Rupert Murdoch insists that his network is "fair and balanced," but he was stumped when asked which of its employees offer credibility to that claim.
A visibly nervous Murdoch folded his hands and froze for a few seconds. "I could give you a couple of names but they're certainly there," he responded. "Uh, if Roger [Ailes] were here he'd certainly spit them out very quickly. I think probably every night Greta Van Susteren is certainly close to the Democratic Party."
If the host of On The Record With Greta Van Susteren "is certainly close to the Democratic Party," the record shows that doesn't mean she's any further from the GOP than most other Fox employees. Weeks before the 2008 election she speculated on her Fox News blog whether there was a "[p]ossible connection between ACORN and Bill Ayers" as well as "between them and Senator Obama."
Van Susteren has close ties to both parties as her husband John P. Coale serves as an adviser to Sarah Palin while her sister Lisa ran for the US Senate as a Democrat in 2006. Also, the conservative Accuracy in Media has frequently complained that Van Susteren is a "Clinton booster."
"But people who have been involved in Democratic politics and so on, yeah, we have people," Murdoch continued. "I'm trying to think of the name of the lady in California who's been with us from day one who we use a lot."
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