• On health care: “The only thing bipartisan about it would be the opposition to it.” Zing! The Senate Minority Leader was on Fox News this morning talking about the possibility that health care could be saved, and he noted that the Democrats could salvage it using budget reconciliation (public option in tow), which would only require a simple up-down vote. “Whether there will be 11 Democrats who will vote against it is not clear,” he noted. source

• 103 number of sponsors Glenn Beck has lost as a result of the continuing boycott
• five number of days the U.K. broadcast of his show ran without any ads source

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  Owning the interview Scott Brown had a good chance to chill with Barbara Walters recently, and he does a really great job of coming off really smart in this interview – much smarter than Babs, in fact. The whole “big tent” thing should sit well with tea partiers, though. Heh heh.
• A “deliberate” Rip New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, a pretty smart guy if you ask us, was also on ABC’s “This Week” and had a pretty amazing rip on Fox News, calling their handling of the health care debate “deliberate misinformation.” He says it right to Roger Ailes’ face.
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  Call it CandyLand John King of CNN’s Sunday show, “State of the Union,” is headed to the grind of weekday analysis. (And he’s taking his magic wall with him.) His replacement? Candy Crawley. She’s going to be the only female host of a Sunday talk show, which should be interesting.

• 43 number of uses of the word “I” in Barack Obama’s speech in Baltimore yesterday
• 45 number of uses of the word “you” in the speech, which doesn’t seem so selfish
• 43 number of uses of the word “we” in the speech – also not so selfish considering source

• This is analysis? Of who? Tonight’s debut of Sarah Palin as a Fox News commentator was a fail as a piece of commentary because the focus never really left the topic of Sarah Palin. We understand why Palin might want to use this opportunity to clear her throat, but if she really wants to be worthy of our time, she can’t spend fifteen minutes talking about herself. Who cares?

• This clip somehow got funnier a year and a couple months later, especially in the context of the line from Tina Fey’s version of Sarah Palin: “If I’m not going to the White House I’m either running in four years or I’m going to be a white Oprah.” In the context of the Palin/Fox News announcement today, it’s even more striking. source

• Is Roger Ailes more powerful than Rupert Murdoch? We know that’s a controversial statement, but hear us out. The Fox News chief not only made more money than Murdoch himself last year (and put up the kind of numbers that made him deserve the paycheck), but the level of influence the guy wields arguably has a wider reach in politics. It’s something that’s directly affected elections and regularly pushes the news cycle forward. And it makes some members of the Murdoch family (who aren’t Rupert) uncomfortable.

A media icon with massive influence

• Regardless of whether you like what he is doing, Roger Ailes is one of the most creative talents of his generation. He has built a media empire that is capable of driving the conversation, and, at times, the political process.
• CNN political analyst David Gergen • Regarding the influence of Roger Ailes, who runs Fox News and has since 1996. Ailes got his start with the Nixon campaign and often brings that sort of political experience to the channel, controlling the conversation with pinpoint focus. source

Three events that defined Roger Ailes’ career

• Don’t sell TV short Back in 1967, Ailes, then a producer on “The Mike Douglas Show,” bluntly told Richard Nixon that television wasn’t a gimmick and he needed to focus on it. His hardnosed response led to a role in the administration, the role of which was played up in the book “The Selling of the President 1968.” source
• Willie Horton, superstar Ailes is largely responsible for turning convicted murderer Willie Horton into a household name during the 1988 presidential election. Horton was released from prison in Massachusetts on Michael Dukakis’ dime, and Horton’s face dominated TV during the era. It also helped to ensure a George H. W. Bush victory. source
• America’s Talking Before the consultant started Fox News, Ailes conceived the talk-show-focused MSNBC precursor America’s Talking, which had a cult following (and led to the success of Chris Matthews) but ultimately faltered. In 2009, Fox started using the “America’s Talking” tagline. How ironic. It’s almost like a dart in NBC’s eye. source

Fox News rules the ratings

• eight the number of consecutive years the network has led the cable news ratings roost
• 16% increase in 2009’s ratings Fox News had over 2008; crazy part – it wasn’t even an election year
• 96% increase in Glenn Beck’s ratings after moving to Fox News from Headline News in 2009 source

How much money does Roger Ailes make Fox News?

• $700 million the amount Fox News makes in profit for News Corp. yearly – more than all the other major TV news outlets combined
• $23
  million the amount Fox News head Roger Ailes made last year – which is more than Rupert Murdoch, his boss made last year source

• Too much influence? Some of Rupert Murdoch’s own family members have questioned just how much influence the guy has in the News Corp. corporate food chain. “I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes’s horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to,” said Matthew Freud, who’s married to Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth. source

Could he run for president? It’s possible

• Friends have suggested he run in 2012. Ailes has influence and knowledge so strong that he could realistically have a shot if he took his political knowledge to the polls. “I have known Roger Ailes for 29 years,” says well-known Republican pollster Frank Luntz. “No one knows how to win better than Roger.” Ailes denies such claims, but the option’s always open just in case. source

• Are the “Good Old Days” gone? In response to Fox News talking heads going on about how we’ve lost our innocence, “The Daily Show’s” John Oliver tried looking for said innocence, and wasn’t able to find it. Decade by decade, he found that it was just as bad. Freaking hilarious. Depressing. And awesome. All at once, guys.

• That was the most unrealistic loss of satellite feed we’ve ever seen. It comes up in the last 20 seconds of the clip, but it’s worth watching, because it comes out of nowhere and the Fox News host appears not to be surprised by the cutoff at all, like she knew it was coming. Rep. Joe Sestak lost his final word as a result of the kerfluffle.