whiskeytangofoxtrot451's Comments (395)

“Most people don't have their drunken idiocy immortalized on national TV.”

“While I agree his is not the flaming socialist/communist that the teabaggers characterize him as, I disagree that he's as far to the right as either GWB and SP. Barry Goldwater wasn't as far to the right as Sarah Palin.”

“Good idea.”

“Hey, anyone remember when "bypassing the free press", or what Bush called, "the filter media" was considered a good thing by republicans?”

“I don't thihk CSPAN owns that many cameras.”

“Clearly this "gravity" is just a godless communist plot to prevent the rapture. Without this so-called "law of gravity", all true believers would float up to heaven and be with Jeebus. "Gravity" is therefore an infringement on our first amendment rights and against the Christian principles upon which our nation was found. I demand that Congress end this assault on our liberty and stop "gravity" from keeping us from fulfilling Jeebus's will!”

“That's a weird comparison. Eva Peron was the wife of a South American dictator. Was he saying that Todd is a dictator?”

“Actually, the Indiana State House of Representatives had a bill that would have redefined pi not has 3, but as one several choices, depending on how they calculated it. It passed the state House unanimously back in 1897, but it died in the state Senate.”

“Those laws were all written by "Sir" Isaac Newton. Why are we letting some foreigner dictate the laws of the universe! Shouldn't we Americans be allowed to pass our own laws of motion? Isn't that would our founding fathers fought for? No taxation without scientific representation!

Repeal gravity at once.”

“The problem is, being willfully ignorant is considered a virtue among Sarah's fan club.”

“In Sarah's bizarro world, all liberals are lazy, so anything they've accomplished must have been easy. Even when it involves something she obviously couldn't hack herself.”

“I see the fact that ratings are not an indicator of quality or accuracy is a concept that will forever elude you.

It's okay, Beck and O'Reilly will be on soon to reaffirm your worldview and tell you what you're supposed to think.”

“"If you examine my post, nowhere do I mention anything at all about Fox's ratings."

A-hem

From you post above:

"Repeating the same criticisms to people who already agree with you is hardly going to dent the Fox News viewership numbers."

But I suppose you're going to claim this isn't about ratings since you called them "viewership numbers" instead. Try not to be so obviously full of it next time.

The fact that you seem to think I care about the ratings of CNN or MSNBC or whatever channel you're assuming I watch just shows you still don't get my point and probably never will. But that's okay, because really I don't expect you to. Obviously, the concept of "Ratings don't matter" doesn't penetrate the wall of Fox-inspired talking points you've surrounded yourself with.

The truth is, I rarely watch any of the cable news channels because there is so little real news in them any more. I've never felt a sudden urge for wall-to-wall coverage about Balloon Boy or whatever missing rich blonde girl of the week story is catching their attention.”

“"Ratings are simply a reflection of a news agency's reputation and credibility amonst their audience."

Well, by that standard then, Entertainment Tonight must be the greatest news program of all time.”

“Because he's a rightwing authoritarian, not a libertarian.”

“That remains to be proven. So far, all evidence points to the contrary.”

“You're assuming I care what regular Fox viewers think of me or that my goal is to "dent the Fox News viewership numbers". But I can understand how you missed my entire point, seeing as your post illustrates perfectly.

My point is that Fox's ratings don't matter. Not to me or anyone else who is concerned with accurate and factual reporting. But it seems to be the only thing that Fox viewers care about. They don't care about the many documented instances of Fox distorting reports. All they seem to be concerned about is that their "side" scores more "points" in the ratings.

It's like claiming that, even though the NY Giants lost on Thanksgiving Day, they're a better team than Green Bay because more people watched the Giants lose than watched Green Bay beat Detroit. It's a meaningless gauge of quality.

And your post just continues to prove my point. At no point do you dispute any of the instances in which Fox was being inaccurate. Instead, you just serve up the "recycled talking point" about how Fox gets higher ratings.”

“Brainwashing implies that they're somehow the victims. I think the average Fox viewer is just willfully ignorant and doesn't care. Fox tells them what they want to hear, so why should they go anywhere else? Some people just need to follow a specific herd. If it wasn't Fox, they'd find another rightwing herd to tell them what to think. They're not victims of brainwashing. They're just more comfortable having someone else do their thinking for them.”

“They think?”

“Watch the movie "Outfoxed". They detail many memos from Fox management on how their producers and reporters were to slant everything to the right.

The most hilarious example was one producer who was sent to the Reagan Library to cover the anniversary of the late president's birth. The event was rather sparsely attended and the producer was disciplined for not playing it up as a massive groundswell celebration of Reagan's life.”

“Yes, as far as Rupert Murdoch is concerned, it's all about ratings and money. I have no doubt that if he thought he could make money with a cable channel that was just 24 hours of a naked woman reading excerpts from The Communist Manifesto, he'd do it in a heart beat. He is a political conservative, but he's more concerned with what makes him money than with ideology.

But Fox News, that sub-entity within News Corp, is a rightwing network. Rogers Ailes, who runs it for Murdoch, is a former republican strategist and has a clear agenda. And that's to push republican talking points 24/7. That's what Fox News Channel's mission is and it's what they do in a very shameless manner.”

“Excellent blog post. Rarely do I find one where I agree 100%, but this is the exception.”

“The interesting thing that I notice about Fox defenders is that, no matter what criticisms made against the channel, the response is always, "Fox is number one in ratings". No matter how many times someone points out instances of Fox using footage from the wrong rally, putting a "D" after the name of a republican recently caught in a scandal, selectively editing Obama's speeches so as to completely change their meanings, or just plain getting the story completely wrong, the response is always, "Fox is king of the ratings and besides, MSNBC is liberal!" And they usually use a lot more exclamation points as if that proves something.

But no one ever tries to defend Fox's practices. No defender of Fox even bothers to parrot the "fair and balanced" line anymore. There's a definite lack of concern for accuracy among Fox defenders and a belief that because Fox is successful in the ratings, that is somehow proof that they're a good news channel. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that Fox viewers don't mind being lied to and deceived, so long as it's done to reinforce their own worldview.”

“http://mediamatters.org/research/200909300033

http://www.wopular.com/politifact-glenn-beck-wrong-claim-about-obama-cabinet-0


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eva-paterson/glenn-becks-attack-on-van_b_271518.html

Of course, you'll just attack the sources and not the substance of these articles.”

“There is no separation between the two on Fox, only the illusion created by labeling some shows "opinion" and others "news".”