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Dear Fox Nation: Was Bush disrespecting the Oval Office, too?

January 25, 2010 10:39 am ET by Dianna Parker

The Fox Nation is currently highlighting a picture of President Obama with his feet up on his Oval Office desk, accompanied by the headline, "Is Pres. Obama disrespecting the Oval Office?"

Of course, one must ask: If Obama is "disrespecting the Oval Office" by putting his feet on the desk, did President Bush too disrespect the office by doing the same? Yes, Fox Nation, Bush also put his feet up on the Oval Office desk:

If this sounds familiar, it should. Close to a year ago, the media fixated on Bush's chief of staff Andy Card's criticism of Obama for allowing men to go jacket-less in the Oval Office, despite the fact that Card's former boss did the same thing. Card, of course, would have been well aware of this, particularly considering there is a photograph of him in the Oval Office with Bush and a (gasp!) jacket-less George Tenet. Nonetheless, the media, at the time, did not bother to fact check Card's claims, and it seems that the editors at The Fox Nation did not learn a lesson from that media fail.

Tags: Fox Nation

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    • Author by Bad News (January 25, 2010 10:43 am ET)
      11  
      The goal of Fox Nation is to destroy the first Black President.


      Mr. News
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      • Author by worrierking (January 25, 2010 10:50 am ET)
        8  
        You've got it.

        And they're willing to take the entire country down too as long as they can destroy the President.
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        • Author by dotjon4 (January 25, 2010 12:59 pm ET)
          1  
          Yes of course as long as these 'people' reach their objectives! They care about one thing and one thing only and that is to get a Republican back in the Oval Office next election! Makes one's stomach somewhat sick!! Look at all the good 'they' did for 8 long years...mind boggling!!!!!!
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      • Author by shaggles (January 25, 2010 11:42 am ET)
        5  
        I really think it's more about his being a Dem than being black. Actually it's about his not being a neo-con. I wonder if Saint McCain, being not quite a neo-con, might even have suffered the ire of Fox Nation had he been elected?
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        • Author by mattcable250650 (January 25, 2010 12:23 pm ET)
          5  
          Good point. Remember: "Clinton trashed the place and it's not his place." Obama's not "good people" like GeeDubya, he's a (*gasp*) Democrat!
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        • Author by mrhebert74 (January 26, 2010 1:08 am ET)
          2  
          I really think it's more about his being a Dem than being black.
          Maybe so, but any public discussion that implies a black man should be more respectful is pretty tone-deaf, if it's not a deliberate racist connotation.
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      • Author by marco21 (January 25, 2010 12:11 pm ET)
        3  
        The third comment at this posting in the OFx Nation thread corresponding to their story.

        Statesman/Patriot
        He'd look better with some gold teeth and lots of bling.


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    • Author by ScienceBuff (January 25, 2010 10:53 am ET)
      6  
      Yes, WPE Bush was disrespecting the office of President, but it wasn't demonstrated by his feet on his desk.
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      • Author by mrhebert74 (January 26, 2010 1:09 am ET)
        1  
        Right. Look more carefully -- it's because he let Karl Rove in there. Wow, I hope they fumigated after that.
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    • Author by bintx (January 25, 2010 11:03 am ET)
      4 1
      It's his office, his furniture. STUPID.
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      • Author by bintx (January 25, 2010 11:04 am ET)
        5  
        Sorry, I just noticed that Obama had apparently not replaced the furniture as some Presidents do. Still not any more disrespectful than Bush's actions.
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        • Author by shaggles (January 25, 2010 11:50 am ET)
          6  
          Imgine the outrage if Obama had spent a even a single penny on redecorating the Oval Office.
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          • Author by The_Cat (January 25, 2010 1:36 pm ET)
            5  
            And paid union workers to do so. :)
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          • Author by DellDolly (January 25, 2010 3:54 pm ET)
            4  
            Well, whatever desk he uses, or however much redecorating he did, it's the 'office' that would be disrespected, not the individual pieces of furniture.

