From News Hounds:
Bret Baier visited The O’Reilly Factor tonight to discuss his somewhat contentious interview with Mitt Romney the day before. Apparently, Romney was not pleased and complained that Baier was overly aggressive. Contentious interview with a Republican candidate? A discussion on the top-rated O’Reilly about it in which Baier suggests Romney is a sissy? Is Fox throwing its weight behind its former contributor Newt Gingrich – who, it just so happens, had an hourlong lapdog interview with Hannity tonight? Or is Baier really trying to be fair and balanced with tough questions?
Early on in their discussion Baier told O’Reilly that Romney “was irritated by the interview after we were done.”
…snip…
[…] Baier said Romney “made it clear at the end of the interview” that he was not pleased. When pressed for details, Baier said, “He said he thought it was overly aggressive.”
“He said that to you? He said it was overly aggressive?” an obviously surprised O’Reilly asked.
“He did,” Baier told him.
“Wow,” O’Reilly said.
Baier added, “As we were walking in the ‘walk and talk’ and then after we finished, he went to his holding room and then came back and said he didn’t like the interview and thought it was uncalled for.”
(Video at News Hounds link)
From Alex Pareene at Salon:
We all know the basic facts: A lot of conservatives see Romney as completely unacceptable. The more pragmatic ones see Gingrich as wholly unelectable. Fox News is run by consummate conservative elite Roger Ailes. Ailes has two objectives: Generate ratings and elect Republicans. The Gingriches of the world excite Fox viewers, because of their shamelessness. Romney excites no one, but he’ll need Fox’s support if he ends up the beneficiary of a Gingrich collapse.
Fox has indulged its audience’s brief surges of affection for unelectable fringe candidates, from Trump through Cain, but the channel’s always been careful to remind the base that they may eventually have to hold their noses and vote for Romney. Karl Rove, who’s already running a shadow campaign against Obama, has made this point explicitly during his Fox appearances.
…snip…
Watching Fox this morning, clips of Gingrich’s Hannity interview were replayed multiple times. Ron Paul’s devastating anti-Gingrich ad was excerpted for a minute, followed by a clip of Romney sounding like he believed in anthropogenic climate change.
The network seems, in other words, undecided at the moment, or at least willing to see if Gingrich can pull this out without humiliating himself like he always does. The Rovians may yet win the day, but for now Fox seems to be joining the GOP base in convincing itself that Gingrich is electable.
HYSTERICAL RAISINS 
For what it’s worth, most of the Huckabee bloggers with whom I’m still in contact are backing Ron Paul now.
One of them seems to be going for Gingrich. And one for Santorum, but he’s always a bit weird.
Anyway … the Republicans should have had a shot at unseating Pres. Obama, but I don’t see it happening with this field.
“And one for Santorum, but he’s always a bit weird.”
Do you mean that Santorum’s weird, or the blogger rooting for him?
Does it matter?
lol!!
No, I guess not. Good point.
I meant the blogger, but now that you mention it …
i’m trying to decide if that’s surprising or not. i would have thought that they’d go to botox batshit bachmann or frothy santorum before ron paul.
I think it’s because they’re going for personal integrity. While I’ve lost that image of Gov. Huckabee, what attracted me to him in the first place was believing that he was honest. I do think that Rep. Paul is honest about what he says and believes (except denying that he’s a racist … but perhaps he even rationalizes that).
I think that a lot of Huckabee supporters probably did go to Bachmann and Santorum, but I’ve quit following a lot of the old Huckabee bloggers. I thought about checking in on the one who’s obsessed with Palin … but then I decided it would only be painful.
if they’re looking for honesty, i guess the only one to go to is ron paul, even though he is a racist who denies it, as you said. pickins’ are slim this time around. i think they should all just stay home.
Don’t worry about Willard… Tomorrow, he’ll probably wake up thinking this Fox interview was the best time he had in years…
tomorrow, he’ll say he never did an interview with bret baier.
is that callista standing there? that looked like her schnozz.
