Fox News simply has better production values than MSNBC, regardless of content. There's more news. MSNBC is still mostly prison documentaries on the weekend.

Liberals were always, and always have been, at liberty to ignore Fox News, just as Conservatives have always ignored MSNBC. Both sides ENJOY bashing the other - but that's to fill air time.

The only feathers that have been ruffled are those of liberals - who cannot stand to admit that they do not have liberal control over the media anymore like they did when there were just NBC, ABC, and CBS.

It makes perfect sense but who among us can honestly say that they don't enjoy being righteously indignant? I know I do.

Please Dan, PLEASE follow his advice! I can't stand seeing you link clips of them and Sarah Palin being idiots. It's basic psychology: Reward anyone with attention and they are encouraged. Ignore them and their behavior is discouraged. Treat Republicans like the Internet Trolls they are and just ignore them.

Done & done.

The last paragraph suggests that Fox and other conservative blowhards make it MORE likely that liberal politicians are elected... so why would we want it to go away? Please stay Fox, you're your own worst enemy.

Well, they do have a point. Don't watch it, don't give them pagehits, and stop forwarding their trash designed to make us angry. The more angry it makes us, the happier conservatives get.

Fox News is trying to control the news cycle. Engaging with them on topics like global warming, education, marriage equality or women's health gives their view validity when huge majorities are not undecided. On the other hand, pointing how absurd, disingenuous and racist they are dissuades people from giving them validity on issues like the above that do matter.

I love that "freaking out" about Faux Gnus educates people.
Just ignore the man behind the curtain.

I would actually extend his argument to encompass all popular culture outrage, and the moral panic liberals and progressives routinely engage in with tv shows, movies, video games, and other works of fiction. The endless outrage, usually directed at shocking stuff taken largely out of context, is tiring and distracting. Progressives should be fighting proactively for the social and economic policies they want, not wasting their time hyper-analyzing every aspect of pop culture. Everyone with an English degree these days seems hellbent on misapplying critical theory concepts from the 1980s to every corner of the pop culture landscape, and trying to police everyone's creative impulses. Cultural hegemony may exist, but it's a symptom of concrete social and political problems--the stuff the left needs to be more engaged with if it wants a long-term political success. And yes, Fox is pop culture.

dems have won the popular vote 5/6 for the presidency.

but who controls the house? when do fox voters have the most effect? off-year elections.

ignoring them doesn't fix that problem. fox needs to be thoroughly mocked until they are pariahs and murdock pulls the plug.

I think what Frank Rich is missing is that the liberal activist wing doesn't care about destroying FOX News in any real capacity, nor is that an appropriate goal. What we do and should care about is continuing to win at the ballot box by socializing people to identify with and vote with Democrats, Greens and Socialists. Fox News only works to shoot Republicans in the foot because we rant, rave, and trend on Twitter when Republicans and on air personalities take to FOX and say racist, sexist, backward shit. We publicize them looking bad, and since the GOP has made FOX News a more important part of it's media strategy than it's on national committees, they take flack for it, young people don't want to associate with them, people abandon their tribe and we win more elections.

I really don't think the "santa and jesus are white just because" bit was part of any scheme to get liberals all hopped up, amy more than politicians who spoke of "legitimate rape" were. It was just comfortablr cons saying what they really think. As Uguthra says, that's good for us.

This is what I've been saying.

I agree with Bill Nye. We may feel that their claims require and deserve no serious consideration, but when we ignore them, they pass creationist laws all over our country.

Ignoring them does not make them go away, and for every person it encourages to buy into their narrative of victimhood, it gives the lie to several others. Those who fall for them would never be on our side, but those that see what Fox News does because we draw attention to it may be persuaded.

Curiosity always unravels self-imposed ignorance.

I'm pretty sure SLOG was pushing this partisan crap pretty hard. I would love to see SLOG ignore FoxNews and all the partisan non-issues SLOG uses to try to rile people up with. I mean just yesterday there was a video on here from Media Matters. That is about as liberal partisan as you can get. us-verses-them reporting is what is hurting America. It is tearing our citizens apart. As a Liberal I can admit that Liberals are as much to blame as conservatives for this partisan crap.

@17: Is that why you seem so uncurious?

If anyone is sick of the negativity of partisan media I created a site that helps you get that crap out of your life: CableNewsMustDie.com. There are no adds. No money is made off the site. It's purpose is an attempt to make this country a little better.

@18, troll alert. Liberals are not controlling Congress, did not shut down the government and are not pushing a polarizing agenda that is in opposition to the views of their constituents. Liberals are not out shouting that they refuse to compromise. The RNC/Tea Party are only working for their donors, and judging from a recent poll showing a record low percentage of Americans identifying as Republican and approving of Congress, I think most people are pretty clear on who the problem is with.

@18: Not sure if serious...

What about for fun?

When The Daily Show makes fun of Fox News it's funny. It's also funny when they point out mainstream press being insipid.

