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I hired Sarah Palin because she was hot and got ratings.

Roger Ailes

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Roger Ailes
Age: 77 †
Born: 1940
Born: May 15
Died: 2017
Died: May 18
Businessperson
Politician
Television Producer
Warren
Ohio
Roger Eugene Ailes
Hot
Ratings
Sarah
Rating
Hired
Palin

More quotes by Roger Ailes

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I've found increasingly less effectiveness with the man-on-the street type of stuff that was very standard fare for years. It can still be effective, but it's got to be done well.
Roger Ailes
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It's better to be in charge of change than to have to react to change.
Roger Ailes
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The candidates that can’t face Fox, can’t face al Qaeda.
Roger Ailes
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They [NPR] are, of course, Nazis. They have a kind of Nazi attitude. They are the left wing of Nazism. These guys don't want any other point of view. They don't even feel guilty using tax dollars to spout their propaganda. They are basically Air America with government funding to keep them alive.
Roger Ailes
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I don't care what the polls say.
Roger Ailes
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I don't have any focus groups on talent and programming. If I need five people in a mall to be paid $40 to tell me how to do my job, I shouldn't do my job.
Roger Ailes
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There's something about the American people: They have such an innate sense of fairness that the red light goes on and the bells go off the second you approach that line. Any kind of personal attack is verboten. You shouldn't do it it's not worth it.
Roger Ailes
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Fighting with the media almost always is a mistake. You can't win the argument, the media has the last word, and most times your argument is not justified.
Roger Ailes
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You can get people the qualifications But you can't teach them the qualities they're going to need. You can't teach integrity, a drive for excellence, refusal to quit under pressure. It's too late to build that into people you're going to hire.
Roger Ailes
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I think the media is dangerously close to creating their own product. They used to cover the product, which was whatever's happening.
Roger Ailes
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Everybody who's in the news business today was influenced in a positive way by Walter Cronkite. He had ability, humility and integrity, a rare combination.
Roger Ailes
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CNN International, Al-Jazeera and BBC are the same in how they report mostly that America is wrong and bad.
Roger Ailes
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Candidates rarely win battles with the media, and unless you really know what you're doing you should not tangle with them. The exception is when you know this is a search-and- destroy mission on the part of the media and your case is very strong, you are very articulate, you know what you're trying to accomplish - and you have no alternatives.
Roger Ailes
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One of the reasons I'm in this business is because I have absolute respect for the people who say, You know what? I think I can make this a little better and I'm willing to get in and try. Because, I'll tell you, there are a hell of a lot of reasons to stay away from running for office today.
Roger Ailes
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I look for something unique, and I look for people who haven't reached their potential. I think I'm pretty good at developing talent.
Roger Ailes
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Obama's the one who never worked a day in his life. He never earned a penny that wasn't public money. How many fund-raisers does he attend every week? How often does he play basketball and golf? I wish I had that kind of time.
Roger Ailes
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Anybody's position on an issue, anything they've said about an issue, and any way they've voted on an issue is fair game. You have every right to question that and go after it aggressively.
Roger Ailes
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I think it's because I'm unpredictable. I view every situation, every race, and every candidate differently I try not to rely on something that worked before.
Roger Ailes
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When the media gets into creating their own product and then deciding to cover it, they are becoming part of the process and, therefore, could be damaged.
Roger Ailes
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I think the worst decision is usually no decision. If you make the wrong decision you can usually course-correct, but if you don't make it, you've already made it, and it's usually the bad one.
Roger Ailes