The World's Most Famous Billboard Salesman Speaks Out

Sounds like Ted Turner may be off his medication again...

Ted Turner called Fox a propaganda tool of the Bush administration and indirectly compared Fox News Channel's popularity to Adolf Hitler's popular election to run Germany before World War II.

Turner made those fiery comments in his first address at the National Association for Television Programming Executives' conference since he was ousted from Time Warner Inc. five years ago.

The 66-year-old billionaire, who leveraged a television station in Atlanta into a media empire, made the comment before a standing-room-only crowd at NATPE's opening session Tuesday.

His no-nonsense, sometimes humorous, approach during the one-hour Q&A generated frequent loud applause and laughter.

Fox wasn't laughing, however. "Ted is understandably bitter having lost his ratings, his network, and now his mind," said a Fox News spokesperson. "We wish him well."

Personally, I think Turner lost the right to be taken seriously when he married Jane Fonda. The fact that he divorced her does not excuse him from that lapse in judgement, since it took him a decade or so to figure out that it was a dumb idea.

This is the same guy who once told Phillies owner Bill Giles, "I'm gonna conquer the world through television." Man, it must suck to get whipped by Rupert Murdoch at your own dream.