Is Fox Down on its "Heels"?

Another way to put that is, "Why does Fox suffer fools so gladly?"

According to Wikipedia:

(Spoiler alert! Pro wrestling may be...less than, shall we say, purely...random?)

Professional wrestling... is a form of performance art which combines athletics with theatrical performance...The matches have predetermined outcomes to heighten entertainment value...

Say it ain't so!!! And further, according to the Oracle of Wiki, wrestlers are divided unto two groups: The "Babyfaces" or "Faces" (the good guys) whom the audience is supposed to cheer and the "Heels" (bad guys), who are the "villains", as it were, whom the audience is supposed to boo and jeer.

Mission accomplished!

I started to notice the similarities between pro wrestling and Fox News after Fox hired Marie Harf. Marie was a State Department Spokesperson for the Obama administration, where she was, frankly, kind of an airhead, and said some incredibly stupid things. In other words,  a complete joke.

But, a joke with blonde hair, a nice smile and now, a job on Fox News, to be a 'Heel' for the audience to jeer, along with fellow heels, Juan Williams, Geraldo Rivera, Richard Fowler and others.

Why does Fox tolerate liberals who, if brains were dynamite, couldn't blow their own noses? Aside from being "Fair and balanced", I believe it's performance art. Liberal contortionists  jump through hoops of illogical rhetoric, to act as foils, and receive the occasional body slam from conservatives, primarily for the sake of ratings.

Fox's Heels are typically pleasant, friendly people who more often than not, are merely regurgitating the talking points of the Left, whose attempts at original thought more closely resemble a dumpster fire.

It's a lot easier to tolerate Fox News since I caught onto the act. The Heels don't have to be all that insightful or bright to bring in an audience.

Don't take them too seriously, and be sure to bring the popcorn!

New In The O’Reilly Series Of Books: Killing Bill

On Tuesday, the day before the Intertoobs blew up over the firing of Bill O’Reilly from Fox News, protesters were demanding the cable news network pull the plug on him.  According to NBC News, the protesters were handing out fliers with O’Reilly’s likeness and the warning “Danger”.  They hung movie theater-sized posters throughout New York City and asked passersby, “Have you been sexually harassed by Bill?”

Fox waited until Wednesday to announce it was parting ways despite rumblings for weeks.  In its statement 21st Century Fox said, “After a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the Company and Bill O’Reilly have agreed that Bill O’Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel.”

The attorney for the oustered star of The O’Reilly Factor, Mark Kasowitz said of the decision, “[O’Reilly] is being subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America.”

Kasowitz is being a bit of a fabulist calling the roiling scandal unprecedented.  The cover-up, as they say, is worse than the scandal.

O’Reilly is clearly not a darling of the Left and he doesn’t give the Right any warm fuzzies either.  The consensus seems to be he is very domineering and difficult to work with based on his well-documented tantrums such as the leaked video from ABC’s Inside Edition.

His release from Fox isn’t the first time he’s been fired.  He had a brief stop for an internship at WPLG Channel 10, an ABC-affiliated television station located in Miami.

From The Miami Herald:

O'Reilly's most memorably bloody shows have mostly involved liberal targets. And his twin Moby Dicks, the interviews he'd most love and knows he'll never get, are both liberals: Jesse Jackson (O'Reilly has devoted 56 shows, at last count, to probing the finances of Jackson's nonprofit foundation) and Hillary Clinton (for years, a doormat emblazoned with her face sat in front of his office). 

O'Reilly will even admit to lying in bed at night fantasizing about Clinton—about interviewing her, that is. In his dream, he asks half a dozen pointed questions about Whitewater and the suicide of Clinton White House attorney Vince Foster. The seething Clinton finally breaks her silence with a command to her Secret Service escort: "You can shoot him now, boys." 

"That would be great television,” says a wistful O'Reilly, presumably referring to an interview and not the shooting part. "That would be an Event. Jesse Jackson, too. But neither one of them is ever going to happen."

