Roger Ailes admired Adolph Hitler's propagandist:
Ailes was “a big fan” of Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler’s notorious favorite filmmaker—not for her Nazi ideology but for her cinematic talent as a propagandist. “Ailes was especially taken by Riefenstahl’s use of camera angles.”
Why am I not surprised by that?
Joe McGinniss once suggested that Ailes get therapy. He didn't:
As a theatrical producer, Ailes backed an environmental musical, Mother Earth, and cast his girlfriend, Kelly Garrett, in the lead even though she couldn’t dance. The show closed shortly after it opened. Ailes had better success staging Lanford Wilson’s Hot l Baltimore, a play about destitute social outcasts. Yet he confided to McGinniss, by then a close friend: “I’m walking around, and I feel just all this anger. I can’t figure out where it’s coming from.” He resisted McGinniss’s suggestion that he get therapy.
As many of us have long suspected Ailes may have had something to do with the firing of Keith Olbermann at MSNBC:
In the summer of 2007, enraged by MSNBC host Keith Olbermann’s constant attacks on Fox News, Ailes reached NBC chief Jeff Zucker on his cell phone. If Olbermann didn’t stop, he warned, Ailes would tell the New York Post “to go after Zucker.”
Olberamann remained on Countdown until 2011, however he was also suspended once in 2010 for giving political donations to candidates without first getting approval of management. I believe that, and his ultimate firing, were due in no small part by pressure from Ailes and Fox News.
And finally, Roger Ailes always thought Sarah Palin was an idiot, and Fox producers seemed to dislike her and her husband as well:
Ailes thought Sarah Palin was “an idiot,” but paid her a million dollars a year and built a home studio for her in Wasilla, Alaska. Before her appearances, she regularly carped at husband Todd, who handled the camera. Fox News producers nicknamed the Palins “The Bitch” and “The Eskimo.”
Okay as an Alaskan I take some offense at the second label, but certainly cannot argue with the first.
I have to imagine that Ailes must have imagined that Palin had some heretofore undiscovered talent for broadcasting before he committed to building her that studio in Wasilla.
Clearly he was wrong about that.
Her only talent is teasing men into believing she is willing to provide a service that she is woefully unprepared, or unwilling, to provide.
I have class today and tomorrow but I am going to purchase this book at my earliest convenience, since it seems to be just chock full of things that Roger Ailes desperately wants to keep hidden from the public.
Thanks, G., for all the effort you put into this, and being totally ahead of the Palins. So interesting what this book on Ailes discloses, and how Palin was just a tool for his ratings. The whole Palin/Heath clan are the Jethro Bodine that suddenly entered centre stage on the GOP and Fox News. It has to be the funniest and most laughable event in US history.
ReplyDeleteSo, Sarah was called "the Bitch" and disparaged her husband in front of Fox crew, why is that so easy to believe?
+100000000
DeleteSo basically every good person on MSBBC was fired by Fox?
DeleteKO (Fox news, Ailes the fat pig)
Bashir (Sarah and Flying monkey's)Fox news
MHP (not fired yet, soon)
That so much bullshit! If only Liberals were HALF the whiners and had HALF the sock accounts as the fucking whining Cons! BooFuckingHoo!
Yeah, MSBBC was a brilliant coo! MSNBC and the BBC will be a force to be reckoned with! Holy Unbelievable!
DeleteAiles is a business man and jumped on the initial tide of interest that skank had following her in '08. Unfortunately for him-or not- that interest immediately fell and the only followers she had were those mischievously waiting for the train wreck and those disgruntled right wing fanatics. After the failed bus tour and the announcement that she wasn't running in '12 her followers were reduced to the few who run from site to site attacking anyone who tells the truth about skank.
ReplyDeleteAiles invested money in a commodity that would bring in viewers which would bring in advertisers. He knew she was an idiot and probably knew she had a limited shelf life which is why the contract was not renewed and she came crawling back begging for anything!
I do not believe for a minute he saw her as anything other than what she was/is-an idiot who had viewers he could take to the bank for a limited time.
He can obviously separate his own disdain from his business of bringing in viewers and advertisers-look at some of the other geniuses on fox:)
The difference between them and the skank is that skank is an idiot and a liar and a grifter and lazy and ugly and without taste, class, graciousness, kindness or compassion.
Ailes used skank. They may have an agreement that he won't completely trash her publicly but then he is the boss and doesn't need her so she is always walking on thin ice. The obviousness of her grifting caused hundreds/thousands or more to walk away from her without a look back. The other grifters on fox at least put up a fairly good pretense of not grifting-for what that's worth.
