Another Outing? Sinclair TV's Bush Propagandist Mark Hyman Suddenly Quits

Just four days before the election, one of the country's most visible right-wing propagandists quit his nightly "local news" rant seen by millions of people on Sinclair's 60 TV stations.

Mark Hyman, the guy who clumsily yells about the dangers of communists, the French, John Kerry and Social Security during a two-minute segment called "The Point,"says he's leaving to"spend more time with his four children." 

You know what that means. We'll investigate, after the jump.

Hyman had been VP and spokesman for Sinclair and started "The Point" after 9/11, when the United States began its thrilling march towards Stalinism.

He took over most of the "local news" broadcasts on Sinclair stations, replacing all but a few minutes of regional stories and weather with a big chunk of right-wing segments secretly produced at headquarters in Baltimore -- like the paid pro-Bush propaganda from Armstrong Williams.

Besides Hyman's hysterical two-minute segments -- think "Colbert Report," but really crazy -- he also distinguished himself by stopping Sinclair's ABC stations from showing "Nightline" when it began covering the thousands of U.S. deaths in Iraq and by forcing a two-hour Swift Boat anti-Kerry commercial on all Sinclair stations right before the 2004 presidential election.

Other than the standard closeted-gay "spend time with my family" excuse and his typical gay-newscaster appearance, we've got no evidence that Mark Hyman is going to be outed. But it would be irresponsible to not consider it, and ask for rumors from Wonkette operatives.

Hyman's sudden departure is probably just smart business. Sinclair's power and glory came in with the 1994 Republican sweep of Congress, and its bullying bullshit practices reached a peak as Bush just squeaked by in the '04 vote. Sinclair hasn't named a replacement jackass for "The Point" -- the segment is being retired.

Anyway, guys like Mark Hyman are never out of a job, because Hyman's a CIA man:  

Mark served briefly in the Army before attending college on an Army ROTC scholarship. He was later accepted to the U. S. Naval Academy from which he graduated in 1981. He served as a naval officer on ships assigned to the east and west coasts and he served in the U.S. Navy's European headquarters in London . He has conducted worldwide travel with extensive time spent in the Middle East . He left active duty in 1989 and became employed as a civilian in the Office of Naval Intelligence, which included assignments with the U.S. On-Site Inspection Agency as a disarmament treaty weapons inspector in former Warsaw Pact countries. A Captain in the Naval Reserve, he has served in leadership positions in CIA's National Warning Staff, the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, Naval Space Command and Naval Intelligence.

Interesting. First, Naval Intelligence/CIA man Bob Woodward is sent in to do the kill job on the Bush Administration, and next Mark Hyman quits his six-year psyops project. What the hell do They have planned next?

Time to forget the last awful six years ever happened. Plus, a Dem-controlled Congress may want to, say, hold months of investigations into Sinclair's business practices. It's a good time to shut up and not draw any unwanted attention.

Sinclair literally came out of nowhere (Baltimore) only 20 years ago. The family-run broadcaster went from a single station in 1986 to the largest collection of stations in the country, and has literally rewritten FCC rules whenever they stood in the way.

Sinclair created Robert Ehrlich, first as a congressman who would eventually have the power to bully Michael Powell into rolling over and then as an utterly unlikely Kennedy-beating candidate for governor of Maryland in 2002. (Ehrlich is now running just slightly behind Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley.)

 Hyman to stop his 'The Point' remarks, says 'I'm exhausted' [Baltimore Sun]

 Not Necessarily the News [GQ]

 Mark Hyman: Stepford Spook and the New Operation Mockingbird [Dissident Voice]