What Ailes America

Unreliable source Howard Kurtz wrote a piece about the Fox Death Star’s own Darth Vader, who is allegedly leading a broad-based Decrazification Initiative to steer the network brand away from Beckistan. Supposedly this is behind the departure of Beck, the downplaying of Palin and other assorted moves.

It’s Kurtz, so caveat emptor and all of that. But the piece contains an Ailes quote that may have inadvertently revealed the network’s master business model:

“Listen, one out of every 25 people in America is a psychopath.”

Either Ailes meant to say 25 percent of the American people are psychopaths or he underestimates the Crazification Factor significantly. Either way, there’s a lot of soap to be sold.

Posted by Betty Cracker on 09/26/11 at 10:22 AM • Permalink

Categories: News • Politics • BushCo • Bedwetters • Nutters • Teabaggery • Our Stupid Media •

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“Listen, one out of every 25 people in America is a psychopath.”

But it appears even Ailes has his limits:

Three weeks after dropping out of the race, Tim Pawlenty showed up to ask for a gig at Fox. But there was a complication: Pawlenty was on the verge of endorsing Romney. “I’m not sure I want to sign you as a paid spokesman for Romney,” Ailes said.

Comment by YAFB on 09/26/11 at 11:10 AM

Hmm, now that is interesting; Fox didn’t want to add a Romney-endorser to the stable? I had kinda concluded that Romney is the one the corporate wing of the GOP wants. Maybe not.

Comment by StringOnAStick on 09/26/11 at 11:23 AM

Thanks, Betty. I just finished reading that piece (via a link at FR). God only knows how much of it is real, but the fascinating part to me is that Ailes views the electoral process not as an ideological struggle, but as programming. Which is why he may be holding Palin in reserve for the second act, like bringing Jonny Fairplay back as a surprise contestant on Survivor Micronesia.

PS: On behalf of everyone who was ever born in Warren, Ohio and raised to not be an asshole, I apologize for Roger and the shame he has brought to Warren G. Harding High School…as if such a thing were possible. (I attended their chief rival, which shall go unnamed.)

Comment by StrangeAppar8us on 09/26/11 at 11:37 AM

“Listen, one out of every 25 people in America is a psychopath.”

Given Faux’s carefully courted audience, I can understand why he thinks that.

Comment by Hunger Tallest Palin on 09/26/11 at 01:30 PM

Fox didn’t want to add a Romney-endorser to the stable?

Maybe it’s just they didn’t want him as one, or maybe they have enough already.

Comment by Xecky Gilchrist on 09/26/11 at 02:30 PM

Roger Ailes likes Chris Christie for 2012.

Christie’s kind of a reasonable Sarah Palin who likes Muslims and speaks English. he could conceivably siphon off a nice slice of the borderline-insane GOP base.

Comment by StrangeAppar8us on 09/26/11 at 02:53 PM

Christie’s kind of a reasonable Sarah Palin who likes Muslims and speaks English.

Also recently seen welcoming—and even praising—Obama in the wake of the hurricane floods, and apparently no fan of the Republican Congress’s efforts to hold up aid for political gain.

He may get the usual “Ooh, a new GOP candidate!” slavering bump from the media and the Repub base, but I fear the borderline insane may not find him that palatable in the long run, and he’ll go the way of all the rest.

Comment by YAFB on 09/26/11 at 03:00 PM

Maybe, but Sarah Palin without the unhingitude, Islamophobia, and starburstiness is less convincing than diet caffeine-free cola.

Comment by Xecky Gilchrist on 09/26/11 at 03:01 PM

I could be wrong, but it’s hard to imagine Christie’s Jersey tough-guy act flying in Dixie. And the GOP is now the party of Dixie.

Comment by Betty Cracker on 09/26/11 at 03:15 PM

The 1 out of 25 kind of makes sense because prevalence for anti-social personality disorder (the umbrella term of psychopathy) is 3% in males and 1% in females so Ailes may have just thought, “3%+1%=4%”. It doesn’t quite work that way but, you know, close enough.

Comment by wut on 09/26/11 at 03:16 PM

The 1 out of 25 kind of makes sense because prevalence for anti-social personality disorder (the umbrella term of psychopathy) is 3% in males and 1% in females so Ailes may have just thought, “3%+1%=4%”. It doesn’t quite work that way but, you know, close enough.

I haven’t been able to get clear enough figures to hash out a number, but I was looking for the Fox audience figures (throw in regional radio as well, I guess) divided by the US population, and wondering if that came to 1 in 25.

I mean, it’s Roger Ailes—what he’s saying must have a basis in fact, right?

Comment by YAFB on 09/26/11 at 03:22 PM

@Xecky, I like caffeine-free diet pop. Christie, on the other hand, not so much.

Ailes is skeery—that pic of him at the top doubly-so. This is gonna be a long silly season.

Comment by asiangrrlMN on 09/26/11 at 05:30 PM

@Xecky, I like caffeine-free diet pop

No offense intended - in my own case, when I gave up the sugary caffeiney kind I couldn’t make do with the diet decaf and ended up just drinking water.

Comment by Xecky Gilchrist on 09/26/11 at 06:53 PM

@Xecky, I’m just teasing ya.

Comment by asiangrrlMN on 09/26/11 at 08:42 PM

Aha! Sorry, I’m a bit blurry in the teasing wavelengths.

Comment by Xecky Gilchrist on 09/26/11 at 09:31 PM

@Xecky, I do like caffeine-free diet pop, but I don’t care if anyone else does. And, if I’m goosing a regular, you can pretty reliably guess it’s out of fondness.