Fox News chief tells GOP employees to tone it down

Should Tucson Prompt a Discussion About Climate Change?
Some angry e-mails this morning about civility, specifically about my earlier posts asserting that, so far, the Tucson massacre story has more to do with Mental Illness and Gun Control than it has to do with violent Rhetoric in political discourse. Here's one such e-mail: Get your head out of the sand Goldberg. These kinds of shootings wouldn't happen in a country that wasn't ruled by Fox. Wait until your targeted for Death Threats, then you'll see. Put aside that bit about death threats -- I ke...

Ed Schultz: Either Foxs Roger Ailes Has No Control Or Hes Flat Out Lying
Today on MSNBC , Ed Schultz was fired up because he believed Fox’s heavy hitters Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity took to the airwaves last night and didn’t change their tone despite a warning from Fox News president Roger Ailes to “tone it down.” Schultz played fiery clips from all three Fox stars and commented “nice job of toning it down.” Schultz seemed most angry with O’Reilly for his segment that directly criticized MSNBC, and conclu...

Palin: Irresponsible to Link Arizona Shootings With Political Rhetoric
Yahoo! Buzz Sarah Palin has released a video statement defending her campaign Rhetoric and calling it “irresponsible’’ and a “blood Libel’’ to link political language to the shooting rampage in Arizona. “Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own,’’ Ms. Palin said in the video. “They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to Talk Radio, not with maps of ...

The Ailes Edict
Forgive me if I’m highly doubtful that Roger Ailes will change anything on Fox News Channel. But the interview with Russell Simmons sure is great PR and is getting a lot of attention. Former Pres. Clinton spoke to the BBC saying politics shouldn’t “degenerate into demonisation” and that the rhetoric “falls on the unhinged and the hinged alike.” He certainly knows this first hand. Less surprising was that Ailes used the platform to scoff at the notion that angr...

Glenn Beck seeks Congress members for Giffords letter
Fox News's Glenn Beck is recruiting members of Congress to sign on to his Open Letter denouncing violence and stressing that Jared Lee Loughner's shooting bears no connection to politics. My colleague Jonathan Allen obtained an email from a Fox producer, Virginia Grace, to Congressional offices this morning: From: Grace, Virginia Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2011 9:45 PM Subject: [LIKELY_SPAM]Glenn Beck// Fox News Request for Rep. .... Dear XXXX, Following the tragedies in Arizona, Glenn Beck ha...

Scarborough: Before Fox Glenn Beck Was A Nobody And I Will Say It Loud And Clear
In the continuing war of words between Joe Scarborough and Glenn Beck, Scarborough really didn’t hold back today on Morning Joe. Scarborough expressed concern because apparently he has many friends and family members who watch Beck and get frightened when they allegedly hear Beck say that President Obama is a Racist and a Marxist who is killing freedom in America. Scarborough seemed most worried about his mother, apparently a loyal Beck viewer: “My mom and a lot of other people like...

Sarah Palin accuses critics of "blood libel" (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Prominent Republican Sarah Palin on Wednesday accused critics of "blood Libel" by blaming her Rhetoric for contributing to the shooting rampage in Tucson that killed six and wounded 14, including Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords. "Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them," the conservative Tea Party favorite and former Alaska Governor said in her first major response to c...

Hate -- Carefully Taught
From Nicole Sandler at Radio or Not -- Hate. Comments are restricted to Registered Users only. Glenn Beck's eliminationist attacks on Progressives: How long before someone acts on this violent Rhetoric? Beck claims 'I don't use [violent rhetoric] on or off the air': Oh really? Anderson Cooper Brings on 'Left Behind' Actor Cameron to Discuss Bird and Fish Deaths in Arkansas -- Seriously? Anderson Cooper Brings on 'Left Behind' Actor Cameron to Discuss Bird and Fish Deaths in Arkansas -- Seriously...

