“The Fox Effect,” a new book co-authored by Media Matters’ founder David Brock, executive vice president Ari Rabin-Havt, and other researchers at the organization, takes an in-depth look at the corrupting influence of Fox News. Its president Roger Ailes has forced the network to advance a deeply-partisan political agenda that regularly contravenes traditional journalistic standards. The book also shares details about the qualities and characteristics of Ailes as a person. Here are the top five most telling quotes about Ailes found in “The Fox Effect”:

Ailes used homophobic slurs to describe George H.W. Bush’s clothing: “‘You can’t wear a short-sleeve shirt—you’ll look like a fucking faggot.” [The Fox Effect, p. 32]

Ailes explaining race before the Federal Election Commission: “When Republicans see Willie Horton they see a criminal, and when Democrats see Willie Horton they see a black.” [The Fox Effect, p. 34]

As Richard Nixon campaign consultant, Ailes advised that a racist should be given a question at a town hall: “As long as we’ve got this extra spot open. A good, mean, Wallaceite cab driver. Wouldn’t that be great? Some guy to sit there and say, ‘Alwright mac, what about these niggers?’” [The Fox Effect, p.24]

Roger Ailes explaining his concerns about social justice to rabbis: “Of course social justice means different things to different audiences, however it has been used in situations leading to fascism, socialism, and communism as well.” [The Fox Effect, p. 147]

Ailes to The Washington Post in 1972: “If you come out and say that a guy’s a commie, fag bastard, the public turns you off, not him.” [The Fox Effect, p. 144]

There have been rumors that Ailes is perhaps contemplating a “course correction” at Fox News, a purported attempt to regain credibility by moving away from the right-wing base. But as one right-wing media analyst noted, “Do people really think that anyone at Fox is going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg? I don’t think so.” Indeed, it seems quite unlikely given Ailes’ predilection for hateful and divisive rhetoric.

In an interview with the AP out today, Fox New chief Roger Ailes says he hired former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) “because she was hot”:

From the start, Ailes has steadfastly denied any such political bias or agenda on the part of his network. Politics, schmolitics: “I hired Sarah Palin because she was hot and got ratings,” he declares.

Ailes’ quote is stunning in its own right, but it’s worth noting that were it coming from a progressive figure, he would likely be immediately tarred and feathered by conservatives as a sexist. Since Palin was picked to run for vice president, conservatives have bristled at any reference to Palin’s looks or suggestions that her appearance has contributed to her popularity.

Take conservative media criticism site Newsbusters, for instance. When Fox News contributor Juan Williams called Palin a “centerfold” and said her attractiveness contributed to her success, Newsbusters cried “double standard,” writing that Williams’ “demeaning” comment reflects liberals’ “need [of] some way of dismissing her without addressing the issues.” When comedian Bill Maher made a similar suggestion, Newsbusters cried that Maher had “denigrated Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann as merely ‘attractive.’” When Newsweek magazine ran an article mentioning the “supposed hotness of Republican women,” including Palin, Newsbusters cried “sexism.” When the hosts of the entertainment show The Talk called Palin “hot,” Newsbusters questioned their “intelligence.”

Now, the head of the country’s most popular cable news network, to which Palin owes a good deal of her success, is making the same insensitive assertions as Williams and Maher, and essentially confirming them; will Newsbusters and other conservatives speak out? Of course, Ailes’ network happens to be an ideological ally of Newsbusters, and one that regularly features its president.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz, Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes insisted that his network is indeed a legitimate news operation — and not the “communications arm of the Republican Party” — but at the same time, parroted his right-wing hosts’ talking points about President Obama. When Fox hosts Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck describe Obama and other progressives as dangerous, out-of-touch socialists, they’re merely “reflecting reality,” Ailes explained, because Obama is a Socialist:

“The president has not been very successful,” the Fox News chairman says in a lengthy interview. “He just got kicked from Mumbai to South Korea, and he came home and attacked Republicans for it. He had to be told by the French and the Germans that his socialism was too far left for them to deal with.” [...]

“He just has a different belief system than most Americans.”

“That seems a rather loaded phrase — different belief system — even if you strongly disagree with most of Obama’s policies,” Kurtz noted. “It fits the view of those who are trying to paint the president as being outside the mainstream” or even un-American.

Ailes — who sipped from his “Fair & Balanced” coffee mug during the interview — insisted that his “network isn’t singling out Obama for criticism but that its style ‘tends to be more direct’ in challenging presidents.” However, when former President Bush came up, Ailes struck a decidedly more favorable tone: “This poor guy, sitting down on his ranch clearing brush, gained a lot of respect for keeping his mouth shut. I literally never heard an Obama speech that didn’t blame Bush.” Ailes must have not have heard many Obama speeches.

Not surprisingly, Ailes defended the right of his boss, News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch, to donate millions of dollars to the Republican Governors Association and the right-wing U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “I don’t think anyone can tell him what to do with his money,” Ailes said, apparently unconcerned about the obvious conflict of interest in a news organization investing in a political party.

Ailes did acknowledge Beck sometimes goes a little too far, but he was primarily concerned that Beck “trashes Republicans every night.” Beck’s borderline anti-Semetic comments about philanthropist George Soros are just fine, Ailes explained, regardless of what some “left-wing rabbis” think.

Nonetheless, despite his obviously political stances, earlier this year Ailes made if very clear that “I don’t do politics, I do the news.”

Last September, President Obama appeared on five Sunday morning talk shows in one day to promote health care reform, but did not sit down with Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace — a snub that was considered “the first real shot from the White House” in its clash with Fox News. Appearing on the O’Reilly Factor after news of the snub broke, Wallace attacked the White House, claiming there was a “kind of childishness or pettiness” to the decision. “They are the biggest bunch of crybabies I have dealt with in my 30 years in Washington,” said Wallace.

In an interview with the Hoover Institution’s Peter Robinson that was posted on National Review today, Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes distanced himself from Wallace, saying that the Obama administration wasn’t “whining over nothing”:

ROBINSON: Do you subscribe to the statement of your news host Chris Wallace that the Obama administration is “the biggest bunch,” he said, “the biggest bunch of crybabies” that he’s dealt with in his 30 years in Washington?

AILES: That was his…

ROBINSON: They’re whining over nothing!

AILES: Well, I don’t think they’re whining over nothing and I think they have — look, there’s legitimate complaints that they could have. And I’ve had this dialogue with David Axelrod, who I like very much and, there are legitimate areas. I mean, Chris said that, that’s his words, that’s what he believes, and he had reason to believe that. But I don’t think its helpful to say that.

Ailes didn’t provide any examples of what he considered the administration’s “legitimate areas” of concern with Fox’s coverage, but he essentially demonstrated Fox’s contempt for Obama later in the interview when he described the President’s health care reform efforts as “a voter registration plan.” “As long as you can get 300 million people getting a check from the government, they’re going to vote a certain way,” declared Ailes. Watch it:

The Obama administration does indeed have “legitimate complaints” about Fox News. Not only has the network gleefully promoted the anti-Obama tea parties and anti-health care reform townhall protests, but last March, Fox News’ Senior Vice President for Programming Bill Shine told NPR that the network was “the voice of opposition on some issues.” For his own part, Ailes has reportedly declared that the network is “the Alamo” in terms of challenging the Obama administration “until the last shot is fired.”