So apparently the President who has received the most laudatory and fawning press coverage of any President in the modern era has decided to go to war on one of the few media outlets that does not genuflect before daring to ask his administration non-deferential questions. This week, Obama apparently went so far as to take the insane step of trying to remove FoxNews reporters from a pool interview. The basis for Obama’s war on FoxNews is that FoxNews isn’t really “news,” because it represents and is pushing a point of view. So, to review the world as it appears through the lenses of Barack Obama, the Huffington Post and Tommy Christopher are objective “news” organizations that get called on respectfully at White House press conferences, and FoxNews isn’t “news” because they’re pushing a point of view. Great.
Many people seem to be genuinely upset by this development. I’m not; in fact, I welcome it. After this week, no Republican administration will be so foolish as to replicate the mistakes of the past Republican administrations who felt like they had to treat DNC propaganda mouthpieces like the NYT and MSNBC like objective news organizations. Remember when the NYT leaked the highly classified program the Bush Administration had to track the funds being used to support terrorism, even though their own legal department told them the program was almost certainly legal? Remember how Bush took the extraordinary step of begging them not to run the story because it would shut down a completely legal program that had been very effective in combating terrorism, and they basically told him to get lost and ran it anyway, just because it would cause him political damage? I think it was a mistake for Bush to ever allow a NYT reporter back in the White House press room again, but he clearly felt that Presidential precedent and decorum demanded it.
Now that Obama has shown the way; to wit, that a President is perfectly free to blackball any news organization that says anything he doesn’t like, the next Republican President will have a much easier time kicking MSNBC off Air Force One. In fact, I wish we could just speed up this entire kabuki dance and develop a set of permanent political blacklists; Republicans refuse to go on MSNBC and CNN, Democrats refuse to go on FoxNews, etc. etc. At long last the media will have shed the last vestiges of being the objective arbiters of truth and reporting and it will be evident to the whole world which side a given “news” organization is a mouthpiece for based on which politicians will grant them interviews. When that day comes, everyone will look at all news reports examining them for agendas and biases with a critical eye that has been deserved for decades. And since the media is still overwhelmingly left-wing, the aggregate result of their collective defrocking will be a bonus for our side.
I’d like to thank President Obama for starting this process, and encourage him to see it through to its conclusion.
Neil Stevens
Steve Maley
Daniel Horowitz
Jake Walker
We know Dear Leader is a socialist
gonzo55 (Diary) Friday, October 23rd at 12:28PM EST (link)But I feel those on the right disagree on what KIND of socialist he is. This latest pogrom against Fox has made it clear to me that Chairman Obama is a Maoist more than anything else. Even Lenin wouldn’t have the temerity to go after Fox News.
“Facts are stubborn things” — Ronald Wilson Reagan
Amen, Brother. Amen.
IJB Friday, October 23rd at 12:29PM EST (link)I don’t always agree with you, Leon. But on this one, we are brothers in arms.
Great post
Jack_Savage (Diary) Friday, October 23rd at 12:31PM EST (link)If war is what they want, then we need to make sure it is war they have. Here is a little bite from a report on who Obama met with immediately after this clownish attempt at thuggery:
“Obama’s comments also came after he met Monday with political commentators Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow of MSNBC; Eugene Robinson and E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post; Ron Brownstein of the National Journal; John Dickerson of Slate; Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd and Bob Herbert of the New York Times; Jerry Seib of the Wall Street Journal, Gloria Borger of CNN and U.S. News and World Report, and Gwen Ifill of PBS.”
talk about a media Insane Clown Posse
streiff (Diary) Friday, October 23rd at 12:54PM EST (link)nt
“What keeps me here is the reek of beer, the ladies and the craic”
Yes, so many reasonable folks advising him, it's
janis (Diary) Friday, October 23rd at 12:58PM EST (link)truly a mystery that he ends up making such a bone-headed decision. I hope they keep advising him on media concerns. God knows, it’s working out great.
