White House: FOX off-limits -- strategist
Openness and transparency..........yeah, right.........
November 6, 2009
At least one Democratic political strategist has gotten a blunt warning from the White House to never appear on Fox News Channel, an outlet that presidential aides have depicted as not so much a news-gathering operation as a political opponent bent on damaging the Obama administration.
Political consultants are a st
More..aple of cable television talk shows, analyzing current events based on their own experiences working on campaigns or in government.
One Democratic strategist said that shortly after an appearance on Fox he got a phone call from a White House official telling him not to be a guest on the show again. The call had an intimidating tone, he said.
The message was, "We better not see you on again,'' said the strategist, who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to run afoul of the White House. An implicit suggestion, he said, was that "clients might stop using you if you continue.''
In urging Democratic consultants to spurn Fox, White House officials might be trying to isolate the network and make it appear more partisan.
A boycott by Democratic strategists could also help drive the White House narrative that Fox is a fundamentally different creature than the other TV news networks. For their part, White House officials appear on Fox News -- but sporadically and with "eyes wide open,'' as one aide put it.
David Plouffe, the president's campaign manager and author of a new campaign book, The Audacity to Win, was scheduled to appear on Fox's On the Record with Greta Van Susteren last night as he promotes his book. His appearance, pre-empted by the breaking news of the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, has been rescheduled for Monday.
White House Communications Director Anita Dunn said Thursday night that she had checked with colleagues who "deal with TV issues'' and they had not told people to avoid Fox. On the contrary, they had urged people to appear on the network, Dunn wrote in an email.
But Patrick Caddell, a Fox News contributor and a former pollster for Democratic President Jimmy Carter, said he has spoken to Democratic consultants who have been told by the White House to avoid appearances on Fox. He declined to give their names.
Caddell said he had not gotten that message himself from the White House. "They know better than to tell me anything like that,'' he said.
Caddell added: "I have heard that they've done that to others in not too subtle ways. I find it appalling. When the White House gets in the business of suppressing dissent and comment, particularly from its own party, it hurts itself.''
The White House has taken an aggressive stance toward Fox. When President Obama appeared on five separate talk shows one Sunday in September, he avoided Fox.
"It would be foolish for us to just treat it like it's CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS,'' said a White House aide. "That doesn't make any sense. That would be like saying we're going to do [interviews] with the news magazines and we're going to do Time, Newsweek and the [conservative] National Review.''
The aide spoke on condition of anonymity to talk more openly about the White House's thinking.
Last month, Dunn told CNN that Fox was, in effect, an "arm'' of the Republican Party. Dunn said in an appearance on the rival cable network: "Let's not pretend they're a news network the way CNN is.''
As the dustup played out, Fox's senior vice president of news, Michael Clemente, countered: "Surprisingly, the White House continues to declare war on a news organization instead of focusing on the critical issues that Americans are concerned about like jobs, health care and two wars. ''
Fox's commentators have been sharply critical of the Obama administration. After the president won the Nobel Peace Prize, Sean Hannity, who has a prime-time show on Fox, said he got the award for "trashing America.''
The two sides seemed interested in easing tensions. On Oct. 28, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs met privately with Clemente.
But White House aides haven't changed their underlying view of Fox.
Fox's audience is by far the largest of the cable networks, with an average of more than 2.1 million viewers in prime-time this year. CNN is second with 932,000 prime-time viewers.
Fox's viewership is not what worries the White House, though. More troubling to White House aides is that other news organizations may uncritically follow stories that Fox has showcased.
The White House aide said: "Where some of the falsehoods become dangerous is when the rest of the media accepts them as fact and reports on them, either out of a desire to tap into Fox's news audience - which you can understand, given where circulation and viewership rates are - or as some sort of knee-jerk fear of being considered liberally biased, which is what conservatives have been saying of the mainstream media for years.''
The White House's pugnacious approach to the network leaves some Democrats troubled.