            Because, don't you know, the 'office' cares. Just like God cares if you go to church in jeans or a suit - it shows your lack of respect for God if you go in jeans, but go in a suit, and you're in like Flynn! Because appearances are more important than actual deeds. It's all about what it LOOKS LIKE, and nothing whatsoever to do with what your actual character is about.

            But that's one of the flaws in the character of rightwingers. They assign blame to Haitians because they have been poor for generations. It must be that there's something wrong with them - it can't be that they're in terrible circumstances over which they have little control, can it? Poor people, all guilty as charged withour regard to the lack of evidence that they've sinned or failed or caused their troubles!
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    • Author by goesto11 (January 25, 2010 11:04 am ET)
      7  
      Fox News does not recognize the concept of shame.

      Seriously.





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      • Author by The_Cat (January 25, 2010 12:09 pm ET)
        8  
        I hate to say this, goesto11, but that's just not true. FOX Propaganda looked into the idea of shame, and discovered that it had no profit potential.
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    • Author by shaggles (January 25, 2010 11:34 am ET)
      9  
      They did the same thing when a pic of Obama in the Oval Office without a jacket appeared early last year. And of course there was a pic Bush in the Oval Office similarly attired. I think it's Fox that lacks respect for the Oval Office.
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      • Author by HesDanTheMan (January 25, 2010 12:58 pm ET)
        5  
        You hit the nail on the head! It IS Fox that lacks respect for the Oval Office and POTUS in general. Great call!!
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    • Author by smarshall1432997 (January 25, 2010 11:53 am ET)
      6  
      We just "LOVE" how quickly the photos of both Obama and Bush are shown for the side by side comparison of the 'smear campaign' that FoxNews do to an American President 24/7. These side by side photos speak "VOLUMES" in how "bias" and "shameless" FoxNews' FoxNation would go just to stir controversy about an American President. Where has respectable journalism gone these days? Thanks Media Matters, LOL.
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    • Author by dotjon4 (January 25, 2010 12:53 pm ET)
      2  
      Bush could have done a hand stand on the Oval Office desk and he would still be one of the biggest Idiots ever!! I have discussed this with friends and I believe it holds some merit. I believe that when Bush did not really become President, he was so looking forward to having Photographers photo shoot him in the Oval Office. That was very important to him other than actually doing something worth while, while in the Oval Office. He is waiting for the book to come out with all his photos piled page after page. Better in black and white also....more dramatic..as if..LOL
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    • Author by Jurgan (January 25, 2010 4:18 pm ET)
         
      Seems to me like they learned a pretty good lesson. They got away with it, didn't they?
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      • Author by moore4less (January 25, 2010 11:44 pm ET)
           
        Obama is talking / governing...G.W. is napping / leaving it up to Rove et al.
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    • Author by dezine (January 26, 2010 12:13 am ET)
         
      If you read the comments from the folks over on the website the realization is that his actions are not the problem, he is. Regardless of what he does, no matter if he does what they agree with or not, the disrespect in their eyes is not what he does in the oval office but the fact that a black man is in the oval office. If bothers them to no end.

      So, while the actions are obviously not disrespectful the endless and baseless attacks from the right are. They gave every benefit of the doubt to their man but now that the other side is in office everything he does is socialist and a plan to take away their guns.

      Racism at it's worst, and yeah, call it a race card. But it's just the truth.
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    • Author by ATcanguelo (January 26, 2010 12:27 am ET)
         
      I do understand why you've chosen to crique the duplication of these acts of sensationalism. An act that may seem like an intentional act of sacrilegious degradation, is nothing more than an act of Human reciprocation of socially developed rolls, combined with the natural counteraction to environmental surroundings. The premis that the underlying offense, is that towards a historically significant American artifact, seems completely irrelevant.

      Point:
      Really?

      AT
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