The Worlds of Jared Loughner and Palin Haters
With each passing day, the evidence accumulates that Jared Loughner suffered from a Mental Illness completely disconnected from the political world, putting in context just how despicable the accusations were that a 10-month old electorcal map published on a Sarah Palin website contributed to the Murders. The Wall Street Journal had obtained online posting by Loughner at a gaming website from last year. Here is the summary by The Journal: Even in a setting that includes the raw and often raunch...

Bill Maher is a loon
In case you had any doubt, allow this to remove it once and for all: Anderson Cooper took a very different tack last night in trying to make sense of the Arizona shooting tragedy from the weekend. While many on Cable News were turning down the partisan Rhetoric, AC360 producers booked comedian Bill Maher, who was unafraid to compare the imagined mindset of alleged assailant Jared Loughner with Fox News host Glenn Beck, while at the same time calling for responsibility in the media. Huh? Cooper...

Bill Maher is a loon
Anderson Cooper took a very different tack last night in trying to make sense of the Arizona shooting tragedy from the weekend. While many on Cable News were turning down the partisan Rhetoric, AC360 producers booked comedian Bill Maher, who was unafraid to compare the imagined mindset of alleged assailant Jared Loughner with Fox News host Glenn Beck, while at the same time calling for responsibility in the media. Huh? Cooper opened by asking about the soul searching and finger pointing that cam...

The Exploitive Rhetoric of Tragedy
In the wake of the horrendous shooting rampage in Tucson, why isn't anyone talking about banning "Mein Kampf"? Or "The Communist Manifesto"? Or for that matter, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," "Peter Pan" or "The Phantom Tollbooth"? After all, unlike Sarah Palin's absurdly infamous Facebook map with crosshairs on Congressional Districts that some pundits have blamed for the violence, we have some evidence--suspect Jared Lee Loughner's own words--that these books were a dire...

Sarah Palin speaks out on Americas Enduring Strength and charges critics with blood libel
This morning Sarah Palin released a statement through Facebook slamming her critics charges that overheated political Rhetoric contributed to the weekend shooting rampage in Arizona that left a Gabriel Giffords fighting for her life. Sarah Palin charged her critics with “blood Libel” Like millions of Americans I learned of the tragic events in Arizona on Saturday, and my heart broke for the innocent Victims. No words can fill the hole left by the death of an innocent, but we do mou...

Palin: "Stop With the Blood Libel"
If you haven't seen it yet, Sarah Palin's video statement on the Arizona mass Murder, "America's Enduring Strength," is tucked below the fold. Definitely watch it when you get a chance. I going to mention only one part of it right now because liberals are, once again, having a contrived conniption. Partway through the statement, Palin condemns the Democratic and media attempt to claim that the shooting is the fault of the Tea Party. Vigorous and spirited public debates during Elections are amon...

Sarah Palin accuses critics of "blood libel"
WASHINGTON | Wed Jan 12, 2011 9:00am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prominent Republican Sarah Palin on Wednesday accused critics of "blood Libel" by blaming her Rhetoric for contributing to the shooting rampage in Tucson that killed six and wounded 14, including Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords. "Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them," the conservative Tea Party favorite and former Alaska Governor said in her first maj...

Sarah Palin accuses critics of "blood libel"
WASHINGTON | Wed Jan 12, 2011 9:00am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prominent Republican Sarah Palin on Wednesday accused critics of "blood Libel" by blaming her Rhetoric for contributing to the shooting rampage in Tucson that killed six and wounded 14, including Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords. "Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them," the conservative Tea Party favorite and former Alaska Governor said in her first maj...

The Arizona shooting and the context of right-wing extremism
By Michael J.W. Stickings Offering some of the best commentary yet on the Arizona shooting, Slate's Jacob Weisberg makes the crucual distinction between what may have been going on inside Jared Lee Loughner's troubled head, "politically tinged schizophrenia," and outside: To call his crime an attempted Assassination is to acknowledge that it appears to have had a political and not merely a personal context. That context...

