Rupert Murdoch Hedges His Bet

Fox News host Megyn Kelly, grilling McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds:

"Let’s stay on point, I’m not giving [Obama] any credit. I’m saying what the independent analysts say. They say that claim [that Obama would raise taxes on the middle class] is false. And if that’s false, why would John McCain do that, Tucker? Why wouldn’t he just level with the voters and say, “look, he’s going to raise taxes on the wealthy or whatever you consider somebody to be making over $250,000, it’s going to have a trickle down effect. That may not be good for the middle class.” But why say he’s going to raise taxes on the middle class when he’s not?"

(I know the answer: "Because McCain's campaign is nothing but lies, spin and more lies.")

I don't think Fox News is in danger of turning into a "fair and balanced" news operation. I think Murdoch is hedging his bet. With an assuredly Democratic Congress, an Obama Administration that is antagonistic to Fox News would mean that Murdoch would have nobody to turn to for help for his businesses. There are a lot of people in the Congress and in the Democratic party who would be more than happy to do whatever they could to screw Murdoch and Fox News.

Murdoch is a Wingnut, but he is also a businessman. When it was in his interest to do so, Murdoch did favors for the Chinese government. In order to ensure that his Asian satellite television system (Star TV) had good relations with the Chinese government, he dropped the BBC World Service from the system and he also refused to publish a book that the Chinese government did not like.

Cash has no conscience and neither does Murdoch. He will sacrifice his ideology when it suits him to do so. And right now, it suits him to be seen hammering McCain for being a lying sack of former-POW shit.