Fox News Continues to Dominate

Perhaps ‘dominate’ is an understatement…

From Mediate:

Still Surging: Fox News Has Best Quarter In Network History

Fox News had their best year of all time in 2009. Now that we’ve finished the first quarter of 2010, it’s clear FNC is showing no signs of letting up – they just finished their best quarter ever, in total day total viewers.

It was also the second highest rated quarter ever in prime time total viewers.

While Fox News continues to see record ratings, their cable news competitors are dropping off even more year-to-year. In the A25-54 demographic during prime time, FNC was up 16%, while CNN dropped 42%, MSNBC was down 22% and HLN was down 40%. In total viewers prime time, FNC was up 3% while the rest declined as well (CNN – 39%, MSNBC – 15%, HLN – 24%).

We’re now one month away from Fox News becoming the #1 cable news channel for the 100th consecutive month based on total viewers…

(HT: HotAir)

Oh, by the way, here’s this from TV by the Numbers:

Countdown Ratings Declines Continue; Better Off Without Olbermann?

The ratings declines for Countdown with Keith Olbermann continue. Year over year declines for the first 3 months of 2010 ranged from 40-45% in the cable news advertiser target adults 25-54 demo, and between 21-29% among average viewership.

While it’s hard to completely attribute cause and effect to TV ratings, it’s interesting to note that Countdown had better ratings (and a less severe year to year ratings and viewership loss) during the month of March, when Keith wasn’t on the air (he was off from 2/24 until last night) than it did during February (and was approximately on par with January).

Awesome.

Oh, Liberal Seattle…

Just got home from church (Mars Hill) in Ballard, and had to share this picture I took of a sign that was in a public parking garage across the street:

There were three such spots, with the one next to this one being occupied by a…

Ford F-150.

Proof that yes, there are Conservatives in Seattle. 😉

Photo of the Day

Must have been a gift from Biden.

(HT: Drudge)

Well Hey, at Least the Sounders Won

Rough night for the Huskies last night. They definitely could have beaten West Virginia, but they just never got into rhythm. The refs were horrible too. Absolutely horrible.

Anyway, there was one positive result last night for Seattleites, and that was a 2-0 Seattle Sounders win over the Philadelphia Union. I was there in the pouring rain with 36,000 other fans, and let me tell you, the place was rockin’.

Here are the goals from the match:

Seattle Times Editorial Board Comes out in Support of Rob McKenna

Sorry, Governor Gregoire.

From the Seattle Times:

AG Rob McKenna has a case to challenge the health-care law’s individual mandate

The Seattle Times editorial board supports the lawsuit of state attorneys general, joined by Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, that challenges the constitutionality of the new federal health-insurance law.

THE politically orchestrated hiss at Rob McKenna has not been convincing. Washington’s attorney general has the clear authority to argue that the new health-insurance law violates the Constitution, and to sign on to a lawsuit to that effect.

[…]

We think McKenna has a good case, and one the progressives who condemn him ought to appreciate. These critics are so often right about the dangers of corporate power, and particularly the rapacity of insurance companies.

But if it’s federal power, and it’s for a social purpose, and Barack Obama is presiding over it, they set their judgment aside. They accept a 2,000-page bill on its label only. They accept its promise, almost surely vacant, of cost savings. They overlook the deals cut with the insurance and pharmaceutical interests. They shrug off the “cornhusker kickback.” And to those who invoke the Constitution, they become shrill.

This page supported Obama, and we still like him. But we also support checks and balances on federal power, and review of this law by the Supreme Court.

Graphic of the Day

Story from the Wall Street Journal:

AT&T Joins in Health Charges

AT&T Inc. said it would take a $1 billion charge against earnings tied to the federal health-care overhaul, joining a number of other companies in reporting an impact from the bill signed into law this week.

The charges relate to prescription-drug benefits for retirees. Companies that provide this benefit, as AT&T does, receive a federal subsidy, plus they can deduct the value of this subsidy from their taxes. The health overhaul cancels the deductibility of the subsidy.

It’s for that reason that companies are taking a charge against earnings. They “have a stream of tax benefits that they are losing way out into the future,” said Roland McDevitt, director of health-care research at benefits consultant Towers Watson.

[…]

The charges are “noncash,” meaning companies don’t have to write a check. But ultimately their tax bills will be higher given the change in tax treatment of the drug-benefit subsidy.

When You’ve Lost David Horsey…

Oh my.

This is from one of the most Liberal political cartoonists in America, David Horsey:

(HT: Sound Politics)

http://blog.seattlepi.com/davidhorsey/library/Fairy-dust-2.jpg

HUGE sports night for us Seattleites

First, my Dawgs tip it up with West Virginia at 4:27pm on CBS. The winner goes to the Elite 8.

Then at 6:30pm, my Sounders play the Philadelphia Union at Qwest Field to kick off the 2010 MLS campaign. I’ll be there in my rave green uni and scarf cheering on the boys.

Here’s hoping for an awesome (and successful) night.

Slight Majority of Washingtonians Favor McKenna Suing the Federal Government Over ObamaCare

From SurveyUSA:

Q: Should the state of Washington sue to attempt to repeal the part of the law that requires everyone to have health insurance?

Just barely within the margin of error. What this says to me is that McKenna’s actions won’t damage his candidacy for the governorship (if he chooses to run in 2012), as the Seattle PI speculated yesterday:

What bias, eh? Not only did the PI post the angriest image of McKenna they could find (a picture that has also been used by Democrats on an anti-McKenna web site), but they suggested he may have already dug his own political grave based off of zero evidence.

Well, now they have evidence that points to the contrary of what they editorialized about. I doubt we’ll see a story about how this may actually set him up nicely for a run at the governorship in 2012, however.

By the way, in a separate SurveyUSA poll conducted on Monday, 43% of Washingtonians said they expected the quality of their health care to get worse due to ObamaCare, while only 17% said they expected it to get better. 35% said it would stay the same.

In addition, 45% said they expected their health care costs to increase due to ObamaCare, while only 10% said costs would decrease. 36% said costs would stay the same.

So when Governor Gregoire asks who McKenna thinks he represents by going alone in suing the federal government, he can accurately and definitively say he represents the majority of Washingtonians.

NY Daily News: Hey, that Joe Biden’s kind of a moron, isn’t he?

The cover of the New York Daily News today:

And here, of course, is that infamous moment from yesterday: