Fox News is all about preemptive strikes. They were cheerleaders for it in Iraq. They still are...unless Obama does it. Then it would be anti-American, socialist and an affront to all things good and decent.

Anyway, if I've learned anything covering the media it's that the tactics Fox celebrates in their fellow right-wingers in power are the same tactics their notorious PR department engages in.

Yes, they adore bullies and employ them to do publicity.

So Gawker is now passe according to Fox. They're claiming their traffic is WAY down and Gawker is on par with Chatroulette and MySpace (owned by Murdoch by the way).

Why? Why is Gawker in the crosshairs of Fox & Cronies? "It's wall to wall snark," says Larry O'Connor editor of Breitbart.com (see a traffic comparison in the graph).

Yes, that's why people don't go to the Internet anymore...all the trash talk. It's like that Yogi Berra quote, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

Gawker's John Cook has a better idea:

I have for several weeks been working on a story about a Fox News personality that Fox News really does not want published! Fox knows what the story is, because I've asked its PR department for comment (they refused). Tune in next week to see what the story is.

He also documents the barrage of "Gawker sucks" comments on FNC and their website.

Cook offers this foreshadowing:

And if past is prologue, get ready to see Gawker on Fox News a lot.

H/T FishbowlLA

Great scoop from Gawker, who confirms that Roger Ailes, the alleged news executive, is one of NJ Gov. Chris Christie's confidential advisers:

The office of Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is claiming that Fox News chairman Roger Ailes is a confidential adviser whose interactions with the governor should remain secret under New Jersey's executive privilege.

Last month, after New York magazine reported that Ailes met with Christie last summer and called him this year to urge him to run for president, Gawker filed a request under New Jersey's Open Records Act seeking any correspondence between the two men, as well as any records of meetings or phone calls with Ailes from Christie's schedule or call logs.

Last week we received a rather surprising response: While declining to confirm the existence of any such records, Christie's office said they "would be exempt from disclosure...based upon the executive privilege and well-settled case law." In other words, Christie's staff refused to search for any records—which, given the undisputed reports of a dinner and phone call, almost certainly exist—on the basis that Ailes is a confidential adviser whose comments should be shielded from public scrutiny.

[...] New Jersey has a rather robust executive privilege—former Gov. Jon Corzine successfully employed it to keep his email exchanges with his ex-girlfriend and former union boss Carla Katz secret in the face of a public records act request—and there's nothing particularly unusual about Christie invoking it. What is unusual is his attempt to use it to cover conversations with someone who is, ostensibly at least, a news executive. It amounts to a rather bald admission that Ailes provides Christie with political advice.

New Jersey's Supreme Court has ruled that the state's executive privilege extends to "communications pertaining to the executive function," a judgment based on the U.S. Supreme Court's recognition of the "president's need for complete candor and objectivity from advisers."

It was obviously never a secret that Ailes, who spent most of his career as a communications guru to right-wing politicians, is still a communications guru to right-wing politicians. But it's strange to see it spelled out in writing.

Christie's office did not respond to questions about the nature of his communications with Ailes and whether the privilege should apply. Ailes said in a statement, "Whatever the Governor wants to do is his business."

That's Gawker's John Cook in front of Jesse Watter's Long Island home. You know Jesse. He's Bill O'Reilly's evil minion/stooge/flunkie who dutifully goes out and stalks,...er, ambushes such evil-doers of BilloWorld™ such as Bill Moyers, Amanda Terkel, Russell Tice, Rep. Robert Wexler, among others. So Gawker decided to give Jesse a little taste of his own medicine. Surprise, surprise! Jesse doesn't seem to appreciate his own tactics being turned on him:

Watters makes a living startling enemies of his boss Bill O with a video camera and coming back with embarrassing footage that O'Reilly pretends is "news." But in an act of pure weeniness Watters refuses to discuss his work with anyone. We thought we had a good chance of finding him leaving his house for the office this morning, but not everyone can be a stalker extraordinaire like Watters. A tipster has passed on info (or misinformation!) from a source inside Fox that says Watters is at his desk, and that his wife—a Gawker fan, according to a different tipster—is quite worked up over the visit. Our team learned some valuable lessons: 1) a stakeout's best done on an empty bladder and 2) be sure to cover all possible exits. (If he's not still at home, we think he either slipped out when John and Richard went to the loo, or walked out a back way to the nearby train station.) Rookie mistakes happen. And, Jesse, your taunts only make us more determined. (Video available at Gawker site)

Aww....poor widdle Jesse. Those meanies at Gawker have him skulking and hiding like a frightened little kitten. How dare they show him what it's like to be ambushed. The nerve! But Jesse, honey, you ain't seen nothing yet. We know you're going to be at Netroots Nation this August, no doubt hoping to find that proof of marching orders from George Soros. There's a whole bunch of us who will be there too--including John Amato--and just know, we're looking for you too.

