Kurtz's defense is nonsensical. He didn't violate WaPo rules because FOX spokesmen are not sources? What possible justification is there for granting anonymity to a FOX spokesman speaking on behalf of FOX?

McCain's campaign and FOXNEWS are both bad for the America I have come to know and love. Uncivil attacks and smears against the dignity of our human souls are what I've come to understand about the "personalities" who parade past the FOXNEWS cameras. John McCain's campaign is no better at this juncture.

Both entities have a scorch the earth policy against any perceived adversaries. It is a bit oxymoronic to wage war against fellow citizens in a democracy, but this dissonant relationship is not perceived by the actual morons who run the Murdoch media world!-Kevo

This is a battle that Fox can't win. I'm sorry, but they were stupid for picking that kind of fight, because people won't think 'Oscars ratings' when they think Jon Stewart. They'll think Daily Show, and the spearing of the media mouths.

Oh...and like you noted...it's nice that it was done 'anonymously'. And that 'Media Critic' Kurtz passed it along...uncritically.

Correct me if I am wrong, but who has a larger audience, Stewart or Fox?

Also, if you look at the studies which have been done, viewers of TDS and Colbert are much more informed than those of the other "news" outlets.

So stick that in your hat, Fox, and smoke it. There is nothing you can do to make TDS less popular. But do give Stewart some added fodder to mess you with.

I so love to watch him show how stupid and partisan you are.

BTW, if you haven't seen Jon give that weasel Tucker Carlson a smackdown, YouTube it (I can't do it for you right now). It is ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS! (Jon calls Carlson a dick. Love you, Jon!!)

Talk about a patriot. Stewart ROCKS!!!

as evidenced by the crash-and-burn ratings of this year's Oscars telecast.

Wha ... ?

No wonder dumbass works at FOX "News".
.

I've said it before. George Bush and the Republican Party are only the open sore. The real rot is what the American public has become. We chose this course, and in all likelyhood,we'll chose to continue it. When John McCain wins there willbe endless disection and hand-wring over what Obama and the Democrats did wrong.

In fact, there probably isn't much that they could have done right. Brutish, fearfull and stupid. Its what we've become, and what we choose to wallow in.

The morning after in November when people are wondering "how?" just hold up a huge mirror to the nation.

Did poor Jon touch a nerve?

From WikiPeedonya:

"In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, ideally with the intent to bring about improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be funny, the purpose of satire is not primarily humor in itself so much as an attack on something of which the author strongly disapproves, using the weapon of wit."

When they're attacking a popular and successful satirist, you KNOW they are running scared. Or at least pissed off...

I prefer the words of Judge Denny Chin, in his decision on Fox's lawsuit against Al Franken - "Wholly without merit". Should be Fox's motto.

The Oscars are the key to being in touch with the American public?? Who knew?

Fox is part of "The Fix", the forces arrayed against Barack Obama and other, even semi-progressive politicians. The following link is really scary. It's "The Fix is In – Again!" by Ernest Partridge, Co-Editor of The Crisis Papers, August 12, 2008. It explains those anti-progressive and plutocratic/military-industrial forces, but offers hope in fighting back. I consider it a must-read, or at least worth skimming:

http://www.crisispapers.org/essays8p/fix.htm

wow, talk about picking a fight with the wronnnng enemy. Does Fox even know who Jon Stewart is?!?

The man could spend the next two years doing nothing but skewering their "news" and his audience would love every minute of it! They prolly should've let this one die.

nice new digs Steve, sort of miss the old layout - it was easier on the eyes, but this'll do just fine. Heck even the trolls here seem to be at least marginally intelligent (and really, what more can you ask for in a troll?)

Zak, I fear you are correct.

And I fear for this country.

And if McCain moves, I am leaving. I will not live here any longer. I refuse to live amongst the dumbest population which allows everything it stands for to go up in smoke. I have done everything I can for the last four years. Nothing happens. And if this continues, fuck it. I am history. I do not want to spend my life fighting against something which has been stolen.

We are on a dangerous path. And I want no part of it.

