"Now some of you say you will never, ever watch me again for the way I treated a congresswoman who I otherwise very much respect. Well, then I respectfully bid you adieu because if you prefer only hearing the interviews that suit you than let me say good-bye to you now because the time's going to come again when I will probably offend you." - Neil Cavuto of FOX News
Michele Bachmann was, in part, created by FOX News and its
supportive pundits. What FOX News anchor Neil Cavuto did last week was to
remove his support for a creation he "respected" but still termed
silly. What he found out almost instantly was that no one at FOX can question -
let alone deride - someone like Bachmann, no matter how insipid a political
stance she has.
TPM:
The negative feedback was swift and harsh. At the end of that
day's broadcast, Cavuto said a "record number of emails" had arrived.
"They go pretty much like this," he said. "'Cavuto, you're a rude ass. If I were Michele Bachmann, I'd have a law against you.' Someone else said, 'Who do you think you are? [Bill] O'Reilly? You're an idiot. Quit blabbering, start thinking.'"
Bachmann Cavuto Overdrive
Even for FOX News, the exchange was testy, with Bachmann (as is always her
want), repeating points endlessly, thinking that emphasis would pass for
reason. But Cavuto hammered away at his original premise, that the
"lawsuit" against Obama spurred on by the Republican party was
totally frivolous and a needless waste of time, energy and taxpayer money. Cavuto
was anchored in the here and now, while Bachmann was off in Anti-Obama
Neverland. The Young Turks (see below) saw Bachmann as a robotic Frankenstein
monster unleashed, with Cavuto trying desperately to restrain it, but in the
end just saying "you're silly."
Now, calling a monster "silly" may seem silly in itself, especially
when FOX viewers have a fondness for Bachmann's brand of "silly." It
seemed to many that Cavuto was cutting off his FOX-paid nose to spite his face.
But what Cavuto may have done was bring a breath of reality to FOX that was
very, very unwelcome: FOX's coverage and support of Republicans on this issue
was "silly." FOX's support of Republican agendas was not always
right. OMG! FOX News, the ratings king, might be IN ERROR! Cavuto was being blasphemous
and apostate!
In retrospect, it's amazing that the emails did not contain death threats.
Tipping Over The Tower Of Misinformation
It has long been understood that ideological news and straight news are two
different species, and with FOX News the ideology of the Right is so paramount
as to give its sub-banner "Fair and Balanced" a tongue-in-cheek
aspect. Hosts like Glenn Beck (formerly at FOX), Sean Hannity and Mike Huckabee
who depend upon the "opinions" of Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter veer so
much to the right, that even treatment of the national and international
political scenes is non-existent: at times it just seems like an Obama
bash-fest. But the ideological news of FOX also serves another purpose: it keeps
the misinformed public misinformed. In a real sense, Neil Cavuto was also
challenging FOX the Misinformer, telling viewers to get past the irrelevance of
the Republican (FOX News) Party's actions and "move on" to fix
things.
The Price Of Going Rogue
As The Young Turks put it after viewing the heated exchange: "Is this FOX
News?" FOX has certainly flirted with conflict involving the Republican
Party,* but Cavuto's handling of Tea Party icon Michele Bachmann as a near
nitwit was certainly far from it's usual right-wing course. Will Cavuto pay the
ultimate price? No. Irate emails must be constant and consistant to have any
effect on viewership. Cavuto will only be sacked if it's proven that he's
slipped in ratings. Or if he spars again, say, with FOX's other darling nitwit:
*Megyn Kelly once remarked to Karl Rove that his projection over the 2012 elections might just be "something you made up to make yourselves feel good."
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