Run-up to Christmas - December 23

By Patrick

It's Christmas time! We love it! The time of the year that even someone like Sarah Palin is not able to mess up for us, as hard as she tries! Kathleen and I are travelling this Christmas, and it already started very well. Fortunately we have good access to the internet, too. So we are ready for the run-up to Christmas!

There is one item I would like to share with you all- yesterday at Amsterdam Schiphol airport, there was a wonderful moment when an excellent female vocal group called "The Triolettes", three singers who specialize in classic swing arrangements, were singing Christmas songs for the travellers in the transit area. (UPDATE: This also was a TV-news story in the Netherlands). I made a sweet little recording, which you will surely enjoy, with 2 1/2 songs, so to speak. The little kids enjoyed it as well, as you can see! At the end, they sing "Let it Snow" and "Silent Night":

So that was a really nice surprise. Our travel went smoothly, we have bought our presents (just need to wrap them), and so we are almost ready for Christmas day!

Here at Politicalgates, politics is never far away. And did we ever have a more "political" Christmas than this year, what with all the fuss over a "white Santa" and with Sarah Palin neatly dividing the country into the real American god-fearing believers and the unreal American ungodly atheists?

Interestingly, a new poll was published a few days ago which clearly shows that for Americans, neither the "Happy Holidays" greeting nor the "white Santa" are actually a big deal. It turns out the 75% of Americans are not bothered whether they are greeted with "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays", and only 32% of Americans believe that Santa was "white."

PPP reports:

Christmas brings Americans together. 87% have a positive opinion of it to only 7% with a negative view, and 85-89% of Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike see it in a positive manner. (...)

Perhaps one reason Americans are less concerned now about the War on Christmas is that they're really not that concerned about the whole Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays thing. Certainly they prefer Merry Christmas- 51% say that's their greeting of choice to 8% for Happy Holidays and 41% who say it doesn't make a difference. But few Americans are actually offended by being told Happy Holidays- just 22% are with 75% saying it's not a big deal.

Of course there's a new issue dividing us this holiday season, and that's whether Santa is 'verifiably white.' Only 32% of Americans think he is, while 36% say he is not and another 32% say they aren't sure. The high level of indecision may be owing to only 43% of Americans saying they believe in Santa Claus to 50% who don't. Those numbers are down from 52% saying they believed in him a year ago, and surely some sociologist can explain to us what happened this year to make us lose our faith.

Sorry, Sarah! But we still wish you a Merry Christmas as well as Happy Holidays! :-)

In order to get into the Christmas spirit, there is one classic which is just great every Christmas - "Do They Know it's Christmas" by Band Aid from 1984:

Brings back memories, doesn't it?

We have to go to buy food for the Christmas dinner now, as we want to get this out of the way before dinner  with friends this evening. I conclude this little post with a great cartoon I found, featuring Sarah and Bill - see you again soon!

A Mole on Patrol: 'An Atheist in the FOXhole'

by Sunnyjane

There's tremendous power in television news. With a well-positioned negative word ... you can make the most powerful people on earth tremble.         

Bill O'Reilly, from his 2004 novel Those Who Trespass

At twenty-two years old, Joe Muto found himself working at Fox News for the most time-honored reason: he desperately needed a job.  Having beer-kegged his way through the University of Notre Dame via its Department of Film, Television, and Theatre, he graduated with a less than stellar grade point average of 2.8.  It's not terribly surprising then, that his applications to the TV and print media organizations in New York with which he would have been proud to be associated went unanswered.

Muto's book is interesting for its inside look at how television news is produced.  Briefly, the talking head of each show holds a daily pitch meeting with his or her staff of producers whose job it is to suggest stories that are breaking or continuing to be talked about, so long as Fox can report it with their own conservative slant.  

Fox News is not really into breaking news, per se; they leave that up to MSNBC and CNN, their chief ratings rivals.  Since this is Joe Muto's story, I won't bother to provide much commentary, except where I simply cannot help myself!  

The real story to most readers, of course, is likely to be... 

