TIBU2.COM: FOX News, Catapulting the Propaganda Since 1996

There are snippets of video that can explain a lot. George W. Bush explaining that it's his job to "catapult the propaganda" was one example of the revealing slip and this video of Nevada GOP senatorial candidate Sharron Angle on FOX News is another. In it, she explains her campaign's decision to hide from the mainstream press, limiting her interviews to wingnut TV and rightwing talk radio.

Transcript from Political Correction [emphasis theirs]:

Angle: We needed to have the press be our friend.

Cameron: Wait a minute. Hold on a second. To be your friend?

Angle: Well, truly—

Cameron: That sounds naive.

Angle: Well, no. We wanted them to ask the questions we want to answer so that they report the news the way we want it to be reported, and when I get on a show and I say, 'Send money to Sharron Angle Dot Com,' so that your listeners will know that if they wanna support me, they need to go to Sharron Angle Dot Com.

Cameron: Alright, alright.

It should be noted that in Sharron's quest to find media friends, she decided to include FOX News. It should also be noted that FOX's Carl Cameron doesn't exactly shoot down her misconception. He pretends to be shocked that this is her media strategy, but doesn't even try to pretend that FOX is not her friend. And the reason for that is that it's not a misconception. FOX News exists to be Sharron Angle's friend, in the sense that it exists to be any Republican's friend. Bush was wrong; it's not a Republican president's job to catapult the propaganda, that chore falls to FOX, who always have their BS trebuchet's cocked and ready to fire.

Angle has been avoiding the media like a plague -- at one point literally fleeing the press -- mostly because she's a nightmare candidate. If she spoke to the real press, she'd have to explain why she thinks the unemployed are "spoiled" or what kind of a demented god it is she worships who would plan a pregnancy through rape. She'd be forced to expand on why she thinks Social Security and Medicare need to be "transitioned out." On FOX, as on talk radio, she doesn't have to explain any of those things at all. All she needs to do is tell them that Harry Reid is a Democrat, which is synonymous with "evil," and drop her web address. Easy-Peasy. No embarrassing questions about what she'd do or what her qualifications are. If it works for the empty-headed Sarah Palin, it'll work for anyone. The hardest question she'll have to answer is, "Why doesn't everyone see how awesome you are?"

What's galling about this is that, even while they do this, FOX continues to pretend that they're a legitimate news organization -- and not a subsidiary of the Republican Party press office. But worse is that everyone else feels inexplicably compelled to play along.

[Raw Story:]

He might want to check first for pins.

Fox News has been awarded a front row seat in the White House briefing room and Bill O'Reilly is promising to personally use it.

The White House Correspondents Association announced Sunday that the The Associated Press would get Helen Thomas' old seat in the center of the front row. Thomas was forced to retire in June after saying that Israelis should go back to Germany.

Bill O'Reilly, front row, White House press room. If you've ever wondered why our politics seem to keep getting more and more idiotic, there's your answer. Somewhere along the line, someone decided that we all have to pretend that clowns and propagandists are actually serious.

-Wisco