Today\’s quote comes to us from Roger Ailes, President of Fox News and an ongoing target of Jon Stewart throughout his time as anchor of Comedy Central\’s “The Daily Show – which ended with his final broadcast last night:
“He\’s been after us for years. Occasionally we pay attention. We think he\’s funny. We never took it seriously and he never made a dent in us.
“As he faces the end of his career, he\’s beginning to wonder: \’Is this as popular as I\’m ever going to get? Is this as much power as I\’ll ever have? The one person I could never get rid of was Roger Ailes. I tried. I did everything I could.\’ This was all a plea to his lefty friends. I think he\’s disappointed that he didn\’t accomplish that goal, and we, of course, supplied him with half of his comedy. It\’s just a matter of disappointment.”
There is a lot of ego in that statement. But a lot of truth as well.
Stewart has always been a hardline Democrat/left wing supporter and Republican/right wing basher. Yes, he occasionally went after the left and Democrats as well, but, at least in my opinion, only enough so that he could claim not to be entirely one-sided – like the lifelong Democrat who votes Republican once or twice in noncompetitive elections, to “prove” a bipartisanship which, in reality, does not exist.
Regarding Fox News and Roger Ailes, Stewart did everything but march FNC headquarters with an ax and start hacking away at their sets.
That said, however, while we can never know for sure what effect his years-long hot war with Fox accomplished (ongoing attacks can raise audience levels as well as lower them), what we do know is that Fox remained predominant among cable news networks throughout.
I award Roger Ailes Quote Of The Day honors for – in his (possibly justified – you decide) gloating and egotistical way – getting in a beauty of a last word on the subject.
Or as Ailes effectively said to Stewart: “Roger, and out”.
