Do you think the Fox Sunday guys ever, when the camera's off, sit >

[Gidney N Cloyd]

> around that table, look at each other, and say "Are we the biggest bunch of tools in the world, or what?" Then laugh and high-five?

I've caught more than I would normally of their show this weekend because of the Clinton interview and here's what I've concluded: The odds of even Fox gathering up a group like that who can both deliver that BS every week and actually BELIEVE it have got to be astronomical. It has to be an act, doesn't it?

[lonestarnot]

1. Hell no it's not an act, it's a fucking cult.

[valerief]

2. I think it's a game for all of them, including the neocons. They

know what they're doing. They don't care who they hurt as long as they make out.

Just think of how much the very wealthy people who are getting their tax cuts care about doing the right thing.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

4. That's kind of what I mean. It's like a parlor game,

See who can say the most outrageous thing to piss off the other side and still keep a straight face. I had a friend like that who bought the basic conservative line but the rest was just trying to get under my skin.

[AlCzervik]

3. I think Juan williams probably holds himself in contempt when he's

alone, maybe when he's trying to go to sleep but finds sweet dreams elusive because his deal with devil has made his life a living hell. As for the rest of them, i'm going with full on circle jerk.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

5. I've often wondered myself

The closest I've come to an explanation is in David Brock's books. In Blinded by the Right and The Conservative Noise Machine he wrote about how right wing think tanks recruit college students and mold them. These are kids who probably have a bit of a conservative bent to begin with, as well has coming from affluent backgrounds. They've already got the entitlement attitude and the lack of perspective about different socio-economic groups. Not that you don't see that kind of thing in liberal young people but it's really entrenched in the right wingers. I think they honestly see themselves as Rugged Individualists, despite having been coddled most of their lives. Once they start getting published and on TV, thanks to the generous think tank funds, they become even more self-assured.

I'll bet if you asked Tucker Carlson or Ann Coulter how they got where they are today they wouldn't bat an eyelash while they insisted it was totally on their own merit. Not because of their prominent fathers. Or their families' wealth and connections. Or the fact that outfits like Regnery will publish them and conservative groups will purchase multiple copies to assure bestsellerdom. Even Brock, who is a gay man from a relatively modest background, went along with it for several years despite the snobbery and homophobia. He was being published, getting attention, and making buckets of cash. Sadly, in America today that constitutes success and covers a multitude of sins.

Those pundits on Fox may not necessarily believe everything they espouse, but they are in it to win and that is no act.

[nealmhughes]

6. Brock's books tell us more about the pathetic interconnections between

the various self-important "senior fellows" and "noted experts" that are running around in DC than one ever wishes to know.

They are effectively tools of a Mega-Corp mentality, who use the true believers of the neocon and Talibangelist bent to give "intellectual" and "moral" armor to their actual agenda which is to undo the New Deal and give the country back to the Robber Barons.

Once they are finished with them, they will be forgotten by their "betters."