The White House Enemies List

If you Google the coinage "Richard Milhous Obama" you get a lot of hits. President Nixon was famous for, among other things, having a enemies list. President Obama seems to have no problem with a five o'clock shadow, but he does have his own enemies list.

The health insurer Humana got on it this way:

The government is investigating a major insurance company for allegedly trying to scare seniors with a mailer warning they could lose important benefits under health care legislation in Congress.

One might have thought that even an insurance company could send a letter expressing a particular political opinion without being investigated for that.

The health insurance industry as a whole is now on it for sponsoring a report arguing that the Baucus plan would lead to increased premiums for most Americans who now have health insurance. The Administration responded to the heinous act of doing a study by threatening punitive legislation.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is on it for, well, being the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Fox News, however, seems to be occupying the position of enemy number one. The White House has waged a public campaign against Fox. A number of Administration officials have openly declared that Fox News isn't a real news agency. The Administration also seems to be boycotting Fox. This is less serious than the sort of legislative threats and investigations that insurers have to worry about, but it is serious nonetheless.

Fox News is biased. Its straight news programming is clearly slanted in favor of conservative positions and Republicans in general. The Fox panels are usually stacked about three to one with conservative and liberal pundits respectively. Its opinion shows, with the likes of Glen Beck, Bill O'Reilly, and Shawn Hannity, are clearly conservative shows.

That said, Fox is no more biased than the major news networks. Consider that curing the recent election campaign the New York Times ran a piece suggesting that John McCain had an affair with a lobbyist. The piece was utterly without foundation, and the Times was duly embarrassed. But the Times couldn't be bothered to investigate credible, and as it turns out, true rumors about John Edward's love child. CNN recently fact checked a Saturday Night Live routine poking fun at President Obama, for which they were justly skewered by John Stewart. The fact is that all the major networks, along with the public networks, are biased in favor of Democrats and the Left.

I am a conservative, but I have long read more left-center periodicals than conservative ones. I know what the conservative ones are going to say, and I prefer to be challenged by the sensible left (the New Republic) and occasionally even the Twilight Zone left (Harpers). But when it comes to daily TV news, I watch Fox.

The reason is simply that Fox News is more reliable. When I compare Fox reporting with that of any TV news outlet, or news magazine, or newspaper, Fox usually presents more interesting information and more points of view. More importantly, I can't think of one major story that Fox missed but the other networks picked up on. I can think of several that would never have seen the light of day had not Fox gone after them.

That, of course, is why Fox is on the President's enemies list. With Fox around, he can't count on getting away with as much. Fox runs circles around other cable news networks, and speaks to a large portion of America, including a lot of independent voters. When the President boycotts Fox, he is writing off a lot of Americans. So much for his promise to be a uniter rather than a divider.

Comments

[Todd]

All 24 hour news is a sham.
Corporate monoliths that don't give a crap about anything but the mighty dollar, completely self serving in business that sould not be.
How anyone can come to the defense of any of these companies is beyond me.
... Also Bush had problems with NBC, right?

[Macgregor]

Fox News does not "really run circles" around the other cable networks as you claim they do. In fact, CNN remains the #1 and most watched cable network according to the actual Nielson Ratings. I don't know where Fox News gets its claimed ratings, but, they are not the #1 station as they continually claim to be.

[William]

Maybe they get their ratings information here:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/10/21/cable-news-ratings-for-tuesday-october-20-2009/31160#more-31160

[KB]

Mac: I have no idea what you are talking about regarding CNN. Here is a note from the Los Angeles Times, dated last July:

"Latest ratings out for the second quarter of 2009 show the top-rated FNC having one of the best quarters in its entire history with prime-time ratings jumping an astounding 34%, not all of them Obama fans. That 8-11 p.m. slot is crucial for viewers -- and ad dollars -- which includes Fox's showcase "The O'Reilly Factor."

Throughout the viewing day, Fox News did even better with its 1.2 million viewers, on average, more than doubling CNN's 598,000 and more than tripling third-place trailer MSNBC's average audience of 392,000."

