Losing Their Lunch

by dday

We all know about the conservative establishment crackup over Mike Huckabee’s prominence in the GOP nomination, and it’s hilarious. But running parallel to that is a real crackup from the GOP’s house organ at Fox News, and this one is more multilayered and really interesting.

First of all, they are pissed off that the corn-eating rubes who make up their base are daring to defy their corporate conservative wishes, openly asking “Did populism win and America lose in Iowa?”

(Answer: only if you like your populist candidates completely rhetorical and without any meaning behind them whatsoever, but apparently to Fox News you can’t even give the impression of caring about poor people.)

Fox also wants to decide who gets to appear in Republican debates, as the New Hampshire GOP just pulled out of their Ron Paul-banning debate tomorrow. But they’re really pissed that the Democrats aren’t bowing down to their greatness and appearing on their network anymore. And their blowhard stars are becoming unhinged about it.

Bombastic Fox News host Bill O’Reilly got into a confrontation with an Obama aide after O’Reilly started screaming at him as he tried to get Barack Obama’s attention following a rally here.

The incident was triggered when O’Reilly–with a Fox News crew shooting–was screaming at Obama National Trip Director Marvin Nicholson “Move” so he could get Obama’s attention, according to several eyewitnesses. “O’Reilly was yelling at him, yelling at his face,” a photographer shooting the scene said.

O’Reilly grabbed Nicholson’s arm, said “move” and shoved him, another eyewitness said. Nicholson, who is 6’8 said O”Reilly called him “low class.”

Secret Service agents came after O’Reilly pushed Nicholson and the agents flanked O’Reilly.

Obama had his back turned at this point and did not see any of this. O’Reilly yelled “sir” at Obama and Obama walked over, not aware of what happened and told him he had an overflow crowd to visit. According to the time code from a photographer shooting the two, Obama and O’Reilly talked about 12 seconds near 11:45 a.m. eastern time.

On one level, I don’t understand why they’re getting so bent out of shape over this. They made their mark in the late 90s as a relentless opposition force, and Bill Clinton wasn’t coming on their channel every other day then. Four years in the minority will probably help their ratings. They could run a nightly “Obama Madrassa Update” and everything.

And yet, at another level, I get it. Fox News got on top by being the biggest bully on the block, the network everyone had to imitate if they wanted to reach “real Americans.” It’s no longer true. By fits and starts, MSNBC is running in the other direction, and Fox’ own imitation, the Fox Business Channel, has less viewers than a mid-level blog. By sticking to the President like glue, Fox revealed themselves to a lot of their viewers to be a propaganda outlet and a national joke. They’ll always have their base, but the rest of the media treats them like an afterthought now. And like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, Bill O’Reilly won’t be ignored!

It’s not about losing market share, it’s about losing influence. That’s also the larger fear of the conservative movement. They created a monster and they don’t know how to handle it.

UPDATE: Billo is a laughingstock.

A number of people shouted falafel, the word O’Reilly used in a racy set of telephone conversations with a young woman he was trying to seduce as he described a shower they might take together. He meant loofa, which is not a Middle Eastern delicacy but a bath item.

And even better, you can hear the desperation of a has-been in this quote:

“I gently had to remove him from that position. No scuffle, I just moved him from the spot.. I might have called him an SOB, that’s possible, nothing more than that. No one on this earth is going block a shot on the O’Reilly Factor. It is not going to happen.”

No one blocks a shot of mine, or my name isn’t Charles Foster Kane!!!

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