I never much cared for the guy except when he verbally annihilated squishes like Juan Williams and Geraldo Rivera.  Those moments I will miss.

Fox News should replace "The O'Reilly Factor" with a show where people yell at each other.

— jon gabriel (@exjon) April 19, 2017

@exjon Point - Counterpoint with Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtain? pic.twitter.com/DoCTBGY1rw

— Kafir (@robert_flynn) April 19, 2017

An Ounce Of Pretension Is Worth A Pound Of Manure

Well, well, well.  The news reader Ad Week featured on its cover and rather zealously labeled “news anchor of the year” is mulling over “her future” in the news racket. 

Megyn Kelly told the publication in a recent interview, “I'm seriously considering my future and I do feel very grateful that I have a spot at Fox News. I really have respect for the Murdochs. I haven't known them very well but I've come to know them and so far I like everything I've seen. So the thought of working for them is very alluring. But I have to figure this one out and give it all the consideration it deserves because I've got these three little people with me who I really love and want to see as well. This is a big one for me and I don't want to screw it up.”

Reports of “MeAgain” Kelly jumping ship are littering the Internet.  One network “is doing all they can to try and snatch” her away from Fox News.  CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker is said to be “moving the Himalayan Mountains to get her, but they are tripped up on money. He simply can't pay her the $20 million a year Fox has on the table,' according to an insider.

Sources who spoke with the Drudge Report said that Kelly is “despised” by the other on-air talent at the network who’ve described how things have only gotten worse since the release of her new book.  “Settle for More” is expected to end the holidays under 500,000 total copies sold.

If the star of The Kelly File does enter into a contract with CNN she will join former Fox News personalities Alisyn Camerota, Bob Beckel and Mary Katharine Ham, who all moved to CNN.  Beckel was always profoundly asinine.  Camerota, in keeping with the absurd theories so often promulgated at that network foisted a ridiculous notion that Americans should wear hijabs to show solidarity with Muslim women who fear being attacked.  Her suggestion came on the heels of the ISIS-inspired radical Islamic Ohio State University student who rammed his car into a group of people then got out and began slashing at passersby with a knife.

I say if “MeAgain” wants to join the headcases at CNN then Fox should let her go on her merry way.  It would greatly amuse Americans who’ve felt alienated by her if Fox did not renew her contract and she headed to the flailing cable news network for far less than the $20 million she is seeking.

Rupert Murdoch, who owns Fox, told The Wall Street Journal “We have a deep bench of talent, many of whom would give their right arm for her spot.”

I have one piece of advice that “MeAgain” may find useful.  It’s gleaned from one of my all-time favorite movies “Steel Magnolias”:  Pretty isn’t everything.  

UPDATE:  Welcome Bad Blue readers.

Unfamiliar With the Vernacular? Or Too Familiar With Trump?

I hear a lot of people say they are going to boycott Fox News because they are supposedly in the tank for Trump. But are they? Consider the following graphic put up by Fox News on a statement from Donald Trump:

 

Was this a Freudian slip by some intern unfamiliar with the vernacular? Or just someone too familiar with Trump? 

Either way, it's funny!

Send In The Clowns

Via TV Newser we are learning that Fox News Channel has terminated its relationship with Bob Beckel the left-leaning, suspender-wearing, mumbling, grumbling, drug-addled co-host of The Five.

Beckel has been absent from the popular show since February of this year.  Bill Shine, Executive Vice President of Programming, released a statement saying, “We tried to work with Bob for months, but we couldn’t hold The Five hostage to one man’s personal issues.  He took tremendous advantage of our generosity, empathy and goodwill and we simply came to the end of the road with him.  Juan Williams and Geraldo Rivera will be among those rotating on the show for the near future.”

A month after Beckel left the show the cable channel announced to viewers that Beckel had undergone major back surgery.  On April 30, 2015 TV Newser reached out to Fox after learning that Beckel was being treated for addiction to prescription pain medication before and after his surgery.

