A Hen in the Fox House

And now, with the Roger Ailes culture of Fox News feeding the Republican Party, it becomes even less surprising that the GOP ended up with Donald Trump to lead them.

With Fox News and the conservative war on women, it almost far too easy to say that this is a case of needing the cure that Ailes you.

The sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former Fox News on-air personality Gretchen Carlson against the network's guiding force Roger Ailes -- contending, among other things that she was fired for not accepting his sexual advances -- is damning and bad enough, including general sexual harassment at Fox.  But it's the off-the-record comments by other Fox News employees, as reported by the Huffington Post, who didn't express surprise by the charges, some of who experience similar unwanted advances, that are almost more problematic.

One woman there described how Ailes explained the way he picked on-air talent.  “He always brags to people about how he doesn’t do polling or testing when he chooses his on-air talent," she said. "He told me that if he was thinking of hiring a woman, he’d ask himself if he would fuck her, and if he would, then he’d hire her to be on-camera.  He then said if it was a man he’d think about whether he could sit down for a baseball game with him and not get annoyed of him. If he could, then he’d hire him.”

​By the way, the detailed Huffington Post article linked above was written by contributing reporter Michelle Fields. It's worth noting that until earlier this year, Ms. Fields reported for Fox News where she had a more inside view than most.  However, if her name is even more familiar, that might be because she was the reporter for Breitbart News who filed charges a few months ago against Donald Trump's then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski for grabbing her.  I mention this for those of you who like a bit of context with your cereal...

And now she's leaped from Fox News and Breitbart to the Huffington Post.  Go figure...