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Frum: "Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we are discovering we work for Fox"

March 23, 2010 11:45 am ET

From the March 22 edition of ABC's Nightline:

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Previously:

Frum on FrumForum: Waterloo

David Frum: "What the hell is going on at Fox News?"

Media conservatives denounce Glenn Beck's "hatred"

Frum wants to know why cable news doesn't use its "acres of time" to provide in-depth coverage of issues

On Reliable Sources, Frum slams conservative talk radio, Beck for "inflammatory" rhetoric

Frum says GOP taking on "lemming role" because Limbaugh is "not only claiming, but is being accepted" as its "figurehead"


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    • Author by jediknight65 (March 23, 2010 11:47 am ET)
      14  
      uh oh there is gonna be some problems now lol
      Report Abuse
      • Author by afriend (March 23, 2010 12:35 pm ET)
        13  
        Boss Limpballs will straighten him out and get the apology.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by rkcomments (March 23, 2010 1:50 pm ET)
          10  
          Frum and the other morons only realized this now?
          Report Abuse
          • Author by Conchobhar (March 23, 2010 4:05 pm ET)
            4  
            Neocon intellectuals are slow learners.
            Report Abuse
          • Author by zadie (March 23, 2010 4:41 pm ET)
               
            Actually no, I watched David Frum be interviewed by Bill Moyers on PBS just this last August and I was actually surprised with Mr. Fromm. I think Mr. Fromm is a wee bit upset with the tea party movement and how it affects the moderate or independent conservative views in this country and even though I'm center to the left with a stong independent streak, you have to admit that Mr. Fromm has a valid concern when it comes to the Republican party. What we witness out in mainstream media particularly the Fox network is vicious,dangerous and scary as hell.
            Report Abuse
        • Author by renato (March 23, 2010 10:36 pm ET)
          2  
          No, Frum isn't going to apologize. He's been criticizing the noise machine for a while now.
          Report Abuse
      • Author by MazingerZetto (March 23, 2010 1:17 pm ET)
        1  
        Read his post on Frum Forum. He hit it right on the head. One of the things that really get my goat is that conservative media is very disingenuous and he's pointing out how their antics have hurt conservative thought. I'm a fiscally conservative social progressive. But the Republican Party of now is just too damn scary to be sided with.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by IRONY 101 (March 23, 2010 11:49 am ET)
      12  
      Zzzzzzzziiiiing...!!! Good one...

      BTW, that IS a wig Barbie is wearing. Not that it should matter...she's stupid with or without a wig. Just sayin'...
      Report Abuse
    • Author by pete592 (March 23, 2010 11:49 am ET)
      8  
      I'd grow some eyes in the back of my head if I were you, Frum.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by AB-001 (March 23, 2010 11:54 am ET)
      5  
      and this is revelation to the world because.....?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by toombsie (March 23, 2010 11:56 am ET)
      13  
      Too bad no one listens to Frum on the Republican side. They are in bed with the crazies of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and there is no turning back. It will only get worse as those kinds of people set the agenda for the party.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by GBU-15 (March 23, 2010 11:56 am ET)
      13  
      WOW! A stinging loss from the Progressives/Democrats. And now pointed criticism from one of their own! Becky and Rushbo are going to have a five-star, four alarm meltdown over this! By the way where exactly is the so-called "leader" of the Republican Party been hiding lately? Just want to know if the Brother is still standin'.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by nerzog (March 23, 2010 11:57 am ET)
      12  
      Frum has exhibited unusual candor lately. I hope he's not ill.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by manndan (March 23, 2010 12:14 pm ET)
        12  
        Recalling Lee Atwater's deathbed confessions are we?
        Report Abuse
        • Author by nerzog (March 23, 2010 12:25 pm ET)
          8  
          Well, impending mortality sometimes makes one feel the need to clear one's conscience.