I’m personally rooting for Newt. I like salamanders.
i think they’re both so flawed that it doesn’t matter. i used to be a bit afraid of mittsie, but i think that newtie and the others have damaged him so, he won’t be able to recover. this interview might have been the straw that broke the plastic camel’s back. of course, the favor was returned. mittsie has been flinging poo at newtie. ron paul has joined in, too, as well as botox batshit bachmann. i’m starting to wonder if they’ll have a candidate at all. 😆
So mittens has lost his cool? Where did he get cool at? And now all the chatter has it that Cocksman, I mean Grinch, shall be the one anoited by Ailes. This is setting up for a supreme battle with the country club set and their champion. This would be a good time to invest in popcorn futures!
when was mittsie ever cool? frigid or icy, yes, but never cool. did you see the video of him walking around the little restaurant (i think it was in new hampshire) and trying to be all friendly and upbeat as though he had a personality? i don’t think even one person bothered to stop eating. it was pretty hilarious.
Oooooh, it makes me so mad I could just spit. You promised me you’d be nice. I’m the popular boy! What is the world coming too when a pinky-swear counts for nothing anymore?
are mormons allowed to pinky swear? maybe that was the loophole.
I’m getting sleepy as this slate is ….. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
it’s become a reality show, frank. or maybe a soap opera.
Mitt will soon join Herman now that Fox has apparently dumped him. Wonder what Mitt did to piss off Rupert? Love the graphic
hansi
d’oh! i didn’t know until right now that you were the blithering idiot, hansi! i’m gonna need a rolladex to keep track of you kids. 😉
i think roger ailes is the one who hates mittsie. i don’t know why, but i guess he’s just going along with everyone else. it seems nobody likes him.
p.s. your lying sack of shit is inspired!! 😆
This race of Gluebiscuits is hard to take seriously on many levels. It honestly feels like it’s been going on for a year or two already, but they’re still a MONTH away from the starting gate being open in Iowa. We got almost a YEAR of this left. Then they’ll start primping for the next race.
But all this pre-game nonsense about who is going to win. Has nobody ever heard of the Republican party before? The Democrats fall in love and the Republicans fall in line. All you need to know is who the Republican “heir apparent” is.
Once Huckabee passed, there were only ever 2 horses in this race with a chance. Romney would be the heir apparent, if not for Newt being the “party leader” of the 90’s. The rest are just setting up for their next run or are in it for their egos. I always expected everyone not comfortable with Romney would ultimately line up behind Newt, even just as their 4th or 5th choice.
Neither have many excited, but the only question left before this race actually starts is “Which one of the two has the bigger pile of 3rd, 4th and 5th picks?” Odds are, whoever is nicer to the other losers will win. (SEE: Romney trying to help Mr Amnesia with what departments he will kill off.)
We really need to stop this nonsense with campaigns beginning as soon as the last one is over. Publicly funded candidates, a few real debates taking place in a 3 or 4 month window, and getting rid of Citizens United will cut down on corporate influence and corruption. We’d get better candidates and politicians who might actually work for the people who elected them.
Bullshit costs money and the more money they have, the more bullshit we get covered in.
From Mother Jones:
“The World is Fast Approaching Peak Gingrich”
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/11/world-fast-approaching-peak-gingrich
I don’t believe Fox News is throwing its weight behind Gingrich. He’ll soon get his turn. After reading author and neuroscientist Sam Harris’ e-book Lying, I am more convinced than ever that character should heavily factor into the presidential race.
I agree about character (by the way, Elizabeth, I’m a former Republican and actually worked for a Republican in the 2008 primary).
For that reason alone, I can’t support any of the major Repubilcan candidates. I haven’t quite decided yet whether I’m voting third party again or backing Pres. Obama. It might be nice to vote for a winning candidate for once.
I hadn’t fully realized the state of the current Republican party until I joined this blog…what an eye opener!The religiosity and appalling lack of competence by some of the candidates caught me by surprise. That said, I’m still pulling for Huntsman (unfortunately, a minor candidate).
I’ll probably vote for Huntsman in the NH primary, since I can do so as an independent.
Yes, it is too bad that the only non-nut running for the GOP nomination is so far down in the polls.
Yeah!! Great new video of Huntsman daughters spoofing Sex Back:
Buddy Roemer is also a non-nut, or at least less of a nut than everyone other than Huntsman, but he’s even farther down the polls than Huntsman.
i’ll take that as the highest compliment, elizabeth. if one person is better informed due to the nonsense here, then all the work is worth it. i know that i learn a lot from researching the stories and even more from the raisinettes.
Elizabeth, the problem with going by “character” is that precious few candidates for office have any to begin with, and those that do quickly have it beaten into submission.
