In Wash. Post op-ed, Fox News Democrats Schoen, Caddell liken Obama to Nixon
October 30, 2010 5:31 pm ET by Terry Krepel
As we’ve previously noted, Doug Schoen and Pat Caddell present themselves as Democrats yet do nothing but attack President Obama and his administration -- which, needless to say, gets them prodigious face time on Fox News. And, for some reason, this shtick gets them space in the mainstream media as well.
Which brings us to their latest bit of conservative concern-trolling, an October 30 Washington Post op-ed in which they incredulously liken President Obama to none other than Richard Nixon. No, really:
We can think of only one other recent president who would display such indifference to the majesty of his office: Richard Nixon.
[...]
Indeed, Obama is conducting himself in a way alarmingly reminiscent of Nixon's role in the disastrous 1970 midterm campaign. No president has been so persistently personal in his attacks as Obama throughout the fall. He has regularly attacked his predecessor, the House minority leader and - directly from the stump - candidates running for offices below his own. He has criticized the American people suggesting that they are "reacting just to fear" and faulted his own base for "sitting on their hands complaining."
[...]
We are also disturbed that the office of the president is mounting attacks on private individuals, such as the founders of the group Americans for Prosperity. Having been forged politically during Watergate - one of us was the youngest member of Nixon's enemies list - we are chilled by the prospect of any U.S. president willing to marshal the power of his office against a private citizen.
Even more incredibly, Schoen and Caddell want you to believe, against all evidence, that they’re “traditional liberal Democrats”:
We write in sadness as traditional liberal Democrats who believe in inclusion. Like many Americans, we had hoped that Obama would maintain the spirit in which he campaigned. Instead, since taking office, he has pitted group against group for short-term political gain that is exacerbating the divisions in our country and weakening our national identity. The culture of attack politics and demonization risks compromising our ability to address our most important issues -- and the stature of our nation's highest office.
Actual “traditional liberal Democrats” would not be running to the pages of The Washington Post and Fox News to repeatedly denounce the party they claim to be a part of and the president who carries their party banner. And it’s not like this is limited to a dispute with Obama. As we’ve shown, Caddell has attacked Bill Clinton, Janet Reno, and the Democratic Party itself over the years. With these continual attacks, Schoen and Caddell demonstrate over and over again why they’re Fox News Democrats.
It’s understandable that Fox News would not dare to challenge Schoen and Caddell’s faux Democratic credentials -- it has a vested interest in perpetuating the lie. But why should the Post take part in forwarding their dishonesty?
Those two aren't Democrats so much as they are salary-collecting professional targets -- clown punching bags for the hosts of Fox "News" to knock down, only to have them pop back up to get knocked down again. It's the only way the "journalists" at Fox "news" can win arguments.
which would be what now after the neocons?
colonialist? militaristic? fundamentalist? dare I say racist?
Uh, Terry. What is factually inaccurate about that statement? Obama has made those statements.
If you want to have ANY credibility on ANY issue, you have to acknowledge the blatant disregard for their own precedent on the right, and you have to recognize their hyper-sensitivity to being attacked in a manner even marginally reminiscent of a way they attacked democrats in the past.
If you wanna talk about political figures making personal attacks, you cannot ignore that Fox completely turned on Obama while cradling Bush's way out the door. They attacked and barked and lied and hissed and booed all the way to inauguration day. There was no good faith attempts.
I wish you could just walk in his shoes for a minute, maybe ask yourself "Lets assuem he's not evil or corrupt. Lets give him the benefit of the doubt that, like most people, he thinks he's a decent human being." and try to find some meaningful reason aside from malice for why a figure might be doing what they're doing. It really helps.
I've got that dose of reality coming in 48 hours from tonight...
Its perfectly fine to attack democrats from the 60s or invoke the memories of people who were in a diffrent republican party 150 years ago or attack left-leaning politics in the rest of the world, whether or not they have anything to do with the situation.
Even mention that the republican party employs known politican criminals or that the taliban and al'qaeda are right-wing and watch the foxcasters explode with rage.