A Fox News spokesperson immediately responded, "Given the choice, it's better to be viewed as a foot soldier for Bush than a spokeswoman for al-Qaeda."
************************
What an absurd, patently stupid response. So, let me get this straight, if you agree with Fox then you got it going on, else you are working for al-Qaeda, right? Typical non-sequitor, coming from a right-wing hack. Black and white fallacious thinking that is the opposite of 'fair and balanced'. It is entirely obvious that Faux Noise is a bought and paid for Repig mouthpiece that spews propaganda in the guise of 'news' in order to maintain the status quo and demonize, marginalize, and intimidate all dissent. No wonder the cowards attack anonymously. Ms. Amenpour talks about being intimidated by the droids at Faux Noise, and immediately one of them comes out and proves her point by attacking and intimidating. MORONS!

..to reiterate previous comments...Jon ROCKS! The truly sad thing is these people dont even know when they're being laughed at...look in a mirror indeed...

Still predicting the ‘ominous trend’ for Fox News’ ratings Steve?

Funny, whenever I think of something "crashing and burning" on TV, the first thing that pops into my head is "The 1/2 Hour News Hour".

How'd that work out for ya, Fox?

I was flipping thru the channels last night and came across a movie called Idiocracy about a guy who is in hibernation until 2550. America has been dumbed down to the point where all people do is watch tv and regard anyone who speaks intelligently as a wuss. It was so over the top but at the same time...well just how things are becoming. The successful dumbing down of America where even a corpse like Charles Krauthammer gets an opinion.

OptiMysticalCynic (hmmm, yet another optics person here? - I'd love to discuss optics with you and/or "optical weenie" - you can deduce my real email addy and use it if you like):

Faux meant specifically to diss Christine A., for presumably not being gung-ho enough in pushing for war in Iraq (despite of course the lack of substantive connection of secular S. Hussein to Al Qaeda ...) not so much a general point. But they do reveal their orientation, exactly what they have been all this time.

Judging Jon Stewart by Oscar ratings is like judging Fox "News" by Fox Business Channel ratings.

But it's one of their standard tactics -- an attack so out of left field that your brain says "whaa?" first instead of going straight to "what an asshole!"

Maybe Kurtz should have asked his anonymous Fox source (?????? seriously, WTF?) if he remembered what happened to the last conservative douche to try to take Stewart on.

But then, probably no one misses ol' Tucker.

I'm sorry to see the loss of good reporting since Kevin left. Mutual masturbation won't win elections for you. Time for me to sign off now that I see the trend. At least I don't see McCain trying to get the Justice Department to shut up a critic. Is that a preview of Obama's agenda ? It works for Putin, so why not ?

Someone said this the other day but, now everytime I see Krauthammer, I think of the Tales From The Crypt dude.

To whomever it was that said that, THANK YOU! I can now actually chuckle when I scroll past Fox (or watch them to see what outrageous shit they are saying) without wanting to blow my brains out).

It's stupid and horrifying, but I'm actually glad in a way that news companies are launching negative ads at each other. At least it brings out into the open the obvious pissing matches and politics that are the heart of the matter.

Fox News ate CNN's lunch from a ratings perspective -- partly because CNN and the networks are part of an increasingly outmoded business model that seeks to make compromises in its coverage. Fox has abandoned objectivity for an idealistic fervor, which brings out the enthusiasm in the hosts and the audiences. Everyone wants to be part of a movement, it's more exciting that way.

CNN's i-report is a fascinating business response because its emphasis on crowdsourcing is so seemingly inimical to the top-down message discipline of Fox.

It'll be interesting to see in the next decade whether "objective" journalism survives, or whether it fragments into crowdsourced microjournalism plus hierarchically delivered talking points (a la Bill O'Reilly or Keith Olbermann)

So does this mean that Fox is out of touch, given that their ratings have crashed and burned?

Mike K on August 26, 2008 at 4:44 PM:

Time for me to sign off now that I see the trend.

After enduring months of your trolling, I'm not sorry to see you go.

"But being out of touch with mainstream America is nothing new to Jon, as evidenced by the crash-and-burn ratings of this year's Oscars telecast."

Hah! That's it? That's the best they can come up? This tepid little counterattack is its own proof that Stewart stung them bad because they've got nothing remotely intelligble to say in their own defense.

It's like being mauled by a savage lamb....

I don't subscribe to anything TV. When I moved to AL and saw FoxNews was it for free stations, my sweet ole rabbit-ear TV went to the dump. Period.

