Former Senator Evan Bayh Joins Fox News Channel
Bayh may be a Democrat, but he knows where the money is:
Fox News officially announced on Monday afternoon that former Democratic Senator Evan Bayh is becoming a contributor to the network.
Michael Clemente, the network’s senior vice president for news, announced the move in a statement. He said that “Senator Bayh’s decades of experience in the political arena and his participation in key decisions in Washington will lend a valuable point of view to the entire Fox News lineup.”
“I’m pleased to offer analysis of public policy and politics to the millions of Americans who get their news from Fox,” Bayh said in the statement.
If nothing else, this would seem to confirm that Bayh has no intention of running for office again. It’s hard to think that a Democrat could win a party primary after working for Fox News.
The interesting thing to me is what this says about Fox. Evan Bayh isn’t an incoherent, shrill sacrificial lamb.
Beck has lost his mind, Palin is an embarrassment, they’ve just dumped the two rocket scientists, “Man on Dog” Santorum, and “Married Man on Secretary on Desk,” Gingrich.
Their numbers are dropping. And their demo consists entirely of losers.
I think Fox is moving to the center.
Disagree with both Doug and Michael.
Bayh will play the role of “house Democrat” at Fox. Despite being one of the more conservative Dems to serve in Congress, his very middle of the road presence will let Fox claim to be “fair and balanced.” This allows Fox to keep to the hard right while claiming to present opposing views.
Meanwhile Bayh promotes himself as a reasonable moderate amongst the wingnuts and – as important – blue collar Dems who watch Fox. If he plays his cards right, he comes out looking smart, principled and free-thinking to both sides. Who wouldn’t look reasonable, next to Beck and Hannity?
Bayh runs in 2016, when he’ll be just 61. You heard it here first.
matt:
I’d agree with you except that Bayh isn’t the usual sacrificial liberal. He’s more than capable of holding his own against the usual Fox mouthpieces. Democrats on Fox are not allowed to win arguments, but Bayh just may.
Ailes has always been smart, and his viewership is dropping, especially in the demo. He’s pushed too far into wingnut territory, so I think the smart move for him is to steer that ship closer to the middle of the channel.
(Note “channel” pun. Bad enough to be worthy of cable news.)