The Fox and The Grapes

This morning Glenn Greenwald appeared on the most Fox-ariffic of all Fox "news" programs, "Fox and Friends" (lead graphic this morning "The GREATNESS Of America".)

Mr. Greenwald was asked many questions by Very Serious Journalist Eric Bolling about Edward Snowden, the United States government and the media.

After Mr. Greenwald was done knocking Mr. Bolling's softballs over the back yard fence, Fox and Fiends wished him well and went on to its usual bill-of-fare: "interviewing" their very good friend Rush Limbaugh via telephone and seeking his probing insight into exactly how the Kenyan Usurper is not-so-secretly in league with the Muslim Brotherhood to destroy America and how Obamacare will absolutely and beyond a doubt destroy America.   Later, John Bolton's moustache was wheeled into the studio to give its opinion about the degree to which the abject failures of the Kenyan Usurper's foreign policy will destroy America.

So, three things.

First, watching the video, the careful viewer will note how Mr. Greenwald's statements are treated with exactly the same amount of friendly deference as were Rush Limbaugh's: no pushback, no scrutiny. Which is to be expected. After all, for the moment, from Roger Ailes' point of view, Rush Limbaugh and Mr. Greenwald occupy adjoining drawers in the Fox Media toolbox: big hammers with which to pound the shit out of That Black Man in their White House.

Second, for all of the easy collegiality afforded Mr. Greenwald by Fox News during his time on the air, Mr. Ailes' network has been anything but kind to Mr. Snowden. Of course, Fox hasn't let the NSA story crowd out it's wall-to-wall coverage of the Worst Scandal in America History (The Great IRS Fizzle) or the Second Worst Scandal in America History (Benghaaaaazi!), but when they do find a place to slot it, Mr. Snowden is almost always either described is the starkest, most villainous language (worse than the Dixie Chicks even!) or cited as further "proof" that the Kenyan Usurper is a pussy who does not take American security seriously and does not know how to run a government:

... No one paid a price for those leaks, although the Obama Justice Department did target Fox News reporter James Rosen because he was told of a classified report that discredited the administration’s North Korea policy.

Enter Snowden and Hong Kong into this picture. Is it that surprising that Hong Kong took a look at a weak president, seemingly committed to American withdrawal from the world, and an administration that only cares about protecting secrets when it’s useful for domestic political purposes, and then decided to flip Washington the bird?

Which, again, should surprise no one. Once Reagan, Bork and Scalia conspired to knife the Fairness Doctrine in the shower, the way was finally open to create a new wingnut media conjured directly out of every Bircher's wettest dream.  And thus Fox News and Hate Radio were born: bastions of unremitting Republican fraud and slandermongering, eagerly trafficking in the most ludicrous rumors, anti-science fairy tales, outlandish conspiracies and straight-up lies manufactured by the sketchiest con artists and demagogues imaginable, all highly focused on the goal of advancing the most radical Conservative agenda in modern American history while making Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch very, very rich in the process.

Remember, it was only a week ago that Mr. Greenwald was invited on "Meet the Press" where he was more than willing to very aggressively pushed back against the debased Beltway media mores as embodied by Senior Establishmentarian Testicle Cozy, David Gregory.

And so, a week later, drama was high as the very same Mr, Greenwald, girded by promises of a "shocking" new leak and righteous indignation, venturing into heart of the Wingnut Ministry of Truth itself -- the the very headwaters of the Media Disinformation Industry which Mr. Greenwald claims to hate with the heat of 1,000 suns!  Where, prompted by a question by Fox News tailor's dummy Eric Bolling, Mr. Greenwald obligingly used a chunk of his limited air time...to call Fox News competitor and Senior Establishmentarian Testicle Cozy, David Gregory, a douchebag one more time.

Well, that's all the time we have!

Thanks, Glenn!  

Up next, The Top Ten Ways Barack Obama Is Conspiring with our Enemies to Destroy America!

Third, never let it be said that Roger Ailes does know how to learn and adapt.  Because rather than actually asking Mr. Greenwald any provocative questions while he was on their air, Fox News clowns wisely elected to wring what partisan and competition-bashing value they could out of him while he was live and then wait until a half an hour or so after he was gone before cutting him up like a paper doll (and --bonus! -- slipping in a "Benghaaaaazi" reference at no additional cost to you the viewer!) 

And thus did Roger Ailes get everything he wanted: Obama slammed by a famous, Serious, non-Fox employee, NBC cock-punched right in its Sunday lineup and the guy who obligingly did all of Mr. Ailes' heavy lifting for him sliced up and tossed overboard less than an hour later.

All for the price of a Skype call to Rio.