NPR's Rudin apologizes for comparing Obama to Nixon
October 22, 2009 3:22 pm ET by Media Matters staff
From Ken Rudin's October 22 post on NPR's Political Junkie blog:
I made a boneheaded mistake yesterday, during the Political Junkie segment on NPR's Talk of the Nation, that I'd like to correct right away.
It was part of a conversation regarding the White House's war with Fox News.
I happen to think that the administration made a mistake in deciding to take on Fox. Yes, you can make the case that Fox "started it," as the White House is saying, though that sounds a bit juvenile to me. Fox News has been baiting President Obama from Day One -- and before. Yes, there are commentators on Fox (Glenn Beck comes to mind, but there are others) who trash the president on a daily, if not hourly, basis. Yes, there are some days where the work of good, legitimate Fox journalists -- such as Major Garrett, for example -- get overlooked because of all the attention directed at the rancor coming from its commentators.
[...]
Yesterday, in expressing my belief that the White House should have known better, I actually said this on the air:
Well, it's not only aggressive, it's almost Nixonesque. I mean, you think of what Nixon and Agnew did with their enemies list and their attacks on the media; certainly Vice President Agnew's constant denunciation of the media. Of course, then it was a conservative president denouncing a liberal media, and of course, a lot of good liberals said, 'Oh, that's ridiculous. That's an infringement on the freedom of press.' And now you see a lot of liberals almost kind of applauding what the White House is doing to Fox News, which I think is distressing.
Where do I begin. I will tell you, that the Nixon "enemies list" is the first thing I thought of when the topic came up. And obviously, that's what was going through my mind during yesterday's conversation.
But comparing the tactics of the Nixon administration -- which bugged and intimidated and harrassed journalists -- to that of the Obama administration was foolish, facile, ridiculous and, ultimately, embarrassing to me. I should have known better and, in fact, I do know better. I was around during the Nixon years. I am fully cognizant of what they did and attempted to do.
I still think the Obama administration showed a childish, thin skin in its dealings with and reaction to Fox.
But childishness is a far cry from illegal and unconstitutional activities. And for that I apologize for a dumb comparison.
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She was incredulous. At one point in time she said something like "Senator, I don't think you want to go there." But apparently he did want to go there. She gave him a couple of opportunities to walk back that allegation, but he was firm that the Obama Administration is repeating Nixon's mistakes and has, in some ways, exceeded the wrongdoing that the Nixon Administration has done - "the Obama WH is tougher", he said! He calls it a "bunker mentality" for the White House to debunk their critics! He was being a concern troll.
Really. He said that.
So, I guess we've figured out who RightON is! Lamar Alexander!
When the hell is it the job of the media to prevent republicans from going crazy in front of people? The job of the pundit in this case is to confirm and clarify the comment, to ensure it isn't a misspeak. Not to make it less bad.
Assuming that you're paraphrasing accurately. I won't watch it myself because any cable news viewing, even MSNBC, risks second-hand stupid.
Since when is calling out someone for lying, distorting and smearing "childish" ???
If NPR and the rest of the MSM did their jobs and stood-up to FNC, then the WH wouldn't have to lower themselves into this ugly fray ...
If a liar lies against you, kick them in the face, then kick them again. Hold a foot up when they next open their mouth.
The Obama administration should just sit back quietly while they're routinely smeared on a daily basis with a barrage of lies and filth by a so-called "News" channel.
No need to worry about any of this according to head NPR babbling head Ken Rudin. Just look at the good work Major Garrett is doing!!
All you have to do is see a list of corporate donors to NPR and you can see where this is coming from.
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Media Matters has plenty of examples of bias in Garrett's reporting, including plenty involving Obama.