An increasingly Nixonian White House is using the power of the presidency to attack a private news organization. (Source: NY Times)
“We’re going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent,” said Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, in a telephone interview on Sunday. “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.”
"We’re not going to legitimize them as a news organization.”
So the president's staff now determines what constitutes a "legitimate news organization." Does their criteria include tingling legs and fawning, uncritical coverage?
President Obama even singled FOX out, if not by name, earlier this year:
“I’ve got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration,” he said in June, though he did not mention Fox by name. He added, “You’d be hard pressed if you watched the entire day to find a positive story about me on that front.”
Boo hoo! President Bush had every station attacking him when he was president, and he never whined about it. The press corps was a pack of snarling, ass-biting curs during his administration.
"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."
A little less narcissism and a little more Harry Truman would do the current president and his staff some good.
Smear and Discredit replaces Rebut and Debate
This is the favored tactic of the intellectually bereft left: Smear and discredit your opponent because you can't refute his message.
If FOX is so unfair, why doesn't the administration send a staffer a day to go on their shows and fight back? If the FOX meanies really are so dumb and unfair, a little debate and pushback should make their scurrilous attacks collapse like a house of cards, right?
Every Regime Needs Scapegoats
If someone were smearing and trashing me, I would relish a chance to go on one of their most-watched programs to expose their nonsense and prove them wrong. But that's not what this is about. It's about scapegoating.
The most famous regimes in history have all used scapegoats, and now Obama is channeling Nixon the same weekend he's awarded an anticipatory Nobel Peace Prize. Who'd a thunk it?
Hot Air
