Fox cuts away from Obama-GOP Q&A but airs GOP "response" in its entirety
During President Obama's question and answer session with Republican members of Congress at the GOP House Issues Conference, Fox News Channel was the only cable news network to cut away and not show the exchange in its entirety. However, Fox News subsequently aired all of the "Republican response" press conference held by House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), and Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) after the question and answer session with Obama.
Fox News only cable news network not to show Q&A in its entirety
Fox cuts away 20 minutes before end of Obama's Q&A with House Republicans. With twenty minutes remaining in President Obama's question and answer session with House Republicans at their retreat in Baltimore, Fox News cut to The Live Desk co-host Trace Gallagher who asserted that Obama was "at times being a little bit combative" and that "there was a little bit of lecturing there." By contrast, MSNBC and CNN aired the event in its entirety.
Think Progress: "Fox News decided to cut away and begin its commentary." Think Progress' Amanda Terkel noted:
President Obama held a candid, face-to-face conversation with House Republicans today at their annual retreat in Baltimore. After Obama gave his remarks, he had to answer tough questions from Republican lawmakers about health care, the budget, taxes, and other issues. Although the riveting exchange lasted over an hour, both CNN and MSNBC aired the entire event.
However, at 1:11 p.m. ET - when there was still 20 minutes left to go - Fox News decided to cut away and begin its commentary. Anchor Trace Gallagher's immediate reaction was that Obama was being too "combative" and "lecturing" - like he was at his State of the Union address. [Think Progress, 1/29/10]
Fox showed all of "Republican response." Fox News aired all of a press conference with House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), and Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) which Gallagher referred to as the "Republican response" following the event with Obama. Fox News featured Karl Rove's commentary on the event as they "Await[ed] House GOP Response":
That's easy--Obama was pwning them from pillar to post, so they skipped ahead to the "what-that-socialist-fascist-communist-Muslim-atheist Obama really said" segment. The one where they don't actually talk about what Obama said, but what they decided to put in his mouth...
And every single day they are on the air working against their own countrymen and their President.
There's a few names for those who do this. Loyal Opposition isn't one of them.
The reality is that he left those guys in awe. They know it, I know it, and anyone who watched it should know it.
Anyone want to take bets on whether or not the GOP allows this to happen again? I mean my God! One man walked in a room full of Republican Congressmen and obliterated them. Perhaps this will be a "turning point" in his Presidency. I hope so.
Btw, I think we all saw that Mike Pence was rehearsing for a Presidential run.
In Republican time! The Only time to TRUST! The Only Party to TRUST!
The Only Protectors of the Consitution! WAM- POW- Zok- CLUCK..... Thank you Marge,...for that slapping around... The DarkSide of the Force had me in its control!
I am not as Strong as Prez. Obama!
Yeah, Fair and Balanced my a$$.
And Mr. Rove: would your boss have had the courage to do this with the Democrats?
I wasn't able to see this live, but caught a repeat on one of the channels that replayed it in the evening. During a break, I switched to Fox to see how they were spinning it, or if they were addressing it at all.
I kid you not, what I found was Sean Hannity discussing Global Warming with Larry The Cable Guy. Among Dr. The Cable Guy's insights were;
There's a big hot thing called the sun that is completely ignored by scientists, and
Al Gore's income has increased a lot over the past several years. Follow the money !!!
"FAIRandBALANCED" does not mean fair or balanced; it is merely a synonym for corporate-funded conservatism.
http://www.dailykos.com/tv/w/002521/
MSNBC did a 2 hour special on Friday night with KO, Rachel and Chris Matthews with lots of big snippets from the Q&A session. It will rerun again at 11 AM Central time on Sunday.
It's not surprising that FoxNews cut away. They must have been in horrific pain, and after a while, for self-preservation, one must look away from a trainwreck to catch one's breath.
What offends me is that if they had to cut away, it's unfair to cut away from the actual event and then show the GOP response in full.
"And after this commercial break, The Count will be here to discuss how many times Obama didn't say 'war' in the State of the Union, and Big Bird will tell us about his book Arguing with Pre-Schoolers"...
