Day: February 9, 2011

Verbatim

Buck Banks

We’re not going to make any decisions that look bad.

— Fort Wayne, Ind., Deputy Mayor Beth Mallo, asserting that Fort Wayne’s new government center is unlikely to be named the “Harry Baals Government Center,” after the city’s longest tenured mayor, despite the name garnering far more support in an online poll than the thicket of other suggestions, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

I know brothers — and I’m talking about black guys — they are not going to do the dirty work at Boeing, to do that hauling and all that building, that dirty work … A brother is going to find ways to take a break.

— South Carolina state Sen. Robert Ford (D), quoted by the Charleston Post & Courier, arguing against a new immigration law because “brothers” don’t work as hard as “Mexicans.”

Behold! Florida’s CEO!

Buck Banks

If Florida Governor Rick Scott stays his course,
The Sunshine State’s just going to get worse.
Those who sold him the election
Are now, upon reflection,
Experiencing an acute case of seller’s remorse.

Despite Florida Republicans’ queasiness,
Over Scott’s budget hatchet-job messiness,
It’s good for the corporation
To cut jobs, services and education —
That’s how you run government like a business!

Interdiction: There’s Method to Fox’s Rudeness to the President

Jon Ponder
1. Fox’s Bill O’Reilly-Pres. Obama, Feb. 6, 2011 2. Fox’s Bret Baier-Pres. Obama, March 2010
3. O’Reilly-candidate Obama, Sept. 4, 2008 4. Baier-George Bush, Dec. 17, 2008

During the live portion of Fox’s interview with Pres. Obama before the Super Bowl on Sunday, Bill O’Reilly interrupted the president 43 times, according to Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” on Monday. (See #1 above.)

If Fox were a legitimate news organization, its purpose in interviewing the president would be to let its audience hear what he has to say.

The interruptions continued in a second, taped part of the interview that was shown later, so that by the end of the 15-minute sit-down, O’Reilly had interrupted the president more than 70 times — once every 19 seconds, according to O’Donnell in a follow-up segment Tuesday night.

Conversely, the number of times O’Reilly let the president finish a sentence was zero, by O’Donnell’s count.

O’Reilly’s 70-plus interjections more than doubled the number of interruptions the president endured in his previous interview on Fox. In March 2010, O’Reilly’s lesser known colleague Bret Baier — host of Fox’s daily round-table presentation of Republican talking points — stopped the president in mid-sentence just 30 times or so. (See video #2.)

So, other than rudeness, what is behind this behavior from Fox? In a word: fear.

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