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Go Home Politico Heart Fox News

TIMOTHY NOAH FEBRUARY 1, 2012

Politico Heart Fox News

BY TIMOTHY NOAH

The scrupulously nonpartisan Politico has been under sustained attack from Fox News for being too left-wing. Today, Politico hits back, hard, with "How Fox News Has Stayed On Top," a fanzine-style puffer by Mike Allen. That'll show 'em! I'm sure there's a strategy at work here. I just can't figure out what it is. As for the Allen story, it's an unalloyed embarrassment--one of the worst things I can ever recall reading by a first-rate journalist. "Even the channel’s most hardened critics would acknowledge that it has become a business, media and cultural juggernaut, lavishing airtime on conservatives like Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and Karl Rove, while driving debate [read: creating hysteria] on subjects ranging from the [false] rape accusation against Duke lacrosse players to the [perfectly reasonable] proposal for a mosque near ground zero." And so on.

Oh, Mike. I think you need to take a few days off.

Update, 3:40 p.m.: Apparently Allen also wrote a puffer last month about Fox anchor Bret Baier ("Bret Baier: A Boy Scout With A Very Sharp Knife"). According to Fishbowl DC, Politico's love-bombing campaign has been going on for some time. What Politico may not realize is that grovelling before its tormentor actually confirms that Politico is a den of liberals. That's what liberals do!

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8 comments

It's called appeasement and it won't work. And yes, by all means, take a few days (weeks?) off.

- liberalref

February 1, 2012 at 9:55am

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Totally agree with Tim and Libref. The Neville Chamberlain of political journalism. I'm surprise they didn't send flowers to Hannity. Someday the Fox era will be remembered with a shaking of the head in disbelief, with a scowl or cynical laugh, with a "how the hell could a news station have gotten away with that for so long? What was going ON back then, grandpa?" Fox Newz will be our generation's Joe McCarthy, a sad lesson in what happens when fear and hate become the order of the day.

- Tristan

February 1, 2012 at 10:11am

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First, they came for Politico ...

- wildboy

February 1, 2012 at 10:41am

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@Wildboy (LAUGHTER!!!!)

- Tristan

February 1, 2012 at 10:57am

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Remember when Fox News was going bat-shit crazy over having found proof of Saddam's biological weapons! Turned out what they were reporting as said proof was a trailer used to fill kids balloons with helium. Good gawd. And to this day you come across people who insist such weaponry was indeed found. Fox News is nothing more than an American version of the old Soviet TV propaganda outlet. News? Laughably (despicably too) inane.

- Bukharin

February 1, 2012 at 11:05am

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Politico is pretty damn smart if you ask me. Just watch the next time they criticize something on Fox News. Of course, Fox's initial reaction will be outrage, but then they'll take a step back and think "But wait, Politico obviously loves Fox, so their criticism must be valid. Maybe we should reconsider this whole right-wing propaganda thing and stop trying to stir up so much paranoia, hate and bigotry." It's really hard to see them doing anything else, unless you're some kind of damn pessimist. Plus, Politico dropped a real bombshell in the article, as far as I'm concerned. It turns out that Dennis Kucinich is a fan, quoted in the article saying; “They’ve always been fair to me." C'mon people, if our hero - who's not flaky at all, by the way, and should have been nominated in 2008, but that's another story and just watch out for 2016 - thinks Fox is fair, I don't think we can disagree. Hell, he's a frequent guest, which is more than Andrew Sullivan can say. Sullivan's been taunting Fox to bring him on to discuss their criticism of his Newsweek cover story in his actual presence, only to be rebuffed so far, obviously because he's a conservative, and Fox would much rather book a liberal icon like Dennis the K than a hardcore, firebreathing conservative apologist like Sullivan. Case closed, and you're more than welcome. Kucinich-Waters 2016. Free Huey!

- GeoffG

February 1, 2012 at 12:05pm

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The article looks more like a defensive ploy to me, intended to neuter Faux Noise's assault as a liberal outlet. Articles like that are the perfect defense for scathying critiques on any of their multitudinous flaws.
Either that, or Politico just sold out to Murdoch.

- GSpinks

February 1, 2012 at 12:51pm

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Back in the days when lots of people smoked cigarettes and were allowed to be indifferent to whether they were endangering/irritating others, we (non-smokers) muttered, "If only lung cancer were quicker." Well, there's always dementia and senility. Consider what happened to the Murdochs. Perhaps Ailes' brain cells are deteriorating even as I write this, and even as my brain cells are themselves toppling over into dementia. Shortly, I will be off to the gym as exercise is reputed to stave off these inevitable declines. Don't tell Ailes. Let him sit around watching tv and scheming all day, hopefully eating lots of empty calories while he's at it.

- skahn

February 2, 2012 at 1:47pm

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