You nailed it, Dave, with this comment: “What a pathetic excuse for a journalist.” Fox News is a fitting name as it truly is faux news. To second what Hillary once so aptly stated, MAGAs are deplorable.
Excellent summation. The spellchecker in me is compelled to correct you in one matter: it’s Baier, not Bair. That error is forgivable since Baier certainly will never be memorable as a journalist. Rather, he’s just one in a very long line of Fox employees concerned with only one thing: career advancement, the country be damned.
Well...this may not be the most popular thing to say here, but I will give Fox News credit for having her on....and even more to the vice president for having the guts to do it. She was superb in her response to the question about our 45th president's statements about political opposition. She showed herself to be a patriot, in my estimation, unlike her opponent who tried to overthrow our government and should have been convicted by the Senate and barred from ever seeking office again.
I heard on other networks (CNN) that Mr. Baier and Brit Hume (who I still respect a lot) gave her credit for taking the heat. As they should have.
I forced myself to watch part of Sean Hannity afterward. He is the 45th president's unofficial minister of information and propaganda. I read he had to pledge complete loyalty to candidate Trump back in 2015-16 to get the access he has. It was predictable. He did not deviate from the story line and I'm sure his "patrone" at Mar-A-Lago was pleased.
Baier's in a no-win situation. I'm sure he was told to play with sharp elbows during the interview -- and he even admitted to Hannity it is not something he likes to do. The infotainment hosts at Fox are going to do what they do with this interview up through the election. But the vice president called out Fox's selective editing and it may be the first time that was ever called to some of their viewers' attention.
One other thing I noticed: Even though Baier threw everything he had at the vice president, she treated him with respect. She prefaced all answers, with lines like "with all due respect to you." I almost think she was sympathetic to the spot he was in. Baier even said at one point, "We're talking over each other; I apologize." That is a VERY sharp contrast from the way her opponent treats tough questions. Just the day before, our 45th president berated a Bloomberg journalist at an economic forum in Chicago with lines like "you've been wrong your whole life." He sounded like a spoiled brat arguing on the playground.
It was noted on some of the other networks that Mr. Trump would not even go on CNBC. I would be real surprised if MSNBC has or would ever invite him to be on. He certainly would not score points with their viewers and the folks on Fox would have a field day taking jabs at "MSDNC," as Hannity puts it. My impression is that Trump is sitting on what he thinks is a lead, not taking chances and eating clock until the election. (and we know he's going to call "foul" if he loses). The Harris campaign is different. It's almost like Trump, or his handlers, are campaigning not to lose while his opponent is pulling out all the stops.
An incumbent mayor of Waterloo once told me he was campaigning like he was 20 points down and won in a landslide. We shall see what we shall see here.
Pat, I completely agree. She handled the heat and remained respectful. She did not resort to attacking Baier. I’m thinking back to when Trump objected to a question at NABJ, by calling the journalist rude.
I did not have the stomach to hang around for Hannity. I assume it was all predictable. You’ve confirmed that.
Trump is the one who is hiding now. He has rejected another debate, turned down 60 Minutes and cancelled other interviews. He’s doing friendly venues only.
I'll tell you one thing: the vice president was absolutely right in passing on the Al Smith dinner in New York. Her time was much better spent campaigning in Wisconsin. She submitted to the dinner a pre-recorded statement with, in the spirit of the evening, an attempt at humor in a skit with SNL's Molly Shannon and ended in a warm and generous tribute to the charity work of the Catholic Church. Her opponent rose to the dais and, well, when it comes to insult humor, Donald Trump ain't no Don Rickles. He came across as a mean bitter man with the maturity of a petulant child. For him to take a jab at another man's presumed marital infidelity is the height of hypocrisy; especially when he had earlier said the wives and "mistresses" of some "white guys for Harris" group were all voting for him. That's not really funny coming from a guy whose self-presumed irresistibility to women and amorality has been the source of much of his legal troubles. He also took on a lot of folks present. I'm not sure how Sen. Schumer sat there and took it and Michael Bloomberg looked none too pleased. The National Catholic Reporter said in an editorial that Cardinal Dolan should have pulled the plug on this year's dinner. Of course His Eminence is in the tank for Trump, having scored $1.4B in COVID relief money for the Catholic Church in the U.S. in 2020, including $1 million for his own offices in the Archdiocese of New York, not to mention three Supreme Court appointments and the overturning of Roe v. Wade. I'm surprised our 45th president didn't take a couple of jabs at Pope Francis, with whom he's clashed on immigration. I'm sure His Eminence wouldn't have minded, since he wants to be pope himself and in fact has lobbied his brother cardinals with copies of the book, "The Next Pope."
