Doubling Down On A Loser Hand
The Obama administration has decided to go all in on a hand containing nothing higher than a six of diamonds. The Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus is calling the won’s war on Fox News “dumb”.
There’s only one thing dumber than picking a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel — picking a fight with people who don’t even have to buy ink. The Obama administration’s war on Fox News is dumb on multiple levels. It makes the White House look weak, unable to take Harry Truman’s advice and just deal with the heat. It makes the White House look small, dragged down to the level of Glenn Beck. It makes the White House look childish and petty at best, and it has a distinct Nixonian — Agnewesque? — aroma at worst. It is a self-defeating trifecta: it distracts attention from the Obama administration’s substantive message; it serves to help Fox, not punish it, by driving up ratings; and it deprives the White House, to the extent it refuses to provide administration officials to appear on the cable network, of access to an audience that is, in fact, broader than hard-core Obama haters.
And Jake Tapper of ABC News, bless his heart, went after Head White House flack Robert Gibbs:
Tapper: It’s escaped none of our notice that the White House has decided in the last few weeks to declare one of our sister organizations “not a news organization” and to tell the rest of us not to treat them like a news organization. Can you explain why it’s appropriate for the White House to decide that a news organization is not one –
(Crosstalk)
Gibbs: Jake, we render, we render an opinion based on some of their coverage and the fairness that, the fairness of that coverage.
Tapper: But that’s a pretty sweeping declaration that they are “not a news organization.” How are they any different from, say –
Gibbs: ABC -
Brit Hume, who is I think, one of the best in the business at the moment (even though I don’t watch Fox these days, Hume was one I used to make sure I caught when I did) wondered how other networks liked being patted on the head by the White House for their reporting on the won:
“…One wonders how our colleagues at CNN and elsewhere like being patted on the head and given the seal of approval by the White House. These outlets already stand accused of being in the tank for Mr. Obama. Do they really want to open themselves up to more such criticism by ignoring legitimate stories because they originate here?”
This is on top of the New York Times warning the White House as well as Helen Thomas proclaiming this a really bad idea.
The backfire has begun in earnest. By singling out Fox as a target, the other news organizations are being exposed as little more than trained seals, regurgitating Obama worship at the drop of a hint by the White House. Fox, on the other hand, is being given a huge boost in ratings, assuring the White House of more and more people seeing the news Obama wants suppressed, sidelined and marginalized.
This is a really, really stupid move by the White House. The best and the brightest strike again. They are so smart that they cannot see the trap they set – for themselves. The rest of the media cannot ignore this, nor can they join in on attacking Fox on command of the White House. To do so will risk them being caught in the same backlash and losing even more readership/viewers to Fox.
Axelrod and Emanuel (and their boss) have a tiger by the tail. The problem is going to be how to let go and escape the claws.
Good luck with that one, guys. This is fun to watch.
Media, Obamantics | Gaius October 20, 2009
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By ropelight, October 20, 2009 @ 6:03 pm
Those the gods have marked for destruction are easily identified by an unseemly arrogance. Or, if you prefer the somewhat confusing but shorter version: pride goes before a fall.
Obama’s initial overweening success has led him into displays of gratuitous arrogance, which the more he is approved and flattered will only serve to encourage his tendencies toward pompous and pretentious misbehavior, and will inevitably summon the divine instrument of his ruin. (Koris-> hubris-> ate->Nemesis)
By this form left blank, October 20, 2009 @ 7:52 pm
L. O. L.
The traditional rules haven’t applied for many years now. That old cliche “Don’t pick a fight with a guy who buys ink by the barrel” was clever in 1909, 1959, even 1989.
This is 2009.
The entire “war” with FNC is happening on cable (mainly FNC) and online, mainly right-wing blogs. The media is so fragmented that the old 20th century cliches just aren’t good enough anymore. And take note of who is whining the loudest – dinosaur media like NYT, ABC and WaPo. Ha! They have no clue why they’ve lost market share for the last 30 years and they’re still clueless in their MSM beltway bubble.
Right-wingers have howled about the “liberal media” for decades and now they’re whining because they’ve gotten a taste of their own medicine.
Get used to it, Gaius. I know you don’t have the cojones to print this or respond to it. Huffing and puffing about how the WH is “scared” doesn’t make it so. Right-wing hacks like FNC don’t get a free pass anymore. This is the new normal.
Deal with it.
By Peter, October 21, 2009 @ 3:08 am
Thing is, the FCC has no, repeat, no power over Cable since it does not go out over the “public” airwaves. So, they’ll have a real problem hitting Fox News. For that matter, Rush and Beck, Hannity, Laura Igraham, Mark Levin and the rest of conservative talk radio could just about singlehandedly save satellite radio and, again, Obama and company could just cry, kind of like they’re doing now.
Obama got elected as a moderate and is now campaigning well to the left of Vladimer Lenin. I was about to say governing but he hasn’t tried that yet. Still, the citezenry is getting ticked off. Sorry, there is a reason why conservative talk radio is booming while the lefty radio and television “news” can hold a meeting of their entire customer base in a small men’s room. And there is a reason why, in spite of the Obama mmm, mmm, mm crap, nobody listens to his speeches. I’m waiting, I expect there will be a little baby boom nine months after each Obama speech. It’s: well, that big eared feller is going to be on all the channels, lets go fool around.
By Deborah Leigh, October 21, 2009 @ 3:39 pm
Hey Blanky, traditions are never outdated, just updated as in barrel becomes cartridge.
What is it that the right-wing has “howled about” for decades? Bias? Indoctrination? Threat to free speech? In this instance, the right is pointing out that it and FNC is being disenfranchised. The WH is using classic Alinsky tactics. Not surprising given the heavily weighted communist sympathisers within the Administration. It is the WH that is howling, not Fox, but then a troll often gets that wrong. When your free speech is seized because you have fallen out of favor with the palace, Blanky, then we will hear the, no doubt, raucous response.