          I hope he's just realizing what a tool he's been, and wants to make up for it.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by foghornleghorn (March 23, 2010 12:38 pm ET)
            10  
            One usually wakes up to reality when faced with the utter defeat of their ideological rhetoric.
            Report Abuse
        • Author by Gen Turgidson (March 23, 2010 11:58 pm ET)
          3  
          Excellent reference! One of the architects of slash-and-burn politics indeed had his documented death-bed regrets. I guess that makes everything okay. Can't imagine Jabba at Fox even doing that.
          Report Abuse
      • Author by JiminVA (March 23, 2010 9:35 pm ET)
           
        I agree. I hope he's not ill. He's a conservative but I think I could have a beer with him. He's not a lunatic.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by Major Tom (March 23, 2010 11:57 am ET)
      6  
      It certainly appears that way to me.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by blk-in-alabam (March 23, 2010 12:09 pm ET)
      5  
      Our current validetorium of Run-over Bus Driving School Class of 2010
      Report Abuse
    • Author by gg (March 23, 2010 12:17 pm ET)
      15  
      So the Republicans are finally admitting Fox News works for them; they created this Frankenstein monster and now they can't control it-too bad!
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Dem02020 (March 23, 2010 12:17 pm ET)
      15 1

      I don't agree with "Republicans work for Fox television" or even with the inverse mentioned, that Fox television supposedly works for Republicans.

      Both Congressional Republicans (and the Republican Party nationally) and Fox television, they both work day and night and tirelessly, for whatever corporate concern benefits and profits them the most.

      Think about it, when Congressional Republicans and the hacks at Fox television rail endlessly against health care cost reforms, is either one working for the other, or are they both working for the health insurance industry?

      Think about it.

      Likewise when Republicans and Fox sell us an invasion of IRAQ, who are they both working for and in support of, except defense contractors and our inflated defense budget that feeds them...

      Likewise again, emissions reductions and regulation, does Fox work for Republicans or Republicans for Fox, or do they both work for Exxon-Mobil and Texaco and Chevron and BP and Royal Dutch Shell etc?

      Think about it, and see who and what both the Republican Party and Fox television truly work for and truly advocate...

      They don't work one for the other, but both for the same thing, and presently they bend over backwards to avoid you from thinking this, which is exactly what this frum character did in the video clip.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by MazingerZetto (March 23, 2010 2:57 pm ET)
           
        I had something longer that apparently had profanity in it (not sure where), but basically Fox News stirred up the haters so much that any attempts to compromise instead of oppose would have been seen as weakness and would have gotten them vilified on the only conservative 'news' station. So they had to evolve into the G-NO-P.
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    • Author by shaggles (March 23, 2010 12:18 pm ET)
      8  
      Doesn't he see anything wrong with the original scenario?
      Report Abuse
      • Author by CoolSlaw (March 23, 2010 12:29 pm ET)
           
        At this point, I think the whole "fair and balanced" tagline, and the idea of FOX news being any kind of "independent though conservative slanted" news organization is long ago debunked.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by dogbreath (March 23, 2010 12:39 pm ET)
        8  
        Doubtfully, but the acknowledgement that FOX was their baby is interesting.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by nerzog (March 23, 2010 1:02 pm ET)
          4  
          You know, he may be the first Republican to admit it, though Scott McClellan came close.
          Report Abuse
      • Author by Gen Turgidson (March 23, 2010 11:55 pm ET)
        1  
        Right. Frum's presumption (that it's hunky dorey if a political party has its very own propaganda machine --- that regularly distorts) is quite an admission. It makes his flip statement -- that Boo Hoo, they're (Fox) is now controlling us -- that much more ironic and telling. Sorry Frummy, gotta be careful of the company you keep.

        But then again, he was an image-maker of Little War Boy Bushie, so he's knows all about deceit. My all-time favorite bald Bush lie: "I have no war plans on my desk". Bernie Trainor's excellent book on the Bush Iraq war makes it clear that that Bush Lie was only true in the most literal sense, as at that time, the war machine was already mobilized. And all these foaming republican heads have the gall to even complain about Obama!!! Seems they might be running the limits of completely logic-free propaganda.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by Far Left but Always Right (March 23, 2010 12:24 pm ET)
      4  
      they are just now figuring this out?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Midnight Kevin (March 23, 2010 12:26 pm ET)
      5  
      Now that the bill is defeated, dissenting Republicans can come out against the strategies of the propaganda arm...
      ---------------------------
      The Midnight Review
      Report Abuse
    • Author by New Frontier (March 23, 2010 12:26 pm ET)
      12  
      The first step is admitting you have a problem.