The On-Air Hosts and Other, um, Fox Talent

Absurdly blessed with a $20,000,000 annual salary, the top dog at Fox News is Bill O'Reilly, the moody and ill-tempered host of the 8:00 PM The O'Reilly Factor.  It took less than three years for the liberal-thinking mole to be offered a job on the staff of Papa Bear's now-defunct radio show -- a job Muto took because it was a promotion.  In early 2009, it was back to television as a Factor producer.

Muto shares some of the lessons he learned on how to successfully pitch a story to O'Reilly, including:  Make sure to demonstrate how the host can stoke the fires of outrage in his viewers; establish a villain; and where possible, show him how he can make it about sex.  And so on.

The author writes several examples of funny parodies on how he would have pitched historical and Biblical stories to O'Reilly.  On the Civil Rights Movement of the sixties:  Bill, radical black activists in the South are carrying out a campaign to damage the teeth of police dogs.  Or this on Adam and Eve: Bill, a liberal feminist extremist tricked her husband into consuming drugs, and then told authorities that a talking snake told her to do it.

The most notorious story about holier-than-thou Bill O'Reilly is the sexual harassment suit brought against him in October 2004 by one of his female producers, Andrea Mackris.  In the $60,000,000 law suit, Mackris alleged that Papa Bear had made unwanted sexually explicit phone calls to her, even describing his, um, family jewels to her (big!).  Further, he suggested that she should use a vibrator and told her the sexual fantasies he was having about her.  At one point he must have gotten really hot and bothered by his own words, because in an ignominious twist of the tongue, he began calling the loofah he wanted to rub between her legs falafel.  (Think about it...ewww!)

The suit was settled in less than two weeks.  O'Reilly paid her some money, but the terms of the settlement remain confidential.  The word falafel was never to be used at Fox News headquarters thereafter. 

That Hack, Hannity

Leading the pack as Fox lost its fucking mind after the election of Barack Obama in 2008 was none other than Sean Hannity.  Having rid himself of his liberal partner, Alan Colmes, and getting the prime 9:00 PM slot all to himself, the Hack jumped the new president at every opportunity.  When President Obama went to a burger restaurant in Washington several months into his first term and asked for spicy brown mustard, something like that, or a Dijon mustard, Hannity sneered, I hope you enjoyed that fancy burger, Mr. President!  From that point forward, everything from teleprompters to foreign policy were fodder for Sean Hannity's twisted concept of what constitutes news.

Joe Muto says in his book that he once overheard a discussion between a very conservative producer and a tech: Goddamn, Hannity is completely unwatchable lately while the other responded, You're acting like it was ever watchable in the first place.

 
As Sirius Left host Richard Bey said recently, I worked at ABC Radio with Sean. He doesn't know anything about history. He knows what they give him on the talking points.  

And, according to Muto, Bill O'Reilly can't stand Hannity, the feeling is mutual, and the two do not speak.

Just Plain Greta

Neither as bombastic as O'Reilly nor as professionally untalented as Hannity, Greta Van Susteren appears almost boring.  Not only does she not fit the good-looks mold as a Fox News female personality, but her On the Record segment at 10:00 PM deals primarily with legal and crime issues.  

Describing what I assume is the unofficial criteria for female talking heads, Muto provides a handy list:*

     -Hotness
     -Ability to string two words together
     -Ability to summon outrage and berate a guest at length
     -Blondness
     -Conservative views (or the ability to convincingly fake them)
     -Journalistic credentials


While Greta could hardly be thought of as hot and her conservative views might be suspect, she's very intelligent and her's is rated the third most-watched show on Fox News, behind Hannity at #2 and O'Reilly at #1.  Muto actually had little interesting to say about her.

*See She's Hot and She Gets Good Ratings, below.  (Heh)

There's Gotta be a Conspiracy in Here Somewhere!

Even given what Fox News usually considers the dead-zone time slot of 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, it didn't take Glenn Beck long to start reaching -- and in many cases overtaking -- the ratings of the Big Three, O'Reilly, Hannity, and van Susteren.  O'Reilly decided the best way to handle this was to give Beck a small segment on the Factor.   Van Susteren and Hannity wanted nothing to do with him.  It didn't take long for O'Reilly to get tired of Beck's craziness and he gave up on the idea.

