2008-11-07 Watching Them Squirm

2008-11-07 Mark Ames AlterNet \Barack Obama/victory\Fox News\freerepublic.com\Pajamas Media\Rick Moran http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/106234/watching_them_squirm:_is_fox_news_abandoning_the_mob_it_created?page=1 Watching Them Squirm: Is Fox News Abandoning the Mob It Created? Watching Them Squirm  The Fox execs also did their best to affect a civil, gracious tone. That's why watching the Fox News agony-of-defeat spectacle was more subtle than I'd expected: The mob leaders had decided to abandon the mob -- meaning if I wanted to get a glimpse into the raw screeching agony that the right wing really feels when the camera is turned off, I would have to head into the blog world, where they could squeal their lungs out in safe anonymity. The "patriots" at Freerepublic.com, which boasts millions of visitors, went through at least four rapid stages of decline on Election Day: first, hope; then utter shock at the realization of defeat; then outrage and a sense of betrayal; and finally a retreat into Christian prayer and empty threats of Red Dawn armed insurrection. The Freepers aren't just outraged at Obama and the communist-Islamo-terrorists taking over the White House; they are also outraged at the Republican Party that "betrayed" them, outraged at the American population that proved to be nothing but brainwashed "sheeple" (someone named kimchilover wrote, "For the first time, in my adult life, I am ashamed of my country ... my little take on Michelle's sentiments"), and even outraged at, yes, Fox News, which they quickly sensed was abandoning them.

Fox News follows McCain's lead and takes the high road on Obama's victory, leaving the misinformed and inflamed mob they helped to create feeling angry and abandoned.   