FOX-News Parent Corp. Sued

[Dan Wishengrad]

Things just don't get any more bizarre than this breaking story:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21778421/

So, if proven true, execs at FOX-News were suborning perjury in order to:

A) Keep Bernie Kerik's nomination afloat to become the new Director of Homeland Security for the Bush administration a few years back;

AND

B) Protect the future Presidential aspirations of Rudy Giuliani from embarrassing revelations about illegalities committed by his best friend and close political ally?

Wow, this is almost too good to be true, but then it's all coming from Bernie's mistress, Judith Regan, that shining pillar of journalistic ethics and integrity.

But come on, doesn't the GOP and its official p.r. machine at the FOX-News empire even understand that we Democrats are perfectly capable of sabotaging our own chances to win back the White House without any help from outside our own dysfunctional family? Doesn't Ruppert Murdoch even want to keep up the pretense that his cable company is "fair and balanced" and NOT just a front for all things Republican? Who's running the show over at FOX, anyway, and did they have a saboteur in their midst or just a stupid incompetent? We on the left have always known they are all biased partisans masquerading as a legitimate news company, but some of us at least believed they were basically competent in doing so.

This story is much juicier and more full of intrigue than anything the Hollywood liberals could have possibly dreamed up themselves. Should be a fun trial to watch, if Ruppert doesn't offer Ms. Regan the entire continent of Australia as a settlement to drop the case before it gets that far.

[Dan Wishengrad]

The silence here in the Water Cooler regarding this story is deafening. Maybe you are all watching FOX, which of course is not reporting on it at all? If it's not on FOX, it's not news?

But much more coming out hourly about this explosive story, which may very well be the beginning of the end for Giuliani's hopes to capture the GOP nomination, which is in trouble anyway with the new polls out that show Rudy running FIFTH in Iowa and potentially falling to single digit support there. The fascinating linkage between Roger Ailes of FOX-News (who was Giuliani's campaign manager twenty years ago), Bernie Kerik (Giuliani's close friend and business partner) and the candidate himself is starting to come much more clearly into focus. Judith Regan is suing for $100 million, and her 75-page court filing hints at lots of evidence she possesses which could prove hugely damaging to both Giuliani's presidential ambitions and any remaining credibility that the News Corp/FOX-News has left that it is a legitimate news organization.

We all know that FOX is right-leaning, at the very least, but if it can proven that Roger Ailes was intentionally plotting to use FOX to help the candidacy of one particular GOP Presidential candidate because of his close friendship with that candidate, and actually suborning perjury to help accomplish that aim, well the "fair and balanced" folks may have alot more to worry about than simply shelling out a huge pile of Mr. Murdoch's cash. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg so far, what may come out in the next few days could be even more damaging. Judith Regan is not going to go away, nor is she going to be stifled from what she has always done best -- draw lots of attention and publicity.

Isn't anybody at home out there?

[sohotrightnow]

Bernard Kerik=9/11 Hero

[BigheadTodd]

Why does everything get blamed on poor OJ?

[Beta]

The silence here in the Water Cooler regarding this story is deafening. Maybe you are all watching FOX, which of course is not reporting on it at all? If it's not on FOX, it's not news?

Dan Dan Dan...cmon now...the collegelax msg boards are to be checked ONLY at work.

You seem so determined to talk bad on Fox here, why? We all know it's terrible. You're beating a dead horse.

[StrykerFSU]

If she has some evidence that is one thing, if not...looks like sour grapes to me. Not that I doubt the integrity of the woman that brought us such classics as Jose Canseco's "Juiced" or Jenna Jameson's "How to make love like a porn star" (I'm assuming that's a picture book), and the aforementioned OJ confession. She also had an affair with Kerik, not so good for the credibility.

In the civil complaint filed in state court in Manhattan, Ms. Regan says the company has long sought to promote Mr. Giuliani’s ambitions. But the lawsuit does not elaborate on that charge, or identify the executive who she alleged pressured her to mislead investigators, nor does it offer details or evidence to back up her claim.

News Corp. spokesman Howard Rubenstein said of Regan's lawsuit, "The claims are preposterous."

In December 2006, court papers say, Regan was fired with more than two years left on her contract. The defendants said she had made anti-Semitic remarks while talking to an in-house HarperCollins lawyer, Mark Jackson, her court papers say.

"This charge was completely fabricated," her court papers say in bold print.

They say a temporary secretary who set up the call and remained on the line confirmed that Regan never made any such comments.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g2_LJ2FKnuwgWkxddoyOAuvtiV_gD8ST6A180
The AP article is also available on FoxNews.com

Wait, you have the word of a temporary secretary...why didn't she sue for $200 million!?!

Unless she has a smoking gun, this bad boy gets thrown out.

[Sonny]

I don't know the merits of this case. But the timing of the case is definitely suspect to extract as much damage as possible. If I had to guess, I would think the Clinton Political Machine is behind it.

We on the left have always known they are all biased partisans masquerading as a legitimate news company, but some of us at least believed they were basically competent in doing so.

Question for ya Dan - If Fox is the PR machine of the GOP - does that mean the NY Times, LA Times, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, NPR are all the PR machine for the left? It really kills the left that Fox is number one by such a wide margin.