[Macgregor]

Yah, and so 1.2 million viewers watch Fox News out of 300 million people in the United States of America...LOL I hardly call 1.2 million a majority or as Bill O'Reilly even admitted about his viewership months ago: not even a drop in the bucket of the 300 million + live our nation. So, to go around parading that the Fox News viewership is the majority of America is way over the top and polling show 65% support the Public Option.

[Macgregor]

Let's see...300 million people - 1.2 million people = roughtly 298.8 million people who don't watch Fox and we don't really know how they vote. We do know that the past elections of 2006 and 2008 show that the majority of registered voters do not agree with Fox New's utlra conservative position...now there is proof in the pudding ahhh huh! LOL Have a great day KB...I'm off to Starbucks...

[Macgregor]

Now, let us return to something you alluded to in this post concerning the current debate in Congress over healthcare reform, you had this to say: "The government is investigating a major insurance company for allegedly trying to scare seniors with a mailer warning they could lose important benefits under health care legislation in Congress." Well, first off, I am happy to see that our government has grown a back bone and investigating these insurance outfits. It's about time we have an administration that is not a big friend of big business that have proven they can not run themselves and are run by corrupt CEOs hell bent on making more and more profit over their responsibilities of their workers and consumers. Something is going to turn up in these investigations...give it sometime that is going to shed even more light on the illegal and immoral conduct in these companies, including the insurance oligarchy. They are using all the ammunition they can in an attempt to hold on to a corrupt and inefficient healthcare system. People should not have to go bankrupt for basic care and it shouldn't lead to massive profits for those sitting, yes "literally sitting" at the top of these company's food chains. That is unAmerican.

[George mason]

First they came for the insurance companies..... When government starts
exercising this type of censorship it is a threat to everyone's rights. Humana's
great sin in the eyes of the Obamaites is they told the truth (as the hearing found and as did the CBO and others). If Obama wants to take on FOX let him have
at it. FOX is owned and operated by big boys who understand both the first amendment and the power of the media. FOX's small viewership, according to Mac, forced the rest of the media to catch up on Van Jones et.al. Liberals hate FOX because they do not own it and can not intimidate it. What other network has been willing to look under the rug at the Obama White House?

[Macgregor]

Fox News is no saint...with all the illegal crap that occured under Bush and Fox turned a blind eye, so, save me the hoiler than thou lecture George Mason. And as for this so-called "free market of insurance companies" garbage...does not exist when there is almost a 94% lock, yes monopolistic lock on health insurance which has proven to be unreliable to many Americans who waste their money on it and it ...ah huh....rations care by setting up a qualification system. It does not work and it sure is not supporting freedom of choice as you like to talk about some much.

[craig]

I can't believe I'm reading somebody from South Dakota. Ninety per cent of the population lives in half the states. Why the other half get two senators each is beyond me. Like somebody in the middle of nowhere is going to understand the country's problems

[Ivan]

Mac, I've got to say it, I can't hold back. After reading your dishonest drivel
I have got to say "you are nuttier than squirrel turds".

[A.I.]

Media Matters has an interesting and I think accurate take on the Fox "News" (no, I do not consider them a news organization) vs. the White House kerfuffle. It's basically playground type stuff: you started it, no you started it! But it gets to the heart of the matter in that Fox essentially declared war on the Obama Administration from day one: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/22/795906/-Its-not-the-White-House-War-on-Fox,-stupid.

A note on why I don't consider them news. Journalists, you know, the people who are supposed to report "news"; are trained to keep personal/politics bias out of their reporting. They are not always true to that creed as very well may have been the case with the McCain affair story, but at least most try. That is not the case for most Fox "reporters".

Whether it is the commentary, which includes no one (now that colmes is not around to act as HANNITY'S punching bag) to counterbalance conservative talking points, or supposedly straight news, objectivity is optional if not discouraged. The "Fair and Balanced" slogan is a joke. "We report, you decide" is only marginally accurate and might be better stated: "We present our side, you will have to fact check us to decide if we're right".

[William]

Craig,

If you REALLY don't get it, you might try reading our founding documents and the history behind them...
http://www.foundingfathers.info/documents/

A.I.
I'll grant you that FOX has a conservative bias, but do you really think Media Matters and Dailykos are objective links?

