A black man who was also the first Democratic president after the rise of Fox News. They were obnoxious enough with W in the white house, but then Obama was elected and the circus really started.
Faux (started in 1996) and hate radio spent a good deal of the 90s trying to take down Clinton. He totally consumed the right wing. Hillary was not wrong when she talked about a vast right wing conspiracy.
Oh, and it surely didn’t help them get any less crazy when people were referring to Clinton as the first black President.
I think years of this hateful nonsense and conspiracy theories really came to a head when they watched W flame out to the point that they constructed a fake movement, originally called teabaggers, to pretend they weren’t Republicans. The economy cratered at the end of W’s reign, the Iraq War was shown to be the quagmire all the liberals told them it was going to be, and now a black man who they were told was a Kenyan usurper was here to clean up the mess.
The fact that most normal Americans really rather liked him drove them all the crazier.
True, the radio shows were definitely filling that role. The idea that the TV networks were left leaning was a big talking point for them.
I know Fox started in '96 and they were definitely already nuts with the “fair and balanced” stuff, but at least to me it felt like it picked up a lot of viewership during the Bush administration.
I seem to recall they were in the red for the first N years (5?) of their operation, so you very well may be right that they started getting more traction later on.
IIRC, Cheney mandated them in certain venues, which probably didn’t hurt.
A black man who was also the first Democratic president after the rise of Fox News. They were obnoxious enough with W in the white house, but then Obama was elected and the circus really started.
Faux (started in 1996) and hate radio spent a good deal of the 90s trying to take down Clinton. He totally consumed the right wing. Hillary was not wrong when she talked about a vast right wing conspiracy.
Oh, and it surely didn’t help them get any less crazy when people were referring to Clinton as the first black President.
I think years of this hateful nonsense and conspiracy theories really came to a head when they watched W flame out to the point that they constructed a fake movement, originally called teabaggers, to pretend they weren’t Republicans. The economy cratered at the end of W’s reign, the Iraq War was shown to be the quagmire all the liberals told them it was going to be, and now a black man who they were told was a Kenyan usurper was here to clean up the mess.
The fact that most normal Americans really rather liked him drove them all the crazier.
True, the radio shows were definitely filling that role. The idea that the TV networks were left leaning was a big talking point for them.
I know Fox started in '96 and they were definitely already nuts with the “fair and balanced” stuff, but at least to me it felt like it picked up a lot of viewership during the Bush administration.
I seem to recall they were in the red for the first N years (5?) of their operation, so you very well may be right that they started getting more traction later on.
IIRC, Cheney mandated them in certain venues, which probably didn’t hurt.
I think people are underestimating social media. Fox News has been around for years by 2008.