Outfoxed

Anyone who knows me knows I have been a Fox News fanatic for years.  I got hooked on it in 2000-2001 during its coverage of the tumultuous presidential race between George W. Bush and Al Gore.  I watched the network nonstop through all the ballot recounts and fights over "hanging chads" and final showdown in the Supreme Court.

I still watch Fox News but not as much.  It's still one of the only sources of reliable conservative news, but it has changed a lot since the departure of some of its big name hosts.

I used to watch the Fox primetime lineup religiously.  It started with The O'Reilly Factor at 7 and Hannity at 8.  Later, Megyn Kelly joined the lineup.  I always referred to Megyn as the foxiest fox on Fox! She was entertaining and even a little feisty.  Her interviews with Anthony Weiner were classics.  So I was sad when she and Bill O'Reilly left Fox.

I also watched The Five every afternoon for some lively debates between the five co-hosts.  Three of the five original hosts aren't there anymore, and it's not the same without them.  There was Eric Bolling, Kimberly Guilfoyle and my favorite liberal Bob Beckel.  I disagreed with almost everything Bob said, but he was sensible unlike most libs.  You never knew what would come out of his mouth, and neither did Fox.  After Bob dropped the F-bomb a couple of times on-air live, the show was put on an 8-second delay in case Bob had to be bleeped.  Fox fired him twice.

Bob was really an old softy.  He always had a huge light display at his home at Christmas.  I read his autobiography called "I Should Be Dead."  It was a fascinating look into his life as a political operative  and analyst.  Sadly, he passed away in 2022.

Fox still has better talent than CNN and the propagandist MSNBC.  Sean Hannity has been at Fox since Day 1 of the network and still does great work, and I have found ways to keep up with my old favorites.  I watch Bill O'Rielly's No Spin News broadcast on The First channel on Roku, and Megyn has a talk show on Youtube.  Eric Bolling has a show on Newsmax.  Between those three, I can still get the news from a conservative viewpoint.  

Journalism may be a dying profession, but as long as there's journalists like O'Rielly, Hannity and Bolling, journalism is not dead yet.