All the criticism, both fair and misleading, took a toll, regularly knocking the White House off message. So a new White House strategy has emerged: rather than just giving reporters ammunition to “fact-check” Obama’s many critics, the White House decided it would become a player, issuing biting attacks on those pundits, politicians and outlets that make what the White House believes to be misleading or simply false claims, like the assertion that health-care reform would establish new “sex clinics” in schools. Obama, fresh from his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, cheered on the effort, telling his aides he wanted to “call ‘em out.”
The take-no-prisoners turn has come as a surprise to some in the press, considering the largely favorable coverage that candidate Obama received last fall and given the President’s vows to lower the rhetorical temperature in Washington and not pay attention to cable hyperbole. Instead, the White House blog now issues regular denunciations of the Administration’s critics, including a recent post that announced “Fox lies” and suggested that the cable network was unpatriotic for criticizing Obama’s 2016 Olympics effort…
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Oh, brother. I actually checked out the White House's "rebukes" of some Glenn Beck comments--they were all ridiculous. Take these two examples copied from the White House Blog:
Beck actually later corrected this misstatement, saying that he had meant the Olympic Games in Calgary, not Vancouver. Instead, the White House ignored the fact that many Olympic host cities (including Calgary) often face huge budget shortfalls following the games--the main point Beck was trying to make.RHETORIC: BECK SAID VANCOUVER LOST $1 BILLION WHEN IT "HAD THE OLYMPICS." Glenn Beck said, "Vancouver lost, how much was it? they lost a billion dollars when they had the Olympics." [Transcript, Glenn Beck Show, 9/29/09]REALITY: VANCOUVER'S OLYMPICS WILL NOT TAKE PLACE UNTIL 2010. Vancouver will host the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games from February 12 – 28, 2010 and March 12-21, 2010, respectively. [Vancouver2010.com, accessed 9/29/09]
It's true, Ms. Jarrett was NOT on the NEA conference call in question. However, I'm pretty sure Beck was referring to those members of White House staff who personally and voluntarily identified themselves on the call as representatives of Jarrett's office.RHETORIC: VALERIE JARRETT "WAS LAST SEEN WITH THE NEA." Beck's guest, FOX News contributor Pat Caddell, said, "[Obama] is going to go [to Copenhagen] with Valerie Jarrett who was last seen with the NEA pumping up their use of, you know, money." [Transcript, Glenn Beck Show, 9/29/09]REALITY: VALERIE JARRETT WAS NOT ON THE NEA CONFERENCE CALL. Valerie Jarrett was not a participant in the August 10, 2009 United We Serve/NEA conference call.
How about answering the question of why the NEA was asking artists to use their work to promote the Obama agenda in competing for government grant money? No, instead the "high road" here for the White House was just to purposefully and meticulously dissect the words of a TV/radio host. Way to address this horrible "rhetoric," White House. That Beck... what a meanie.
Time continues:
The general in this war is [Anita] Dunn, 51, a veteran campaign strategist who arrived at the White House in May. She has been a force in Democratic campaigns since the late 1980s and helmed Obama’s rapid-response operation during his run. At the White House, she has become a devoted consumer of conservative-media reports and a fierce critic of Fox News, leading the Administration’s effort to block officials, including Obama, from appearing on the network. “It’s opinion journalism masquerading as news,” Dunn says. “They are boosting their audience. But that doesn’t mean we are going to sit back.”
So now the White House is employing someone to sit and watch Fox News all day? How did I miss the chance to apply for that job? Is Fox News being targeted b/c they spread "lies" about the Obama administration, or because they don't openly praise the administration or bolster its reputation? Interestingly this Time piece comes out just days after the AP summed up the public's opposition to the Obama health care plan with a headline that read, "Voters Back Obama Over Republicans on Health Care, Poll Finds."
White House officials offer no apologies. "The best analogy is probably baseball," says Gibbs. "The only way to get somebody to stop crowding the plate is to throw a fastball at them. They move."
Yes, Mr. Gibbs, and just like children on the playground, the White House is not going to share its toys with Fox anymore and will spread stupid gossip rumors behind its back. Unfortunately for you, all my conservative friends and I are big tattle tales.
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