Six pages of comments and nobody has mentioned the man who employs Morris and all the other GOP shills on FOX?

One more time: FOX is part of News Corporation and the talking heads know that the way to curry favour with Uncle Rupert is to talk up the corporate line. And of course the corporate line is the GOP line, and vice versa.

FOX News turned 12 years old today. This is the internal memo (link at sig) that chairman Roger Ailes just sent to FOX staff:

Twelve years ago today, history was made as we launched the FOX News Channel and the media landscape was changed forever. Facing an entrenched 16 year old network, another backed by the vast resources of Microsoft and General Electric, and a skeptical media openly rooting for us to fail, FNC launched against exceedingly long odds.

But here we are, twelve years later, not only having defied the naysayers, but our journalism has forced other news organizations to reexamine how they present the news. You have made the brilliant vision of Rupert Murdoch a reality as we have proved that the American public wants, and needs, news presented in a fair and balanced manner.

Here's what we have accomplished in twelve years:

* FNC has been #1 in total day and prime total audience since January 2002, 81 consecutive months

* FNC has been #1 in total day 25-54 demo since December of 2001, 82 consecutive months

* In Sep '08, FNC had its 2nd highest rated month EVER in Prime (highest ever in April 2003)

* FNC had 3% of the Total Day cable news market share in 1997...today our share is 39%

So take a moment today to reflect on and enjoy your accomplishments, but keep in mind that we still face substantial challenges from other news organizations. We must continue to outwork, outthink and outperform the competition everyday.

I met with Mr. Murdoch this morning and he asked that I pass along his personal thanks for all of your efforts. He has great admiration for the success you have achieved.

I am proud of all of you and I hope you appreciate how fortunate we are to be working at FNC during this historic time. With your hard work and the continued, unwavering support of Mr. Murdoch, I'm confident that our best days are still ahead of us.

Congratulations.

Notice the repeated invocations of Murdoch's name: a real cult of personality. And I like the use of that word "outperform". Murdoch is the tabloid sleaze king who realized that "news" can be packaged as entertainment and sold to gullible fools en masse. It doesn't matter if it's true or not, it doesn't even have to make sense.

Dick Morris didn't just crawl out from under a rock. He was hand-picked by Murdoch and planted on your TV screen for a very specific purpose.

I am delighted that my favourite cartoonist is now running a series on Palin. Click the link for today's cartoon, and watch how he develops the story over coming days. The man is brilliant.

Like I said, we should be going after Murdoch, not his minions.

But it's worth noting Dick Morris's column today after McCain's withering performance in the second debate last night. He days Obama is "peaking too soon" and predicts a tight finish by Nov 4. Make a note of that one, folks.

"Useful fools" like this one always get thrown off the train as soon as the station comes into view. OTOH, it's amazing how an avowed anti-Semite like this one could be embraced by the rabidly Zionist Murdoch media.

Apparently (it's all very hush hush) Rupert Murdoch's mother was a Jew, which makes him Jewish according to the tradition of matriarchal lineage. While he has never claimed to be loyal to the Jewish faith, Murdoch has frequently expressed his personal commitment to Israel. Not that there's anything wrong with that! But I think the public has a right to know where Murdoch stands politically, if not religiously.

Especially given how:

(a) the Murdoch media pushes a relentlessly pro-Israel line, and

(b) the Bush administration has been dominated by pro-Israeli neocons, many of whom are Jewish, and

(c) the pro-Israel lobby including AIPAC currently wields extraordinary power over both major parties, and

(d) people like Larry Franklin have been charged with spying for Israel, and

(e) Mossad agents were reportedly seen (FOX News covered it) dancing on a New York rooftop and high-fiving each other as the twin towers burned, and

(f) senior Israeli politicians welcomed the events of 9-11 because they felt it would ensure unwavering US support for the state of Israel, and

(g) the invasion of Iraq and sabre-rattling at Iran (plus many other areas of US foreign policy under Bush) are generally seen as positives for the security Israel, and

(h) so on and so on...

Don't get me wrong, please folks. I have huge respect for many great and brave Jewish commentators like Joshua Micah Marshall and Australia's Antony Loewenstein, and I have had many Jewish friends in my own life. I am NOT an anti-Semite (although I strongly expect to be labelled as such for posting this comment).

But Israel today is a murderous apartheid state, and extremist Zionist voices currently wield extraordinary control over the US media and US government policy. It's time the people of the USA woke up to what's going on - progressive Jewish voices are now beginning to make themselves heard, but all the Presidential candidates still pretend that rampant militarism across the Middle East is best way to ensure Israel's security. It's absurd,and dangerous.

Glenn, sorry if this comment is wandering off-topic, but if we are going to have a debate about FOX News' and "anti-Semitism", at least let's not bullshit about the state of play right now.