Fallafel Man's latest jihad

So our favorite idiot is at it again, this time railing against GE for doing business with Iran. But according to Howie Kurtz, the root of his latest "outrage" has nothing to do with Iran, and everything to do with Keith Olbermann.

Ailes called Zucker on his cellphone last summer, clearly agitated over a slam against him by MSNBC host Keith Olbermann. According to sources familiar with the conversation, Ailes warned that if Olbermann didn't stop such attacks against Fox, he would unleash O'Reilly against NBC and would use the New York Post as well.

Now Ailes is a moron. Nothing is better for book sales or ratings than to have Bill O'Reilly "unleashed" on anything. Beyond being an endless source of amusement, O'Reilly's targets have seen their books top the best seller lists (Al Franken), shoot up in the ratings (Keith Olbermann), and enjoy sustained readership (Daily Kos). In fact, I have a whole section in my upcoming book, Taking on the System, on how fantastic it is for credibility purposes to have O'Reilly attack you. It's gold.

So Ailes thought he was threatening Zucker, when in reality, he was tantalizing him with the promise of future ratings boosts. It was money in the bank.

Asked about O'Reilly's motivation, [GE Spokesman Gary] Sheffer said that executives at Murdoch's News Corp. "tell us if the attacks on O'Reilly end, the attacks on GE will end. They've had conversations with our news executives saying, 'If you stop, we'll stop.' " An NBC spokeswoman confirmed the calls.

NBC doesn't want O'Reilly to stop. It's hilarious that Fox thinks that O'Reilly is a threat people actually fear.