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An “Ashamed” Fox News Commentator Didn’t Exactly Quit
It’s a narrative made for a media which thrives on taking shots at Fox News. BuzzFeed reports:
A retired United States Army lieutenant colonel and Fox News contributor quit Tuesday and denounced the network and President Donald Trump in an email to colleagues.
“Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration,” wrote Ralph Peters, a Fox News “strategic analyst.”
“Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association. Now I am ashamed,” he wrote.
But the truth lies somewhere in between, as it usually does. In his email, Peters writes,
“On March 1st, I informed Fox that I would not renew my contract.”
Peters didn’t quit; he merely did not request for his contract to be renewed. Would Fox have decided to renew it if he had? That’s a question we may never know the answer to, but we know that Fox has been culling its roster as contracts have come up. National Review’s Rich Lowry didn’t see his contract renewed, nor did Washington Post columnist George Will or The Resurgent’s Erick Erickson. Might Peters have seen the writing on the wall about the future of his contract and decided to get some positive press from the mainstream media on his way out the door at Fox?
Peters’ email, in context, sounds a lot like “Yeah, well, I quit!” right before he got the can.
Published in General
Indeed. Don’t let the door hit you in the [expletive] on your way out, Ralph!
An intel dweeb getting all huffy ain’t exactly news.
I always wanted to hear what he had to say, but he went on a vague rant about a month ago about restricting AR-15s, etc. Fine, just be cogent and logical. He wasn’t.
He knew he was changing networks. $$$$
On the one hand, Peters has become a pretty shrill blowhard. His recent opinion piece on gun control shoehorned more poorly thought lefty memes into 500 words than you’d think possible.
Yet, he can be refreshingly candid. He doesn’t hide behind coy poses (honestly on domestic issues he doesn’t seem to have the background knowledge to know where to hide) and can be infuriating and combative and somewhat entertaining on knucklehead TV (who doesn’t enjoy some knucklehead TV on occasion?).
The next time a world event happens and someone thinks “I wonder what Ralph Peters thinks about this?’ will be the first.
Not always true. Many times the truth is solidly on one side.
In this case however, I think you’re right . . . (learned to say that from my wife)
You mean these guys get paid?
(No wonder he was on there all the time.)
There is something to be said for finding more diverse and unexpected opinions.
too funny dude
FIFY
I agree with Mr. Peters. The administration is ethically challenged and Fox is ok with this. I cannot stand to listen to Hannity. Hannity used to hold morality as very important, he has dropped that for Trump. And the morning guy, Steve Ducey, is also hard to stomach.
Fox’s very real commitment to supporting Trump has caused them to lose all credibility. They have become MSNBC and CNN. Little difference.
Have you noticed how small a number of guests they secure? It’s almost the Newt Gingrich channel.
Yeah…..not going to hold my breath for that one.
So that’s two people–one on a morning show and one who hosts an opinionated opinion show.
I’ve noticed that most condemnations of Fox as a whole are quite limited in scope, as if they didn’t have a number of excellent people.
I’d say he’s a lesson in not becoming too invested in commentators. I used to read him in the NY Post and often enjoyed him during the Obama years when he was something of a blowtorch. Now I question my own judgement. Just because someone is saying something you’d like to hear doesn’t mean they’re right/informed.
All of this stuff is about power and money now. It’s a hell of a situation.
I tivo’d five hours of the Fox News Channel religiously for 15 years through 2015. One hour at a time, I started cutting back. I stopped watching Hannity when he attacked Ted Cruz to his face for not withdrawing in favor of Trump. Probably the final straw was when Fox and Friends did not push back in any way whatsoever when Trump said that Ted Cruz’s father had helped Lee Harvey Oswald kill JFK. FNC lost all credibility for me.
The last to go was Special Report, after the FNC fired George Will, and only had Trump supporters on the Panel, instead of any NeverTrumpers like me. All that is left for me at FNC is Chris Wallace and Fox News Sunday. Even the Journal Editorial Report and Greg Gutfeld have gotten too trumpy for me.
I now tivo MSNBC which has a number of NeverTrump Republicans like Nicholle Wallace at 4:00 p.m. EDT. I like Morning Joe, which is about 60% Democrat, and 30% NeverTrump Republican and 10% Republican.
What do you think of her?
This is why he was suspended.
As I was taught at OCS about the UCMJ, “The truth is no defense.”
I think it would be a much bigger deal for any on-air personality at any news network other than Fox to quit because the network is so completely anti-Trump. Now that would be news.
For the record – I am no great fan of Fox News, either.
He doesn’t like Trump enough and he’s getting a bigger payday somewhere else.
Well, at least he wouldn’t have to call Trump a Pussy. Peters must have taken offense to Trump’s language, doncha think?
In what way is the administration ethically challenged? My impression is this administration gets average scores on that front, if not slightly better.
In what way is Fox ok with poor ethics of the administration? Which specific poor ethics have they endorsed or responded with a “meh”? For that matter, which specific people have done what and when?
You’re also conflating ethics of the administration with morals. Not the same thing at all.
She is my favorite on MSNBC. If I have limited time, I watch just her.