Let's get back to biased news sources
crosley (Diary) Friday, October 23rd at 12:43PM EST (link)Historically, news outlets were very upfront about their biases, it’s only a recent development that news sources pretended to be objective and unbiased. This gave liberals an incredible advantage, liberal news outlets had the gravitas to pummel conservatives. After all, they didn’t have an axe to grind, so they must be objective and telling the truth.
The war on Fox news will make more Americans see that indeed, all news outlets have an agenda. I think in the long run that’s a huge boon for conservatives. I would say 90% of the reason Democrats are able to get elected is directly attributable to a fawning liberal media.
What I find amusing is, outside of the obvious editorial style shows like Hannity and O’Reilly, the “hard” news on Fox really isn’t that slanted.
Then I guess Fox News will never win this certificate
Beaglescout (Diary) Saturday, October 24th at 11:20PM EST (link)source
“A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.”
Democrat's Learning Disabilities
mas1916 Friday, October 23rd at 12:43PM EST (link)At the risk of being labeled politically incorrect or insensitive, it must be pointed out that Democrats have a serious inability to learn from the mistakes of others.
Nixon had an enemies list, He got drummed out of office. Obama is now trying the same thing.
Jimmy Carter ran up the deficit during a recession which drove unemployment sky high. He too, got drummed out of office. Obama is Jimmy Carter on steroids.
Nixon sent his VP out to demonize the press. That backfired. Obama sent his entire team to demonize one network. Fox has enjoyed a huge increase in viewership. And if Obama wants to reach moderate voters in 2012, He will need Fox.. . Those viewers no longer watch CNN or NBC.
Obama and the Democrats just cannot learn from history and each week is revealing more and more bizarre things about the administration, its policies and its intentions. ( at least you can get a laugh out of it at http://www.conservativeblog.thewebinfocenter.com/conservative-blog/where-the-real-wild-things-are )
Obama's "War" on FOX - video
izoneguy (Diary) Friday, October 23rd at 12:45PM EST (link)The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
too bad about the typos
streiff (Diary) Friday, October 23rd at 1:25PM EST (link)in the subtitles but otherwise hilarious
“What keeps me here is the reek of beer, the ladies and the craic”
New Obama WAR on FOX video
izoneguy (Diary) Friday, October 23rd at 2:23PM EST (link)They uploaded a new corrected video……
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
We are being assaulted by our own president
patrickmcminn Friday, October 23rd at 12:46PM EST (link)This president never ceases to amaze. I hope that the Kool Aid is wearing off and the people who have even a modicum of concern for the basic principles of our country begin to take notice and make their voices heard. There is an overt and covert attempt to hijack this country through the use of mainstream media/social networking/the internet/and good old fashioned intimidation tactics. A truly unprescedented assault. I would call it brilliant if it was being used in the world of business. But it is bein used by an administratrion which was elected/hired to bring us together and leave “old politics” outside the door. It will be fascinating how it plays itself out for Obama, but my sense is that he is in well over his head and is totally overplaying his hand.
Let him continue the fight against Fox News
anotherindyfilmguy (Diary) Friday, October 23rd at 12:54PM EST (link)since it is one of the most damaging things he is doing to himself and it is waking up a *lot* of people to that lefty and his real face which is not the one tons of them thought they elected.
The O is making a brutally painful mistake. time to pop the popcorn and grab a beer…
Santorum? Well, at least he’s not Romney…
http://www.zazzle.com/enemy_of_the_statist_tshirt-235977043035297478
Agreed. There are six or so TV news organizations,
6eorge Jetson (Diary) Saturday, October 24th at 12:24AM EST (link)and only one of them is different! That being Fox News.
Fox couldn’t have dreamed of a better publicity stunt.