Any nightmares I have will be your fault, you know...
And why did the GOP need a "response"? This was THEIR conference, THEY invited Obama, THEY agreed to the cameras. What exactly were they responding to? Typical GOP tactic, make something THEY planned look like someone elses fault.
They know when they're in a room full of reporters they're dealing with lap dogs (if Helen Thomas isn't there), so they fielded softballs and spun for all they were worth.
It may well have been effective for the faithful, and anyone who hadn't witnessed the thrashing they took.
Indeed it was.
The many better ideas of the Republicans that were ignored by the Democrats was their theme and was the premise of virtually every question put to Obama.
The new Republican message (according to Sen. Pence) will be this:
---The Democrats and the media have portrayed Republicans as the "party of no ideas" (actually it has been "the party of no", as in voting no on everything, which is undeniable). The President has just confirmed that the Republicans actually do have many ideas. So we can lay that old myth to rest now. ---
How many times did Obama have to point out that these so called "better" ideas were not founded in fact. They had no reliable empirical evidence for support, which of course lays the foundation for opposition by "talking points." That's it. That's the reality sir.
He challenged them to bring these so called "better" ideas to the table but do so with independent and reliable empirical support. I don't get why this is so hard for you and others on the right to understand. I makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. To not "get" this. It makes about as much sense as a 70 year old tea bagger holding up a sign opposing "socialized medicine" while of course, they have a Medicare card in their wallet.
Speaking of Medicare, I thought the Presidents logic on the politicizing of Medicare was rock solid. After watching this, you should now see how the GOP was completely disingenious when they indicated that Obama was going to hurt old people. The irony of course is that somehow you guys on the right want to appear as supporters of an entitlement program which, in the beginning, you all opposed with all your efforts. The same with Medicaid. All of you said that Medicaid and Medicare was a complete government takeover of health care, you all said it would lead to this nation becoming communist, socialist, etc. etc. And now, you attack anyone who wants to make it more efficient as you pretend to be the party who brought this policy into being. The whole lot of ya' are disingenious synchophants who have devolved into a quagmire of leadership by radio personalities and policy proposals based on talking points. It's sad to see what the GOP has turned into. Sad, sad, sad.
You are preaching to the choir. I watched it 3 times. I thought Obama mopped the floor with them and made me proud as hell to have supported his campaign.
My post, however dry-ly or ham-handedly worded, was intended to point out my observations on the Republican "message" and "spin" going forward in order to salvage what they can from their horrible beating at the hands of this President.
Their effort to use Obama to advance the Republican "message" and to redefine reality was a monumental failure.
Sorry I set you off!
But you got in some good licks on the wingnuts! Nice work.
---The Democrats and the media have portrayed Republicans as the "party of no ideas" (actually it has been "the party of no", as in voting no on everything, which is undeniable). The President has just confirmed that the Republicans actually do have many ideas. So we can lay that old myth to rest now. ---
I notice the republicans keep holding up this document containing their ideas for solving Americas problems,my understanding is that this 22 page document(actually 9 devoted to their ideas)is not specific in how it is to be implemented with no cost analysis or other specifics. It would seem that as a journalist the first thing you would do is read that document then ask specific questions about it, not just let them wave it around saying we have better ideas. I watched David Gregory's interview with Rep.Bohner and couldn't believe the things he left unchallenged. Also how do you find that document on-line, do you know?
They also may have an apparent psychological advantage as the following short article from BBC suggests. Worth a read.
Why do people often vote against their own interests?
Seriously Oscar. Do you think they would have cut away from Bush doing this with the Democrats and then allowed left wing ideologues to come on and "respond." Do you think Fox would have the temerity to allow people like Alan Colmes the opportunity to question James Carville and allow Carvilles criticism without challenge? What about Sarah Palin? Would Fox cut away from her doing what the President did? This isn't rocket science. Fox is not only biased, they are, without a doubt, a mouthpiece for right wing conservatism. It's that simple. To deny it is to deny reality. In terms of motive, they are no different than Pat Robertson's CBN news. It's no different when you look at what they do....their purpose.
