Fox News and Mitt Romney, as representatives for the one percent, rely on the Republican base voters to be not only dumb and uninformed, but self-hating as well. How else do you explain support (by people who aren’t wealthy) for the idea that fair wages and benefits for working Americans is “greed”? This morning, Ed Gillespie, an adviser to Mitt Romney, told Fox News host Chris Wallace that Scott Walker winning in Wisconsin would mean:
“I think the statement to big labor and to big government employee unions, government worker unions is that you can’t be too greedy,” Gillespie explained. “You need to understand that times are tough and a lot of these legacy costs that you imposed are due for some reforms and some restructuring.”
It’s interesting that Romney’s adviser calls it ‘greed’ when unions and workers want to preserve their wages and benefits. Especially when you consider the tactics ofvulture capitalism, practiced by Mitt Romney during his time at Bain Capital, on long-term employees of companies acquired by Bain (fire them, hire some back at lower wages). Support for this kind of thinking will turn us into a third-world economy yet. Here’s proof: the WSJ reported this week that flat wages in the US are helping a manufacturing rebound:
The wage lag is a key factor contributing to the rebounding competitiveness of U.S. industry. A recent uptick in factory employment and the return of some production to U.S. shores from abroad both added jobs that probably otherwise wouldn’t exist. But sluggish wages also are squeezing workers’ incomes and spending. That, in turn, hurts retailers who target middle-income earners and restrains the vigor of the economic recovery. “The U.S. has held manufacturing wages in check while there has been strong wage growth in China and moderate wage growth in Mexico,” says economist Gordon Hanson of the University of California, San Diego, referring to two of the U.S.’s biggest lower-wage competitors.
China and Mexico’s wages are growing while U.S. wages are shrinking. Apparently that’s the only way corporations who got rich on American soil are willing to bring jobs back to American soil. Soon everyone will have a job, if they’re not too “greedy” and are willing to work for $1.00 a day.
Oh, and of course this is not greed.
The ad — which the network seems to have a love/hate relationship with, as it’s been removed and replaced from its website at various points today — starts with footage meant to represent the former Obama with his message of hope and change back in 2008 and then moves into the darker times of today.
But there’s just one problem: The montage of the cheering fans from yesterday seems to include footage from just a few weeks ago. About 35 seconds into the ad, the camera follows Obama walking into a packed arena, and one woman can be seen holding a campaign sign that reads “Forward” — a slogan the campaign adopted less than a month ago.
[…]
Update: Fox News’ Executive Vice President of Programming, Bill Shine, tells Yahoo News, “The package that aired on ‘Fox & Friends’ was created by an associate producer and was not authorized at the senior executive level of the network.”
People who watch no news at all can answer more questions about international current events than people who watch cable news, a survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind finds.
NPR and Sunday morning political talk shows are the most informative news outlets, while exposure to partisan sources, such as Fox News and MSNBC, has a negative impact on people’s current events knowledge.
People who watch MSNBC and CNN exclusively can answer more questions about domestic events than people who watch no news at all. People who only watch Fox did much worse. NPR listeners answered more questions correctly than people in any other category.
The survey of 1185 random people conducted by landline and cell phone in early February follows a similar poll FDU conducted last November, which surveyed only New Jersey residents and returned similar results.
Each respondent was asked four of eight questions, which are at the bottom of this post. “On average, people were able to answer correctly 1.8 of 4 questions about international news, and 1.6 of 5 questions about domestic affairs,” the report says. Here’s the breakdown by viewing habits.
The report explains:
The largest effect is that of Fox News: all else being equal, someone who watched only Fox News would be expected to answer just 1.04 domestic questions correctly — a figure which is significantly worse than if they had reported watching no media at all. On the other hand, if they listened only to NPR, they would be expected to answer 1.51 questions correctly; viewers of Sunday morning talk shows fare similarly well. And people watching only The Daily Show with Jon Stewart could answer about 1.42 questions correctly.
Interestingly, the results of the poll controlled for partisanship. MSNBC, Fox and talk radio consumers answered more questions correctly when their political views aligned with those of the outlets they preferred. Moderates and liberals who watched only Fox did worse than conservatives who watched it. This mirrored the results at MSNBC, where a conservative viewer could be expected to answer an average of .71 international questions correctly, for example, and a liberal viewer could be expected to answer 1.89 questions correctly. “None of the other news media had effects that depended on ideology,” says the report.
“On average, people were able to answer correctly 1.8 of 4 questions about international news, and 1.6 of 5 questions about domestic affairs,” but depending on the match between ideology and viewing habits, the score could be lower or higher.
FDU political scientist Dan Cassino said the results show “Ideological news sources, like Fox and MSNBC, are really just talking to one audience…. This is solid evidence that if you’re not in that audience, you’re not going to get anything out of watching them.”
News organizations’ tone and allocation of resources also apparently affected respondents’ abilities to answer questions. NPR has as many domestic bureaus as foreign ones; its listeners did best on questions about international events. “Daily Show” viewers were next. On domestic questions, people who watched Sunday news shows did nearly as well as NPR listeners.
Questions: (all but the first two were open-ended)
• To the best of your knowledge, have the opposition groups protesting in Egypt been successful in removing Hosni Mubarak?
