Fox News is too liberal for Fox News watchers. Or at least, Fox host Neil Cavuto is, because earlier this week he
got into an on-air argument with Michele Bachmann, who is still around. The argument was over whether or not the obvious publicity stunt of House Republicans announcing they're going to file a suit against Barack Obama for presidentin' in an unconservative manner, just as soon as they figure out what, exactly, the suit is supposed to be complaining about.
This did not sit well with the sort of people who have their television sets tuned to Fox News.
At the end of that day's broadcast, Cavuto said a "record number of emails" had arrived.
"They go pretty much like this," he said. "'Cavuto, you're a rude ass. If I were Michele Bachmann, I'd have a law against you.' Someone else said, 'Who do you think you are? [Bill] O'Reilly? You're an idiot. Quit blabbering, start thinking.'" [...]
One emailer said Cavuto was "extremely rude and overboard" in the interview. Another asked, "Off your meds again, huh Cavuto?" [...]
"Boy, what an ass Neil was," the viewer wrote. "I will watch for a Dem to get grilled like that but won't hold my breath."
This is the sort of thing that happens when your movement is premised on finding the craziest thing possible to say and then saying it. There's no off button there. A devoutly conservative news mannequin on an obsessively conservative news outlet can attempt to set an upper bound on the crazy by wondering the obvious—whether there is any non-pandering, non-asinine point in announcing that you'll be suing the president when you haven't yet decided what you'll be suing him for—and it will be considered heresy by the folks that expect to be pandered to full tilt, all the time, every day, dammit.
So, ya know, good luck with that.