Obama was shredding the Republicans and basically refuting all the talking points FOX has been promoting for months. Obama was answering just those questions that FOX has been saying that he was afraid to answer, and doing so in a masterful fashion.
The public give-and-take that took place was something not seen in politics in this country for years and was an extremely newsworthy event. For a "news" program to just cut away is unprecedented.
If other media outlets (both newspaper and television) don't note this action by FOX, then it is clear that our main-stream media has reached the point of no return. The world is what they (the media) want to tell us it is and anyone who continues to trust and believe what they see and read as "News" are naive and not too bright.
Yeah, so the viewers couldn't see the President expose all of Fox's lies and smears.
Anything that is pro-Obama is labeled as propaganda and anything anti-Obama is a "Fox News Alert".
Yeah, so the viewers couldn't see the President expose all of Fox's lies and smears.
Anything that is pro-Obama is labeled as propaganda and anything anti-Obama is a "Fox News Alert".
BULLY!
SMACK DOWN!
WHERE: the Conference at Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel
SMACK DOWN!
WHEN: January 29 , two-thousand- ten 12pm est
SMACK DOWN!
David takes on Goliath!
SMACK DOWN!
Mr. Smith, goes to Washington, then to Baltimore
SMACK DOWN!
Gandhi takes on the Crown
SMACK DOWN!
Tune to Any News Station to see this
SMACK DOWN!
PS
FOX MEWS will not be rebroadcasting this
SMACK DOWN!
Maybe one problem we have is that your party simply will not grow up, put the playground sneers aside, and admit that there's another political party out there which also has ideas and also deserves the respect that YOU are demanding. Doing so would be a good first step- but it won't happen, because your "we want to be heard, we want to work with you" claims are totally belied by your total lack of respect.
"Democrat Party, Nuclear and Wabbit are other words that Repulicans have a trouble with.
NO! Is a word that the Republicans have Mastered!
You had not the slightest interest in the repub meeting, you just wanted to see OBamBam.
Since I can't stand to see any more of OBamBam, I missed the whole thing, but have not heard of a thing that I really missed.
I think even any of you lefties would agree that more people voted for BamBam because he was Black, then voted against him because he was Black. And either way, is racism at its worse.
I was so hopeful that he would be a good President, so that his actions would help others to become President in the years to come.
However, as I expected he appointed some of the most criminal people who ever held an office in our government, and the results will make it even more difficult for another Black man to become President in the future.
About the only reason I am in favor of him, is because of his race. So I guess I really am a racist.
And then you come here and tell us that you almost voted for, and initially hoped for the success of, a man you refer to as OBamBam or just BamBam? Seriously?
"So I guess I really am a racist." Finally, ONE sentence of truth.
No one hates another person because of their race, color, creed, dress, shape, or job, etc. Those features are the identifiers, and once they are identified in one or more of those categories, the observer now remembers what they have read, or heard, or experienced from some one with that feature, and now if they love or hate, it is determined by what the observer remembers.
Stupie Jesse Jackson says that if he sees some Black men coming towards him on the street at night, he crosses the street.
One day I said to a Black man, a Pharmacist at the VA Hospital, “Do you know what I would do if I saw three big black men coming towards me on a dark street?”
He said, “You would cross the street.” I said, “No, I would say, Good evening Michael Jordan, glad to meet you Magic Johnson, I loved your show Bill Cosby.” He cheered my comment, and roared with laughter.
What you know and remember about people with those features, determines your reaction, not just the fact that those features exist.
Remember, you don’t try to run across a busy street, you pre-judge and good sense tells you what to do. Now maybe you could have made it across the street, but using common sense, based on what you know of that situation or that person, is what you should do.
If you were a steady watcher of the Jerry Springer TV show, and someone told you a Black family was going to move into a house just down the block, you would be horrified.
If you were a steady watcher of the Bill Cosby TV show, and someone told you a Black family was going to move into a house just down the block, you would be thrilled.
