Portrait of Shep Smith: A Diamond in the Rough

At Fox News, honesty and reflection are hard to come by. But one man stands alone. Shepard Smith has been with the network since its launch in 1996 and is now the network's lead anchor. Though it has been said many times and many ways that Fox is political operation, an arm of the GOP and a fear-mongering phenom, Shep Smith seems like a man at odds with the constant beating of right-wing drums at times.

Now I know that some of you are thinking that I'm picking on ol' Shep, but I assure you that I'm sincere. If Fox were a network of Shep Smiths, the viewers may not necessarily be more informed, but at least they would be more entertained (which, let's face it, is why a lot of people watch Fox to begin with).

To help make my case, I'd like to point to some of Shep's greatest on-air moments in which he proves himself one of the few willing to break with the network, and somehow keep his job. The instances are token, sure, but in the land of the blind that is Fox News, Shep Smith is without a doubt the one-eyed king.

Exhibit A: This clip is from yesterday. Smith actually apologizes for the network's "lack of balance," during an interview with the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Chris Christie. New Jersey is a heavily Democratic state and Jon Corzine, the incumbent, is likely to win, which is absent from the story, and the subject of Shep's disdain.

Exhibit B: In this instance, Shep Smith grills Republican Sen. John Barrasso on the public option.

Exhibit C: Shep Smith, famously lost his sh*t over torture, despite every other member of the network marginalizing the role of torture and trying to redefine it alongside the Bush administration's ideas on the subject.

At times, he is strident, lucid and journalist-y. At other times, it just look as though he is coming apart at the seams right before our eyes. These last three clips are just for fun.

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