For Obama supporters, if there was one thing sweeter on election night than the President’s reelection, it was Fox News collective and very public meltdown with Karl Rove practically threatening to take the Fox News election counters hostage until they admitted that Romney could still win Ohio. David Folkenflik has written a new book about the Murdoch media empire where all this stuff gets discussed, some of the details of which he’s been sharing with us this week in TPMCafe Book Club. Here’s part of his look at that golden night …
Kelly asked Rove, “Is this just math that you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better, or is this real?” Ailes later said he had called Michael Clemente, a senior Fox News executive, and ordered the cameras be kept on Rove. The confrontation was great television. Kelly ultimately strode down the hallways of Fox News to the number-crunchers running the desk to have them explain their projections. She owned the studio that night, shushing Wallace and even darting over to brush some lint off Joe Trippi’s shoulders. Yet she couldn’t convince Rove, who reviewed counties he thought were still in play, at one point adding, “and then there are cats and dogs elsewhere that add up to another 120,000 votes.” Rove learned the lessons of the 2000 elections all too well.
What I love about this in addition to Kelly’s now immortal line is the Ailes part. I’m not sure I’ve seen a more apt capturing of Roger Ailes, a hardcore ideologue, the creator of one of the great anti-fact engines in the history of American life but at some level at core someone who knows how to create and loves great television above all else.
Here’s the rest of Folkenflik’s report on that night. And he’ll be answering your questions (mine too) at noon eastern today at The Hive (sub req). So get your questions in now.