Because to you all Black people look alike, right?
Try to avoid lame details like "cheering" and "roaring with laughter" when trying to pass off racist emails as personal anecdotes.
This is bad Readers Digest writing, doesn't really work here.
Who are these criminals he has appointed?
Translation: "If I just plug my ears, I won't hear the awful sound of President 'OBamBam' destroying the extremely thin veneer of policy covering up the layers of stupidity and conceit that make up the core of my party."
Not everyone gets the pleasure of owning a house these days, but it sure was a pleasure to see Obama "owning" house Republicans.
What you missed was an attempt at a rational and honest debate by a decent man. He owned up to his mistakes (like not having everything on CSPAN) and he tried to discuss actual issues instead of just resorting to the name-calling that is so rampant in our politics today.
You are the hater, sir. I'm not from the left and I saw a bunch of dishonest, talking point spewing Republicans get OWNED by the man whose name you apparently can't spell. It was so bad that they admitted privately that allowing the cameras to keep rolling during the Q&A was a big mistake. They had their questions written out, together with their list of talking points, and the President completely made them look like the lying fools they were.
You should have listened. He was talking to uninformed folks like you who care nothing about the truth, you just care about the letter in the ( ).
Maybe that's why they find it the "most trusted" news source. It's difficult to not trust only what you already believe.
it's BOTH blind & stupid...
Stupid Republicans are so concerned with attacking and criticizing this president they have not been paying attention to his growth, knowledge and ability, even though Obama have given hundreds of interviews and Press conferences. Had they been paying attention they would have known Obama was the teacher [master, which he demonstrated during the meeting]. What would make these dim-bats Republicans think Obama would have a meeting with them without knowing he was superior?
Republicans rehashed the same old Sean Hannity and Fox News false and misleading talking points throughout the session and Obama refuted and shot down each one of them, leaving an embarrassed Fox Network to cut their coverage of the event. That's how bad it got for Republicans.
It quickly became clear who was the student and who was the teacher.
You will rarely, if ever, see a President from the opposing Party engaged in a live, unscripted, question and answer conference with the "enemy".
You know why that is? Because you don't have the luxury of a teleprompter and you don't want to be made a fool of. Has their ever been a president that would take such a risk, not knowing what the questions will be?
Obama has successfully done something Presidents would not dare do under the same circumstances. Many of them are just not knowledgeable enough without a script. Could you picture Bush taking questions from an opposing Party critical of his policies? Not a chance in hell.
Republicans have a deep problem with this black president. So much that they can't think straight. So what do these unprofessional hypocrites do? They distort, spread falsehoods, missrepresent, lie, attack and criticize EVERYTHING Obama does. All the things immature children do when they can't get their way.
Like I said about; if you act like children, you should be treated like children. On this day Obama let them know who was the real adult in the room.
As far as Fox News goes, it is no surprise that they are biased to the Republican cause as it is that MSNBC is biased to the Democratic cause. Both consist of news programing and opinion shows. The same could be said about ABC, NBC, CBS, regional affliates, and newspapers. They are journalistic sources on one hand, but businesses on the other. No news agency is going to go against their readership or viewership. Fox has established its market and is selling a service catered to them. No surprise there. The fact that they claim to be "Fair and Balanced" is a marketing slogan. I am not aware of any company that doesn't present themselves as the greatest thing since sliced bread. Could you imagine if all companies started advertising themselves by stating the harmful chemicals made as a byproduct of their manufacturing or by listing the actual cost to make a product and how much they mark it up? It's advertising, stop taking it so seriously. There is no news organization that can claim a lack of bias. Bias is inherent in observation. The fact the the address was televised may have change the dialogue. The reporters and viewers that observed it, observed it out of their own bias and perspective. I believe it was Walter Cronkite who said that what he would miss the most after retiring from journalism was planning the agenda. He talked about how they would sit in the "War Room" and decide what was news and what was not news. In choosing to cover something, you must choose not to cover a myriad of other things. Just some thoughts. I apologize if I am too verbose.