From Newt Gingrich, blaming Fox News for his dismal campaign showing this year:
I think Fox has been for Romney all the way through. In our experience, Callista and I both believe CNN is less biased than Fox this year. We are more likely to get neutral coverage out of CNN than we are of Fox, and we’re more likely to get distortion out of Fox….I assume it’s because Murdoch at some point said, “I want Romney,” and so “fair and balanced” became “Romney.”
So that’s that. I guess Rupert Murdoch really does make all the important coverage decisions at Fox News. And “fair and balanced” is just a cynical joke. It’s good to hear this kind of straight talk from a movement conservative star.
Anyway, two interesting tidbits here. First, note that Gingrich blamed Murdoch, not Roger Ailes, who really runs Fox News. Apparently, even in the middle of an epic whine, Gingrich realized that it would be unwise to go after Ailes.
Second, “Callista and I both believe.” I think it’s interesting that Callista Gingrich got so little attention this year. (Unless I just missed it somehow.) I’ve long been convinced that she’s been hugely influential on Newt in a whole bunch of ways, and that he most likely wouldn’t have run this year if not for her. I have no evidence of this, of course. It’s just my sense. But why was there never one of those definitive, everyone’s-talking-about-it election-year profiles of Newt and Callista and how she’s affected him?
