O'Hehir: Fox on Election Night 2008 seemed a weak and piteous thing,

[BurtWorm]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/11/05/watching_fox/print.html

I watched Fox News for five hours last night
As Obama's victory became undeniable, Brit Hume moved beyond grief and anger with Karl Rove. And Juan Williams justified his existence.

By Andrew O'Hehir

Nov. 06, 2008 |

On my way toward the prodigious outdoor party that broke out shortly after 11 p.m. on the streets of Fort Greene, the multiracial Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhood where I live -- a party to celebrate a moment of generational and political shift in America unlike anything I've ever experienced -- I spent a few hours with a somewhat different demographic. But I'm not here to kick sand in the face of the Fox News Channel. For the first time in its existence, Fox on Election Night 2008 seemed a weak and piteous thing, trying to cover its nakedness with shreds of dignity, and staring mortality right in the face.

And I'm just talking about the commercials. Before Brit Hume informed Fox viewers just past 11 p.m. Eastern, in the dispassionate tones of a physician delivering a grave prognosis, that Barack Obama had been elected president, we got several iterations of a 60-second ad for Plavix, a pharmaceutical "proven to help protect against future heart attack or stroke." This was followed, at least once, by a commercial for another drug (I didn't catch its name) that may relieve symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. Along with heart failure and difficulty breathing, we also had some unintentional humor on the road to President-elect Obama's victory address. Much earlier in the evening we were told that Fox's Election Night coverage was brought to us by "Crest -- Whitening Expressions!"

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:spray:

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Hume looked the happiest. That should tell you something.

When others look gloomier than Hume, it's bad.

[Ilsa]

3. I think the only times he smiles is when a Bush wins an election. nt

[louis-t]

2. Thanks for sharing that. Fox is blocked on my TV

so I would never have been able to enjoy the irony.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Good thing, too. Your TV's screen won't get smashed.

[Xipe Totec]

5. My son's girlfriend ran screaming through the streets of Puebla, Mexico

She was overjoyed with Obama's victory.

Her host family was amazed that Obama won.

[Mike Daniels]

6. I thought Hume gave a pretty good / positive narrative after Obama's speech

[FVZA_Colonel]

7. It was a surprisingly boring night.

I honestly was expecting more "wailing and gnashing of teeth," but instead we got people who were just going through the motions and just wanted to go home and slide under the covers.

[AlCzervik]

8. Fox actually called some states before other networks. I think CNN had the best coverage

John King had me hooked on that map when you culd go down deep and look at the counties and sorry to say M$NBC was terrible, too much yapping and not enough data.

[jazzjunkysue]

9. "that possibility hung there in the background like a rancid moose cadaver"

"Even on Fox News no one had the stomach on this historic night to begin hyping her as a 2012 candidate, but that possibility hung there in the background like a rancid moose cadaver"

Good read.

Basically, they down-shifted to:

"Barack only won because he's black."

Pretty amazing, when you remember when he wasn't black enough, when we hated blacks, when he was a marxist, when he was a socialist, and of course, when he was a taxer who would take your gun away.

Now, apparently, if one subscribes to Faux news, one must accept the new reality that a black presidential candidate is unbeatable.

Let's hope the GOP can scrape up their own black man 8 years from now.