His tenure on The Five was marred by a handful of notable flaps, including a moment last summer when he called the star of "The Bachelorette" a "slut" during a live broadcast.

He also landed in hot water for claiming on-air that he'd done drugs in the White House, flipping off a fellow co-host, threatening Jason Mattera’s life, throwing F-bombs and referring to the Chinese as "chinamen."

Beckel is the poster child for liberal failure.  He worked as a deputy assistant secretary of State during the Carter administration and was the campaign manager for Walter Mondale’s 1984 presidential bid against Ronald Reagan.

The embedded tweet below almost makes one sad.  Almost.

received lots of notes from conservatives when away The 5. Same message don't agree w u but like u. Bless u all. My own crowd Left no notes!

— Robert G Beckel (@RobertGBeckel) January 31, 2015

Unblocked

For three weeks, 14 million subscribers to DISH Network had been blocked from receiving FOX News and FOX Business channels.

On Sunday, December 21, 2014 I turned on my TV at 6:00 AM to tune in to FOX News and was greeted not with the anticipated Fox & Friends but with a video announcement from DISH Network Chairman Charles Ergen informing subscribers that the two channels were removed from the lineup.

The carriage contract between 21st Century Fox and DISH was set to expire at midnight on December 20th.  DISH blacked out FOX at 11:50 PM; ten minutes early.  For several weeks prior to the negotiations uproar, FOX had been warning its viewers that DISH was threatening to take that action.  Call me naïve, but I was confident that an agreement would quickly be reached and didn’t give it another thought.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.  I immediately contacted DISH via its DISH Help Chat Room.  I was No. 98 in the queue and was assured that I would be assigned to the next available agent.  After waiting for 10 minutes, I moved to No. 42.  A few minutes later I was No. 28.  A little later I inched up to No. 2 and then John Ernest (ID: 13P) came online.

13P was very adept at spewing the scripted response to my questions about the blackout.  He offered, and I accepted, the $5 per month credit for three consecutive months that DISH was willing to extend.  I felt the value of these two channels was worth more than the $5 that 13P was authorized to grant and was informed that I would need to “contact an account specialist at 1-866-218-2297 to personally handle” my request for more of a credit.

I decided to wait things out.  Surely, I thought, these two giants would settle their dispute in short order.

A local station carries Fox News Sunday so I was somewhat placated that I would still be able to view each of the five Sunday talking head shows.  The challenge came when I tried keep up on the news from other sources throughout the rest of the week.

Let’s see—there’s CNN where you have intellectual powerhouses like Carol Costello, Don Lemon and Jim Clancy.  There’s MSNBC and their cast of clowns including Ronan Farrow, Chris Matthews, Touré and Al Sharpton.

Don’t get me started on ABC, CBS and NBC.  The only network news reporting on the transfer of five more Gitmo detainees was ABC granting a mere 16 seconds to the story.

In the interim, I had been researching switching to some other provider.  Unlike many who were under the constraints of a two-year contract that came with onerous financial implications, I have been with DISH since 2006 and have never had any complaints about the service or the equipment.  Any interaction I had with customer service was always pleasant and helpful.  However, the longer the blackout dragged on, the more I researched making the switch.  I was just about to contact another provider this very morning.

As I researched, I learned that packages with satellite TV providers differ very little in terms of packages, pricing, equipment, special features, On-Demand, installation and customer service. It became clearer to me that I should just sit this out.

DirecTV has had negotiation disputes of its own, but the No. 2 satellite provider seems to have had more.

DISH customers lost access to CNN, Turner Classic Movies, and a handful of other channels in October 2014 as the result of a contract dispute with Turner Broadcasting. The channels were restored a month later after the two agreed on an extension during ongoing negotiations.

Another contract dispute led to a brief blackout of local and network CBS programming in several markets across the country last month. The channels returned after a 12-hour absence when CBS agreed to a multiyear carriage contract that gave DISH video-on-demand rights to content from Showtime.