There were very audible boos mixed with applause after our 45th president's remarks. How ironic the dinner came a day after Dolan's brother prelate, Archbishop Joseph Gomez, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, announced an $800 million settlement with survivors of child molestation by clergy in his own Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Pat K's contrast between Trump's lack of respect for interviewers and Harris's politeness to Baier is noteworthy, yet for some reason not surprising to me. Pat and Dave should both be applauded by pointing out the value of Harris' challenges to the Fox audience--Pete Buttigieg has been impressive on Fox; Harris challenged Fox and Baier, in ways Buttigieg has not done.
I watch Fox and the tone of Baier was different than in my history of viewing Fox. Baier assumed the role of asking leading questions as a prosecutor. It seemed Harris answered those questions with stronger answers than given to softball questions tossed up by friendly interviewers.
The only question I have is why did she wait so long.
Good question, Ralph. It seems risky this close to the election. Sooner might have been better. They were keeping her under tight wraps there for a while so as not to do something that interfered with the wave of momentum. I’m glad she’s out there a lot now, making her case to as many audiences as possible.
You are absolutely correct. One addition...that clip Fox showed with Trump talking about the "enemy within" was only HALF of his comment! Fox edited out the damning portion. Other cable networks showed both the full clip and the Fox clip. Gigantic difference. Talk about hack journalism. Unfortunately, those souls watching Fox for years have almost no idea what a liar and unethical phony he is.
Be nice. I’m 70 years old and don’t need to “grow up”. Disagreement is fine. Imitating my mother is not. And please try to come up with a better argument than “whataboutism”.
Baier was rude and interrupted way too much. If you watched the interview and you disagree, please tell me why. I don’t expect every reader to agree but would appreciate informed dialogue.
Oh, I’m glad I’m not your mother and I’m older than you. No whataboutism implied. If you honestly believe DJT has not been asked hundreds of more hard specific questions on policy than your beloved Kamala - well there’s the problem. You dint tell me you were blind.
Good analysis, Dave! I would slightly disagree on two points. Baire was just bullying Harris. He was doing what you would expect Fox to do - Keep the discussion confined to the carefully crafted false narrative that FOX and the GOP Comms machine have designed to keep their audience and base only concerned about "millions of illegals crossing an open border bringing in tons of crime and drugs into America." Without that false narrative, they have nothing to campaign on. Certainly no legislative record. AND, when Baire asked, "Do you think 50% of Americans are misguided, I would like to have seen Harris respond with, "Probably, yes! Most certainly, if they're depending on your network for their primary source of information. And that isn't their fault. It's all on you, FOX News, claiming to be fair and balanced. You're nothing of the sort and you know it."
Honestly, I don't think we're ever going to get beyond this alternative reality that roughly half of us live in until mainstream press and major elected officials start calling out FOX and others for what they are: Peddlers of BS just for ratings and $$. This has been going on since 1996 and now after 28 years, we have the proof of what this dangerous phenomenon called "FOX News" has done to America. Hitler is laughing in his grave.
You nailed it, Dave, with this comment: “What a pathetic excuse for a journalist.” Fox News is a fitting name as it truly is faux news. To second what Hillary once so aptly stated, MAGAs are deplorable.
WHEN Harris wins, she should not grant FOX any interviews. Agreed. 🤞🤞🤞
Sounds like Bair needs some etiquette lessons!
Excellent summation. The spellchecker in me is compelled to correct you in one matter: it’s Baier, not Bair. That error is forgivable since Baier certainly will never be memorable as a journalist. Rather, he’s just one in a very long line of Fox employees concerned with only one thing: career advancement, the country be damned.
