? Which one of you posters is Mr. Camping?

[Ron]

dreaming? don't be to sure about that.......

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/10/cnn-poll-democrats-up-50-46-percent-in-battle-for-house/

[bubba]

"dreaming? don't be to sure about that....."

Based on your source, you're dreaming.

[bubba]

Context for Ron's nightmare:

http://www.democracycorps.com/wp-content/files/fq4.pdf (this is a Democrat poll)

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1295.xml?ReleaseID=1581

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/generic_congressional_ballot

[Ron]

Well polls are one thing but results DO tell the story. A Democrat beat a republican in a special congressional house election in a highly conservative district. The reason the GOP candidate lost? Its because of the GOP plan to butcher Medicare. The results of this election is just a sample of what we can expect to see in 2012.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20065927-503544.html

[Ron]

The results of the special election are stunning. The 26th District is one of the state’s most solidly Republican places. How Republican? This district, which was voting Republican long before it sent Jack Kemp to Congress in 1970, voted overwhelmingly for Republican Carl Paladino in last year's governor's race. Paladino lost virtually everywhere else to Andrew Cuomo, capturing only 34 percent of the vote statewide. The clear indicator is that people don't want the government messing with medicare and if the GOP continues their plan to butcher it, the democrats will take back the house in 2012. So the polls I post seem to be accurate after all.

[bubba]

"The clear indicator is that people don't want the government messing with medicare and if the GOP continues their plan to butcher it, the democrats will take back the house in 2012. So the polls I post seem to be accurate after all."

Really?

Let's get a little historical perspective here.

Noteworthy:

"To say that this special election defeat of the GOP is a repudiation of the GOP’s efforts on Medicare is laughable on its face.

The truth of the matter is that the Republican Party of New York sucks and has sucked for a while. It is especially terrible at special elections where the out of touch party leaders pick state legislators who everyone hates and runs them.

Jane Corwin is a sitting member of the NY State Legislature, just like Jim Tedisco, just like Dede Scozzafava, and she was handpicked by the party elders. Notice a trend?"

Want more?

This says all we need to know about Ron's extended daydreaming.

Noteworthy:

"In this Republican-leaning 26th District fight, there is one Democrat, one Republican and, oh, yes, a wealthy, abortion-rights, economic protectionist, former Republican, former Democrat, current tea partier, who ran for Congress in 2004, 2006 and 2008-spending a total of $5.2 million of his own money-and has already spent at least another $1.7 million in this race for Congress.

If anyone can find a race next year with a similar configuration, be my guest and apply the 'lessons learned' from this race to that one. But implying that the outcome of this race portends anything about any conventional race next year amounts to cheap spin and drive-by 'analysis' of the most superficial kind, which is sadly becoming all too prevalent in Washington. There are a lot of folks in D.C. who would be well-served switching to decaf."

[polifrog]

Bubba, your much better at this sort of argument than I am.

All that I can add is that divining a national pro-democratic shift in opinion based on a race in which it seems a phony Tea Party candidate was one of the choices seems more a play at political opportunism than an honest reading of the tea leaves.

[Ron]

Even the republican that crafted the plan to cut medicare admitted that the GOP loss in NY was due to his plan. You should admit it as well.

[bubba]

"Even the republican that crafted the plan to cut medicare admitted that the GOP loss in NY was due to his plan."

Dream on, son.

[Andrew Brod]

The conservative spin that this special election had no national political implications would be more believable if the spinners didn't keep noting the conservative heterodoxy of the third (Tea) party candidate. The more conservative he is, the more likely it is that he pulled more votes from the Repub Corwin than from the Dem Hochul, and the less the election results have to say about Repubs and Dems.

But okay, the conservatives say he's not really that conservative.

[Jim Langer]

Boy, I hate the horse race arguments. More to the point, should we really trust the computerized tables and legions of claims deniers at private insurers to do a great job with our seniors' health care? Our parents' lives, and soon enough, ours? Or our children's, when they become old?

These non-human politically-empowered (especially by the Supreme Court) entities simply want our money. Period. End of story. Their number-crunching would gleefully let people suffer and die to make more money. Period. It's a cold, hard statistical god they worship. Aren't the inefficiencies of government worth it, if it allows for some compassion?

Oh, drat, I sound like some wishy-washy liberal. Damn the love of family! I should just let 'em die, and me, too. Wouldn't want to endanger some mega-Pharma executive's bottom line and bonus pay. They should be the highest paid brokers on earth.

“Are there no prisons?”

“Plenty of prisons."

“And the Union workhouses? Are they still in operation?”

“They are. Still, I wish I could say they were not.”

“The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?”

“Both very busy, sir.”

“Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course. I’m very glad to hear it.”

But that's right, I forget, Scrooge was guilty of not evincing private charity. He eventually saw the light. We should just let our parents rely on their church brethren, their neighbors, if their children can't handle the bills. Governments have no business interfering with business for the sake of the poor and sickly. Or if they do, it is only the totally indigent who should be housed and fed, if they work it off. We aren't talking about gutting Medicaid here, yet.

[polifrog]

Hate to admit it, my argument would indeed be stronger if not for that contradiction born of an ideologically inconsistent candidate, Andrew.

Still, I believe the conservative vote was split ... a fear of many conservatives prior to last November brought to reality months later.

[Ron]

House republicans are even admitting this election loss had to do with Medicare so bubba you are in the minority.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/25/house-republicans-admit-they-need-to-do-better-job-selling-medicare-plan-after-election-loss/

[Andrew Brod]

Frog, you're probably right. Davis is a heterodox conservative and a kind of populist, and I'm sure he took votes from Corwin. But did he take enough to make the difference? Was the conservative split big enough to matter? Unfortunately, there were no exit polls, so all we can do is argue.

For what it's worth, however, polls found a +14 favorability rating for Hochul but a -18 rating for Corwin. Candidates with -18 rarely beat candidates with +14. So it's quite possible that the only thing keeping Corwin relatively close was Davis' presence in the race. For all we know, his votes came from people who preferred not to vote for Hochul but really didn't want to vote for Corwin. If forced to choose, they'd vote for Hochul. And sure enough, late polls indicated voters switching from Davis to Hochul.

Nothing here is definitive, but it seems quite possible that Hochul would have won even without Davis in the race.

However, we'll never know for sure. And November 2012 is a long way away, so I'm certainly not going to infer much from this one special election. It may well be, as some pundits have claimed, that the result says more about New York than the U.S.

[bubba]

"so bubba you are in the minority."

Oh, of course.

Go back to sleep, son. You need your rest.