Fox Is Killing the GOP

Fox News and the Republican Party are locked into a cycle that will make a fortune for the network while dooming the party to further defeats, John Cook writes at Gawker. Fox viewership is up a whopping 45% over the last year as "frightened, paranoid, enraged, nativist zealots" flock to the channel, Cook writes, and Fox is turning that fringe into the face of the GOP. "The more viewers Fox attracts, the more voters the GOP repels. And the more voters the GOP repels, the more viewers Fox attracts."

Fox's pandering to this audience with the likes of Glenn Beck reinforces the image of Republicans "as angry white people who hate Puerto Rican judges," Cook writes, turning off independent voters and further isolating the party. "The most important part of the dynamic," Cook notes, "is that Fox News has no interest in doing anything other than attracting viewers. It will continue to ride this wave of anger and resentment irrespective of what impact it has on the Republican Party until it stops making them money." (More Fox News stories.)