Thanks, Chris. Apologies for the spelling error. I should know better.
I’ve corrected the error in the web version.
I’m sorry I missed it. Thanks for the recap!
Fox News is about getting ratings for the lowest rated network on television.
Shock and Scare the viewers……for results!
Well...this may not be the most popular thing to say here, but I will give Fox News credit for having her on....and even more to the vice president for having the guts to do it. She was superb in her response to the question about our 45th president's statements about political opposition. She showed herself to be a patriot, in my estimation, unlike her opponent who tried to overthrow our government and should have been convicted by the Senate and barred from ever seeking office again.
I heard on other networks (CNN) that Mr. Baier and Brit Hume (who I still respect a lot) gave her credit for taking the heat. As they should have.
I forced myself to watch part of Sean Hannity afterward. He is the 45th president's unofficial minister of information and propaganda. I read he had to pledge complete loyalty to candidate Trump back in 2015-16 to get the access he has. It was predictable. He did not deviate from the story line and I'm sure his "patrone" at Mar-A-Lago was pleased.
Baier's in a no-win situation. I'm sure he was told to play with sharp elbows during the interview -- and he even admitted to Hannity it is not something he likes to do. The infotainment hosts at Fox are going to do what they do with this interview up through the election. But the vice president called out Fox's selective editing and it may be the first time that was ever called to some of their viewers' attention.
One other thing I noticed: Even though Baier threw everything he had at the vice president, she treated him with respect. She prefaced all answers, with lines like "with all due respect to you." I almost think she was sympathetic to the spot he was in. Baier even said at one point, "We're talking over each other; I apologize." That is a VERY sharp contrast from the way her opponent treats tough questions. Just the day before, our 45th president berated a Bloomberg journalist at an economic forum in Chicago with lines like "you've been wrong your whole life." He sounded like a spoiled brat arguing on the playground.
It was noted on some of the other networks that Mr. Trump would not even go on CNBC. I would be real surprised if MSNBC has or would ever invite him to be on. He certainly would not score points with their viewers and the folks on Fox would have a field day taking jabs at "MSDNC," as Hannity puts it. My impression is that Trump is sitting on what he thinks is a lead, not taking chances and eating clock until the election. (and we know he's going to call "foul" if he loses). The Harris campaign is different. It's almost like Trump, or his handlers, are campaigning not to lose while his opponent is pulling out all the stops.
An incumbent mayor of Waterloo once told me he was campaigning like he was 20 points down and won in a landslide. We shall see what we shall see here.
Pat, I completely agree. She handled the heat and remained respectful. She did not resort to attacking Baier. I’m thinking back to when Trump objected to a question at NABJ, by calling the journalist rude.
I did not have the stomach to hang around for Hannity. I assume it was all predictable. You’ve confirmed that.
Trump is the one who is hiding now. He has rejected another debate, turned down 60 Minutes and cancelled other interviews. He’s doing friendly venues only.
I'll tell you one thing: the vice president was absolutely right in passing on the Al Smith dinner in New York. Her time was much better spent campaigning in Wisconsin. She submitted to the dinner a pre-recorded statement with, in the spirit of the evening, an attempt at humor in a skit with SNL's Molly Shannon and ended in a warm and generous tribute to the charity work of the Catholic Church. Her opponent rose to the dais and, well, when it comes to insult humor, Donald Trump ain't no Don Rickles. He came across as a mean bitter man with the maturity of a petulant child. For him to take a jab at another man's presumed marital infidelity is the height of hypocrisy; especially when he had earlier said the wives and "mistresses" of some "white guys for Harris" group were all voting for him. That's not really funny coming from a guy whose self-presumed irresistibility to women and amorality has been the source of much of his legal troubles. He also took on a lot of folks present. I'm not sure how Sen. Schumer sat there and took it and Michael Bloomberg looked none too pleased. The National Catholic Reporter said in an editorial that Cardinal Dolan should have pulled the plug on this year's dinner. Of course His Eminence is in the tank for Trump, having scored $1.4B in COVID relief money for the Catholic Church in the U.S. in 2020, including $1 million for his own offices in the Archdiocese of New York, not to mention three Supreme Court appointments and the overturning of Roe v. Wade. I'm surprised our 45th president didn't take a couple of jabs at Pope Francis, with whom he's clashed on immigration. I'm sure His Eminence wouldn't have minded, since he wants to be pope himself and in fact has lobbied his brother cardinals with copies of the book, "The Next Pope."
