This is an absolute news flash to absolutely no one or maybe just to the people somewhere in the middle of BFE who actually think that Fox News is news: Fox News is Not News.
The Fox News claim for “fair and balanced reporting” ranks highly among advertisers biggest lies, possibly just behind the tobacco industry’s claim that cigarettes and nicotine are not addictive and McDonald’s claims that they are now in the business of creating healthy Americans with their crappy food.
I’ve seen battles between Jon Stewart and Fox News before, but this is the first time I’ve seen a presidential administration in a brawl with a so-called news broadcasting station. The battle lines appear to have been drawn pretty strongly. According to the Obama administration, Fox News is not a news station. According to great Republican thinkers like the f*ckwad Karl Rove who has the dubious distinction of having the rights to Bush’s brain in both Texas and the White House, this statement is the equivalent of using a Richard Nixon tactic by including journalists on an enemy list.
“What?” That last comment was my own personal reaction to Rove’s statement while sitting here in my living room, trying to recall the somewhat fuzzy details of the Bush administration’s role with the media. Seriously, which administration had the worst reputation for blocking access and questions from the media? Which president and his cronies withheld and mis-represented intelligence information that led us into war? Hmmmmm......could it be Bush? (for the correct pronunciation in this case, flash yourself back to Dana Carvey’s Church Lady impersonation). Karl Rove has absolutely no business complaining to anyone about integrity.
In fact, if memory serves me correctly, wasn’t there a scandal involving an illegal retaliation after a story unfavorable to the Bus administration was released? I believe it was called Plamegate and ended up with Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney’s man, taking the fall.
The Obama administration is forthright in their claims about Fox News, which makes them honest and straightforward when compared to the under-handed and dangerous tactics of releasing the name of a CIA agent. In my mind, the Obama administration is absolutely correct in this particular instance.