Showing Fear

The New York Times characterizes it as the White House bringing a knife to a gunfight. They are talking about the very deliberate, very scripted attacks by the White House on Fox News. It is apparent that the Times does not think this strategy will end well for Barack Obama and his administration.

“We’re going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent,” Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, said in an interview with The New York Times. “As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don’t need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave.”

…

On the official White House Web site, a blog called Reality Check provides a running tally of transgressions by Fox News. It ends with this: “For even more Fox lies, check out the latest ‘Truth-O-Meter’ feature from Politifact that debunks a false claim about a White House staffer that continues to be repeated by Glenn Beck and others on the network.”

People who work in political communications have pointed out that it is a principle of power dynamics to “punch up “ — that is, to take on bigger foes, not smaller ones. A blog on the White House Web site that uses a “truth-o-meter” against a particular cable news network would not seem to qualify. As it is, Reality Check sounds a bit like the blog of some unemployed guy living in his parents’ basement, not an official communiqué from Pennsylvania Avenue.

The American presidency was conceived as a corrective to the royals, but trading punches with cable shouters seems a bit too common. Perhaps it’s time to restore a little imperiousness to the relationship.

AllahPundit agrees that this seems a really unfortunate line of attack for the administration:

Not a good match-up. I assume the Fox-baiting is simply red meat they’re throwing to liberals to try to take the heat off on Afghanistan and “don’t ask, don’t tell,” but when even the Nation’s telling them to stop whining, the move to Plan B can’t be long in coming.

I disagree with AP’s point about the White House trying to tag Rush Limbaugh as leader of the Republican party, however. That was a really sophomoric attempt by the gang that couldn’t shoot straight and it backfired in a mighty way. Limbaugh’s ratings went up. So are the ratings for Fox News – they will likely increase even more if the White House continues the attacks.

Personally, I think it shows fear and weakness on the part of the Obama administration. Fox has, indeed, gotten inside Obama’s head and the heads of other administration officials. They control, directly or indirectly, most of the media message. They are afraid of the outlets that they do not.

The more they coordinate attacks, the weaker and more fearful they appear.

Keep up the good work, Astro King.

Via Memeorandum

Well, You Got Your Attention….

…It just wasn’t exactly the attention you wanted. Authorities will be recommending criminal charges against Richard and Mayumi Heene, the parents of the boy thought to have been aboard a homemade balloon launched by the Heenes. (He wasn’t of course, he was hiding.) These are not small charges, either:

Authorities believe the alleged plot was hatched in an attempt by the Heene family “to better market themselves for a reality show at some point in the future,” Alderden said. “They were lying.”

The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office will recommend charges of conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, false reporting to authorities, and attempting to influence a public servant against the Heenes.

No charges have been filed yet, and the parents aren’t under arrest. Some of the most serious charges each carry a maximum sentence of six years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

On top of that, the Child Protective Services have been brought into the matter. I happened to catch the very end of the press conference just given by Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden announcing all this. It was a thing of beauty. At the end he announced that while the story had been spectacular and riveting for the media, he was quite sure that they had better things to spend time on. He and his office certainly did. So he was immediately ending all media contact, interviews, press releases or anything else.

Essentially, he told them to go away. He did so with good grace, good manners and humor, but he told them to beat it. I do not think it would be wise for the media to continue the circus, at least not in Alderden’s county.

All this was allegedly about getting publicity for a future reality television show.

One or both of these parents have a screw or two loose, apparently. I think they will both get a hard lesson that reality television has nothing whatsoever to do with reality. The are about to be mugged by reality.