Friday, October 23, 2009
Kudos to the networks
Relating to the Containment post below, the four network news organizations other than Fox News declined to interview the "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg unless Fox was given an opportunity to be included in the pool, as Fox itself reports:
The Obama administration on Thursday failed in its attempt to exclude Fox News from participating in an interview of an administration official, as Republicans on Capitol Hill stepped up their criticism of the hardball tactics employed by the White House.Whatever the reasoning of the other four networks -- enlightened self-interest, "first they came for Fox...", or they just like Megyn Kelly -- it was the stand-up thing to do. But what in the name of Spiro T. Agnew was the White House (or more precisely, Treasury) thinking? In the best case scenario for the White House, some overzealous communications person at Treasury independently decided to exclude Fox, based upon some perception of what would please Axelrod. If Treasury took orders on this matter from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, then it is the stupidest incident of political revenge against a media outlet in a long time. In any case, this incident makes the White House look incredibly petty and ineffectual.
The Treasury Department on Thursday tried to make "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg available for interviews to every member of the network pool except Fox News. The pool is the five-network rotation that for decades has shared the costs and duties of daily coverage of the presidency and other Washington institutions.
But the Washington bureau chiefs of the five TV networks consulted and decided that none of their reporters would interview Feinberg unless Fox News was included. The pool informed Treasury that Fox News, as a member of the network pool, could not be excluded from such interviews under the rules of the pool.
12 Comments:
By 
, at
Fri Oct 23, 03:53:00 PM:
No decision such as this happens without the express authorization of the Narcissist in Chief, and he validated the decision by parroting the Fox isn't a legitimate station the other day.
So ... Treasury my eye.
And yeah, good for the networks. What a freaking amateur and embarrassment this President continues to be.
By 
Elijah, at
Fri Oct 23, 04:06:00 PM:
going downhill like a snowball headed for hell -
poor fellow does not handle criticism well
Where are those jobs by the way?
By , at
Fri Oct 23, 04:19:00 PM:
"incredibly petty and ineffectual."...As if their accomplishments at solving any of the concerns facing this country presently would suggest anything different.
By , at
Fri Oct 23, 04:22:00 PM:
Was it about last Monday the DoJ told a little town in NC they could not hold non-partisan elections because blacks would not know who to vote for unless a "D" was after the candidate's name, and now this? 'Petty and ineffectual'? Perhaps, but I am more inclined to believe that there is someone aspiring to be another (T)Hugo Chavez in the White House. They have been stepping way over the line and it is alarming.
By , at
Fri Oct 23, 06:10:00 PM:
The village idiot at Time magazine, which lately is reduced in size to a coloring book width, thinks Fox News routinely offers programming that "borders on seditious".
I wonder, does Fox have any prominent foreigners working for them? If so, perhaps Obama can be persuaded to open up a legislative push for a new "Alien and Sedition" Act. The Dems do have an absolute majority in Congress!
By JPMcT, at
Fri Oct 23, 07:08:00 PM:
From "Hope and Change" to "Petty and Ineffectual" in ten short months.
Even the French are tired of our niavete.
Like children in their father's bedroom....
By , at
Fri Oct 23, 07:38:00 PM:
"First they came for FOX" probably sums it up.
Even the wimps at the networks saw that once FOX was destroyed the WH would select the next most independent network and go after them.
As long as FOX is operating the others won't be bothered as much.
As to "overly zealous." Well this administration just keeps bullying whenever they can and in anything they do. It isn't just an overly zealous person here or there.
By , at
Fri Oct 23, 08:13:00 PM:
Chavez wannabe. Pathetic. The sooner we're rid of this Marxist infestation in the White House the better we'll all be.
By , at
Fri Oct 23, 09:31:00 PM:
This has now passed the point of incompetence and become dangerous.
By , at
Fri Oct 23, 09:39:00 PM:
It has been dangerous for a long time -- the administration has had "the benefit of the doubt" for too long.
By Cap'n Rusty, at
Fri Oct 23, 11:56:00 PM:
Suggest if you haven't yet done so, scroll this page down a bit and click on the link to Neo-Neocon over there on the right. She has written an excellent essay regarding the danger Obama presents.
By , at
Sat Oct 24, 02:32:00 PM:
Who’d a thunk it that Obama would be a paranoid narcissist ?
OK, narcissist yes, but virtually nothing would have made you think he would opt for the bunker mentality now on display. I know I thought his passing up the FoxNews primary debate in Las Vegas was more pandering to the paranoid masses rather than an early indicator of his own paranoia of FoxNews, which now has festered into something pathological.
Apparently, that story of the auto czar invoking the “Madman theory of the Presidency” on the Chrysler bond holders wasn’t just the auto czar talking talking through his hat, but in fact was the real truth.
