Attacking The Muppets... Again

Jan 30th, 2012

Well, that didn't take long. A short time after the Muppet's entertaining "rebuttal" of Eric Bolling's absurd attacks went viral today, Breitbart's "Editor-In-Chief" of his Big Hollywood blog, John Nolte, couldn't contain himself.

You may recall that Bolling went on multiple Fox outlets to declare that "it's amazing how far the left will go"1 using the Muppets in "brainwashing"2 our children and that explains "why we've got a bunch of Occupy Wall Street people walking all around the country. They've been indoctrinated, literally, for years by this kind of stuff."3

This is, of course, insane. Not so, says Nolte. In fact, he calls the bizarre public spectacle of Bolling's corporate-whore persona colliding with his dementia a "rather innocuous and perfectly valid discussion about the culture."

It's good to know that Andy Breitbart's braintrust freakshow is still hewing to such high standards.

Fine. This is crazy and was utterly predictable. But, it gets better. Here's where Nolte truly boggles:

"The video... puts the Muppets themselves into this controversy, which will only further alienate a very large segment of their audience."

Roll that one over for a minute. Think it through. This is supposed to be the expert on media working for Breitbart. Who is the average Fox viewer?

The Hollywood Reporter took note of Steve Sternberg's sweeping demographic study late last year:

"Fox News has the oldest audience among fully distributed cable networks. The network's average viewer last season was 65 years old, according to Nielsen. Heck, it's viewers are even older than viewers of Hallmark Channel, Military Channel and Golf Channel." EMPHASIS OURS

These aren't parents with young children. These aren't even parents with young adult children. Considering the fact that the Henson Workshop's biggest program, Sesame Street, has been consistently rating a 3.5 share in its core demo of 2 to 5 year olds for the last year and a half, it begs a question... 

Who exactly is going to be alienated here, Mr. Nolte? I'll tell you. Children and their parents who are wondering why Grandma and Grandpa Grumpus are screaming over the phone that Kermit is a Commie. That's who. Young families looking for an explanation as to just when and how the Grams went certifiably mad. That's who.

Oh well. Perhaps you feel bad for Nolte and Bolling. You can show your support by not sharing. Because sharing is Communist. And Communists make them cry.

The Muppets Presser Takes On Fox

Jan 30th, 2012

Kermit and Miss Piggy have some choice words in response to Eric Bolling's claim they are subverting our nation's youth.

Sally Kohn Takes Fox News To School

Jan 12th, 2012
by F. Grey Parker

Our home base is here in North West Indiana. As such, we have been fighting against Gov. Mitch Daniels' "right-to-work" plot since last June.

Just after the New Year, Daniels renewed this odious assault on, well, the advances of the post-Feudal economy that once defined our nation's progress. It is a bitter engagement. For more on this you can click HERE, HERE or HERE. Last night, Sally Kohn kicked some serious ass, in short order, on Fox News.

Fox News Vs... The Muppets?

Dec 3rd, 2011

Yes, indeed. Eric Bolling is warning against the insidious anti-oil industry bias that apparently runs amuck throughout the new Muppets film. We aren't making this up.

Worth 1,000 Words

Aug 21st, 2011

Warren Buffett - the notorious "socialist"

Warren Buffett - Or, The "Socialist" According To Fox

Aug 20th 2011

This is why we don't have honest debates. Fox Business' Eric Bolling responded to the widely read Warren Buffett op-ed from this past Monday by basically conflating his views with socialism. That's all it took.

A highly principled call for tax reform from one of the most successful capitalists in American history is published. His position does not adhere to FOX orthodoxy. Therefore, he is a "socialist."

Here's a portion of what Buffet wrote:

"While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors.

These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places.

Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent."

Look out Warren. The Murdoch Device has been set to "smear." In an exchange with Marc Lamont Hill, Eric Bolling reported exactly the position Fox wants it viewers to decide to agree with.

Via RawStory

"What is this, is he completely a socialist and he’s playing into Mr. Obama’s hands of “Tax anyone who makes money’ and give it to people who don’t work," Bolling asked.

Hill replied: So basically anyone who disagrees with you is a socialist? Now Warren Buffett, one of the greatest profit makers in human history, is a socialist? I mean, come on. He’s simply saying people need to pay their fair share."

Smart Republican Vs. Murdoch Drone

April 3rd, 2011

I am no fan of Peter Schiff's economic philosophies. That said, he is quite brilliant and well informed. The clip below from Media Matters is a truly spectacular exchange between Mr. Schiff and the Murdoch Device's Eric Bolling.

News Flash: Bolling Is Lying... Again

Jan 7th, 2011

Leave it to a stooge from the Murdoch Device, in this case FOXBusiness "commentator" Eric Bolling, to spin the latest job numbers as "bad news."  But the number of provable lies he spouts is troubling... even for a Murdoch Drone.

The most blatant canard he foists relates to what we call "shadow unemployment." He implies that the numbers are primarily down because of people who "have pulled themselves out of the workforce." This is, as any adult who has read the latest numbers will tell you, bullshit. For the very first time a very long time, those numbers actually went down.

It gets better as he smugly dismisses the jobs that were created in the last month:

"A robust economy creates more than 150,000 jobs per month just to keep up with the population."

Okay. Fine. It would be one thing to merely harp on the fact that less jobs we're created than anyone would like. However, Bolling has argued, as all Murdoch Drones do, that a wholesale return to W Era economic policy, and the "W Tax Cuts" in particular, is the only course that can "correct" our economy. The average monthly job creation under the entire George W Bush administration was... wait for it...

31,250 jobs per month.
Bolling can suck it. Where was his criticism much less his righteous indignation then?



It's worth putting his "analysis" in some broader context. Let's take the way-back-machine to just prior to the 2008 Presidential election. After the several month gas price crisis that Summer, Bolling attributed the easing of wholesale barrel prices to... the selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate.