I'm not entirely sure how this system fell apart, but back in the dark days in the early aughts, the manufactured outrage of the day was just normal politics. Cook up some bullshit, send it to Drudge (America's Assignment Editor), he hypes at 2, it's on CNN by 2:30, and Dems are falling all over themselves to condemn and/or apologize by 4. That was politics for Democrats for several years.
Whatever stupid shit is happening on Fox still dominates The Discourse, but it doesn't quite have the well-oiled machine quality it once did.
