Things aren't so friendly for Fox

It was quite the shocker to discover that Gretchen Carlson, the painfully dim dumb blonde on Fox & Friends - the gal who had to google ignoramous & czar to see what they meant (as pretense to underscore & highlight subsequent jabs at President Obama) - was the valedictorian of her high school class.  No, it wasn't an itty bitty one-room school out on a wind-swept Minnesota prairie, but Anoka High, home of the mighty Tornadoes & then the state's largest regional high school.  So nabbing the valedictorian slot was pretty major.

Where did this woman, who at times seemed the stereotypical bimbo, graduate from college?  Stanford, with a degree is Sociology.  While at Stanford she studied abroad at Oxford.  Oh, she took her degree with honors.

Gretchen was crowned Miss America 1989.  Her talent routine wasn't twirling, ribbon dancing or clogging.  She played Sarasate's Ziguenerweisen - not on water glasses, but exquisitely on the violin. 

Underneath all that stereotype is one mega smart woman who realizes the time & tides are moving against the powers-that-be (aka Roger Ailes) at Fox.  Witness that she is suing Ailes & only Ailes, not the show, not the network, not the parent company.

Rupert Murdoch is more than a tad unhappy with Ailes, whom he blames for Donald Trump.  It has to be galling to have everyone know that Murdoch was brought to heel by a man he's long been reported to loathe.

Factor in Murdoch's children having a greater say in the running of their family's media empire & things aren't looking as rosy as they did for Ailes a few years back.  Their increasing influence is expected to shift Fox away from a reputation for leggy blondes - and past Ailes.

It was news to me that Mr. Ailes, who President Nixon's media consultant, has to report, in part, to Murdoch's sons, Lachlan & James.  Ouch! 

The reason "perception is reality" is such a well-worn platitude is because of the truth behind it.  Gretchen Carlson is sharp, savvy & well-versed in the ways of the ways & wiles behind Fox News. 

Hard to see how her timing could be better.  Murdoch is irked at Ailes, his sons are ready to leave their own stamp on the family empire, it's an election year, with all the extra considerations that brings & my guess is that Murdoch Sr is a bit distracted by his new bride.  

Father & sons at his March 2016 wedding to Jerry Hall.

Unlike Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes seems defiantly rooted in a different era,  thumbing his nose at any sense of the times, promoting the image of a news network (that many saw as being as much his as Murdoch's) as one powerful enough to scorn political correctness & show its contempt of feminism by its female anchors' & hosts' decolettage & short skirts. 

Perception is reality.  Fox News sexist?  What was once the network's jam on its bread & butter could, to completely mangle my analogies, turn around to bite its butt.  And Gretchen Carlson just might show what the bimbo on the couch is really made of!