Cry Me a River, Rupert Murdoch

Posted by Steven D., Booman Tribune at 4:30 AM on February 6, 2009.

This is what you get for backing an Oil Man as your boy in the White House for the last eight years, Rupert, old man. Record profits for Exxon, record losses for -- gasp! -- News Corp.!

The News Corp., the media empire controlled by Rupert Murdoch, said Thursday that it lost $6.4 billion in the second quarter as profits fell sharply at its television and movie units and it took a write-down on its newspaper assets.

Mr. Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive, said the economy deteriorated faster than anticipated in the last three months.

"Our results for the quarter are a direct reflection of the grim economic climate," he said. "While we anticipated a weakening, the downturn is more severe and likely longer lasting than previously thought."

The downturn is more severe and likely longer lasting than previously thought? A true master of understatement is our Rupert. One might suspect evidence of a very droll wit if we didn't know who was making these statements: the individual most responsible for putting radical conservatives in power, thus setting the stage for almost every massive problem we now face: wars, securities fraud on an unbelievable scale, the meltdown of our financial institutions, the degradation of our environment and the failure to act on global warming, nuclear proliferation, rising unemployment, a disastrously expensive and unequal health care system, etc., etc., etc.

I could go on and on, but the point has been made. Murdoch is simply getting a small taste of the snake-oil medicine he's been cramming down our throat ever since his media/right-wing propaganda conglomerate was assembled.

If the rest of us weren't doing a whole lot worse as a result of the economic nightmare that Bushco and the Republicans spawned, I might be having a moment of schadenfreude. But I'm fighting with our health insurance company to keep our coverage right now, so I don't have time for such luxuries, and I bet most of you don't either.

Still, maybe a few seconds of unmitigated joy might be in order.

Tagged as: media, conservatives, rupert murdoch, news corp