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Thursday Open Thread: Coming Up for Air | 39 comments (39 topical)

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I left a comment about how this just seemed like (5.00 / 1) (#16)
by CaptHowdy on Wed Mar 08, 2023 at 07:52:48 PM EST
a really bad idea.  And how I hope it would seem that way to others. It hard to kniw what is acceptable these days.  It seems like others agree.  It was a spectacularly bad idea.

McCarthy's GOP tries to move on from Tucker Carlson-Jan. 6 drama

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How to Fight a Vulnerable Fox News
March 8, 2023 at 2:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 48 Comments

Dan Pfeiffer: "In some ways, my career in political communications has been defined by the rise of Fox News and the rest of the Right Wing media. For the entirety of the twenty-first century, Fox News has been the most powerful weapon in the Right's arsenal. From Capitol Hill, the campaign trail, the White House, and now from my perch in progressive media, I watched Fox start wars, beat Democrats into submission, drive reams of mainstream press coverage, and make Donald Trump President."

"But they have never been more vulnerable. Here's how Democrats should adjust their approach to Fox News."

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Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
March 8, 2023 at 11:30 am EST By Taegan Goddard 53 Comments

"The idea of Tucker Carlson being in that mob that day and not wetting his pants is hard to imagine."

-- Anderson Cooper, on CNN, criticizing the Fox News host's attempt to re-write what happened on January 6.

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January 6 Whitewash Will Backfire
March 8, 2023 at 9:53 am EST By Taegan Goddard 90 Comments

Tom Nichols: "It's one thing to assume that the Fox audience isn't very bright and will believe almost anything--I will gladly stipulate to that--but it's another to ask them to leap across a chasm of credulity..."

"As counterintuitive as it might be, perhaps the best thing for American democracy would be for Carlson to keep bumbling his way through more January 6 footage and to keep images of the insurrection in front of millions of viewers for as long as possible."

"If that's how McCarthy and Carlson intend to restore the image of the GOP as a normal political party, who are any of us to argue with such public-relations geniuses?"
I think Tucker (none / 0) (#17)
by CaptHowdy on Wed Mar 08, 2023 at 08:04:46 PM EST
will be leaving FOX.  

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Tucker's been there (none / 0) (#18)
by leap2 on Wed Mar 08, 2023 at 08:07:58 PM EST
before.

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Likewise, I believe that Tucker Carlson's days ... (none / 0) (#20)
by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 09, 2023 at 09:55:29 AM EST
... at Fox News are not only numbered but further, his exit date may well be a lot sooner than we perhaps realize. The Murdochs' attorneys in the Dominion case have surely advised them that this lawsuit and the still pending one by Smartmatic represent an existential threat to Fox Corp., and that Carlson, et al., are now a potentially major liability.

If we've learned anything about Fox News and the Murdochs, it's that:

  • Given its repeated out-of-court settlements over the years, that network has been particularly vulnerable to litigation; and

  • The owners are hardly folks who let sentimentality get in the way of a business decision, and if they perceive a threat to their empire, they will cut their losses, and nobody is indispensable.

Let's remember that two of the most powerful and towering figures at Fox News, Roger Ailes and Bill O'Reilly, were both finally cut down to size by two high-profile lawsuits, and both men were actually sent packing rather quickly once the Murdochs reached costly out-of-court settlements with the plaintiffs.

And so, I agree with you, Cap'n. There's really no reason to believe at this point that Tucker Carlson, CEO Suzanne Scott, and / or Jeanine Pirro, et al., will somehow avoid a similar fate. After all, it's pretty clear that Dominion will demand its pound of flesh, and someone will have to be the fall guy here.

Aloha.

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All true (none / 0) (#21)
by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 09, 2023 at 10:46:50 AM EST
But I think Scott and Pirro the other crazy on air woman, I forget her name, are probably even more likely to go.

It's true about Ailes and O'Reilly but both were a different situation.   Both had harassment problems.

Tucker's problem is he is giving the rubes exactly what they want.  And what got them into this whole pig fvck?  Ratings.  Tucker is I think literally the biggest thing in cable news.  Tucker is a possible presidential candidate.  He's a god to the FOX audience.  More than Hannity or anyone.

Getting rid of him is a whole other thing.  

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Not saying Tucker will go away (none / 0) (#22)
by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 09, 2023 at 10:49:31 AM EST
He will go to NEWSMAX or OANN or whatever.

And take his audience with him.

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Agreed. (5.00 / 1) (#25)
by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 09, 2023 at 08:38:38 PM EST
But so what? As I noted, Tucker Carlson will be cut loose because he, perhaps more than Sean Hannity or any other of the zanies like Jeanine Pirro, set the tone and tenor for what happened at Fox News post-2020 election.

And that's why parent company Fox Corp. is about to eat Schitt in civil court. Now, Fox Corp. can and will survive without Fox News, if need be. But the Murdochs are not going to let a reckless Fox News jeopardize their entire multi-faceted corporate gig, as has been clearly done with that network's pro-Trump election denial fiasco, for which Carlson has now become the poster child.

And that's why Tucker Carlson will likely have to go. Because it's not about Fox News and its ratings. Not really. Rather, it's about Fox Corp.'s bottom line. If Carlson does stay, it will be because he had a come-to-Jesus reality meeting with Rupert Murdoch, not unlike the meeting that the rabble-rousing and delusional prime-time host Howard Beale (Peter Finch) had with CCA Chair Arthur Jensen (Ned Beatty) in "Network" (1976).

Tucker has meddled with the primal forces of Nature. And he. Will. Atone.

:-D

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The (none / 0) (#19)
by FlJoe on Thu Mar 09, 2023 at 04:54:37 AM EST
GOP needs to "move away" from their own crazies before the madness stops.

This latest McCarthy/Tucker stunt is incredibly stupid from any angle, reportedly this was a part of the "promises" he made to the loons in his caucus.

Apparently MTG has his balls in a jar, more evidence that tRump broke the Republican party.

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Speaker of the House, Pro Tempore (none / 0) (#23)
by KeysDan on Thu Mar 09, 2023 at 12:22:06 PM EST
the Honorable Marjorie Taylor Green.  Not from the "Onion", from fascist news, via MSM.

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Nothing (none / 0) (#24)
by jmacWA on Thu Mar 09, 2023 at 03:32:26 PM EST
shows how serious the GOP is about governing more than this.  A most enlightened political party

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Thursday Open Thread: Coming Up for Air | 39 comments (39 topical)

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