I agree that Rich's conclusion is wrong. Feeding off of Fox News perpetuates them, which helps the liberal agenda.

If we ignored Palin during the McCain campaign he very likely could have been elected (shudder). By letting her shoot her mouth off as much as possible she killed his chances.

Not that Obama has a A+ rating with me but still, better than a McCain/Palin.

I so wish the Tea Party would officially break off into a third party, both to divide the conservative voters and to at least allow the GOP to run center-right candidates again...just in case they win.

Thank you, thank you for posting the link to Rich's article!

This one line describing Megyn Kelly, alone was worth the price of admission:

"the latest blonde star in an Ailes stable that seems to emulate Hitchcock’s leading-lady predilections in looks and inchoate malevolence."

Yes, clearly. I, for example, haven't seen Fox News in many years so I only hear about their hilarious gaffes when everyone freaks out. Though my life would have that much less comedy, I can do without.

@21 & 22: I was quite serious and I am quite liberal. If you think conservatives are the only ones that push partisan politics thats a big red flag that you are a little too deep into partisan us-vs-them politics. And yes the SLOG gets really heavy into partisan politics. I've thought a few times that it is too much and I don't need the negativity in my life. But I love this site too much to leave just because of one negative aspect.

As a liberal, I can say that @18 doesn't speak for the rest of us.

They should definitely not be ignored. They should be mocked and belittled with facts and humour. Colbert, Stewart etc are doing a brilliant job.

@18 is tearing our citizens apart.

What is up with the pile on? All I was saying is I wish SLOG wouldn't have so many partisan posts. Click on my name and look at my past comments. They are all pro-liberal responses to partisan posts that were aimed at getting us mad at conservatives. That is the purpose of partisan posts to get people riled up so they will respond (well, the real purpose is to get lots of ad clicks for the dollars). Looking at my past comments I can't believe I take the bait so much.

@31: My issue is that we cannot let the outrageous things they say go unchallenged. Fox News is the most scientifically anti-science group out there. They use carefully tested language and methods to achieve their results, and left alone they have the capacity for near endless damage to not only liberal causes, but our ability to even have a sensible conversation.

The following post was brought to my attention by the School of Doubt blog: http://thefederalist.com/2014/01/17/the-…
The author details the dangers of allowing everyone to pass as experts with no challenge.

Now, are there things that we get upset about that we should let go? Probably, but on balance, that's the price we pay to draw attention to the repeatedly counterfactual and dangerous things they say, like "Jesus was white".

@25,

Thank you.

@31: What I don't get is your worry. Americans have the means to find out every position or study on every subject from every angle on any device at any time of the day and you're fretting about Fox News "left alone" -- quite telling because it seems to indicate that you have the elitist stance that most Americans are too dumb to understand and must be told what to do and how to think.

Correction: @34 refers to @32.

@34: I hold the "elitist" stance that there are experts about subjects who know more about those subjects than most Americans. I also hold the "elitist" stance that there have been studies which have found that Fox News viewers are consistently misinformed about the facts.

Also, I hold the "elitist" stance that when having a factual debate, those who know more about the facts are more valuable to listen to than those who do not.

@36: For the sake of argument let's say that all Fox viewers are, as you say, consistently misinformed about the facts. So then, should it be remedied?

If so, then the next question is by what means or by whom?

It seems to me that you would have to take into consideration the people that are currently misinformed who become un-misinformed on their own.

I went on vacation in December, had no internet and limited TV for more than a week; what little TV I watched was BBC World News.

Came back to new episodes of "The Daily Show," which was funny and all, but I found myself depressed that I was hearing about Fox News again. You don't realize how irrelevant they are until no one is dignifying them with a response.

The stats about Democrats vs. Republicans in the White House aren't as revealing as they're made out to be.

For one, control of Congress? That hasn't favored Democrats, and Republicans have been able to make strong gains at times.

The partisan realignment after the Civil Rights Act, the recessions occurring in 1992 and 2008, the changing demographics, etc. are probably much more important than the news. While Fox News might be pushing the GOP too far to the right in the presidential races, with gerrymandering creating safe GOP seats they're also pushing GOP legislators too far to the right to get anything productive done. And at the state level, they have an effect as well, and it's not good either.

@32 While I agree Fox News was the first to turn cable news partisan, MSNBC has caught right up and is pushing the same crap just from the other "side". Maybe not at the extreme level that Fox does but the liberal side of partisan media (MSNBC, Media Matters, partisan blogs etc...) is also part of the reason that congress can not get along. Fox News and MSNBC turns the other side into such enemies that congress can no longer compromise because they will be compromising with the devil. That is how bad partisan media makes the other side out to be. Look at the monster Fox News has made our President out to be. His own wife wouldn't recognize the President Fox News has created in their viewers minds. MSNBC did the same with Bush. Again though not to the crazy extent Fox has done to Obama. I'm just saying the blame isn't just on one side. Both sides are dividing America. Conflict sells. Life is hard enough to be wrapped up in that crap.