The problem with Beck was that in the beginning, they all thought he was performing on his show.  When they finally realized that he actually believed all that shit he was spouting, alarm bells went off everywhere, even at the Ailes' level.

While there have been differing theories as to why Beck departed Fox News after little more than two years into his three-year contract, Muto contends it was because advertisers were leaving in droves.  If so, that was it: Ratings are good, but advertising makes the news business go round, and Roger Ailes does not endure losing money.

She's Hot and She Gets Good Ratings
 

Ith Othma...Oblama...Obama sthill the prethident?

Such was the excitement surrounding the entrance of Sarah Palin onto the Fox News stage in January 2010 that the Big Three were falling all over themselves trying to be THE ONE to score the first interview with her.   (Naturally, #1 was awarded that honor and in my opinion, this first interview set the stage for things to come between O'Reilly and Palin.)

She was a perfect fit for the network, writes Muto, beautiful, feisty, and controversial, inspiring utter devotion from her fans and blind outrage from her critics, and, hopefully, the theory went, high ratings for the network.  

Popular opinion on the Second Floor was that all they had heard about Palin's being vacuous, ill-informed, and thin-skinned certainly had to be liberal slander ... How dumb could she be?

It didn't take long for Fox News to see that Palin's critics were right:  Her abilities as a pundit left much to be desired.  She conversed entirely in shallow, empty platitudes, as if she'd just memorized a list of talking points instead of actually boning up on whatever issue was on her plate.

Two more interviews with O'Reilly sealed the deal; he was done with her.  The first was on immigration, during which he kept asking her for opinions on different aspects of the issue and she continually responded with keep it simple and whatever it takes.   The interview on entitlement programs brought it to a screeching halt, where O'Reilly was concerned.  This is where, in an effort to actually have her give rational policy suggestions on entitlement reform, he interrupted her and Palin snapped back at him.

Recently asked by a Twitter follower for his opinion on Fox News rehiring Palin for another stint, Muto tweeted back:

I just can't believe they hired her back. I'd be LESS surprised if they hired ME back.

Author, Author!

By early 2012, Joe Muto had grown weary of Fox News.  Eight years with the network had given him enough experience and insight to understand what it would be like working there during the general election campaign, as the network tried to ensure that President Obama would not win a second term.  A prime example of the kind of crap he predicted was the attack ad against Obama that was so roundly denounced that Fox had to remove it from their website.

He began writing an anonymous column for Gawker as the liberal mole working for Fox News.  He may well have never been caught had he not also provided his handlers with video from the Fox News archives, one of which is an amusing look at Callista Gingrich styling Newt's hair before his on-air interview with Bill O'Reilly.

Muto was a lousy mole; the IT crew at Fox caught him within twenty-four hours.  A permanent job at Gawker did not materialize and he was charged with attempted unlawful duplication of computer material and attempted criminal possession of computer material, to which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to community service.

His book is good, and it is not as mean-spirited as one might think.  Muto is as hard on himself as he is on the people at Fox News.

End Note

 

We all knew, from the liberals to the most conservative producer in the building, that 'Fair and Balanced' was a sham ... We used to call it 'stirring up the crazies,' because the angrier they were, the more they would watch.

Joe Muto, in an interview on June 14, 2013

The Approaching Tempest: Immigration Reform

by Sunnyjane

The President's Second Term Domestic Policy Agenda

Mitt Romney (R-Failed Presidential Candidate) had a Day One To Do List that would have repealed everything President Obama had fought for to make life better for the American people. Fortunately, the President won that little battle, and is going forward in his second term to continue making life better for everyone in this country.


One of those issues is Immigration Reform.  The so-called Gang of Eight is already working on a nonpartisan (ahem!) bill.  Frankly, from my point of view, this does not look promising.  I hope that I'm wrong.

Those People Actually Voted!

How dare you people exercise your right to register and vote!

