Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Thursday, May 29, 2008

The Pragmatic Rupert Murdoch

By Ron Beasley



Right wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch has predicted the Barak Obama will win the Presidency and actually had some nice things to say about him.

CARLSBAD, California (Reuters) - News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday predicted a Democratic landslide in the U.S. presidential election against a gloomy economic backdrop over the next 18 months.





Murdoch has yet to endorse a U.S. presidential candidate but considers Barack Obama very promising, the media magnate said in an interview by two Wall Street Journal reporters at an annual conference for high-tech industry insiders.





News Corp recently acquired ownership of the Journal and its parent company Dow Jones & Co.





"You have got the Obama phenomenon. You have got, undoubtedly, a recession ... The average American is really getting hurt financially and that all bodes well for him (Obama), Murdoch said.





"You have probably the making of a complete phenomenon in this country," Murdoch said in describing what he predicted will be a sweeping victory for Democrats in November.

He goes on to say that while Obama may have some problems McCain's ties to the Bush administration and the failing economy present McCain with even more problems.



So what is this all about?  Yes, there is the pragmatic desire to be on the winning side - the Democrats are receiving as much if not more corporate money as the Republicans for the first election cycle in a long time.  But is there more to it?  I think so.  The less delusional right wingers realize the Bush administration has made a mess of everything and tarnished the Republican/conservative brand.  They also realize that no President will be able to put all the pieces back together again in four or even eight years.  The best long term strategy to refresh the Republican brand would be to pass the blame to the Democrats.



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