@37: By drawing attention to their lies and misdirections.

@40: If we have an increasing divide in this country, it comes from the faction who has become more radicalized. That is not the liberals. Liberals are growing louder and louder because politesse was just letting the Republicans run as far to the right as they wanted. I will admit to not watching much MSNBC, save for Rachel Maddow, but what I see on her show is solid journalism with the bias being mostly in topic selection. The divide exists, but the two sides are not equally responsible. The side which withdrew is more responsible.

Look to the classic problem of the Prisoner's dilemma. For a long time the Democrats were the people who realized that by never rolling on their partner, some of the time they would both get the best possible outcome. The Republicans then realized that the Democrats were never going to turn on them, so they started rolling on them every time. The Democrats can either "stick to their guns", or act in an enlightened manner, and flip to refusing to allow the Republicans to sandbag them. This creates a stark divide, as it ought, when two sides are so far apart.

We have an austerity economy, which is something the Democrats have long said was awful. It happened because for too long, they didn't show their backbone. Now that they've found it, you want us to go back to "live and let live"? Forget it.

"We have an austerity economy, which is something the Democrats have long said was awful. It happened because for too long, they didn't show their backbone. Now that they've found it, you want us to go back to "live and let live"? Forget it."

Democrats have found their backbone??? You may want to tell that to congress. I would love love love if Democrats in power would find their backbone.

And what you are seeing is not backbone it is passive aggression.

the right wing needs you to call the right wing racist to convince the white working class that the right wing has its back

I thought most of the content on @43's site made sense. I don't watch any of that cable crap either. Both MSNBC and Fox drive me nuts. I prefer the BBC. Good luck, Markus Taylor.

@41: What you see as lies and misdirection, they (the other side) sees as the truth and another point of view. The best that can be achieved is a stalemate, unless you make your ideas compelling enough to change opinions.
Also, fundamentally, it's not a question of facts. Both Fox and MSNBC use AP, Reuters, and the other wires. It's about opinion and philosophy. For a healthier life, liberals need to accommodate adversarial opinions and philosophy; unlike conservatives and libertarians who celebrate these things as personal convictions.

@46, perfect theater. Just like Fox, different talking heads repeating the lies constitutes the news cycle. The country isn't becoming more partisan. People have caught on, and a majority aren't buying that story anymore. Congress is still partisan because of jerrymandering, but it won't last forever. In the meantime, Fox and the RNC will keep telling he lies to keep the donors filling the coffers. It's the only logical explanation for how bad they did predicting Romney's chances in she last Presidential election - they didn't care as long as the money rolled in.

Yeah, Democrats won the popular vote in 5 of 6 elections at the same time liberals were reacting to Fox at every turn. Maybe it's the reactions, the firestorms, that are winning elections. Before Fox the same ignorant, racist, hateful shit was everywhere in the country but the mainstream media didn't discuss it openly.

Fox puts that stuff out there in the light of day so it can be refuted.

@47: And yet factually, it is lies and misdirection. I get it. I admire the evil genius at work at Fox. They have an agenda, and they know that fear sells, so that's what they use. Their success doesn't make them less wicked. Every dictator has had followers who bought their lies and hatred.

Do you still believe humans are rational?

Thank you, Jesus-on-a-cloud, for having someone say out loud in a public platform what I've been saying for years. DON'T FEED THE TROLLS. I have a coworker who has serious narcissism issues. She'll snag you and bend your ears for hours about Her Latest Suffering (nearly all of which is self-created). Years ago I just began walking away from her. She didn't even care, because she knew there were 10 other people that didn't know how to do that. When they complain to me about how much effort it takes to stop a conversation with this person I say, simply, 'don't feed the troll'. In other words, YOU are helping to create the situation by sitting down and listening for hours. Stop. Walk away. Anyway, I digress. The point is that Frank Rich is saying the same thing. Gradually the scales are tipping away from the fear-mongering. Because Obama's been in office and the world has not stopped spinning.

Get your history straight: Saint Nicholas died in 343; the Turkic invasion of Byzantine Anatolia did not begin until the late 11th century.

@9: "Fox News is trying to control the news cycle."

And they do, to an extent. The rest of the media loves a "scuffle", they love drama, they'll republish Fox lies gladly if it gets people hatewatching.

There's another issue with the analysis - it doesn't take into account the shift of the Overton Window steadily Rightward since the 1960s. Democrats win more national elections now not because people are more liberal/progressive/socialist, but because Democratic candidates are less liberal/progressive/socialist. The public hasn't actually changed much, it's just that people who are Center-Right now align perfectly with the Dems' platforms, and people on the actual Left have no other option except to vote for the least-Right-wing candidate. In shifting the discourse to the Right, however, the GOP is killing itself by limiting its appeal to fewer and fewer people at the extreme Right.