2:15
Deleteyes. the others fake it all better. that is why they keep getting raises and renewed contracts and she didn't/can't:)
All democrats do is lie and trashtalk.
DeleteSo, you love Ailes, his business ethics, and his politics, 6:50?
DeleteThat picture of her looks like what we would find if Cousin It finally pulled his hair away from his face. No offense Mr. It.
ReplyDeleteMethinks roger was going to let palin blow her way to the top until he got a good whiff of the hygiene challenged nit wit. Wheww.
Sarah Palin is against girls doing selfies?
ReplyDeleteWhat does Sarah Palin have against girls jacking off? If Bristol was at home doing a selfie then she would not have been in Levi's tent getting injected.
"Selfies' in this case is not being used as jacking off, it's being used as taking a picture of yourself for social media. Baldy is pimping for her new show and she wants girls to take pictures of themselves holding up fish they caught.
DeleteBut then again, it's Sarah, so she could have been ranting about pretty much anything.
Selfies won't increase the population for Jebus snowhicks of the Mat-Su. Palin dynasty can't take over and dominate the world without fishy snowhick babies.
DeleteAs I recall the Bris only got knocked up because she forgot to take her pill that day. What a dumbfuck. She probably really believes that.
DeleteRight, Sex had nothing to do with her getting Pregnant. Did she forget to take her Pill for all of her other Pregnancies? How many Undocumented Babies do Bristol and Willow have?
DeleteBristol: Mama, did you tell the Stork to make a delivery? Sarah: Don't confuse me with 'Gotcha' questions.
DeleteAnonymous2:01 PM
DeletePiper's "Selfie" was the "jesus" fish! It was a dog whistle to all the xtians to watch her show cause she kills things like jesus who do!
You should grow up soon.
DeleteI am part way through the book. Actually, I'm reading about his foray into theatre right now.
ReplyDeleteYes, to put it mildly, he's a highly unappealing character, yet talented and complex. Where the anger comes from might have something to do with his abusive father - bad enough to be routinely severely beaten, but as Ailes is a hemophiliac, it could have easily been the death of him.
"Roger was standing on the top bunk. His father opened his arms wide and smiled. “Jump Roger, jump,” he told him. Roger leapt off the bed into the air toward his arms. But Robert took a step back. His son fell flat onto the floor. As he looked up, Robert leaned down and picked him up. “Don’t ever trust anybody,” he said." (Kindle Locations 349-351).
I guess he never did.
There were several links floating around today crediting this same 'story' to various other sources. Some printed, some audio. Like Palin, Ailes is such an empty vessel that he (they) have to manufacture a past to jibe with their latest persona.
DeleteI read a long excerpt of the book at NY Mag and was amazed at how lowbrow and uncivilized Ailes is. Some assholes actually speak well but not this guy. No wonder he hates the world so much, he's such a loser as a human and apparently always has been.
Hemophiliac huh? I didn't know that...but it did give me a thought...
DeleteMaybe one of the reasons he's so homophobic and so paranoid of getting shot by "teh gays" is because he secretly has AIDS that he got from a blood transfusion years ago. And because he thinks of it as the "gay disease", he has a hatred for them which is why he promotes such an anti-gay atmosphere at FOX.
Ya never know...
"highly unappealing character ..."
DeletePerfect description.
Leni Riefenstahl was talented. Ailes must gag with the Palin's propaganda crap.
ReplyDelete"As a theatrical producer, Ailes backed an environmental musical, Mother Earth, and cast his girlfriend, Kelly Garrett, in the lead even though she couldn’t dance." I guess that explains why he suffers with Palin.
It sounds like Global Warming in Alaska! Work sure sucks.
http://web.stagram.com/p/633748616925675026_51089094
Is that a guy in drag in that picture with the shiny shirt? Sure looks like it.
ReplyDelete"And finally, Roger Ailes always thought Sarah Palin was an idiot, and Fox producers seemed to dislike she and her husband as well: "
ReplyDeleteIt should be "dislike her" not "dislike she".
Thank you, you're right and it matters.
DeleteHow does she get them to point outwards like that?
ReplyDeleteSarah has not appeared on Fox since New Years Eve. Even that appearance was awkward, and Palin was unhappy enough with her performance to post her comments on her Facebook.
ReplyDeleteWait....how can you be sure Ailes wasn't talking about Todd when he said "the bitch"? I think that's how Sarah sees him.
ReplyDeleteI shall buy that book as well...
ReplyDeleteSarah Palin is against girls doing selfies?
ReplyDeleteThat's a sexist point of view. It's like saying Boys Will Be Boys.