[Jolly Roger]

The silence here in the Water Cooler regarding this story is deafening. Maybe you are all watching FOX, which of course is not reporting on it at all? If it's not on FOX, it's not news?

Maybe a lot of people are getting sick of the right-bashing and left-bashing that has become more prominent in this forum. Why don't all of us spend the energy we exert here making substitive change in your city, county or state.

Sonny, would you make a new forum for that so I don't have to wade through all this polarizing crap all the time.

[BB]

Thank you Jolly Roger, you hit the nail on the head for me. They are both as screwed up as can be. Both the far right and the far left. No one looks at things with common sense anymore.

Everyone's opinion is gospel. No one listens and constant bashing gets bothersome. Lets look at solutions.

[Dan Wishengrad]

Some of us actually ENJOY discussing and debating politics. What some of you consider "bashing" others consider to be healthy and necessary discourse. This forum exists to discuss all things non-lacrosse related, and clearly many out there skip over anything politically-related. What a shock! It's a free country (which others before us died to help make free), and folks can tune out politics and never even be bothered to vote, and complain about the nastiness coming from the right or the left or the middle and complain that nothing ever gets done in Washington or in their own state, or city. That they may be correct is only part of the equation. The other half of that equation is that they are a big part of the problem.

The truth is that Americans as a whole are astonishingly apathetic about their own government and ignorant of political affairs. I am personally angered that so many otherwise intelligent people have such a limited intellectual and/or moral curiousity to even care about what is being done by our government. Personally, I have much more respect for folks like Sonny and Cliff who are on the opposite end of the political spectrum from me but who DO follow politics and get involved than I do for those of you who just can't be bothered enough to give a rat's ass. If you can't pass a basic civics test about our American government, or name your own Representative or where he or she stands on the issues, you don't deserve the right to criticize any of us who do.

I got into a political debate with a friend at work recently, an African-American with a college education who is much further to the left than I am. He has opinions on everything going on and is pretty well-informed about the issues. He despises just about everything in government and believes that racism is alive and well in America and that his ethnic group is in real trouble despite gains made in the century + since the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves. But he is also proud of having never voted. I told him that this is not only nothing to be proud of, but that he should accept whatever injustice he has ecountered (or ever will), because his own apathy has helped make it possible.

So for those of you who just don't have the patience to follow politics or to get personally involved, well it's a free country and you are free to stick your head in the sand and pull it out just long enough to complain once in awhile. By all means DON'T read these threads and stick to the sports page and the gossip columns. After all the latest dish on Paris Hilton and Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie is clearly much more relevant to your lives and important in the grand scheme of things anyway.

On the topic at hand, I will respond later... and I'm sure many of you will yawn and read the stuff about the man who is becoming a tree and the stories about Britney Spears showing her hooha and never even read this anyway.

[Jolly Roger]

I can pass a civics test, I can name my representatives, I vote my concience, and I try to be involved in efforts that will result in progress.

Constantly pointing out all the faults of the one side or the other merely polarizes - suggest realistic solutions.

[BB]

It has nothing to do with apathy for me, it is more frusteration. I know my representatives, I vote, I care, I pay attention, I get mad.

It has everything to do with the way items are discussed, and how seldom the middle ground is found.

Right now it is still accusations I may choose to comment if it is further investigated and if the witness becomes more credible.

I can understand the apathy. No matter what we do, nothing happens it seems. Real issues are set aside for headline makers, character assaults, and "feel goood" idea's. So why care when nothing seems to happen no matter what you do.

[Dan Wishengrad]

Good for you two guys above. I was not intending to point fingers at ANY particular poster, but my point still stands nevertheless. Of the hundreds of intelligent young men I have coached the past nine years at UW, for example, I can count on one hand those who seem care about politics at all. I know that I am a "political junkie", it's hard not to be after spending over a decade of my life working in the system. It's in my blood. I truly love debating this stuff here, and don't mind it all when someone shoots me down with an effective counter-point. Of course I am still waiting for that to happen hahahahahahahaha!

Our system of government may be broken, it may be corrupt, it may be horribly frustrating for anyone who cares to see some actual civil discourse about the issues. But it's still better than all the other forms of government combined. If you don't like what you see, well then jump right in and work to change it. Get involved! Take a side and take a stand. WE the people means all of us, and our constitution is meaningless if WE don't care...

[GrizLens]

Blah blah blah. The reason Fox is #1 in ratings is because they craft/sculpt/form their product to reinforce a certain viewpoint (guess which one). Everyone who agrees with that viewpoint watches Fox News because it makes them feel better about the rhetoric they have decided to believe in. When you are presenting REAL NEWS, it gets a little more complicated... it's harder to keep a "fan club" when you're presenting them with information that challenges their world view. FNC offers a superior ENTERTAINMENT product to all the "Left-leaning" news outlets, but an inferior NEWS product. I mean... Billo? Come on. Fox News is PROPAGANDA! Although they are incredible entrepreneurs. I'm so disappointed in Juan Williams. Sorry, this might be a little late in the thread, but I just couldn't help it.

[OAKS]

I found the reason Fox is #1.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHEXzlNHC8Q[/youtube]