There were very audible boos mixed with applause after our 45th president's remarks. How ironic the dinner came a day after Dolan's brother prelate, Archbishop Joseph Gomez, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, announced an $800 million settlement with survivors of child molestation by clergy in his own Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Hit the nail on the head, AGAIN, Dave! Keep up your insightful writings, hoping they are widely read!
Thanks, Dean. Not so bad yourself in the Register this morning.
Thanks Dave,
Pat K's contrast between Trump's lack of respect for interviewers and Harris's politeness to Baier is noteworthy, yet for some reason not surprising to me. Pat and Dave should both be applauded by pointing out the value of Harris' challenges to the Fox audience--Pete Buttigieg has been impressive on Fox; Harris challenged Fox and Baier, in ways Buttigieg has not done.
I watch Fox and the tone of Baier was different than in my history of viewing Fox. Baier assumed the role of asking leading questions as a prosecutor. It seemed Harris answered those questions with stronger answers than given to softball questions tossed up by friendly interviewers.
The only question I have is why did she wait so long.
Good question, Ralph. It seems risky this close to the election. Sooner might have been better. They were keeping her under tight wraps there for a while so as not to do something that interfered with the wave of momentum. I’m glad she’s out there a lot now, making her case to as many audiences as possible.
You are absolutely correct. One addition...that clip Fox showed with Trump talking about the "enemy within" was only HALF of his comment! Fox edited out the damning portion. Other cable networks showed both the full clip and the Fox clip. Gigantic difference. Talk about hack journalism. Unfortunately, those souls watching Fox for years have almost no idea what a liar and unethical phony he is.
I didn’t know that. I’ll have to find it.
Blair was as disrespectful as the person-Trump-he was trying to impress.
That’s all the Fox hosts care about. That, and not telling their audience any facts that might upset them.
👍
I thought that Harris held up very well with the Fox reporter. He was trying to embarrass her the entire time.
I believe she proved her ability to handle controverseries when faced with them as president.
Unprofessionally rude? Grow up. Bret’s questions to Harris were tame compared to those routinely given to her opponent.
Be nice. I’m 70 years old and don’t need to “grow up”. Disagreement is fine. Imitating my mother is not. And please try to come up with a better argument than “whataboutism”.
Baier was rude and interrupted way too much. If you watched the interview and you disagree, please tell me why. I don’t expect every reader to agree but would appreciate informed dialogue.
Oh, I’m glad I’m not your mother and I’m older than you. No whataboutism implied. If you honestly believe DJT has not been asked hundreds of more hard specific questions on policy than your beloved Kamala - well there’s the problem. You dint tell me you were blind.
Good analysis, Dave! I would slightly disagree on two points. Baire was just bullying Harris. He was doing what you would expect Fox to do - Keep the discussion confined to the carefully crafted false narrative that FOX and the GOP Comms machine have designed to keep their audience and base only concerned about "millions of illegals crossing an open border bringing in tons of crime and drugs into America." Without that false narrative, they have nothing to campaign on. Certainly no legislative record. AND, when Baire asked, "Do you think 50% of Americans are misguided, I would like to have seen Harris respond with, "Probably, yes! Most certainly, if they're depending on your network for their primary source of information. And that isn't their fault. It's all on you, FOX News, claiming to be fair and balanced. You're nothing of the sort and you know it."
Honestly, I don't think we're ever going to get beyond this alternative reality that roughly half of us live in until mainstream press and major elected officials start calling out FOX and others for what they are: Peddlers of BS just for ratings and $$. This has been going on since 1996 and now after 28 years, we have the proof of what this dangerous phenomenon called "FOX News" has done to America. Hitler is laughing in his grave.
correction. "Blaire was NOT just bullying Harris."