Big Frick Dot Com

Remember the poster from the 60’s that said “What if they had a war and nobody came”?

That is the way I view this supposed “war” between Fox News Channel and the poor folks at MSNBC. They are trying; Lord knows they’re trying, to create this rift in the public consciousness about how unfair Fox News is to the Anointed One’s administration and socialist ideology. It’s a desperation play by this little news network that can’t.

Led by their most vocal critic Keith Olbermann, MSNBC is trying desperately to boost their viewership by attacking the dominant competition. The only problem is that nobody is coming to this war.

The latest viewership ratings show the Fox News Channel continuing to widen its lead over its competitors. Fox has on average over twice the daily viewership of their closest competitor CNN and four times the viewership of MSNBC. That is not only a shot to the pride of those at the challenger stations but to their wallet as well.

The business side of any news or entertainment outlet, television, radio or print, is selling advertising. Regardless of what drivel they put out for public consumption the life or death of the company depends on what they are able to take in from advertising. This is playing an even bigger role now as the weakness in the overall economy has advertisers picking and choosing far more carefully where they will spend their limited advertising budgets. It was announced recently that advertising associations are warning television networks that they will need to lower their advertising rates by at least 15% just to keep their current customers.

The Fox News Channel can resist that kind of price cut by supplying a greater number of viewers to their advertisers then CNN, MSNBC and CNBC combined. So while some of Olbermann’s rant may be chalked up to typical left wing bitchiness, the driving force behind this news network jihad is good old greenbacks.

For their part Fox News is wisely refusing to take the bait. MSNBC and Olbermann continue to rant and Fox ignores them like the insignificant non-issue they are. It makes no sense to give credence or attention to the juvenile name calling being done by their distant competitors. It also makes no sense because Olbermann and his liberal cronies are on the wrong side of the public opinion on this debate, a fact that is becoming more and more obvious.

While CBS, NBC, ,ABC and their cable compatriots at CNN and MSNBC all bow down before the Chosen One like Obama at a Saudi King convention, the American public is getting less and less enamored with the change they are getting.

A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows an amazing 70% of respondents are uncomfortable with the moves Obama has made with the economy and in taking ownership of major corporations like GM. 58% disapprove of his closing of Guantanamo Bay and an equal number want him and the Congress to focus on reducing the newly created $1.6 trillion deficit rather than spend more. Obama’s overall favorability rating is still over half but has slipped dramatically from 61% a month ago to 56%. And without the 99.9% favorable rating he is still getting in the black community that number would probably be closer to 50%.

The Democrats were hammering the news stations with their newest mantra that Obama inherited the bad economy. But after 2 years of campaign promises, 6 months in office and over a trillion dollars in deficit spending he has not only failed to improved things, he has made them worse.

I suggested immediately after the election that this thoughtful community activist has survived on promises alone without ever having to deliver. Being judged on accomplishments is unfamiliar territory for Obama and at some point, as he continues to fail, even the black community will turn against him.

For now all MSNBC can do is wail about the evils of Fox News, but as far as picking up any of their audience, the chances are slimmer than Keith Olbermann’s lips. Their only hope of increasing viewership is to steal the ones who get their news from Comedy Central, MTV and BET.