• How about the opposition groups in Syria? Have they been successful in removing Bashar al-Assad?
• Some countries in Europe are deeply in debt, and have had to be bailed out by other countries. To the best of your knowledge, which country has had to spend the most money to bail out European countries?
• There have been increasing talks about economic sanctions against Iran. What are these sanctions supposed to do?
• Which party has the most seats in the House of Representatives right now?
• In December, House Republicans agreed to a short-term extension of a payroll tax cut, but only if President Obama agreed to do what?
• It took a long time to get the final results of the Iowa caucuses for Republican candidates. In the end, who was declared the winner?
• How about the New Hampshire Primary? Which Republican won that race?
• According to official figures, about what percentage of Americans are currently unemployed?
In a guest lecture at Ohio University Monday night, Fox News head Roger Ailes touched on media bias, the Obama administration’s legitimacy, and whether comedian Jon Stewart would be on air without Fox News.
During the event, titled “FOX News: Past, Present and Future,” Ailes argued that US voters still don’t know anything about Barack Obama — a line commonly repeated by conservative commentators and far-right legislators.
Actual Fox News screenshot. I really hope someone at Fox understands irony, so they can appreciate this.
lolwut? Bill-o the Clown looks so sad to have caused this.
A new Fox News poll finds President Obama leading Mitt Romney by seven points nationally, 46% to 39%. Just three weeks ago the candidates were tied at 46%.
A Fox News poll with good news about Obama. Someone is being fired.
Or they’re trying to motivate their viewers.
“LOOK THE BROWN GUY WITH THE FOREIGN SOUNDING NAME IS GOING TO WIN!!! YOU GUYS BETTER GET OFF YOUR ASS AND VOTE!!!”
On a day when the full voice of the British government told the world that the media empire of Rupert Murdoch is a truthless, reckless enterprise, the journalistic equivalent of a hazardous waste dump, this story about the EPA guy who resigned really rather leaps with hobnailed boots on my very last nerve.
The Brits have give everyone who doesn’t work for a Fox News cover now. Nobody has to pay attention to what they say ever again because they are part of an organization unworthy of attention, let alone respect. Their little hobby-horses can be mocked, their little crusades ridiculed. And, certainly, the government of the United States can treat them like the half-assed crooks that they are.
But no.
Consider what happened here. This guy said these things two years ago. Nobody said anything, not even the local reporter covering the story. But a career whackaloon like James Inhofe opens his yap and lets the bats fly forth, Fox picks up the stupidity, and the guy resigns. My question is why did Lisa Jackson even care? Why couldn’t she simply have said, “Look, goober, we don’t have to pay attention every time you decide to gin up the rubes who watch your network, and we don’t have to care what Inhofe says, either, because his brain was used as a placemat at Golden Corral 10 years ago. Go sit over there on the Group W bench with the birthers and the UFO guy. We’ll get to you some time in 2017.” What is the political price to be paid here? Nobody who gets his urethra in a knot over something like this ever is going to support the president anyway. I don’t understand it and I never will.
Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/armendariz-resigns-8521588#ixzz1tn2FS2D5
The chief executive of a leading Jewish policy organization is condemning Fox News president Roger Ailes for reportedly urging his hosts to push the false claim that Jewish philanthropist George Soros aided the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Alan van Capelle, CEO of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, criticized Ailes following a report today that Ailes had emailed Fox host Bill O’Reilly suggesting he promote the false claim about Soros. Van Cappelle said that those emails indicate “the hate at Fox starts at the top.”
[…]
O’Reilly’s producer Tabacoff replied to Ailes with a single word: “ugly.” Ailes responded by asking, “Do you think you guys will use it or should I give it to someone else?”
That someone else was likely Glenn Beck. The following evening during the 5 p.m. hour of his show, Beck promoted a special about Soros. Beck referred to the billionaire philanthropist as a “puppet master” and questioned his Jewish identity. Earlier that day on his radio show, Beck said Soros “saw people into gas chambers.”
Beck’s “special,” which was broadcast a week later, included the information Ailes forwarded to O’Reilly. Beck claimed Soros “had to help the government confiscate the lands of his fellow Jewish friends and neighbors.” On his radio show Beck went even further, saying that Soros helped “send the Jews” to “death camps.” His comments were widely condemned by Jewish leaders.
“It’s obvious that Glenn Beck could not have carried on his insane tirades against George Soros without the support of Roger Ailes, so these emails really just confirm what common sense tell us - the hate at Fox News starts at the top,” van Capelle told Media Matters in a statement Thursday.
“George Soros lost family members in the Holocaust. As a 13 year old boy he survived because his father arranged for him to be hidden with a non-Jewish family willing to take an enormous risk to do the right thing. Six decades later Roger Ailes and Glenn Beck exploited these circumstances to call Soros a Nazi-collaborator. It’s a characterization that speaks volumes about Ailes and Beck, and says nothing at all about George Soros.”
The anti-gay Catholic League is displeased with Jon Stewart after his segment denouncing Fox News for ignoring the War on Women, while pushing wars on Christmas, so the League is demanding an apology or they will “mobilize a boycott.”
Here’s the video from The Daily Show that the League objects to, in case you missed it.
Jon Stewart on The Battle for the War on Women (04/16/12 )
