Fox News Chief Roger Ailes Floats Presidential Bid

Posted by Jonathan Singer, MyDD.com at 12:37 PM on October 23, 2009.

Heads of news organizations don't normally float presidential bids:

EXCLUSIVE -- BUZZ: Friends and associates are encouraging Roger Ailes -- Fox News founder, chairman and CEO -- to jump into the political arena for real by running for President in 2012. "Ailes knows how to frame an issue better anybody and that's what we need now," says one Ailes friend who is encouraging him to run. Frank Luntz, for one, tells Playbook that Ailes could be a force if does it. "I have known Roger Ailes for 29 years," says Luntz. "No one knows how to win better than Roger."

This story just about speaks for itself, but it's worth noting briefly that this news couldn't have come at a worse time for Fox News, which is desperately fighting to hold on to the facade that it is a legitimate news organization rather than a partisan arm of the Republican Party. In short, despite the fact that just about everyone in the country realizes that Fox is closely linked with the Republicans, the establishment media in Washington remains in a state of denial -- a state of denial that becomes increasingly difficult to maintain when the network takes steps like helping organize protests against the President and, even more, when the head of the network floats a potential presidential bid of his own.

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