We're fighting a war here. Two remarkable admissions from FOX News's brilliant boss Roger Ailes yesterday in the wake of the Arizona shootings.

First, Ailes admitted that, in response to the shootings, he told his staff to "shut up, tone it down."

This is a repudiation of FOX's rhetoric prior to the shootings, if not a tacit admission that this rhetoric might have had something to do with inciting them. (Why else would you change FOX's policy in response to the shootings?).

Second, Ailes finally admitted that FOX is on one side of a war fighting "the other side."

This, of course, has long been screamingly obvious to anyone who has ever tuned in to either side, but it's not something network bosses admit very often. What network bosses generally do is go on about "objectivity" and say things like "fair and balanced."

So kudos to Ailes for (finally) telling it like it is.

See Also: Fox Boss Roger Ailes Told Staff To "Shut Up And Tone It Down" After Arizona Shootings

@jayrosen_nyu pointed this admission out on Twitter.