The 2012 Presidential Election proved that there is no resurrection from blatant political hubris.  After disregarding, demeaning, or dismissing  every needed-to-win demographic voting bloc in the country, the Republicans' arrogance still led them to believe victory would be theirs -- in a landslide, no less.  Their thinking was, to put it mildly, somewhat flawed.   According to their thought processes, Obama had done nothing for those who Rick Santorum insisted were blahs, not blacks, whose lives he didn't want to make better by giving them someone else's money.  I must have missed that particular segment of the electorate; was there an exit poll that singled out the blahs?  No, I didn't think so.  

But what of the Latino vote?  The Republicans actually believed that their candidate could win the Latino vote after refusing to endorse the President's Dream Act; insulting them by saying that, had his father been Mexican, he'd have a better chance to get their vote; praising Arizona's severe SB1070 immigration law as a model for the rest of the country; and advising undocumented immigrants to self-deport and get in line in their own countries for American citizenship. 


Where Have All the Angry White Guys Gone?

Lord, let the angry white men rain down upon us -- and be quick about it!

Just so we're straight here, there is no truth to the rumor that the GOP-run House of Representatives is going to introduce a bill to change the bronze plaque on the Statue of Liberty to read: Give me your energetic, your rich, your white guys yearning to own guns and stamp out the brown folks... etc.

Since there are enough over-paid white men  -- and women -- flapping their yaps on anti-American far-right "news" stations to colonize New Gingrich's moon base, one has to do some head-scratching to ponder the where have they gone? question.  I suggest we just send the GOP the 2010 Census.  The angst-filled lamentations after President Obama got between seventy and seventy-eight percent of the Latino vote (figures vary according to exit polls and sponsored polls) in the November 6 election would be amusing if they weren't so damned daft. 

Ann Coulter makes no pretense of being fair and balanced in her rants.  What she does not admit, however, is that she's a loud-mouthed racist liar: frequently wrong, but never in doubt.  To far-right conservatives such as herself, research (a valuable guide to the truth) is an abomination.  Labeling immigrants from Latin America nitwits who deserve lives of misery and joblessness confirms that.  In truth, Latinos use fewer benefits to which they are entitled than do non-Hispanic whites.  Another truth Coulter refuses to acknowledge:  while calling Latinos a deluge of unskilled immigrants pouring into the country, the inconvenient fact is that, since 2000, they have created twice as many businesses as the general public.
 

Cartoon from 1850 -- Irish Immigrants Coming to America: Oh No!

Watching Bill O'Reilly mourning over the loss of traditional America is a sight to behold.  This descendent of Irish immigrants who came to America during the Eighteen Hundreds is one of the loudest critics any pathway to citizenship for Latinos.  At the time of the Irish influx into this country, Protestant whites were outraged and fearful. The Irish were stereotyped as  uncivilized, unskilled and impoverished and were forced to work at the least desired occupations and live in crowded ethnic ghettos.  Irish immigrants often found that they were not welcome in America; many ads for employment were accompanied by the order "NO IRISH NEED APPLY."    

O'Reilly is consistent in his racism, you have to give him points for that, I suppose.  He took up vital oxygen shortly after the election to ponder why Hawaii always votes Democratic.  Noting that thirty-five percent of Hawaiians are Asian, he declared that Asian people are not liberal, you know, by nature. They're usually more industrious and hard-working.  The message, of course, is twofold: Liberals and Latinos are not industrious and hard-working.  Got that?

Oh Baby, No Anchor Baby!

I'm not a racist, I just don't want "people of color" in my country!

Far-right white Christians lustily sing on Sunday mornings that Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world; red and yellow, black and white -- so long as He loves the reds, yellows and blacks in any country other than America.  

Ignoring the fact that the Supreme Court has consistently maintained that anyone born in the United States, regardless of their parents’ immigration status, should receive citizenship under the 14th Amendment,  Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa Bigot) already introduced a bill to -- wait for it -- clarify those classes of individuals born in the United States who are nationals and citizens of the United States at birth.  Translation:  White people, Citizens; Colored people, Not Citizens.

There, wasn't that easy?

End Note