The Obama administration must think that they can attack Fox News and cause them harm due to their unparalleled intelligence, or something. Or perhaps they are just throwing some red meat to their ravenous base of ideological partisans.
But if they think they are hurting the network by trying to portray them as "biased," the American people are laughing at them. The more the White House piles on, the higher the ratings for Fox News.
On yesterday's talkathons, two different aides went after Murdoch's creation. Mike Allen of Politico:
"I'm not concerned," Axelrod said on ABC's "This Week" when George Stephanopoulos asked about the back-and-forth between the White House and Fox News."Mr. [Rupert] Murdoch has a talent for making money, and I understand that their programming is geared toward making money. The only argument [White House communications director] Anita [Dunn] was making is that they're not really a news station if you watch even - it's not just their commentators, but a lot of their news programming.
"It's really not news - it's pushing a point of view. And the bigger thing is that other news organizations like yours ought not to treat them that way, and we're not going to treat them that way. We're going to appear on their shows. We're going to participate but understanding that they represent a point of view."
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said on CNN's "State of the Union" that Fox "is not a news organization so much as it has a perspective."
"It's not so much a conflict with Fox News," Emanuel told John King. "I suppose the way to look at it and the way ... the president looks at it, we look at it is: It's not a news organization so much as it has a perspective. And that's a different take. And more importantly, is not have the CNNs and the others in the world basically be led in following Fox, as if what they're trying to do is a legitimate news organization ...
I guess Rhambo's idea of a "legitimate" news organization is one that seriously fact checks comedy skits. The White House can get behind CNN for doing that, no doubt.
But a network that actually has stories that are critical of the Messiah? That's just not legitimate.
Stay tuned as the White House talks so often about Fox News that they eventually start drawing more viewers than NBC.
Hat Tip: Ed Lasky
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