It's okay to Sarah if boys do selfies but not girls!
I betcha Sarah did selfies during her high school and college days. I get the feeling that she was sexually promiscuous back then.
OT: Virginia Congressional candidate Richard "Dick" Black "doesn't have a problem with spousal rape." Why, Dick didn't even know it was possible to have rape in a marriage. After all the man and the woman are living in the same house and share a bed and she's in a little nightie and all.
ReplyDeleteOh, and did I mention that he is a Republican?
Why is Sarah Palin now telling other girls to do selfies? If Sarah told her children to do selfies then Sarah wouldn't have two grandkids from broken families.
ReplyDeleteGrow up. And you're so dated. There is no broken. One kids parents get along, the other is just as happy despite
DeleteThat was a mess of a comment 6:49; worse than usual.
DeleteAiles said Sarah speaks for a segment of the populace. Well so do the
ReplyDeleteKKK. Why aren't they represented on his vaulted show?
Gryphen:
ReplyDeletehere are Palin selfie pic's that she herself has taken and posted:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151467477143588&set=pb.24718773587.-2207520000.1389734154.&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152067126798588&set=pb.24718773587.-2207520000.1389734154.&type=3&theater
So Sarah Palin was talking about that Stupid Wig wearing Wasillabilly doing selfies? BWAHAHAHA, how much more clueless can she get?
DeleteJust wondering if Sarah Palin's next tv boondoggle will be called Downtown Shabby....
ReplyDeleteso no one has explained lately why joe mcginnis could be friends with ailes. how does that work? seems like a weird pair to be friends with such disparaging viewpoints.
ReplyDeleteA 2011 entry from Joe McGinniss's blog re: the history of his friendship with Ailes.
Deletehttp://www.joemcginniss.net/roger-thinks-palin-is-an-idiot-he-thinks-shes-stupid/Joe%20McGinniss
I was very disappointed in Joe McGinnis when I heard that a couple years ago. Ailes isn't just some random conservative guy. He actively works against civil rights and other liberal and progressive ideals.
DeleteI have friends who have been friends for a very long time and who, as they went through life changed or demonstrated aspects of their personalities I hadn't seen before and do not like at all. So, perhaps I don't see them quite so often and we avoid certain topics of conversation, but we go back a long way, part of our history is good, so we don't walk away from each other.
DeleteWhen McGinnis met Ailes it was at a time when Ailes was moderate. In the book, McGinnis said he appeared to be a Democrat. He was strong on civil rights and always supported McGinnis, who used to get a great deal of grief from Philadelphia Mayor Rizzo who called him a "n*gger lover." (I lived in Philly during that time) On top of that, the two families got on well.
I can see why, while disapproving of much of what Ailes became, or maybe always was, McGinnis stays in touch.
Young Ailes apparently had a certain charm. My personal suspicion is that his strongest convictions related to his overwhelming ambition. Bobby Kennedy Jr. made a film with him in Africa. "The pair traveled around the Rift Valley with a camera crew of Pakistani Muslims. 'I had a lot of laughs with Roger,' Kennedy said. 'He was sensitive to other cultures and to conservation and not at all an ideologue.'” (Kindle Locations 1951-1952).
We do tend these days to reduce people to cartoon figures - or I do, I'm afraid. But people are complex.
Ailes is a very funny and likable person.
DeleteJoe always gave Roger excellent advice, shame he never took it seriously. All friendships are complicated, especially ones that span years. Joe is smart.
Delete"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer"
Gets you some great "leads" as a reporter.
thanks to all who responded to my query. i also have some friends who have views that clash severely with my own and yet they have other aspects that are important to me. however, i never fully relax in their company and we do have to avoid certain topics.
Delete
ReplyDeleteAiles thought Sarah Palin was “an idiot,”
Sarah Palin is a fucking idiot that bred fucking idiots.
Sounds like Sarah Palin is going to have Todd on her show.
ReplyDeleteThat sleazy motherfucker sex trafficker makes me sick with his girly voice.
No one knows propaganda like a liberal pro at using it. ahem Gryphen
ReplyDelete"As a theatrical producer, Ailes backed an environmental musical, Mother Earth, and cast his girlfriend, Kelly Garrett ...".
ReplyDeleteAiles had a girlfriend and now has a wife (probably not the same person).
It is hard for me to understand how any woman would become with Roger Ailes. Hard up? Don't think they deserve better? Desperate?
I wasn't going to buy this book, but now I just HAVE to. I can't picture Ailes on stage, and what his dad did was just nasty. Letting a hemophiliac fall just to teach him to trust no one is sick.
ReplyDelete