Sunday, May 25, 2008

Fox News -- "Somebody Knock Off Osama, uh - Obama, Well, Both -- IF WE COULD - heh, heh, heh,"

It happens at 1:25 in this YouTube clip:



You can write to Fox Broadcasting Chairman, Sandy Grushow to protest this outrage.

Or you can ask Ethan Berkowitz to write to Grushow. Grushow has been and is probably continuing to donate to Berkowitz's campaign.

Here's a list of Fox executives, from the News or other divisions, who are contributing to Ethan's campaign, through this PAC:

Sandy Grushow, Fox Broadcasting Chairman
Peter Liguori, Fox Broadcasting President
James Gianopolis
Cambria Gordon
Robert Harper
Deborah Liebing
Thomas Rothman
-- all Fox Executives

Update - 7:30 p.m: I just realized that this list is incomplete, but these names will have to do for now.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why "Cherry Pick" a few names you do not like, out of the hundreds of donors to this PAC. Lots of Hollywood to go around with all media types throwing in the PAC money.

Philip Munger said...

I didn't cherry pick names I published names on that PAC who are connected to FOX who have donated to Ethan.

George Bush does some good things. If I point out the bad things he does, would you accuse me of "cherry picking?"

Anonymous said...

List of "Our Common Values" PAC donors and recipients:
http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00399014&cycle=2008

Looking at the donors list, it looks to me like there are more executive, banker, investor, and lawyer types than "Hollywood types".

Looking at the recipients list, most of the names are unknown to me. Of those I recognized, two jumped out at me - Al Wynn and Leonard Boswell. The reason I noticed these is because they are (or were) engaged in high profile primaries against progressive challengers (Donna Edwards and Ed Fallon respectively). Wynn and Boswell were both criticized by progressives for things like voting for the Iraq War, selling out to lobbyists, etc. Additionally, Wynn and Boswell are both in districts that the Democrats would not have much trouble winning.

Here in AK, Benson is the progressive, whereas Ethan Berkowitz is considered to be more "mainstream" candidate. Whether that's true remains to be seen, but consider that he's been groomed and pimped by the DLC (a "mainstream" (read "corporate") coalition of Democrats) since 2000 (here, here, and here), and even gave a speech at their 2005 "National Conversation" (here and here)

So my questions are this:
1) Are any of the other candidates on the donor list being challenged by more progressive candidates in their primaries?
2) Why is Rahm Emanuel funnelling money to the less progressive candidate in districts where the Democrats can win regardless of who they run?
3) Why are these executives, lawyers, investors, and bankers giving money to this PAC in particular?

I'm not trying to be all conspirational here. I doubt there's a secret plan by the monied interests to move Democrats to the right, thus redefining the center and therefore the frame of debate in national politics. But they are executives because they thing what they do is important, and they're going to give in ways that support their interests. And frankly, Ethan Berkowitz seems like a nice guy, but strikes me as a bit of a demagogue (comfish debate: "I see nothing rational about rationalization" - the Alaskan equivalent of "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit.").

Anonymous said...

To clarify, I mentioned the DLC because Emanuel is one of the big dogs in their club.

Philip Munger said...

funkalunatic,

When I questioned Ethan about this list back on April 21, explaining to him at the time, that many on the list are strong war supporters, some war profiteers, and some - like FOX executives - anti-Democratic Party, he seemed surprised.

He told me then that he would look more closely at the list, and get back to me. When I brought this up last Saturday evening at the convention, he gave no indication he has spent one second re-evaluating his participation in taking money from this group, so closely identified in the past with promoting candidates with a pro-Bush agenda. On the contrary, he jumped me about my concern, quickly trying to change the subject.

Philip Munger said...

what had been comment #5 has been pulled. Somebody posted with a name that was not his, but rather somebody else's, in a fraudulent way. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Whoops, I said "donor list" where I should have said "recipient list" in question 1. No more commenting at 3 AM.

Philip Munger said...

funkalunatic,

heh...I know what you mean.

Anonymous said...

re: "what had been comment #5 has been pulled. Somebody posted with a name that was not his, but rather somebody else's, in a fraudulent way. Thanks."

uhh.. ok.. alaskareport has been my AOL handle for at least 8 years now.. why do you call it fraudulent?

as i said in the post you pulled.. shutting up people seems to be the norm on this side of the fence..

Philip Munger said...

alaskareport,

the person who asked for the comment removal stated that you had also used the handle here "dz." If that ISN'T the case, then perhaps I shouldn't have removed your earlier comment under the handle "alaskareport" from this thread.

Anonymous said...

I have never blogged with a DZ handle before.. Is there someone named DZ who says that someone is hijacking blogger id's?

I doubt it.. Otherwise you would really have some breaking news here..

I think that the guy DZ is spending wayyyy to much time watching himself watch himself play little league..

Also, I suggest briefing yourself on this http://openid.net

It will help explain to you why you're are getting some replies on your blogger blog with those funny (non Blogger.com) icons..

cheers