Palin's debut on Fox was last night. Thankfully, more entertaining stuff was on, like American Idol's season premiere. But some intrepid souls watched, like David Frum, who had this assessment, excerpted nicely by Andrew Sullivan:
The longer she appears on TV, the less she will be “from Alaska” and the more she will be “from Fox.” She’s subsuming her brand into somebody else’s. Not for the first time, one wonders as one looks at the Fox-GOP relationship: who’s working for whom here?
Sullivan's contention is that Fox News's merger with the GOP as its propaganda wing makes the network the premier arbiter of what passes for Republican thought. And this is just what will render the party politically unsustainable. Among any serious people in this country, Fox is a joke, a farce of journalistic practice, and a constant display of the deep division with reality currently inflicting its viewers and those of like mind. And Rupert, the non-American master snake-oil salesman of the 21st century, is laughing all the way to the bank.
Andrew has another take on Palin's Fox gig here. The irony that Palin, who has nothing but contempt for the press, is now free to actually call herself "the press," would be funny if it weren't so threatening, per Andrew. I'm not sure I agree. In putting Palin on the air, Fox is nearly complete with its wall of denial by hitching completely to the leader of the tea party movement. As it plays only to the rabid base of noecons, theocons, birthers, Birchers, and Wal-Mart afficionados, Fox and the GOP shrinks -- maybe not in numbers, but in vision and relevance. It seems their only real idea is that government is so fucked up that perhaps electing enough people on their side who can run it into the ground is the only solution. Sack everything and start over, is that it?
Good luck with that.
1 comment:
Honestly, who else wanted her? She is perfect for "Fake News", enough said.
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