As the dust clears, it’s inevitable that there’ll be some watery eyes and sniffling. Let’s take a look!
Dana Milbank recently published a book called The Tears of a Clown: Glenn Beck and the Tea Bagging of America. It has been flying off the shelves, finding no readers to stay with, and flying right back. If you think Milbank might not be the most gracious loser, it’s interesting that you say that, because he really isn’t. Here he is in the Washington Post complaining about Fox News:
At Rupert Murdoch’s cable network, the entity that birthed and nurtured the Tea Party movement, Election Day was the culmination of two years of hard work to bring down Barack Obama – and it was time for an on-air celebration of a job well done…
“A lot of Americans have been anticipating this day,” Glenn Beck told his viewers, crediting his own “monumental” effort to invigorate the Tea Party movement and the “amazing things” that resulted.
Longtime Fox newsman Brit Hume dropped by mid-morning Tuesday to foretell a “huge washout of Democrats,” and why: “The turning point, Bill, in this election cycle, was when the Tea Party activists . . . threw in with the Republicans” – a marriage arranged in no small part by Fox News…
Fox’s Beck accepted credit for the victory even before most polls opened, when he arrived on the set of Fox & Friends at 7 a.m. wearing a black paramilitary sweater. He called it the “culmination” of what he began two years ago. “I was trying to convince people: You’re not alone. You’re not alone,” he said.
Indeed, they were not. Fox News was with them.
Not fair! Beck’s career was supposed to have been demolished by Milbank’s blockbuster of a book. Oh well.
Meanwhile, over at MSNBC, one-third to one-half as many viewers were watching how real journalism is done:
Isn’t it weird how the winner of an election doesn’t feel the need to jump through your hoops, Chris, and might even make fun of you for being a jerk? The optics are pretty great, though: a scowling blimp-head petulantly berating an attractive lady with a beaming smile. You win again, Chris Matthews!
(See also 5 Best Moments from MSNBC’s Apocalyptic Night. So they’re back to “The Place for Politics”? What happened to “Lean Forward”? Maybe that didn’t seem like such a great message to send their liberal audience on that particular night…)
But Dems and Dem-enablers weren’t all sore losers last night. Some of them were sore winners! Here’s Barney Frank, celebrating his continued grasp on power against those who might try to wrest it from his rightful hands:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxeQty8Dc8UHow low do you need to be to send your significant other to heckle your opponent, and then heckle him about it again after you win? There’s not even a word for how low that is, so we’ll just call it “Barney.”
There will be much more of this in the days and weeks ahead. Red map, red faces. Enjoy!
P.S. Here is the face of MSNBC. A picture is worth a thousand “Special Comments”:
Keith Olbermann is laughing because he lost something very precious to him but he doesn’t care because you’re stupid so there.
P.P.S. I apologize for saying MSNBC had one-third of FNC’s audience. They didn’t quite achieve that. They could’ve painted Chris Matthews’ face on a balloon and gotten better ratings. (I’m assuming that’s not what we saw in that clip.)
