11. “Kerry, starting to feel” Media Matters staff, “33 Internal FOX Editorial Memos Reviewed by MMFA Reveal FOX News Channel’s Inner Workings.”
12. “Ribbons or medals?” Ibid.
13. The week after Sean Hannity, “Interview with John O’Neill,” Hannity & Colmes, Fox News Channel, Aug. 10, 2004.
14. “I read the book” Ibid.
15. Unfit for Command hit “Hardcover Nonfiction,” New York Times, Sept. 19, 2004, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/19/books/bestseller/0919besthardnonfiction.html; see also Robert Novak, “Did John Kerry Misrepresent Vietnam Record?,” Crossfire, CNN, Aug. 12, 2004; Chris Matthews, interview with John O’Neill, Hardball, MSNBC, Aug. 12, 2004.
16. “Heck, I know our group” Author interview with author and lawyer John O’Neill.
17. Fox News contributor Susan Estrich Much of this section is based on author’s interview with former Dukakis campaign manager and current analyst for Fox News Channel Susan Estrich.
18. In ’88, the Willie Horton ad “The Race for the White House Notebook: Maker of Horton Ad Sets Sights on Clinton,” Boston Globe, March 31, 1992; author interview with Roger Stone.
19. The Swift Boat attack See, e.g., Evan Thomas, “All in the Family,” Newsweek, Nov. 15, 2004.
20. The spot mockingly Asawin Suebsaeng, “A Political History of the Cicadas,” Political Mojo” (blog), MotherJones.com, May 10, 2003, http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/05/political-history-cicadas-ronald-reagan.
21. “We want you to respond” Author interview with Susan Estrich.
22. As it happened Sean Hannity, Hannity & Colmes, Fox News Channel, Aug. 5, 2004.
23. When Estrich called Evan Thomas, Election 2004: How Bush Won and What You Can Expect in the Future (New York: PublicAffairs, 2004), 121; author interview with Susan Estrich.
24. “Wherever I went” Author interview with Susan Estrich.
25. Greta Van Susteren’s husband Mark Leibovich, “ ‘C-List’ Debate Spinners Stand Alone,” Washington Post, Oct. 10, 2004.
26. A few days before Hannity The information in this section is taken from author’s interview with John Coale.
27. Kerry’s campaign manager Thomas, Election 2004, 125.
28. By the time Kerry Jim Rutenberg and Kate Zernike, “Going Negative: When It Works,” New York Times, Aug. 22, 2004.
29. After a tape Dan Collins, “Kerry Camp Fumes at Fox Anchor,” CBSNews.com, Feb. 11, 2009, http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-250_162-652595.html.
30. John Sasso Patrick Healy, “Angry over On-Air Remark, Adviser Threatens a Ban,” Boston Globe, Oct. 31, 2004; author interview with a source who was present during the incident.
31. On the night of Michael Wolff, The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch (New York: Random House, 2008), 38.
32. Fox called Ohio for Bush Jacques Steinberg and David Carr, “Once Bitten, Twice Tempted, but No Call in Wee Hours,” New York Times, Nov. 4, 2004.
33. As the minutes ticked by Ibid.; author interview with a senior Bush campaign official.
34. Rove called Fox analyst Steinberg and Carr, “Once Bitten, Twice Tempted, but No Call in Wee Hours.”
35. Dan Bartlett, at Bush high command Author interview with a senior Bush administration official.
36. “You know I wasn’t” Author interview with a Bush campaign official.
37. After Bush’s victory Bill Ward, “Word Up,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, Nov. 7, 2012.
38. “Sean said” Author interview with Patrick Halpin.
39. Months later James Dobson and Rick Santorum, Hannity & Colmes, Fox News Channel, March 18, 2005.
40. “Go easy” Author interview with Patrick Halpin.
41. “Sean was pissed” Ibid.
42. Fox News was now Jacques Steinberg, “Fox News, Media Elite,” New York Times, Nov. 8, 2004.
43. In July 2004 Robert Greenwald, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism, Carolina Productions and MoveOn.org, film, July 13, 2004.
44. a surprise hit Pamela McClintock, “ ‘Outfoxed’ Jumps over DVD Rivals on Amazon,” Daily Variety, July 21, 2004.
45. They watched on average Stephen Battaglio, “New CNN Team Seeks a Long Run,” Daily News, Sept. 16, 2003.
46. When Ailes later decided Howard Kurtz, “Fox News Launches Conservative Web Site Fox Nation,” Washington Post, March 30, 2009.
47. “Before Fox News” Author interview with Democratic political consultant Robert Shrum.
48. Given Ailes’s audience Michele Greppi, “Ratings Increase for Fox, Headline,” TelevisionWeek, July 11, 2005.
49. “It’s stupid” Author interview with John Coale.
50. Connecting online Jonathan Chait, “The Left’s New Machine,” New Republic, May 21, 2007.
51. During a 2002 interview Josh Benson, “Gore’s TV War: He Lobs Salvo at Fox News,” New York Observer, Dec. 2, 2002.
52. And throughout the contentious Howard Kurtz, “Reporters Shift Gears on the Dean Bus; Iowa Vote and Outburst Rewrite the Campaign Saga,” Washington Post, Jan. 23, 2004.
53. Dean’s eventual ascension Nancy Benac, “Dean and the Democrats: The Outsider Is In,” Associated Press, Feb. 11, 2005.
54. At a Democratic fundraiser Author interview with John Coale.
55. One morning in This account is based on author interviews with sources with direct knowledge of the meeting.
56. In the 1990s See, e.g., David Brock, “His Cheatin’ Heart,” American Spectator, Jan. 1994.
57. hailed as the Bob Woodward David Brock, Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative (New York: Crown, 2002), 191.
58. The tactic Eric Alterman, “Think Again: ‘Working the Refs,’ ” Center for American Progress, May 26, 2005, http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/media/news/2005/05/26/1476/think-again-working-the-refs/.
59. Other liberals Michael Shear, “Soros Donates $1 Million to Media Matters,” New York Times, Oct. 20, 2010.
60. Media Matters launched “Ex-Conservative Insider Brock Launches Progressive Research and Information Center; Group to Correct Conservative Misinformation,” PR Newswire, May 3, 2004.
61. A few months earlier “Progressive Talk Radio Show Hits National Airwaves; Conservative Talk Meets Its Match with the Debut of The Ed Schultz Show,” PR Newswire, Jan. 7, 2004.