On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
-Obama Inaugural Address, JAN 20,2009
Other news organizations like yours ought not to treat [Fox News like a legitimate news organization.]We’re not going to treat them that way.
-David Axelrod on ABC News, October 19th 2009
The Obama administration says it is attempting to marginalize and isolate Fox News. Even if the channel’s content is biased, isn’t this a monumentally bad idea on every single level?
First of all, the administration comes off petty to all but the most fervent I’m-already-sold-on-you type supporters. The country’s in the midst of a recession, unemployment is intolerably high, the entire Washington establishment has spent the past several weeks wringing its hands over which way to go in the Afghan war, and the President’s front office ventures forth to smack down. . .Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly? Come on!
Are less people going to watch the channel because of you do not like it? Fox’s ratings are up 20% this year, so that seems unlikely. Are sponsors going to bolt because of the administration’s constant chastising of the administration? Probably not. But if they do,and if other democrats refuse to come on the showdue to pressure from the White House, is that a good thing in this country?
If you are trying to unite the country and increase support for your policies, wouldn’t it be better to send smart people from the front office to defend your policies and decisions on the channel? Most people who watch O’Reilly do not watch Olbermann, so wouldn’t you reach more people, and perhaps change a few minds by defending your complex, life-altering policies there? And if Fox comes off as a bunch of jackasses with your people, they lose anyway. Remember Tucker Carlson and Jon Stewart? Stewart tore Carlson apart, and he wasn’t around much after that, was he?
Hopefully the administration will bury the hatchet, drop its petty grievances and send its best and brightest on Fox’s programs. You cannot unite the country on Rachel Maddow’s and George Stephanopolos’s shows alone! And It is better to use the power of persuasion to sell ideas in this country, than to encourage censorship. Leave that authoritarian message-control garbage to the Castros and Chavezes of the world, and beat your opponents out in the open, and on the air.
Update: Fox is running this clip of its chief administration antagonist Anita Dunn extolling the virtues of Chairman Mao, responsible for totalitarian rule and millions of deaths during the cultural revolution and great leap forward, which no doubt is helping to sell more fence-sitters on the Administration’s agenda!
