Mickey Kaus looks at some ratings data from TVNewser and jumps to the conclusion that President Bush's approval ratings have fallen along with FNC's ratings. Nonsense. Fox's audience skews conservative and conservatives are generally more politically minded than liberals. With less political news around after the election, they've simply stopped tuning in. For further proof of this phenomenon, see this Washington Post article on how ratings are lower for talk radio as well as these Ann Althouse and Glenn Reynolds posts which inadvertently demonstrate my point.
CNN, meanwhile, attracts the more watching-the-news-is-good-for-you types who have steadier viewing patterns. Thus, its ratings haven't fallen as much post-election.
Another thing: if FNC's and Bush's ratings are directly proportional, doesn't this mean that the Bush-is-alienating-the-moderates idea that Kaus posted on just four hours earlier (while endorsing that Ron Brownstein piece I mentioned earlier) is wrong?
If conservatives are tuning out Bush and FNC, then that must mean Bush needs to be even more right-wing to win them back. If there is a hole in the center, then the Bush/FNC ratings are not tied together. Both can't be true.
