What started this new battle? President Obama was interviewed by the New Republic and said the following about Fox News:
One of the biggest factors is going to be how the media shapes debates. If a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News or by Rush Limbaugh for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest, then you’ll see more of them doing it.
Fox News did not take the statement lightly. On the Fox News show “Fox & Friends”, in a back and forth with Brian Kilmeade and Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson, Jr., they chided the president by displaying the few instances in the past where the President justifiably called out Fox News for their attacks on him. Johnson tries to equate the President’s call out as a stifle on the debate.
Brit Hume in a commentary jumps on the bandwagon. What is interesting is that he tries to disregard the fact that the current mainstream media does try to create a sense of false equivalencies between the fallacies and misinformation on the Right with however minor issues on the left. They do this to create an impression of impartiality even at the detriment of truth and the well-being of the American democracy.
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com
Fox News generates so much false, silly, and misleading information that can be readily refuted, that it has made great fodder for comedians, This Jon Stewart “skit” illustrate the extent to the demonization and mischaracterizations of the President’s words. One should ask why it the President’s “war on Fox News” is not even more pronounced.
One would think that Fox News would try to stay quiet on this issue. Videos last forever. The constant attacks on the president day in and day out without offering plausible alternatives to his policies is out there for all to see.
Placing the President’s call out of Fox News in front of their own viewers is exactly what the president wanted. Fox News had giving their viewers a false impression of the real state of the presidential race, so much so that they were taken completely by surprise, not only because of the President’s win, but because of the margins of his popular win, senatorial wins, and house wins. They are starting to become aware that the big bad Obamacare is actually something they will be depending on. Now placing the President’s own words on Fox News where he scolds them will have more receptive ears.
Fox News has been illegitimate with most Americans for years. The intent of the President now is to delegitimize them with their own base. Yes. The President is launching a war on Fox News and they cannot help but take the bait.