Gawker has the profile.

(Update): Magically the picture has disappeared from Facebook..

Gift Ideas for Judy Miller

Wonkette: "Looking for something to get your very special source? May we suggest this new t-shirt from the Gawker Christmas catalogue...read on"

We can start a new line for Bob Woodward as well...

"Global Dominion Corp"

But leave it to veteran Moon activist and Social Security sleaze artist Gary Jarmin to come along and name hisPR firm "Global Dominion Communications." That's in last week's Washington Times. It's also registered, in a Congressional directory of lobby groups, as "Global Dominion Corp."

The Center For Public Integrity has an entry on it here.

SPLOID     Ken Layne

More SPLOID stuff, because you already made the mistake of coming here: Blogwatch

As the Drudge Report marks its 10th year of headline gathering, bloggers are wondering what to make of a new, more tabloidish competitor called Sploid. The mission of the site, launched last week by GAWKER publisher Nick Denton, includes "sniffing out hypocrisy and absurdity, whether from salon left or religious right." STANDARD DEVIANCE lauded Sploid for having "the same sort of screaming ridiculous headlines as [Drudge] but without the right-wing hysteria." UNCORRELATED noted a hurdle in terms of scoops for an upstart with no PR firm "Global Dominion Communications." That's in last week's Washington Times. It's also
registered, in a Congressional directory of lobby groups, as "Global Dominion Corp."
The Center For Public Integrity has an entry on it here.

Pat O'Brien

Peggy Noonan is messing with the truth:   uggabugga

FALSE. The point at issue is, can a guardian, with court oversight, determine what medical treatment can be applied to an incapacitated person? In this case, it's withholding nutrition. It could just as easily be a decision to proceed with radical surgery or medication - which could be contested by parents (or other people for that matter).

DATA POINT: Did you know? (from the Los Angeles Times) 

There's little I enjoy more than the "unvarnished insider peek at wingnuttia" genre (here's one of my favorites) -- and it looks like there's going to be quite a few more entries soon.

I work at Fox News Channel.

The final straw for me came last year. Oddly, it wasn't anything on TV that turned me rogue, though plenty of things on our air had pushed me in that direction over the years. But what finally broke me was a story on The Fox Nation. If you're not a frequenter of Fox Nation (and if you're reading Gawker, it's a pretty safe bet you're not) I can describe it for you — it's like an unholy mashup of the Drudge Report, the Huffington Post and a Klan meeting. Word around the office is that the site was actually the brainchild of Bill O'Reilly's chief stalker (and Gawker pal) Jesse Watters.

The Nation aggregates news stories, gives them provocative headlines, and invites commenters to weigh in. The comments are fascinating actually, if you can detach yourself enough to view them as sort of the id of the conservative movement. Of course, if you can't detach yourself, then you're going to come away with a diminished view of human decency, because HOLY MOLY THESE PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE THE BLACK PRESIDENT. I'm not saying they dislike him BECAUSE he's black, but a lot of the comments, unprompted, mention the fact that he is black, so what would you say, Dr. Freud?

And how do we know this guy/gal is for real? Because s/he's got video.

So here I am. And I come bearing gifts. The video above is of Mitt Romney and Sean Hannity bantering before the taping of an interview for the "Hannity Vegas Forum" in February. Of note: Romney professes his and his wife Ann's well-known love of horseriding, praising the qualities of the "Austrian Warmbloods" that his wife rides—the are "dressage" horses, he notes—while maintaining his own preference for the "smoother gait" of his own "Missouri foxtrotter."

Now there's nothing wrong with Mitt and his wife loving horseback riding. But remember this video next time Romney attacks Obama for golfing. The inherent elitism and snootiness of golf is NOTHING compared to competitive horseback riding. And I think Mitt loses points with the GOP base for his correct pronunciation of dressage. To GOP-voter ears it sounds not only gay, but even worse, French.

Actually, I don't think the video is particularly damning, though it does reinforce all of the Rich White Guy stuff Willard has going against him. And yeah, dressage ain't exactly NASCAR.

But this is only the beginning. Stay tuned.