The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for February, 2023

Well, it's been quite a month, hasn't it? There's been so much world-class ass clownery going on that even a hysterical, ranting speech from Vladimir Putin to mark the first anniversary of his brutal invasion of Ukraine doesn't rise to the level of an award ... and that's saying something.

I believe this is also the first month in which I've given two consecutive awards - a Right-Cheek and a Special - to the same person, Georgia Reprehensive Marjorie Taylor Greene, a true paragon of cringeworthy ass clownery.

But we need to recognize a Left-Cheek Ass Clown for the month, and I felt like the answer was obvious. Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the award for 

The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for February, 2023

is presented to

Fox "News" Corporation

and

Its On-Air Commentators

Fox News, which once used the tag line "fair and balanced," has long since proved itself to be neither fair  nor balanced, reflecting a dichotomy between a news reporting operation that at least made a meagre effort to effectively report the news, and an on-air entertainment operation whose commentary has become the reliable mouthpiece of the Republican Party and hard-right conservative voices. "Fair and Balanced" was replaced as a slogan later by "We Report, You Decide" ... which would have been a better slogan had it read, "We Lie and Distort, You Rage at Imaginary Horrors." 

Fox News' complete lack of truth and accuracy in reporting to avoid angering Der Furor and losing its audience to more extreme networks was laid open for all to see this month when e-mails and other internal documents from various Fox managers and on-air personalities were made public as part of a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems.

You will recall that Fox News has consistently and steadily given air time to Republican charges that the 2020 election was rigged to ensure the loss of Der Furor and that, in particular, voting machines manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems had been manipulated to change votes for Der Furor to votes for Joe Biden. No evidence of this was ever supplied, but that did not slow down Fox's allegations of fraud and vote manipulation by Dominion, even though its opinion stars knew that accusers like lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani were peddling evidence-free nonsense.

For example, Fox commentator Tucker Carlson* wrote to fellow Fox commentator Laura Ingraham that, 

“Sidney Powell is lying by the way. I caught her. It’s insane.” 

Ms Ingraham wrote back, 

“Sidney [Powell] is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy [Giuliani].”

But wait - there's more!

Earlier this week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy** turned over exclusive access to 44,000 hours of security videos from January 6th, 2021, to Tucker Carlson in order to fulfill a promise made to his hard-right supporters to gain their votes for his speakership ... but without Congressional Republicans having to put their fingerprints on the action. This will, of course, allow Fox to continue to pander to its extreme right, election-denying base, helping to protect its share of the increasingly crowded tinfoil hat market while stoking rage and political turmoil. Mr McCarthy, by the way, is already fundraising on the action - 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, Fox "News" Corporation is awarded the tinfoil and toilet paper crown in recognition of its utterly amoral, completely untruthful, and profit-driven disregard for truth and accuracy, which has led to the unwarranted loss of America's confidence in its elections and deliberately driven wedges between progressive and conservative Americans ... all to keep from losing customers to even more extreme media companies. They deserve the contempt and opprobrium of all good citizens.

Have a good day and come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* Carlson is himself a three-time Ass Clown Award winner: March 2019 Left-Cheek, March 2021 Right-Cheek, and 2021 Ass Clown of the Year.

** McCarthy is a two-time Ass Clown Award winner: December 2022 Right-Cheek and January 2023 Right-Cheek.