Some people say that blogs give you prickly heat

Finally got a chance to see Robert Greenwald’s “Outfoxed” tonight at Screenland, a new community movie house in our town. The screening was a benefit for an activist group that wants to put John Kerry in the White House, and the film was introduced by a young woman wearing an undergarment with the words on the front, “GEORGE BUSH: YOU’RE FIRED!” She announced, “This is what George Bush is going to get on Election Day — a pink slip!”

Cute. As it happens, I’m editing a documentary with my wife right now, and seeing “Outfoxed” was very inspirational. Because if Greenwald’s film can spark national debate with production values this lousy, then there’s hope for us all. Most of the talking heads in “Outfoxed” spoke in front of drab brown walls. The music was generic-sounding and Greenwald’s choice of Don Henley’s “Dirty Laundry” felt cliched (as opposed to, say, Michael Moore’s sterling choice of the theme from “The Greatest American Hero” and selectively edited cut of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” in “Fahrenheit 9/11”).

The graphics looked like my nephew in high school did them. The oft-commented-upon graphic depicting Rupert Murdoch’s media empire was a mess. All that was missing were mix-and-match fonts and the ransom-note look would have been complete. You could stare for five minutes at all the facts he had thrown up there and still flunk a recall test.

That said, “Outfoxed” presents a pretty damning brief against Fox News Channel. Those talking-point memos written by Fox News executive John Moody were obviously never meant for public consumption, and Greenwald’s use of videotape — with one glaring exception that I’ll note below — is effective, especially when he follows an excerpt from a Moody morning memo with footage of Fox anchors basically parroting his company line. And as for those puff pieces asserting that Fox News Washington correspondent Carl Cameron is not the political partisan that “Outfoxed” makes him out to be … pffffft. All anyone has to do is witness the outtake of him chattily discussing his wife’s work on the Bush-Cheney campaign with then-candidate Bush mere seconds before their interview. It doesn’t get any cozier than that.

“Outfoxed” is also a much more entertaining film than I’d been led to believe. Perhaps knowing that I was going to see a lot of the media watchdog FAIR in the film led me to assume it would be tedious (a little FAIR goes a long way). Instead, I was whisked along by the film’s tight editing and overall pep. Greenwald was smart to keep going back to critic James Wolcott, the well that never runs dry. Unlike the other talking heads, Wolcott’s beef with Fox News appears mainly aesthetic — he’s concerned with those all-important but often overlooked matters of mood and unspoken message, as in Fox’s creepy obsession with images of fear and terror (which reinforce the need for a decisive, suspicious leader like Bush).

Jon du Pre, one of at least a dozen former Fox news employees who appear on camera, recounts the ridiculous vigil he had to keep at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on the Gipper’s 90th birthday, even though no birthday celebrations were planned and the best du Pre could get was footage of fourth graders singing “Happy Birthday” to a giant cake. Sadly, much fun is also made of Alan Colmes and the fact that he has a face made for radio, as compared to his handsome and manly co-host, Sean Hannity. Quit hatin’ the Colmes, people!

I was also impressed by “Outfoxed” replaying and dissecting the night Bill O’Reilly went bonkers on Jeremy Glick, whose dad heroically died in the 9/11 attacks and who signed a newspaper ad opposing the U.S. action in Iraq. At the same time, I’m glad the film did not fixate on O’Reilly. For if the gospel of Paddy Chayefsky is correct — as it has been on so many other points regarding the rise of Fox — then I don’t think we’ll have to worry about “the Factor” much longer. What goes up must come down.

At the end “Outfoxed” turns into a parade of “media activists” dispensing inspirational but effectively worthless advice like: If everyone who’s had it with right-wing talk radio hosts would just go down to their local station and … and what? Demand that Jim Hightower get a radio show? That you, being a “local voice,” get a show? And who at the local branch of Clear Channel do you think has the power to greenlight that? That’s where Greenwald’s vision, the one that serves him so brilliantly throughout this movie, ultimately fails him. (To be fair, low power FM is brought up a couple of times, and LPFM does show great promise for giving communities back their local media … assuming the FCC starts issuing LPFM licenses again.)

“Some people say”

Now a quarrel with “Outfoxed.” At several points Greenwald assembles quick-cut montages of various Fox anchors using the same polemical phrase repeatedly, morning noon and night. Like the phrase “flip flop,” when asking questions about John Kerry.

The montage that got the biggest laugh at my screening showed Fox anchors using the phrase “some people say” over and over and OVER. The argument goes that if viewers keep hearing that “some people say” John Kerry was dishonorable in Vietnam or that “some people say” the Democrats will ruin the financial markets if they’re elected, or that “some people say” that people who oppose the war are aiding terrorism … well, isn’t it obvious? As activist Robert McChesney points out, the beauty of the American media over the old Soviet propaganda system is that people don’t realize they’re being propagandized.

Maybe. The problem is that “some people say” is a phrase used quite frequently by interviewers on all TV shows, not just those owned by Fox. I typed that phrase into Nexis and searched back over network news transcripts for the past 60 days. A sampling of search results is below. My key discovery? Some people say “some people say” more than others.

