To enact its role as partisan promoter of GOP and conservative causes, the Fox News Channel has essentially become journalism's house of ill repute. For the likes of Geraldo Rivera, Lou Dobbs, Howard Kurtz, Monica Crowley, Ann Coulter, Pat Caddell, Judith Miller, Britt Hume, Bernard Goldberg, Michele Malkin, Patrick Buchannan, Greta Van Susteren, Juan Williams, John Stossel, Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, Bill Kristol, John Gibson, Dick Morris, Fred Barnes, and Neil Cavuto -- to name a few -- the network is likely their last opportunity to squeeze out whatever remains of their past potential or faded glory for a chance, perhaps, at a steady future of ill-got gains so long as they faithfully tow the Fox News Channel line.
The network has also served as occupational purgatory for a wide assortment of functional has-beens from within the GOP and for supporters who are media personalities some of whom include Dick Cheney, Ben Stein, Dennis Miller, Ted Nugent, Herman Cain, Mike Huckabee, Oliver North, Mark Furman, Rudy Giuliani, Karl Rove, Donald Trump, Susan Estrich, Jeannine Pirro, and Sarah Palin.
Indeed, on-going reporting of the Fox News/ GOP connection by Media Matters over the years has left little doubt that for current and former GOP office-holders, Fox is the place to be. The watchdog group lists an astounding 32 Fox News hosts and contributors who campaigned for GOP candidates in 2012 -- among them, John Bolton, Deneen Borelli, Liz Cheney, Mike Gallagher, Jonah Goldberg, Rich Lowry, Ed Rollins, Pete Snyder, and Cal Thomas -- thus exposing the network to conflict-of-interest complaints.
In fact, earlier this year, when asked by Fortune Magazine for his thoughts about the outcome of his network's connection to the Republican Party, Fox CEO Rupert Murdoch boasted, "I think it absolutely saved it."
But not every GOP supporter shares Murdoch's apparent glee.
"Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us," once lamented former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum. "And now, we are discovering that we work for Fox."
Into the Foxhole
Ratings-wise, for most of its 18 years, Fox has been fruitlessly chased by its cable news competitors. As of July, the network had undergone 50 straight quarters as number one. Of course, presenting an on-air staff stacked with leggy, "racked" up blonds can't hurt. It is "big-hair-short-skirts-open-toed-stilettos" or bust(s) over at Fox News -- Hooters with a press pass. Easily the closest thing to prime-time burlesque this side of Sabado Gigante. Only the visually-impaired would deny that Fox's hired harem of mostly blond, low-cognition eye-candy plays a significant role in attracting the mostly older, typically white male crowd that swarm over to the network each day.
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