Some reports were saying that in the immediate aftermath of the blackout 90,000 subscribers ditched DISH.  I’m fairly certain it was far more.

It’s more than a little disconcerting to learn the head of DISH has strong ties to the Democratic Party, but as Dan Joseph adds, “Mr. Ergen’s generosity ($64,000) to the Democratic Party in the last cycle does not necessarily mean that he is targeting Fox News due to a disagreement with the network’s content.”

With FOX returning to the lineup, my little furkid Sophie, can enjoy barking at the TV when The Five comes on and Bob Beckel opens his pie hole.

Fox News Should Fire Alan Colmes

Anything Alan Colmes ever says from this day forward should be disregarded in its totality.

On Fox’s Happening Now, Obama lapdog Alan Colmes, uttered something so offensive that I am calling on Fox News to fire the bastard.  Here’s why:

At 10:51am on January 2, 2011, Mr. Colmes posted an article on his website where, among other things, he wrote, “When the fourth of Rick Santorum’s children was born prematurely at 20 weeks and lived for just two hours outside the womb, he brought the dead child home for his other kids to play with.”

Mr. Colmes, as is so often the case with liberals who have their sharp knives out for anyone who believes in the sanctity of life, deliberately painted a picture of a dysfunctional man grieving the loss of his infant son.  His article was a lie.

Mr. Colmes cited an article written by Mark Leibovich, a Washington Post staff writer.  The article entitled Father First, Senator Second begins, “In his Senate office, on a shelf next to an autographed baseball, Sen. Rick Santorum keeps a framed photo of his son Gabriel Michael, the fourth of his seven children. Named for two archangels, Gabriel Michael was born prematurely, at 20 weeks, on Oct. 11, 1996, and lived two hours outside the womb.”

“Upon their son's death, Rick and Karen Santorum opted not to bring his body to a funeral home. Instead, they bundled him in a blanket and drove him to Karen's parents' home in Pittsburgh. There, they spent several hours kissing and cuddling Gabriel with his three siblings, ages 6, 4 and 1 1/2. They took photos, sang lullabies in his ear and held a private Mass.”

[snip]

“He and Karen brought Gabriel's body home so their children could ‘absorb and understand that they had a brother,’ Santorum says. ‘We wanted them to see that he was real,’ not an abstraction, he says. Not a ‘fetus,’ either, as Rick and Karen were appalled to see him described—‘a 20-week-old fetus’—on a hospital form. They changed the form to read ‘20-week-old baby.’"

Did Mr. Colmes fail to read the entire Leibovich article?  I say no, because the paragraph in the article that destroys his claim was in the fourth paragraph.  Even a man with a limited attention span could make it to the fourth paragraph in his reading of the article.

No, Alan Colmes is so consumed with disgust for anyone of faith that taking cheap shots is like a game to him.

Karen Santorum authored a book, Letters to Gabriel: The True Story of Gabriel Michael Santorum, a recounting of the bond between mother and child.  With tenderness and love, Karen Santorum offers a profound statement about the gift of life, the grieving process and the paradox of suffering.

On May 29, 1998 Mrs. Santorum appeared on C-SPAN to discuss the book which is a compilation of letters she wrote to Gabriel before and after his birth.

Embedded below is the exchange between Rich Lowry and the beclowned Mr. Colmes.

“To take something that is that personal and that hurtful as losing a child and mocking it like that…that is beneath you, Alan,” Lowry said. “What you’re saying is contemptible.”

UPDATE:  Allahpundit doesn't know where Colmes got this sick idea, but describes his bleating as pure instinctual, ideological bloodlust.  You’ll also find a video from a few months ago in which Santorum talks about his tragic loss.

UPDATE II:  Feeling the heat from the outrage, at 8:02PM Colmes tweets Rick Santorum to apologize for his "hurtful comment."

This post was linked at Randy's Roundtable.  Thanks so much.

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