'...and replace it with the Fox News Contraption.'
Even for Fox News, that is
a heaping helping of Rand Paul.
Since President Obama's second inauguration, Sen. Rand Paul has appeared 119 times on Fox News' evening and primetime programming and Fox News Sunday, far outpacing the other declared and likely Republican presidential candidates not employed by the network.
The 18 candidates most mentioned as possible presidential contenders appeared a whopping 800+ times in total, but of the folks who don't have actual contracts to be there, Rand Paul comes out on top. That's more than Mike Huckabee, and Mike Huckabee actually had a
show on the network; only John Bolton's mustache of preemptive war tops him, and John Bolton's mustache of preemptive war is a potential presidential candidate only in the loosest possible terms. Rand Paul has become to Fox News what John McCain is to the Sunday show green rooms, or what Sarah Palin is to the conservative conference circuit.
On the other end of the spectrum, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has appeared on the programs studied only three times.
Whether you consider that good news or bad news for Jeb Bush probably depends on your opinion of Fox News, but one thing is clear; if you're part of the Fox News demographic you're going to be a
lot more exposed to, ahem,
certain candidates than to others. Call it a thumb on the scales, call it a preference for candidates who are willing to shout louder than anyone else, but by the time we get to the first primaries some of these candidates will be household names to the Fox News audience, and some will still be suspicious outsiders. Fox News will shape the upcoming Republican primaries in the same manner as they shaped the rise of the radical tea parties: by giving free press to the voices they want to promote, and having their hosts demonize the rest in absentia.