Judson Phillips On Tucson Massacre: The Left Benefits From This
Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips organized the national Tea Party Convention in 2010 where Keynote Speaker Sarah Palin cried, “America is ready for another revolution!” Phillips now argues that the Tucson massacre is part of the “war” between the left and the Tea Party. Managing the online forum at Tea Party Nation, he has encouraged his members to argue that accused killer Jared Loughner is a “liberal lunatic” in order to fight against “the ma...

Fox News Head Tells Hosts 'Shut Up, Tone It Down' After Giffords Shooting
Roger Ailes, the conservative who heads the Fox News Channel, has told his traditionally outspoken hosts to "shut up, tone it down, make your argument intellectually" in the wake of the massacre in Tuscon that is putting overheated right-wing Rhetoric under intense scrutiny. After the Arizona Massacre, Will Congress Ever Be the Same? "I told all of our guys, shut up, tone it down, make your argument intellectually," Ailes said in an interview with Russell Simmons, the global hip-hop impresario, ...

Krauthammer on Tucson, Palin, and Krugman
Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. The charge: The Tucson massacre is a consequence of the "climate of hate" created by Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, Glenn Beck, ObamaCare opponents and sundry other liberal betes noires. The verdict: Rarely in American political discourse has there been a charge so reckless, so scurrilous and so unsupported by evidence. As killers go, Jared Loughner is not reticent. Yet among all his writings, postings, videos and other ravings - and i...

Beck Stokes Fears Of "A Ban On Guns" Following AZ Shooting
Beck Claims Politicians Are "Pushing" To Ban Guns Following AZ Shooting Beck: Lawmakers Are Pushing "A Ban On Guns." On his Fox News show, Beck claimed that lawmakers are pushing "a ban on guns" in response to the Arizona shooting. Beck stated: BECK: It didn't take long for Washington to come out with their solution to the problem of the alleged violent Rhetoric. The solution, however, comes despite not having a shred of evidence that this crazed gunman was motivated by anything other than his...

Andy Borowitz: Fox News Reports No Link Between Matches, Gasoline and Fire
NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report) - The Fox News Channel today attempted to bust what it called a "Mainstream Media myth" by reporting that there was no link between Matches, Gasoline and fire. "Gasoline and matches don't start fires," said Fox host Glenn Beck. "People start fires." Mr. Beck went on to say that there was no link between "oxygen, hydrogen and water." Elsewhere, Verizon trumpeted its new iPhone, announcing, "For the first time, consumers will have a choice of which wireless carrier...

Fox News CEO Roger Ailes: Fox And 'The Other Side' Need To Tone Down Rhetoric
Fox News CEO Roger Ailes said that he has told his network to "tone it down" in the wake of the shooting in Arizona, and that he hopes the "other side" will do so as well. Ailes' comments appeared in a conversation with Russell Simmons that was published on Simmons' website, Global Grind. He said that any attempts to connect FOX News or the Tea Party to the shooting were "bullshit," and that "both sides" were responsible for extreme Rhetoric. But Ailes did say that he had issued a warning to F...

Fox News' Roger Ailes: "Tone it Down"
(Credit: Getty Images/Peter Kramer) In the wake of the tragic shooting in Tuscon, Ariz. that left six dead and 14 injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Fox News President Roger Ailes is saying that his network and others in politics and the media need to "tone it down." In an interview with Russell Simmons, published today by Simmons' website Global Grind, Ailes addressed the tragedy and the partisan Rhetoric some say is to blame for the incident. Ailes to some extent defended...

Fox News CEO Roger Ailes: Fox And 'The Other Side' Need To Tone Down Rhetoric
Source: Huffington Post Fox News CEO Roger Ailes said that he has told his network to "tone it down" in the wake of the shooting in Arizona, and that he hopes the "other side" will do so as well. Ailes' comments appeared in a conversation with Russell Simmons that was published on Simmons' website, Global Grind. He said that any attempts to connect FOX News or the Tea Party to the shooting were "bullshit," and that "both sides" were responsible for extreme Rhetoric. But Ailes did say that he had...