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It’s not the 1990s, the 20 percent to 25 percent revenue growth is not going to be there. … Some people say high single digits. But it ain’t going to be 20 to 25. — Lawrence Kudlow, CNBC, August 12, 2004

Some people say, ‘Oh, I’d better not eat chocolate because then, you know, the baby will get the caffeine in the chocolate through the breast milk,’ or no wine. — Dr. Ari Brown, “Today,” Aug. 5, 2004

You know, Vili, that some people say ‘He was 12 years old, she was 32. How could they fall in love? What did they have in common?’ How do you answer that? — Matt Lauer, discussing the Mary Kay LeTourneau case on “Today,” same day

And school shootings. This is a drill preparing students for the worst, but real students and real guns? Some people say way too real. — Diane Sawyer on “GMA,” same day

The criticism, of course, some people say, is you lose any progressivity in the system, that the affluent people wouldn’t pay a higher rate of tax. — Alan Murray interviewing Rep. Dennis Hastert on CNBC, Aug. 4

But there are—but some of these people who say that America is a racist country and encourage there to be racial divisions in this country are very dangerous. Some of these people say it’s a capitalistic exploiting class country are very dangerous. — Ben Stein on CBS, Aug. 2

Some people say it’s as high as 10 percent of our population are alcoholic or have the potential for being an alcoholic. — Dr. Drew Pinsky on “GMA,” July 30

As people look at that piece of tape, for those short few seconds where your son—I don’t want to use his name—but where your son actually has that handgun close to his head. Do you understand, Mr. Allen, where some people say, ‘At best these parents were negligent, at worst they’re unfit’? — Matt Lauer, again, July 30

You have a Canadian lynx, a Siberian lynx. Some people say they look like the bobcat, but they’re different. - Animal maven Jack Hanna on “GMA,” July 28

Joe Lockhart, some people say that Bill Clinton made the case for John Kerry better than John Kerry has made the case for John Kerry. — Gloria Borger on CNBC, July 27 (start a tab for Gloria…)

Some people say that that position has alienated some of the very supporters of your husband’s, conservatives who feel very strongly that stem cell research is not appropriate. — Katie Couric in a file-tape interview with Nancy Reagan shown on “Today,” July 27

Some people say I’m very patient, and it’s—it’s got nothing to do with patience than it has to do with just the pleasure of removing wood and seeing its form. — a woodcutter interviewed on “CBS News Sunday Morning,” July 25

Ernie, I’ve heard some people say you should dress your children in distinctive shoes, that some amusement parks actually photograph shoes, and an abductor might change a child’s clothes but rarely thinks to change shoes. — Serial “some people say”-er Matt Lauer on “Today,” July 23

Some people say Hollywood folk should stick to acting. — Matt’s co-host Katie Couric, who is either infected or a carrier, to “Manchurian Candidate” star Denzel Washington, same day

And some people say she was sort of dragged into this, kicking and screaming, that she’s not a natural campaigner, and that only lately has she really sort of begun to blossom as a so-called political wife. — Gloria Borger on Teresa Heinz, July 22

Interestingly, men are four times more likely to negotiate the starting salary versus women. So, some people say that explains the difference in the pay gap. — ABC’s Mellody Hobson on “GMA,” July 20

Richard, I want to ask you, asset sales are coming now. SoundView will be sold, some people say for half of what they bought it. — Larry Kudlow, July 20

Some people would say that actually getting the—the lower end of the federal guidelines, the five months in prison, that she got off leniently yesterday. — Gretchen Carlson on the CBS weekend “Early Show,” July 17

In fact, some people say they could put a human face, add more of a human face to the campaign. — Anne Curry discussing the Bush daughters, “Today,” July 14

Senator, some people say that by focusing on these issues, like gay marriage or even stem cell research, that Republicans are trying to change attention away from the war in Iraq. — Alan Murray to Sen. Sam Brownback, July 13

Some people say it looked like a modern day version of “The Brady Bunch” when John Kerry and John Edwards met the press earlier this week with their respective families at their sides. — Katie, Katie, Katie, July 9

Senator Biden from Delaware. Some people say he’s still in the mix to possibly be picked. — Political insider Mark Halperin discussing Kerry’s VP choices on “GMA,” July 5

Some people say they’ve noticed something else besides fewer and fewer birds, and that is fewer and fewer bugs on their windshields. — “The Osgood File,” same day

Or we catch Osama bin Ladin, Chris. And—whom some people say is sort of locked away in a cage somewhere and is ready to come out in October as the October surprise. — Glo-o-o-ria on “The Chris Matthews Show,” same day

Another area of controversy is some people say … — Matt Lauer, July 1

The mummy design is kind of very popular these days. Some people say … — And Matt the day before …

There’s a debate among Kerry people about, whether, how big an impact it will have. Some people say, look, he’s preaching to the choir.— ABC’s Matt Harris on the VP pick, “GMA,” June 28

And then (Kerry) goes on “Meet the Press,” he goes on—before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and he’s—gives dramatic testimony about atrocities. Some people say it’s not been verified to some degree. — The Boston Globe’s Michael Kranish on CNBC’s “Tim Russert,” June 26

I did not search MSNBC, but a subsequent search found seven “Hardball” transcripts contained the phrase as well, confirming my suspicion that Chris Matthews — that great friend of the Republican Party — is a serial “some people say”-er, too.

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I have no idea if people on Fox use the phrase “some people say” with the same or greater frequency as, say, Matt Lauer and Gloria Borger do. But “Outfoxed” gives the impression that this is some kind of secret weapon that Murdoch’s minions use on their guests in order to create a continuous haze of suspicion over Democrats and liberals. More often, in my experience, it’s a way of eliciting a response from people quickly in those interview formats that always seem pressed for time, notably morning shows. Greenwald didn’t need to use this sequence to bolster his case against Fox, because it doesn’t really do that.

But it sure is funny.