Me boycotting our media alone is a laughable joke, though. I need help.

Boycotts work. I want to hit our media in the only vulnerable spot they have, their precious wallets.

Unsubscribing from TV doesn't hurt. I know, I do it. It helps my head.

Listening to the candidates themselves helps too. Alot.

Once you listen to McCain's own words, you quickly realize that this man running our country is a horrific idea. It is the filtering of FOX News and Talk Radio that makes the insane prospect of a "President McCain" palatable.

Positive or negative filtering of candidates through our biased media isn't helping us make rational decisions about our country's leadership. For the sake of our nation, we need to affect run-away US media somehow.

Unsubscribe to media. If enough people do it, and Democrats alone are enough, the monetary hit will make a statement. Ratings will change and ratings change everything.

Talk Radio would dump Rush if he didn't get the ratings. What a sweet day that would be, aka when pigs fly, fly outten the studio door that is!

Boycotts aren't dirty politics either. They are just tools for saying, hey!

Jon Stewart has more brains than Fox's entire broadcasting crew, pundits and under the table paid for help. There is no hope for this country. None. Once this election is stolen it will become painfully clear what has been going on over the past eight-or-so years. The Silent Coup that began in 2000 will be exposed for what it was: Successful.

Posted by: Stevio on August 26, 2008 at 5:02 PM

We are not all sheep to the slaughter! Jon isn't a sheep. I refuse to stop fighting for the soil on which I stand.

Fox News can take a hike and so can Talk Radio, the internal terrorists of the US. A lot of people listen to them, sure, but not all of us.

Until a Blackwater contractor walks up to me with an FBI agent to take me under arrest for having a D on my voter card, I can't give up and hand this country to the Future Dictators of America.

Mutual masturbation won't win elections for you.

No, but it's still a hell of a lot of fun.

No, but it's still a hell of a lot of fun.

Keep your Wall Street stories to yourself, brother!

Jon Stewart has more brains than Fox's entire broadcasting crew, pundits and under the table paid for help.
I love to remind the believer of the brilliance of Jon Stewart that Daily show had to go into repeats during the writer's strike.

Not so smart after all
If you can't do your own talk show because you don't have someone to put words in your mouth, well, I'm just not very impressed with you.

@ Ms Joanne That was me who posted about Krauthhamer That guy just creeps me out not to mention he is an asshole of the highest order. That is what you have to do is laugh - they are a self parody.

Posted by: Paul L. on August 26, 2008 at 5:22 PM

Not very up on how these shows work, huh?

You act like all Jon has to do is read a newspaper, check a blog or two, come in and sit down in front of a camera and spout off on any given topic? If it were that easy, you'd be doing it.

Didn't someone, oh wait...what was his name, get let go for not fact-checking his stuff before he took it on TV? Rather, that was his name...

I love to remind the believer of the brilliance of Jon Stewart that Daily show had to go into repeats during the writer's strike.

Honoring the strike meant nobody was allowed to write for the show, including Jon Stewart.

Say what you will about the MSM, it's hard to imagine any of them reacting to Stewart with this kind of petulance and wounded rage. Stewart said unkind things about CNN as well (on a live broadcast of Crossfire, no less), but no one at CNN lashed out in such a puerile way.

Steve B., You really should as part of this post link to Dave Carr's piece on Fox that ran in the NY Times a month or two or 3 ago.

Fux "News" is too scared to go in the open with its defenders? They have to remain anonymous? That's rich. What did they do? Claim executive privilege? And Kurtz is a tool to accept that.

Time for me to sign off now -- Mike K, @16:44

Promises, promises...

I think that trolls, in general, have a hard time finding new bridges to live under...

OptiMysticalCynic (hmmm, yet another optics person here? - I'd love to discuss optics with you and/or "optical weenie" ...
Posted by: Neil B on August 26, 2008 at 4:38 PM
*************

Neil B, are you always this delusional, or are you just making an exception? What is your hang-up with weenies? If you want to discuss weenies with someone, it should probably be either your partner or your psychotherapist, not a person you don't even know who posts something on a blog. I'm just say'in...

Mike K on August 26, 2008 at 4:44 PM:

Time for me to sign off now that I see the trend.

After enduring months of your trolling, I'm not sorry to see you go.

