Dipping a Toe into FOX News, It Hasn't Changed

FOX "News" has pretty much been banished in my household by the Other Half. I can get away with FOX "News" Sunday--since that is on regular FOX TV, I usually zip through it on DVR, and frequently turn it off before it even ends--but the likes of Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly are effectively banned.

Not that I ever liked them, oh no. I considered it opposition research; basically just a way to keep tabs on what the wacky Right Wing World is up to. Occasionally, when the Other Half is away, I'll sneak in a show, just to see what they're saying. Friday's experiment consisted of part of On the Record with Greta Van Whatsername and The O'Reilly Factor. On Greta's show, things were exactly as I remembered them: Greta running exceedingly rightward-canted segments, interviewing heavily-skewed rightward-canted panels, and short of a few leading questions, staying somewhat above the fray. I suspect that she's in it for the dough. But I was not hit with anything I wasn't expecting.

The Factor was a different story. Bill-O was away this week, so there was a blonde lady in his chair, and oh, what an unpleasant woman! The picture you see here is what she looked like through almost all of the episode, either a scowl-frown or a snarly smile. I'm wondering, "who is this woman?" Most of the blonde foxbots are a little more pleasant, even if they're basically chewing over the same material! And though O'Reilly's motto of "The No-Spin Zone" has always been as laughable as "Fair & Balanced," it would be a bald-faced lie, applied to this lady.

Monica Crowley is her name, I found out later. Virtually the entire show was about SCANDALS! Specifically, President Obama's second term scandals, such as they are. They're still peddling Benghazi, still harping on each of the scandal-ettes that have cropped up since, and hammering them home. To be fair, so was Greta, and based on the advertising on both shows, so is the rest of the network. Apparently, all the time. There was some push-back from the token "liberal" guests, but they were summarily dismissed, and the thick layer of contempt was practically visible. While I found Greta's show to be a bit groan-worthy, I found Crowley's version of The O'Reilly Factor to be so over-the-top, it was practically parody.

And while the Democrat the article below highlights was perhaps not the best defender the President could have had, I have to ask, who was he? Dick Harpootlian? Who? Yet, I'm sure he's held up as balance. Harrumph. Sure, this experiment was not on one of the FOX "News" hard news programs, but one of the opinion ones. I've found little difference in my sampling over the years. I can say this, I can't imagine--even if my sympathies were with conservatives--that I could enjoy watching this stuff all the time. It's no wonder tea baggers are always so frothing mad about something.

[Excerpt]
 
Monica Crowley Slams Dem. Activist: Obama Can’t Face Press Because That ‘Only Works If You’re Not Guilty’




O’Reilly Factor guest-host Monica Crowley fought with former South Carolina Democratic Chairman Dick Harpootlian Friday night over whether the mess of scandals around the Obama administration is destroying the president’s credibility or merely distracting the right from policy. . .

Read more at: Mediaite