Longtime Clinton intimate Lanny Davis and Howard Wolfson, Hillary Clinton's former communications theatre director, once awaited being very busy at this week's Democratic National Convention.
They never envisioned sledding to Denver as employees of Fox News Channel.
Davis and Wolfson will be on television system commenting on the convention Monday alternatively of on the job behind the scenes to shape it. They have also cast themselves into the center of a simmering civil war among Democrats over how to deal with a network many see as hostile to their cause.
Both see their punditry positions as something like missionary mold, and argue that it makes little sense for Democrats non to engage with Fox News Channel viewers, regular those they know oppose them.
For Fox, having them in the fold helps blunt the impact of a military campaign that built momentum when Democrats wouldn't agree to participate in debates on Fox during the nomination campaign.
Davis and Wolfson came to Fox this summer following defective experiences with rival networks, although they both declined to talk about them. Wolfson and Clinton's inner circle resented MSNBC, believing the network's top talkers favored Barack Obama's candidacy. Davis, a sometime special guidance to President Clinton, looked like he swallowed a lemon during his lowest primary-night invitee appearance on CNN.
Wolfson aforementioned Fox's Democratic primary insurance coverage was fairish, "and I appreciated that." With the exception of one combative appearance on "Fox & Friends" that he smoothened over offstage, Davis said he had always been treated moderately and with respect on Fox.
They've each appeared around two 12 times on various Fox News programs since joining as contributors.
Another thing they shared: sorrow from fellow Democrats when they signed with Fox.
"Less than I expected, but still some," Davis said. "The some were from the places that possess a stereotype about Fox, but when I asked them if they ever actually watched Fox, the answer is almost never."
Wolfson said he also got encouragement from Democrats wHO see the value in having a strong progressive voice on the network.
"My sense is that there is a recognition that we can't ignore or give the back of our hand to the largest audience in cable television (word)," he said.
Fox remains the most-watched meshing in cable length news, although excitement over the Democratic primary political campaign - and comparatively less excitement over the Republicans' - has helped CNN and MSNBC make the competition tighter.
Fox is intelligibly the network of pick for Republican viewers, although its audience is less homogeneous than many look. A Pew Research Center study released this calendar month found that 39 per centum of veritable Fox News Channel tV audience identify themselves as Republicans, while 33 percent suppose they're Democrats and 22 percent say they're independent. By contrast, more regular CNN viewing audience identify themselves as Democrats (51 percentage to 18 percent Republican). MSNBC is 45 to 18 pct Democratic.
Based on his e-mails, Davis said that many of the people world Health Organization see him on Fox are "suasible voters," willing to seriously consider a liberal peak of view.
"Are they Democrats?" Robert Greenwald said, only half-jokingly, around Davis and Wolfson. The filmmaker makes "Fox Attacks" videos critical of the network and is one of the most prominent activists in a drive to sway liberals to stay out from Fox.
"They have nada to do with a progressive point of view," Greenwald aforementioned. "I don't think you would come up anybody in the reformist movement wHO would say, yes, they are spokesmen for what we believe in."
Their association with Clinton would already make Barack Obama supporters suspicious of them. The anti-Fox Web site Newshounds has already said Wolfson "is a disaster at standing up for Democrats - that must be why Fox hired him." The Web site dissected a Wolfson appearance aboard Bush run architect Karl Rove, locution Wolfson basically let Rove attacks on Obama go unanswered.
Davis authored an article saying that he had been faulty about the Iraq surge and that it worked - lease Fox bring him on to question why Obama wasn't locution the same thing.
Greenwald aforesaid Fox is less interested in a genuine debate than in having mortal to state positions they can easily shout downward. "Without liberals and progressives to yell at, without liberal positions to take a shit fun of, Fox doesn't exist," he said. (Fox spokesman Richard White called Greenwald "irrelevant" and aforesaid "his off-the-wall obsession with Fox News has big stale.")
Davis and Wolfson aforementioned they did not regard that as their role, and that they believe their opinions are being sought sincerely.
"People who know me know that I'm not a shrinking violet," Wolfson aforesaid. "I didn't sign up to be the guy cable who plays the Harlem Globetrotters."
Davis said he disagreed with Hillary Clinton when she supported the bm not to give Fox a Democratic debate. He said he believed the anti-Fox effort represents a small, although vocal, wing of the party that believe in vitriol and demonization or else of a serious give-and-take of issues.
If he were advising Obama, he'd intimate the presumptive Democratic campaigner appear on Fox News Channel as much as possible during the campaign.
"You have 2 choices when you're in politics," Davis said. "You can walk into a room where everybody agrees with you, give a talk and everyone applauds you so you leave the elbow room thinking you've accomplished something. Or you can go into a room filled with the great unwashed who either haven't made their minds up or disagree with you and try to open some minds.
"Being on Fox is like loss into the second room," he said.
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On the Net:
http://www.foxnews.com
http://www.newshounds.us/
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EDITOR'S NOTE - David Bauder can be reached at dbauder"at"ap.org
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