Tag: fox news

ACORN Makes an Appearance in Russell Crowe and Showtime’s Ailes Horror Show

Milan    I read the papers, so I knew that Russell Crow and Sienna Miller, playing the evil Fox News genius Roger Ailes and his wife, had endured hours of daily prosthetics applications for the parts and the pay that comes with it to star in this seven-part bio-pic on Showtime called “The Loudest Voice” that looks at Ailes work and life in yearly pieces.  I don’t subscribe to Showtime, and even if I did, this is not a show I would watch at any time.  I’m not into horror shows!

I had an email after the fourth episode on 2009 from the intrepid team that had directed and produced The Organizer alerting me that ACORN and the scurrilous Fox News and James O’Keefe were a big gulp in this show.  We are not honored to have been featured as a victim of Ailes evil and his devilish helpers.  Maybe there’s a silver vein in this cloud, since once again viewers are reminded of the injustice and manipulation both of the film and the political, rightwing Republican conspiracy and fakery that targeted ACORN and contributed to its reorganization in the United States?  Let’s hope so!

Dustin Rowles, the founder and co-owner of Pajiba, in a piece he wrote on the web called, “Fact Checking: ‘The Loudest Voice’ on 2009, ACORN, Glenn Beck, Joe Lindsley, and Laurie Luhn,” gave the segment top billing.  Here’s his take:

— Finally, the ACORN story is absolutely real, and as documented here, helped seed today’s nightmare political environment. Basically, Fox News created a fake controversy surrounding ACORN — a liberal voter registration and community organizing outfit — using heavily edited videos from James O’Keefe (who is known for distorting video footage). Fox News ran with it, tied it to Obama, other outlets picked it up, and even though it was a fake story, the NYTimes felt compelled to cover it, which legitimized the fake story, and the House eventually voted to defund ACORN. Again, using a completely made-up story using doctored footage. From the NYTimes:

“Conservatives believe that they have hit upon a winning formula for such attacks: mobilizing people to dig up dirt, trumpeting it on talk radio and television, prompting Congress to weigh in and demanding action from the Obama administration. In response to the Acorn videos, an instant hit on YouTube, the Senate voted 83 to 7 on Monday to prohibit the Department of Housing and Urban Development from giving federal housing money to the organization. The bill’s advocates said the group had received $53 million in such financing since 1994.”

Fox News is really good at playing dirty pool.

Spot on Dustin!  Not only for ringing the Ailes, Fox News, and O’Keefe bell so hard, but for nailing the complicity of the New York Times and the spinelessness of the Obama administration for abetting them in their evil deeds.  And, yes, it is a strategy that they pioneered in attacking ACORN, but have continued to implement over and over against other organizations and individuals.

When are we going to learn to stand up and fight back, rather than continue to be played as suckers by this gang?

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Please enjoy AV Super Sunshine’s Are You Happy?

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Don’t Be a Ninny, Make Your Case on Fox

New Orleans      What are we up to now, more than two dozen candidates in the Democratic sweepstakes for president, right?  What does it take to win the general election?  I know Donald Trump doesn’t believe this, but really, I’m pretty sure a candidate has to face all of the voters and hope they go with you, even if that didn’t work out for Hillary Clinton or Al Gore.  Yes, I know the Electoral College sucks, but the odds still favor you overwhelmingly if you win a majority of all of the voters.

This may seem a strange way to introduce the subject of Fox News, the deservedly maligned hater network, Trump drumbeater, and scourge of all things progressive.  I’m not trying to reopen the question of whether or not they should host one of the candidate debates in 2020.  The Democratic Party and its chair, Tom Perez, were correct not to reward Fox News and its team the ability to moderate one of the debates.  The Trump debacle with Megan Kelly and all of the drama last time should have been enough, but their daily fare of vitriol is also more than a plenty.  Fox News doesn’t know the meaning of the word “moderate,” and they think calling someone a moderate is a high-dungeon, slap down cussword.

Nonetheless for a candidate to refuse to do a townhall with their viewers seems crazy to me.  I’m biased, having been interviewed twice by Fox folks during their attack on ACORN.  I’ve often told the story to hundreds of organizers that one of the lessons I learned indelibly as a 20-years old as head organizer of Massachusetts Welfare Rights Organization was that you need to be available to those who disagree with you, even violently, just as you are to those who agree with you, even enthusiastically.  If you want to change minds, you have to be willing to soak up the anger and handle the hard questions.  In the American political culture, there is respect to be gained by taking the field, even in a fight against long odds, but there is none gained in hiding or running from trouble.

How are candidates going to sway voters, if they do not take the opportunity to make their case?

Bernie Sanders did a town hall on Fox, and there were 2.5 million viewers.  Two million may have hated his guts, but they listened, and maybe he moved a half-million.  That was worth an hour of his time.  Same for Senator Amy Klobuchar for 1.6 million and Mayor Pete Buttigieg with1.1 million viewers.  You don’t have to get every vote.  Just most of them.  Elizabeth Warren has said she’s not going because the Fox business model is hating.  Kamala Harris has also said no.  Believe me, others will say, yes, and they should say, yes.  This is an opportunity.  It makes it harder to demonize them as targets.  Furthermore, the policies advocated by Democrats appeal directly to the Fox demographic.  You don’t always get to pick the ground, so fight them where you can.

Here’s a last great reason for all the two dozen to line up for a Fox town hall:  it’s driving Trump crazy!  He was madman tweeting that Fox should deny the Democrats access.  He had to be reminded by one of his Fox boys that “covering candidates from both parties is part of the job of a news channel.”  He was also called out for being too chicken to be interviewed by Chris Wallace.

Face the tigers in the den, and you win.  Anyone who wants to be president needs to learn that quickly.

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