When I saw this Greg Sargent post about the declining popularity of the T-Party, my first thought was, hmmm, I wonder how Fox News is doing in the ratings. And, they're down too.
Which doesn't say everything, but does say something. Namely, that a major media establishment whose entire business model depends upon cultivating and catering to particular ideological cravings can have a powerful effect on national politics. The T-Party was never much of a "grassroots movement." In terms of numbers, it was always fringe.
But there was and is Fox News.
Neither Sargent nor anyone else commenting on this story seems to mention Fox, which to me is all kinds of weird. GOSH. Why is it that this small group of pig-ignorant loons gets to make ransom demands about the entire fucking US economy?
Because a major media entity is backing them up.
Fox, and right wing media overall, have a powerful financial interest in revving up the craziest, most paranoid bullshit imaginable. It makes them rich.
Honestly. Look at everything the right has done since the 2008 elections, and think: how did this work to the interests of Fox News, most of all?
Which is not to let the Left off the hook, but then, also, look at how the standards for reality differ. Who has more influence, the TPs, or Labor? Click the links above, and then click this, from last year.
A slim majority of 52% of Americans say they approve of labor unions, the second lowest approval rating in Gallup's 70-year history of this trend, behind only last year's 48%.
The T-P has NEVER come close in its heyday to what labor scores in its nadir.
The lesson? Own a major media company and fuck America for fun and profit, I guess.