Not even an authorized biography can turn Roger Ailes into a nice guy. At least that’s the impression left from the preview, published in Vanity Fair, of a new book, Roger Ailes: Off Camera, written by Zev Chafets with extensive cooperation from Fox News' chief, which will be published later this month. The book portrays Ailes as a control freak and a combative, competitive tough guy, who called President Obama “lazy”, Newt Gingrich a “prick” and Joe Biden “dumb as an ashtray.”
Even in an authorized and thus presumably complimentary book, Ailes comes across as tough and nasty – “plainspoken, wryly profane, caustic, and above all competitive…” though he obviously takes pride in that image of himself. The big guy declares he’s proud of his working class roots, and happy to dig ditches again if he had to, the way he did as a kid (when he wasn’t in hospital; he suffers from hemophilia). If he were President, he says he’d “sign no legislation, create no new regulations, and allow the country to return to its natural, best self, which he locates, with modest social amendments, somewhere in midwestern America circa 1955.” (Oh yeah. Send all the immigrants home and send women back to the kitchens. That's why he'd probably never get to be President. I hope.)
One of the most quoted bits is the account of Ailes’ interview with Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign. Obama met with Fox News brass to discuss his unhappiness with the way he was being portrayed on the network, especially by Sean Hannity (nothing’s changed, has it, gentle reader?). Ailes told the candidate not to worry about it. “Nobody who watches Sean’s going to vote for you anyway.” He also called Obama “lazy,” claiming Obama had said it himself (what Obama actually said, in an interview with Barbara Walters, was that he felt a laziness in himself that he attributes to his laid-back upbringing in Hawaii.)
But he hasn’t always sucked up to Republicans. After Newt Gingrich complained about Fox’s support of Romney in the primaries, Ailes said he was a “sore loser and if he’d won he’d have been a sore winner.” He also called Gingrich “a prick.” (Geez, that almost makes me like the guy.)
Chafets, who is after all trying to paint a positive portrayal, also discussed the 70-plus Ailes’ “very acute sense of his own mortality.” What if he gets to heaven and it turns out that God is a liberal? “I doubt very much that he is. He’s got a good heart.” Is his looming mortality the reason why the normally private Ailes has authorized a biography? The bloggers say it may be to counteract an upcoming unauthorized biography, whose author, Gabriel Sherman of New York Magazine, has written in the past about Fox’s big guy. This could be interesting.
Meanwhile . . . Here’s the bun fight I had with James Rosen when I was still writing under the nom de plume of Aunty Em: http://notnowsilly.blogspot.com/2012/05/aunty-ems-bun-fight-with-james-rosen-of.html
One of Rosen’s tweets to you:
@auntyemericann Read my book for yourself. Don’t let @johnwdean (ex-felon) bully you.
OK, lemme get this straight:
Rosen — an employee of a network [Fox] that solicits commentary from numerous ex-felons [Ollie North, G. Gordon Liddy, Tom DeLay] — is telling YOU not to be “bullied by an ex-felon” [Dean]?
Irony. Missed.
.
This is also why James Rosen, of Fox “News,” did not list Roger Ailes in the index of his book about John Mitchell, “The Strong Man,” nor is Ailes mentioned anywhere in the book, despite being Nixon’s media man during the campaign. Ailes would have had to work closely with Mitchell, who was head of CREeP (the Committee to Reelect the President) and no book on Mitchell would be complete without his input.
That’s why it’s clear that Ailes is the UNNAMED SECRET SOURCE on Page 61 who insists that Anna Channault is a liar and cannot be believed, despite the fact that there are reams of evidence which back up her story.
If Ailes is covering up treason, that’s also treason. If James Rosen is covering for Ailes treason, he’s also treasonous.
Meanwhile . . . Here’s the bun fight I had with James Rosen when I was still writing under the nom de plume of Aunty Em: http://notnowsilly.blogspot.com/2012/05/aunty-ems-bun-fight-with-james-rosen-of.html
Fun? WOW!!!
With all my love,
Aunty Headly
“It’s good to be King. "
And it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Jabba the Ailes (i.e. Roger Ailes in “truman-ese”) sometimes plays chess with his employees like Mel Brooks did in “History of the World Part 1”:
“KNIGHT JUMPS QUEEN……BISHOP JUMPS QUEEN……PAWN JUMPS QUEEN……EVERYONE JUMPS THE QUEEN……GANG BANG!!”
;^)
Rupert Murdoch is worse, much worse!
No mention of his infamous private table parties. The old Fox loves to socialize. There’s more to him that’s not printed in the book.
He parades around the building like a King barking orders to people. And if you failed to do what he says, off with your head.
The professional dressed security, standing in front of the Fox “News” glass doors, opens the door for him. It’s good to be King.
Security is tight inside this midManhattan eyesore. Employees wear badges identifying them and their department. And yes, security does check. It’s no secret that the old Fox is paranoid. If you are going to expose these frauds, it’s best to do it outside the building.
We encourage all the masses to tell @newtgingrich what the old Fox said about him. Let’s hear his response, which should be entertaining. When calling radio talk shows, tell the audience about the old Fox’s slamming of The Newt. Do this 24/7.
NOTE TO OLD AILES
You are old enough to be your son’s grandfather-or great-grandfather.
What if he gets to heaven and it turns out that God is a liberal? “I doubt very much that he is. He’s got a good heart.”
Say WHUUUU? That old favorite Bible quote, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16—readily seen at almost every professional, and quite a few college, football games). Somehow, that does NOT sound like something a conservative would do. It doesn’t say “For God so wanted to start a needless war with some third-world country with a tinpot dictator that He sent His only son to lead thousands of soldiers to die for no reason at all.” Now, THAT sounds like the kind of God that conservatives would like.
Now, I know that conservatives also have a deep abiding appreciation for the God of the Old Testament—the one that was always smiting sinners and sending plagues. The only problem is, as one is all-too often reminded, that this is a “Christian nation” and the God that REAL Christians worship is the much-less bloodthirsty God of the New Testament (the one that was willing to send “His only begotten son” to die for the sins of ALL mankind—not just the rich, white males). And, it should also be noted that the NT God must’ve really been much more mellow than the OT version. I mean, that one sent plagues on the Egyptians (even after He deliberately “hardened Pharaoh’s heart” every time the Pharaoh was willing to let the Jews go; don’t believe me? look it up), even to the point of killing all the first-born Egyptian males* but the NT version doesn’t go on a plague-sending bender after Jesus is executed?
*I have always wondered about that. Most Pharaohs were, themselves, first-born sons. Yet there’s nothing in the Biblical account of the Exodus that suggests that the Pharaoh died from the final plague (in fact, the later story of the parting of the “Red Sea” clearly states that Pharaoh led the pursuit of the Hebrews and was among those who died when the “Sea” closed back).