      Don't stop there.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by angler (March 23, 2010 12:27 pm ET)
         
      The clip should be captioned "dead con walking." Frum is finished in the GOP. Make the switch David.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by HoneyBearKelly (March 23, 2010 12:29 pm ET)
      5  
      Frum will never admit that this health care bill is chock full of GOP ideas. Matter of fact he says the opposite.
      Barack Obama badly wanted Republican votes for his plan. Could we have leveraged his desire to align the plan more closely with conservative views?

      He was never going to get 1 Republican vote. Every proposal that was put into this bill that started out as a GOP idea was hated on the minute it went in there.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by nerzog (March 23, 2010 12:48 pm ET)
        4  
        Good point. If they had come to the table with something resembling sincerity, I have no doubt the Democrats would have incorporated some of their serious proposals in exchange for a few promised Republican votes, at least in the Senate.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by grmce (March 23, 2010 12:47 pm ET)
      5  
      Since Eisenhower retired the Republican party has sought advancement via Faustian pacts, starting with the "Southern Strategy", through to tabloid hate media and the revived "Knownothings".

      It's interesting to compare the Republican Party of Lincoln to the Republican Party of today - they are complete opposites.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by nerzog (March 23, 2010 12:51 pm ET)
        3  
        Agreed. The electorate has virtually flipped since the Reconstruction Era. Back then, the South hated Republicans because of Lincoln. Now they hate Democrats because of LBJ and FDR.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by dogbreath (March 23, 2010 1:01 pm ET)
          1  
          All politics is local, but the history of the political parties is largely racial.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by nerzog (March 23, 2010 1:06 pm ET)
            2  
            Sadly true. It's something to keep in mind when Republicans say that more Republicans than Democrats voted for the Civil Rights act.

            I'm not sure of the actual numbers, but a lot of Democrats did vote against it. However, what today's Republicans won't mention is that those were Southern Racist Dixiecrats. Now all the Southern Racists have become Republicans. I wonder why?
            Report Abuse
        • Author by rtejon (March 23, 2010 1:08 pm ET)
          1  
          I can tell you definitively that many Republicans down here were Southern Democrats 20-25 years ago. Remember when Richard Shelby switched parties the very night of his re-election in 1994?
          Report Abuse
    • Author by rtdavis11200 (March 23, 2010 1:01 pm ET)
      2  
      Where is George Bush?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by txthinker (March 23, 2010 1:54 pm ET)
      1  
      Frum: "Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we are discovering we work for Fox."

      So the head of the Republican Party is really Roger Ailes or Rupert Murdoch????
      Report Abuse
      • Author by aBeck in 10-O-C (March 23, 2010 7:51 pm ET)
        1  
        I've been trying to answer this question: does the Republican Party have a "leader"? ...I finally found my answer while I was watching Fox News Channel.

        Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum-which is why God created Roger Ailes. The president of Fox News is, by default, the closest thing there is to a kingmaker in Anti-Obama America. And that, in turn, makes him the de facto leader of the GOP.
        ....Howard Fineman of Newsweek 1/15/10
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    • Author by MyLife SF (March 23, 2010 3:53 pm ET)
         
      Keep your chins up, republicans...cause when it's down you have three chins and you're making me lose my appetite.

      http://crassecards.com/
      Report Abuse
    • Author by DemRealist (March 23, 2010 4:51 pm ET)
         
      Nonsense, Mr. Frum! The Republicans were not some innocent dupes of the talk show circuit. They could have spoken up at any time had this been the case. They allowed (and ran) a determined course to defeat the President at any cost. Now, they have you and others like you out there pretending they are just good people who were misrepresented by Fox News and the like. Pa-leeese!
      Report Abuse
    • Author by jonesjax2374 (March 23, 2010 7:54 pm ET)
      2  
      Right on. More of this please.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by eclark5483 (March 24, 2010 3:43 am ET)
           
        Agreed. It's always funny to see Republicans throw Faux News under a bus. I just wish more and more of them would... Oh, they'll still be Republicans, but hopefully a more sane version.
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      • Author by papajohn (March 24, 2010 8:20 am ET)
           
        And what was ABC's response to that?
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