Did you hear the one?

Last night, just as The O’Reilly Factor was winding down, Fox News broke in suddenly with one of its “Fox Alert” banners to announce breaking news. North Korea is threatening nuclear war if anyone tries to prevent them from doing whatever they want; and an American destroyer was shadowing a suspicious North Korean vessel, looking as if it might try to interdict. Iran is in complete upheaval and the the supreme Ayatollah has threatened violence if the demonstrations don’t stop. The Uighurs were talking about opening a restaurrant in their new home in Bermuda (your tax dollars at work). Plus our daughter is just about to have her first child and our eleventh grandchild. So I lean forward on the couch and get ready. It’s the President, and he’s apparently rising to give a speech at a convention. The convention is the Radio and TV Correspondents’ Association Dinner, an annual event. The President tells some snappy jokes then lavishes praise on the press for how important they are at critical times like this. Thank you. God bless America. Good night. Back to the studio and Fox’s Chief Correspondent Brett Baier is seated with Steve Hays of The Weekly Standard. For what, I’m wondering? For about ten minutes of commenting on the President’s jokes. For this we need a “Fox Alert”? The whole episode struck me as extremely self-serving, and not a little sophomoric on the part of Fox News. The purpose of the evening was for the big names of the media to come together and to have the President affirm what they already believe about themselves, that the nation can’t do without them and the President loves them. Well, most of them. I don’t know if the other cable or broadcast networks had “Alerts” to report on the President’s nicely-read lines, but Fox did. Because Fox wants to be commended and liked by the President, too. Because as critical as Fox is of President Obama – more than any other network, and, I think, rightly so –