LOL
speciallist (Diary) Saturday, October 24th at 12:43AM EST (link)the slam-dunk pics rule…check in at george mail sometime
By the time the next Republican president takes office
mustango (Diary) Friday, October 23rd at 1:07PM EST (link)even if it’s in 2013, we all know full well the revisionist history will have decided the war against Fox never happened and that anything that remotely fails to genuflect to the MSM will be treated as a shocking and totally unprecedented breach of decorum.
That’s why the time to engage this is now, while Obama still has his hand in the figurative cookie jar. And we gotta do it… the Chicago way.
“I just miss — I miss being anonymous.” — Barack Obama
I fully sympathize, Mr. President. I miss you being anonymous too.
Great post, but...
RedInABleuState (Diary) Friday, October 23rd at 1:44PM EST (link)“After this week, no Republican administration will be so foolish as to replicate the mistakes of the past Republican administrations who felt like they had to treat DNC propaganda mouthpieces like the NYT and MSNBC like objective news organizations.”
You hold the GOP in higher esteem than I do.
The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion. — Edmund Burke
It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds. — Samuel Adams
Am I alone?
kansanjulie Friday, October 23rd at 2:45PM EST (link)Am I alone here?!?! It seems to me that we are missing a huge point here in the war on Fox. President Obama is scared of Fox News! He says he is not losing sleep, but obviously he is, as well as Anita, Robert, David, etc. The fact that they are taking the time to try and muzzle Fox news seems to show that they are shaking in their boots. They are not thinking clearly, and just acting irrationally, trying to avoid another Van Jones incident.
Or is this
makemyday (Diary) Friday, October 23rd at 3:00PM EST (link)the reason. How much airtime is being used on the only network to report on Acorn, the czars, the Maoists, the Leninists, the boondoggles in the Senate and the HofR to talk about what will be whisked away in short order as a “My Bad, sorry FOX”?
When all else fails…….. Shoot!
“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” –American author Mark Twain (1835-1910)
“We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times.” –George Washington, letter to Philip Schuyler, 1777
Good point
kansanjulie Friday, October 23rd at 3:21PM EST (link)That makes sense. However, I think it will backfire on them in the end. I hope anyway.
So the rest of the nets stood up for
redneck_hippie (Diary) Saturday, October 24th at 1:06PM EST (link)free and fair access in this one instance. I don’t want to think what the next play toward hushing dissent will be. At least they can’t burn Palin’s book right now, and Levin’s has sold too many copies for them to get their hands on all of them. If not for Fox and Youtube where would we be once the FCC destroys talk radio. Ah, the fairness and tolerance of the left is indescribable, and we will be so much better off when we are free from making any decisions or having any thoughts of our own.
It seems the general population
Warrior (Diary) Saturday, October 24th at 1:08PM EST (link)is beyond shock.
I mean, shutting down opposition media? This is blatant banana republic stuff.
If GWB had tried this they would have hung him out to dry.
Apparently, most Americans have been in the pot so long they don’t realize they are now being boiled…
“Racial criteria are irrational, irrelevant, [and] odious to our way of life.” — Thurgood Marshall for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in the 1950 Supreme Court case of McLaurin v. Oklahoma
warrior, most Americans don't trust them (poll)
redneck_hippie (Diary) Saturday, October 24th at 1:15PM EST (link)In case you missed it, check out results on R vs D trust in ALL 10 categories:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/trust_on_issues
And this poll is being covered where in the state controlled media?
No wonder I missed it
Warrior (Diary) Saturday, October 24th at 8:01PM EST (link)However, this from your link:
“But voters are less sure which party they trust more to handle government ethics and corruption…” (33 R, 29 D, 38 Unsure)
is quite revealing.
Yet I was less concerned with “trust” and more concerned with the average Joe not being able to recognize, or at least not being worried by, this blatant, third-world thuggery and its’ historical antecedents….
What’s next, masked men wearing fatigues and firnig off sub-machine guns in the Senate chamber???
“Racial criteria are irrational, irrelevant, [and] odious to our way of life.” — Thurgood Marshall for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in the 1950 Supreme Court case of McLaurin v. Oklahoma