It's no surprise by now that Fox News has staked out its position as the "voice of the opposition" against President Obama's policies. It's also no surprise that Fox is the home of some of the most outrageous and false attacks -- attacks that, like the false “death panel” smear, are repeated incessantly with no evidence to back them up. Recently, in opposition to Obama's call to end the tax cuts on the wealthy as part of his debt plan, Fox has dredged up the all-too-familiar “class warfare” attack.
In his remarks on Monday, Obama pushed back on the “class warfare” claim, noting that his plan “is not class warfare. It's math,” and that in the absence of eliminating tax cuts for the wealthy, “We've got to put the entire burden on the middle class and the poor.” In the face of Obama retaliating against one of its favorite talking points, Fox again went on offense during this morning's Fox & Friends. While guest-hosting the show, former Bush press secretary Dana Perino stated that Obama “felt a need” to say that his plan is not class warfare, “which makes it sound defensive.” Perino also claimed that by making the case for his balanced debt plan, Obama was “throwing compromise out the window” and “try[ing] confrontation instead.”
But perhaps Obama “felt a need” to push back against the class warfare attack because his opponents - including many on Fox - have relentlessly hammered the class warfare attack during the past few days. By Perino's own admission, it is the attack “that sticks to [Obama's] message.” Here's a sample: