Sunday, November 23, 2008

Sunday Morning Comin’ Down


Bulldog Edition

So today was Axelrod Day. He was everywhere; on almost all the national talks, the local Fox affiliate, and on local NBC, in an apron making omelets or something.

100%-drama-free omelets.

Every programs except “Face the Nation” where Austan Goolsbee (Obama economic adviser) announced “The era of dithering is over.”

About all of which more later, but I wanted to run off this early edition of SMCD to flag something really quite extraordinary that I saw over on Fox News Sunday.

After John “Lil' Weepy” Boehner went on to pitch his same, tired, failed agenda of capital gains tax cuts and deregulation as the solution to all problems, came this;

Wallace: Apropos of nothing whatsoever, aren’t unions evil? And shouldn’t the Evil Union Card Check program be opposed by all right thinking people who don’t want the destroy the economy? I mean, after all you get secret ballots in Congress. Why is it OK for Congress to have secret ballots and not for workers.

And after thinking “Well maybe because Congresspersons can’t be thugged out of a job by management?” I thought no more of it.

Until, one minute later, they went to commercial, I got the shock of the week when the first paid commercial was from an outfit called “Americans For Job Security” repeating VERBATIM the Boehner/Fox Party line “question” that Wallace had awkwardly wedged into the middle of a “news” broadcast not sixty second prior.

You get secret ballots in Congress.
Why is it OK for Congress to have secret ballots and not for workers


Wow.

“Americans For Job Security” is, of course, a well-funded wingnut front organization that operates as a hand-in-glove/cash-in-bag advocate for the Conservative’s radical, anti-labor agenda. Here’s the background:

Americans for Job Security (AJS) is a Republican "sham front group that would be better called Corporations Influencing Elections ... masquerading as a non-profit to conceal its funders and the scope of its electioneering activities,"[1] the Center for Responsive Politics wrote in April 2007.[2] Incorporated October 1997 in Virginia, AJS was described by the Center as "pro-Republican", "pro-business", and "established to directly counter labor's influence".[3][4]

The Center also reported that, in 1998, AJS "pledged to raise and spend $100 million on issue ads over the next five years."[5]

It is alleged that AJS was founded by Marc F. Racicot "with a $1 million donation" from the American Insurance Association. Racicot headed George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign and is a former Republican National Committee chairman.[6] In June 2005, Racicot coincidentally became the new head of the American Insurance Association, which "represents 435 major property and casualty insurance companies."[7]


I mean, Fox is and always has been something of a hybrid between a panty liner and a puke bucket for the GOP, but I honestly can’t remember seeing an example of teevee this openly, nakedly sponsors-writing-dialogue whorey since the days when Rob Petrie pimped for Kent.

And even at that apex of overt advertiser control over programming, “Dick Van Dyke” was a fucking comedy show. It wasn’t spending vast sums of money every day desperately trying to pretend it was a legitimate news organization, and it never openly flogged product in the middle of the script.

Also it was better written, and its actors didn’t scare small children.

Afterward, during Bill Kristol’s litany of the Awful Things that may precipitate another Great Depression was…wait for it…card check.

Of course Fox has always been a nest of fifth columnists working to advance the wingnut agenda, and of course the lockstep Right has always obediently repeated marching orders faxed to them from the Murdoch White House, but to see it happen in real-time right in front of me -- to see the exposed sausage-grinding gears of a regime grown so lazy, sloppy and desperate that they have, at last, completely dropped the final, skimpy shred of fig leaf covering the oozing, syphilitic reality that is Fox News -- was really rather amazing.

UPDATE: The video is up on Teh YooTubes now and, no, I didn't imagine it. It is one of those glorious occasions where you can actually see the clammy tentacles of Fox's corporate wingnut masters up Chris Wallace's ass, working him like the sock puppet that he is.



(And a big thank-you to Heather and the C&L Video Cafe -- your One Stop Shoppe for the Kobe beef tenderloin cuts of timely video -- for the great work of getting this up and out so fast)

14 comments:

Angel Of Mercy said...

"Fox is and always has been something of a hybrid between a panty liner and a puke bucket for the GOP..."

Ya GOT me with that one, Mr. Glass; it's so dead-on perfect that I just had to stop and laugh for two solid minutes.