Don Fowler, a former Democratic National Committee chairman, said in an interview: "This approach is out of sync with my conception of what the Obama administration stands for and what they're trying to do. I think they'll think better of it and this will be a passing phase.'' Less..
Added: Nov 6 2009 In: news_politics
By: tank2 
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Comments - sort by newest to oldest
The whiners on the right should take a long look at the damage done by Bush - before they attack Obama. Just loud and annoying losers in the Bush 22% - The rest of the nation is not with you and tards at FOX...Do you ever notice how the right is lead by the least accomplished people in this country - Beck, Hannity and Limbaugh did not even make it thru college. Yet they find themselves at the tip of the spear - thats real thought leadership....or is the lazy leading the lazier.
Posted Nov-6-2009 by "joalexan" (R)
**** i miss President Bush and Vice President Cheney.....life was so much better, America had an actual President with G.W...... :::sigh::: now we have this dip shit....Nobama. omg.
Posted Nov-6-2009 by "Stage-Right" (R)
You haven't been paying attention have you ? How old are you ? Do you understand communism ?
Posted Nov-6-2009 by "monkeyboy61" (R)
Can't say it enough. The American people were duped into this empty suit hand puppet mastered by Soros and the marxist regime...
Posted Nov-6-2009 by "Hawk_Eye" (R)
Still trying to divert attention away from Nobama`s failed tenure as President? The anti-President Bush rhetoric is so yesterday, try something new, because it isnt working. Nuff said, Period.
Posted Nov-6-2009 by "Stage-Right" (R)
wait until you have to give 70% of your money to taxes then you will be crying...
Posted Nov-6-2009 by "Hawk_Eye" (R)
Isn't that a shopped photo of the meme that likens Bush to Hitler? Oh well, its a fallacy in either case. I just think its amusing how easily both sides go straight to the Nazi analogy.
Posted Nov-6-2009 by "MBrad-C13" (R)
Payback is a ***** Marxists. Just remember that.
Posted Nov-6-2009 by "CrackPanther" (R)
You haven't been paying attention have you ? How old are you ? Do you understand communism ?
My family is from Ljubljana. My mother an uncle and three cousins came to America in 1978. Do not pretend that I do not know oppression. You parrot an idiot on TV and claim you fear communism. You are as phony as Glenn Beck
Posted Nov-6-2009 by "joalexan" (R)
You haven't been paying attention have you ? How old are you ? Do you understand communism ?
My family is from Ljubljana. My mother an uncle and three cousins came to America in 1978. Do not pretend that I do not know oppression. You parrot an idiot on TV and claim you fear communism. You are as phony as Glenn Beck
And you are as stupid as Keith Olbermann. So why don't you tell me one thing Beck was wrong about. I bet you have never even watched his show. Your type hears your progressive dumb ass friends say Beck is bad, and that is good enough for you. So again, tell me where Beck was wrong?
Posted Nov-6-2009 by "CrackPanther" (R)
republitards unite !
Posted Nov-6-2009 by "ggppgg" (R)
Excellent post.
Chicago politics don't mix with most Americans. Even some of the Dems are realizing this.
Wake up Sheeple!
Posted Nov-6-2009 by "Rocket_Smoke" (R)
psst
you know bush is out of office right?))
just sayin............
Posted Nov-6-2009 by "Killer_Kano" (R)
You aren't even an American. You cam to our country to exploit the best possible living you could because your homeland is shit. You are our enemy and you have a grim future here. Fox news has awoken a sleeping giant and we are coming out. Nationalism and patriotism is on the rise. You scared of the right? You should be. We have neutered your messiah and we are only getting started.
Posted Nov-6-2009 by "Madmar11" (R)
You want to know how stupid you are?
1. Dems are President
2. Dems control the house
3. Dems control the senate.
Yet the great one, botox face can't get anything passed.
Wake UP they do not need the Rep. to pass anything they have the majority. BUT STILL CAN'T PASS ANYTHING.. The Dem party does not even like them anymore.
Posted Nov-6-2009 by "Biker15k" (R)