Their strategy of demagoguing Limbaugh as the leader of the GOP made sense because it invited a comparison between Rush and The One, which, given their relative popular appeal, is a good match-up for Democrats. The anti-Fox strategy makes zero sense considering that (a) the public thinks the media is too liberal, which Fox uses to frame itself as a needed corrective, and (b) Fox’s most high-profile competition, such as it is, spent a fair chunk of the Bush years screaming about fascism and insisting that Roger Ailes runs a more dangerous organization than Osama Bin Laden. Not a good match-up. I assume the Fox-baiting is simply red meat they’re throwing to liberals to try to take the heat off on Afghanistan and “don’t ask, don’t tell,” but when even the Nation’s telling them to stop whining, the move to Plan B can’t be long in coming.