You are The Man...

darkblack said...

"Regrets, I've had a few..."

;>)

Serving Patriot said...

Mr DG.,

You are a far far stronger man than I to constantly endure Faux News for the betterment of cowards and America haters like myself.

Thanks for YOUR service friend!

SP

Anonymous said...

They are scared. Nice.

More popcorn, please.

Anonymous said...

It's that ole debbil -- The Braindead Megaphone!

Good bits:

For weeks, your television, newspaper and radio have been telling you America is a “center-right nation” that elected Barack Obama to crush his fellow “socialist” hippies, discard the agenda he campaigned on, and meet the policy demands of electorally humiliated Republicans.

This is the usual post-election nonsense from the Braindead Megaphone, as author George Saunders famously calls our political and media noise machine.

When George W. Bush wins by 3 million votes, the megaphone blares announcements about a conservative mandate that Democrats must respect. When Obama wins by twice as much, the same megaphone roars about Democrats having no mandate to do anything other than appease conservatives.


Quelle dickweeds, them braindead conservatives, Republicans, Neo-cons, eh? (Chris Wallace now enters the hallowed dickweed halls; and I don't give a shit that he was on The Daily Show where Jon Stewart had to keep from smacking him.)

Read the rest of it from David Sirota at:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081120_tuning_out_the_braindead_megaphone/

Our old right-wing anal-hardcrack buddy Bill Kristol makes a bendover bow, too.

Anonymous said...

Can't believe you pulled the Rob Petrie card.

Half or MORe of the populous of the nets have NO clue who he is.

But we do. LOL

Rev.Paperboy said...

Congresscritters can vote anonymously? Their votes are not recorded by name? We have no idea where they voted for or against a piece of legislation? Really?

Anonymous said...

Pure naked propaganda without even the hint of a veil from these folks at FgOpX doesn't surprise me. After all, they spent the entire election calling Obama a socialist and a terrorist, and without a blink now state that Obama's landslide election is confirmation that we're "a center-right nation".

But in fairness to Mr Van Dyke and Ms Moore, the clip you showed (from what I understand) was an actual commercial during a commercial break, and not a naked attempt at product placement in the show itself.

Anonymous said...

That's news to me about Congress. What a strange universe the wingnuts inhabit -- up is down, black is white, roll call votes are secret ballots. . .

Anonymous said...

But Faux, just like most of the asshat media, is pissing themselves with joy at Obama putting Hillary up for State. They know what's coming from Obama taking this Trojan Grizzly into his "city".

Anonymous said...

It's depressing: Obama only needed to know one thing about her.

Just like Lieberman, she has a tatt on her ass saying:

"Property of AIPAC!"

Anonymous said...

Remember the decree from the Whitehouse: From this day forward “suicide bombers will be called homicide bombers”. Fox was all over it. They still say it on occasion.

Bluesborn said...

Angel beat me to it-that "panty liner" "puke bucket" crack is priceless,although the "tentacles up Wallace's ass-sock puppet" observation was delightfully sprightly as well.In fact I think I may have dislodged an earbone or eyeball lens in a sudden violent seizure of uncontrolled mirth.

Cirze said...

And you remember that the wickedly corrupt anti-public servant, protector of Enron, Bush-buddy during their wild pre-election days (Cheney revealed herein also) http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair09012004.html, "golden boy" Marc Racicot (after he slashed and burned his way through Montana as Gov., leaving its economy and environment in ruins) was the leader in the Baker-run negotiations for the stealing of Florida in the election of 2000, also the lead pretty-boy in the parade of log Cabiners who came down for the Brooks Brothers riot (and the orchestrator of others!). He's been involved in more types of corruption than any other enterprising Rethug (and being Catholic must have opened that door pretty wide) so much so that he would win the truly evil prize hands down (and his good looks make him an easy candidate for Beelzebub himself). Look it up for continued amazement, as you will not believe his wide-ranging talent for destruction otherwise. Here's an old source: http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair08092003.html

What cred!

Job security for just-recalled Rethugli-Cons?

“Americans For Job Security” is, of course, a well-funded wingnut front organization that operates as a hand-in-glove/cash-in-bag advocate for the Conservative’s radical, anti-labor agenda.

Brilliant - as usual, milord.

Suzan