[George Mason]

A.I. it is rather humorous that in past writings you have referenced something you call the "noise machine of the right"(or something similar) and yet you seem to believe that media matters, the huffington post and daily kos are somehow
worthy sources to cite. You must be able to come up with something better.

[KB]

Thanks to all for the comments.

Mac: Listen to yourself! Insurance companies may be the engines of evil you think that are, but that is not the issue. This is the United States of America. We don't investigate people or penalize them for writing letters or publishing studies! The value of freedom of speech and the press does not rest on your estimation (or mine!) of the virtue of the speaker or the content of the speech.

On the other hand, I am impressed that you think that 1.2 million people don't matter and should be ignored. That is obviously what Obama thinks. I urge you to make this view more public.

A.I.: By your standard, no news agency is real. Do you honestly think that the New York Times "keeps personal/politics bias out of their reporting"? Is the NYT's a "real newspaper"? When Dan Rather fell for a couple of obvious forgeries during the 2004 election, effectively ending his career, was he "keeping personal/politics bias out of his reporting"? Is CBS, which in this case was in collusion with the Kerry Campaign, a "real network"?

I watch Fox News for one simple reason: it is more reliable than the other networks. Show me one significant story that Fox missed but the other networks picked up.

For the same reason as this blog needs you and Mac, the MSM needs Fox News. Why is it so hard for you to see that?

Craig: You write "I can't believe I'm reading somebody from South Dakota." I can't believe you can read at all. Since you can, apparently, I defer to William in his attempt to bring the larger world to so small a person.

Ivan: Thanks for reading, but let's leave turds out of it. Mac and I are dear friends, and I love him because of rather than in spite of our differences.

[A.I.]

William and George: KOS, Huffington P. and Media Matters are definitely not unbiased and I never said they were. That does not mean the instances of Fox bias shown in the clip are not real as they are simply material Fox aired.

KOS and Huffington are "lefty" blogs and proudly proclaim the fact. As such, they do not enjoy the same access to the White House as ABC News, for example--itself no bastion of liberal thought. Fox "news" is no less biased than either of the blogs, but they expect to be treated like the other networks and major print outlets that at least try to separate news from commentary. I see absolutely no reason why they should.

This whole argument rests on the premise that the so-called main stream media is just as biased as Fox and their bias is liberal. Therefore, we somehow need Fox to balance the equation. KB cites the New York Times for it's liberal bias. For my money, every story they wrote for the past six years would have to be liberal just to balance the writing of Judith Miller and her collusion with the Bush White House that in no small way gave the political cover needed to allow the invasion of Iraq.

What the Media Matters clip demonstrates is a media outlet with a state mission of destroying an administration. Show me another outlet that has whatever access advantages are afforded main stream media that has ever sought to take down a president based not on some corruption or scandal (Nixon), but simply because he is a Democrat.

[KB]

A.I.: Fox News is no more biased than CBS or CNN. It is far less biased and far more reliable than the New York Times. Again, one may quarrel with Fox and its approach to stories, but there is no reason to say that it is not a "real" news network. It's as real as all the other major players, as demonstrated by its inclusion in the White House Pool.

I can't show you "another outlet that has... ever sought to take down a president based not on some corruption or scandal (Nixon), but simply because he is a Democrat," because there is none. I have already shown you an outlet that "has whatever access advantages are afforded main stream media" that has tried to take down a President because he was a Republican. That is CBS in the infamous Memogate story.

One difference between CBS and Fox, so far, is Fox hasn't tried so far to sell an outright forgery to the American people on the eve of an election. If Fox ain't real, neither is CBS.

[Warren Berry]

If history repeats itself and Obama is like Nixon with the enemies list, then Obama will trounce a extremely-right wing Republican in 2012, but his team will break into some Republican Party HQ, Obama will do a cover-up, the press will uncover the cover-up via Deep Throat, and Obama will resign in disgrace. Then Biden will become the President. THE HORROR!!!

Sorry, I was just dreaming.

[Warren Berry]

I have watched Fox News. There is no solid conservative on Fox News except Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck. O'reilly is about political center, Greta is anything but conservative, and others are normal newspeople. Obama is targeting Fox News because it is not pushing his political agenda and Obama sees anybody opposing him agenda as the enemy.