But it’s all a dog & pony show for public consumption. If I had the money for the best PR firms, if my opposition researchers could keep the focus on others instead of me and if I could bribe into silence every tramp I’ve stamped, even I could achieve Sainthood..at least for long enough to get elected.
Look at the much-loved Brett Farve. With all his years in the spotlight, did anybody think he liked to send pictures of his Wiener around? Did anybody expect anti-gay Republican Larry Craig to be trolling airport bathrooms looking for man-on-man action? Likewise, given his lengthy racist “past”, did anybody expect Senator Strom Thurmond to have (gasp!) a black daughter? Until they are busted, (aka made human) they all have decent character, or at least get to claim they do. With regards to character, we are prisoners of what we’re told.
The only thing you have to go by is their proposed policies, their track record and your best guess as to the likelihood of them following through. But it’s not as hard as it sounds. They all “dance with the ones that brung ’em”, the ones paying their bills. Republicans rule for the benefit of the Top 10%, with some allowances for how much they want/need to cater to the fundies and rednecks. Democrats are trickier. Most Democrats rule for the benefit of the Top 10%, but some rule for the Top 25%. You have to figure out is whether they are Wanna-Be GOP, progressives, or members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Instead of rednecks and fundies, their variance is in whatever industry, union, environmental, or erstwhile cause they want/must play tunes for.
But really, all but the “most talented” politicians fail to hide what direction they want to go. You just have to watch…and suffer through it. Once elected, all you have to do is look at the donation receipts to know what they’ll really do. (Damn Super PACs!)
Hunstman has problem baggage of his own:
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/09/jon-huntsman-pyramid-scheme-mlm
Mr Huntsman, 51, is the son of billionaire Jon Huntsman Sr, who founded a large chemical manufacturer.
He dropped out of high school to play keyboard in a rock band, later finishing school and graduating from the University of Pennsylvania. He also served as a Mormon missionary in Taiwan, ambassador to Singapore under George Bush Sr, and is said to speak fluent Mandarin.
(He IS the 1%!)
————-
Jon Huntsman has not qualified to participate in a Dec. 10 debate in Iowa, one of the only nationally televised debates remaining before the state holds its caucus Jan. 3.
The Des Moines Register reported earlier this week that Huntsman hasn’t met the criteria needed to participate in the ABC News debate: a 5 percent showing in a national candidate poll or the Register’s Iowa Poll between Oct. 1 and Dec. 5 of this year.
Huntsman, the former governor of Utah who has also served as U.S. ambassador to China, is polling at 8 percent in New Hampshire, according to a recent WMUR poll, but earned just 1 percent in the Register’s Iowa Poll conducted in October. He managed 3 percent in recent national polls conducted by CNN/Opinion Research and Fox News, according to RealClearPolitics.
The candidates currently qualified to take part in the Dec. 10 debate are Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, according to the Register.
Huntsman has qualified to participate in a Dec. 15 debate in Iowa that will be televised by Fox News, the Register reported.
A Huntsman campaign spokesman declined comment yesterday.
Fascinating article! I dug around and tried to find Huntsman’s rebuttal or some sort of explanation, but could not find one! I can’t penalize someone who was born into the 1%, and would actually prefer a candidate who is business savvy (and successful at what he does). One reason I like Huntsman is I feel he could bring the two parties together under his charismatic leadership. I’m fairly certain we will find (or discredit) the Higgs boson and/or prove/disprove whether neutrinos travel faster than the speed of light before that happens. Most unfortunately for politics (fortunately for physics).
i used to work sniffing out fraudulent merchants in the credit card industry. i can’t tell you how many pyramid schemes are out there and how much they steal from people. places like nu skin had so many complaints from people who charged thousands of dollars on their credit cards and got nothing in return. they thought they were going to be entrepreneurs, but they just got ripped off. those places also had unbelievable numbers of complaints from people who bought their shitty products.
many years ago, i won a cruise from a radio station (i used to win all kindsa stuff). i didn’t want a fight between my best friend at the time and my sister, so i took my mom. on the ship, there was a convention for a nu skin. it was like a friggin’ cult!
by the way, this is interesting. poor huntsman is taking a kick in the crotch again. from wiki:
Jon Stewart had a bit of fun with Mittsie. Check it out at ComedyCentral.com, I highly recommend it!
i’ve never missed an episode of the daily show since the very beginning. i remember when jon stewart replaced craig kilborn, i thought the show wouldn’t be very funny. boy, was i wrong!