Phew! Time's Joe Klein also thinks WH battle with Fox News is bad idea
October 24, 2009 9:38 am ET by Eric Boehlert
I was getting nervous because the topic has been bubbling up for almost two weeks, virtually every Beltway media elite had weighed in and they all thought it was just a terrible idea to fact-check Fox News' blatant falsehoods, and yet still not a peep from Time's Joe Klein.
Well, that silence has been broken, and it's now official. Time's Joe Klein officially agrees with virtually every other political pundit on the planet: fact-checking Fox News is a really, really bad idea.
Good to know.
UPDATED: Double phew! The CW-loving Sally Quinn has also weighed in on the White House's "war" against Fox News. Guess what? Hates it! In fact, "everybody" in D.C. thinks it's "dumb"; "absolutely crazy." And Quinn likens it to Watergate.
Am I the only one who feels like we're watching a mini-Clinton impeachment reunion among the media elites, where everyone proudly proclaims the exact same opinion that the Democratic White House is nuts?
UPDATED: Quinn: "I've talked to my colleagues and other politicians."
So now Quinn's a polician?
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They must all agree with FOX a lot more than they want to let on.
Quinn was unbelieveable, so snotty and self-satisfied about her opinion, as if she couldn't believe that anyone would do something so dumb as to criticize FOX. Only a person who had no problem with them would even begin to say such a thing.
I've said it before, and I'll say it once more. There are laws in place to deal with the monopolistic tendencies exhibited by some media moguls. Of course, the exceptions to the rules granted to Mr. Murdoch spring immediately to mind, but I'm sure there are others.
Rather than a chorus of voices all singing the same tune, directed by a conductor for his own personal enrichment, let us return instead to a time when there were actually diverse opinions expressed by our media, whether it be print, radio, or television. The more different opinions we hear, the broader and more varied the pools of ideas from which we draw, the greater the benefit to this country.
News at the moment has entirely too much resemblance to playground bickering.
"Yes you did!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Uh-huh!"
"Did not!"
...ad nauseum.
I heard a host and a caller on the radio station that carries the Air America and other lefty programming here, and they were both calling the White Houses behavior "childish" (the host, however, supported the WH rality check on Fox, whereas the caller, who said he voted for Obama, wanted him out for this).
This isn't a war. The White House needs to make decisions about how to use their limited time with the media.Fox has been systematically and desperately trying to destroy Obama since the day he was nominated.They admit as much on air, and have been caught in countless lies working towards their anti-Obama goals.
Unless I've missed some warlike actions, I've only seen the president and spokespeople calmly stating that Fox is not a real news channel, that it's a PR arm of the GOP. This isn't some wild conspiracy charge, it's clear to anybody who's not a Zombie Fox Fan.
Fox is free to broadcast, and according to their legal victories, they're free to lie.When a media outlet spends the time and legal fees in court, fighting for their precious right to make stuff up and present it as news, they make a decision. They have waived any right they may have thought they had to be taken seriously.
The behavior of the White House is not childish. It is an adult finally stepping in, and refusing to accommodate the problem child that is Fox "news".
People convicted of committing crimes using guns are forbidden from owning guns. Is this "childish" on the part of the governments/courts?
Personal responsibility, accountability, equality of opportunity, not outcome. These are all vague ideas wingnuts love to flap their lips about, but are outraged when they reap what they sow.
So shut up, Fox. This isn't a war. You've simply, through your own irresponsible behavior, finally received the treatment you deserve.
What's missing in that calculation is the attention they lose because they're having to debunk the FoxNews distortions. What's missing is that they lose time to debate the real issues having to debate the manufactured rightwing non-issues. How much time did they have to spend refuting the death panels smear? How much better would it have been for our nation to talk about how it was a good thing to have the end of life education for the USA?
The White House is fighting for a return to sanity. We don't need no stinkin' concern trolls telling us that they are better at figuring out the cost/benefit analysis than the Obama Administration's PR experts and political operatives. Based upon Obama's success, anyone who thinks that he's an inexperienced neophyte making bad decisions vastly underestimates his political skills.
And in case you've missed it, many liberal commentators have expressed negative opinions as regards the White House's attacks on Fox News and see it as the danger to our Freedom of the Press that it is. Maybe Barack gets his ideas from appointees like Anita Dunn who openly idolizes Mao Tse Tung. Good ol' Chairman Mao, now he knew how to silence the press - as well as his own people. And there are millions of dead Chinese who'd attest to that - if they could. Compared to what Mao did the rape of Nanking was a country picnic.
Robert Norwood
So the scheme employed by the White House is to get you to watch Glenn Beck. It's downright Machiavellian. And apparently it's working brilliantly, because most of Fox News, and even Beck himself, is spending hours talking about what Beck says is a phony media war and ignoring health care.
Obama is devious mastermind of misdirection. He somehow got Beck to fall for a scam even as Beck was telling his viewers it's a scam.
The whole scheme is to distract the American public from the very good idea that's healthcare reform. They've been distracting us since before he was elected with ridiculous things, and they keep doing it.
I mean, right now they're going on about the huge cost of the bill, but without the bill, healthcare will cost even more - this bill is better than deficit neutral! They're trying to distract us from the fact that this bill is an improvement by concentrating on the cost in a dishonest way.
They have to shift our attention from facts like that with nonsense.
The message is that that's a real nice 'bully pulpit' you've got there, Mr President. Be a shame if anything happened to it.
This isn't the first time the corporate media has sent that message to a President.
Reliably corrupt and dishonest, Republicans never stray from the corporate path.
Not since Eisenhower, anyways.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
We've got a military-industrial-financial-media complex now. Talk about your disastrous rise of misplaced power!
Now how do we put this genie back in the bottle?
~
I can't understand how everyone doesn't stand up at this moment and say "no more corporatism." It's going to destroy the future for the wealthy children too. Do they want their children to grow up in a world dominated by a rigid corporatist hierarchical system where their wishes and hopes mean nothing? They cannot stand for anything other than making money because corporate money won't allow it.
The government has done such a great job with social security, medicare, welfare, immigration, jobs, balance of trade, etc., etc. gee, why wouldn't we let them handle this...
It is disgraceful that other news reporters stand by Fox. Joe Tapper is the worst for leading the pack of cowards. What's he saying? If Fox doesn't get it first, ABC won't know what to report?
Randy