Posted by: grape_crush

You don't know what trolls are. You should see what shows up at Patterico and a few other sites I monitor. I know you are not interested in other opinions, even those by well read and intelligent people. Suit yourself. You will have a lot of trouble understanding what happens to you in November but don't say you weren't warned.

Adios.

OptiMysticalCynic, I don't have a "hangup" with weenies, that's just his or her posting handle - it's the "optical" part that fascinates me. I said that directly. If you're just trying to be funny, OK so what, but you're wasting your effort because it just doesn't go anywhere. Maybe "cynics" just don't care?

Fox News is what happens if you let troll run amok and take control of the asylum.

You don't know what trolls are. You should see what shows up at Patterico and a few other sites I monitor. I know you are not interested in other opinions, even those by well read and intelligent people.

Oh good Ford.

Yes, Mike, we know you read the bullshit on right-wing sites and then come over here and post it as if it had anything to do with reality. You then spectacularly fail to defend your positions when challenged, if you bother at all. So yes, Mike, there's plenty of evidence that you're a troll. Well read and intelligent, not so much.

News flash, Mike -- you aren't some brave soul speaking truth in an echo chamber. You're spewing les from an echo chamber to people who already know better, who have debunked those lies already and who aren't inclined to suffer fools like you -- you voted for Bush, after all, you shameful little man -- gladly.

I don't know about the rest of you, but have you ever noticed that whenever you suggest that FOX News is "unfair and unbalanced," regular FOX viewers take it very personally. Given their instantaneous and angry reaction, its almost as if you've impugned their manhood (FOX's audience is mostly white male after all) or integrity or intelligence. They like their bubble where they can get their right wing fix and don't want anyone to disturb it.

While the mainstream media may have its own liberal sympathies and biases, FOX is unique in that it clearly centrally-controlled propaganda. It is obvious in the way it presents material that its primary aim is not to inform (however imperfectly) but to set the context and frames of debate so that conservatives always win and liberals always lose, not matter what actually happens in the real world. That's not the aim of the mainstream press, even one symapthetic to liberals, which still respects the obligations of professional journalists to a reading and viewing public in a democracy. As Victor Gold, who was Barry Goldwater's old press secretary, put it: Imagine what Richard Nixon could have done with a friendly media that was bought and paid for. He probably could have gotten Woodward and Bernstein jailed for libel and Senator Ervin impeached for treason.

Another hint that FOX is a different kind of media is that loyal FOX viewers almost seem like members of a cult -- or "information enclave," as the authors of "Echo Chamber" put it, that new book by two media experts on the rise and tactics of the conservative media establishment.

have you ever noticed that whenever you suggest that FOX News is "unfair and unbalanced," regular FOX viewers take it very personally. Given their instantaneous and angry reaction, its almost as if you've impugned their manhood (FOX's audience is mostly white male after all) or integrity or intelligence. They like their bubble where they can get their right wing fix and don't want anyone to disturb it.

Two words: cognitive dissonance.

They want their bullshit Republican worldview validated with propaganda, and they want to pretend that Fox (or the blogs) delivers the truth, and they don't like to be reminded that their critical thinking skills are sorely lacking if they can't spot the obvious flaws in the nonsense that supports their rancid little belief system.

Mike K is just one perfect example of the type. regular WaMo readers are familiar with many more. Honest conservatives may exist, but they don't post here, haven't for quite some time, and they certainly don't support Bush and the GOP any more.

Thanks Gregory for the explanation, and I agree. But I disagree that "honest conservatives" don't exist or post on WaMo, since I guess I count myself in that category, depending on how you want to define "conservative." To me it means to "conserve" things -- like democracy, rule of law, civil liberties, science, reason, and traditional values like honesty, compassion and civility.

I guess I take it personally to see this deterioration in what now counts for conservative media and argumentation -- and the damage this right wing propaganda has done to our country and the character of average Americans -- since a long time ago I was Communications Director for a state Republican Party and chief speechwriter for a Republican governor. We fought hard, but we also fought clean and fair, and we had enough respect for the intelligence of voters not to treat them like fools. But that was a long time ago.

You might be a liberal if you think that Fox News is biased but the New York Times is objective.

I won't even get into MSNBC. It is indistinguishable from DailyKOS.