Faux outrage of the week - Obama v. Fox
I'm really not getting the outrage over the White House pushing back against the disinfo being spewed daily by Fox and their right wing critics. The way the media and the wingnuts have been carrying on about it, you might think Obama was trying to shut down his critics altogether. Which is of course, not the case at all. First Amendment rights don't end at the White House door and the Obama team is using the F.A. exactly as it was intended, by countering bad speech, with good speech and lots of it. Their critics are still free to speak as well.
I got into an argument about it on Twitter with Jake Tapper yesterday morning. He pissed me off with his disingenuous posturing, first demanding I provide specific examples of Fox's mendacity and them mocking me for refusing to engage on those grounds. As if he doesn't really know what they do. Frankly, I think I won the argument but I didn't press it. I don't need to be validated by an admission of surrender.
In any event, Media Matters jumped in with a long and varied accounting of Fox mangling of facts, or as I like to call it lying, and I'm not the only one supporting the White House in this fight. The bottom line, as Atrios put it, is that people, and yes I'm looking at you Jake, pretending that Fox isn't the broadcast arm of GOP is not OK. I remain astounded that clearly intelligent people don't see how excusing Fox mendacity destroys the credibility of the whole traditional media. Which is pretty shaky already.
Boggles the mind but in any event, ranggrol digs out one of my favorite MMFA mash-ups. Really, some people -- they just don't get it.
[More posts daily at The Detroit News]
I got into an argument about it on Twitter with Jake Tapper yesterday morning. He pissed me off with his disingenuous posturing, first demanding I provide specific examples of Fox's mendacity and them mocking me for refusing to engage on those grounds. As if he doesn't really know what they do. Frankly, I think I won the argument but I didn't press it. I don't need to be validated by an admission of surrender.
In any event, Media Matters jumped in with a long and varied accounting of Fox mangling of facts, or as I like to call it lying, and I'm not the only one supporting the White House in this fight. The bottom line, as Atrios put it, is that people, and yes I'm looking at you Jake, pretending that Fox isn't the broadcast arm of GOP is not OK. I remain astounded that clearly intelligent people don't see how excusing Fox mendacity destroys the credibility of the whole traditional media. Which is pretty shaky already.
Boggles the mind but in any event, ranggrol digs out one of my favorite MMFA mash-ups. Really, some people -- they just don't get it.
[More posts daily at The Detroit News]
Labels: Fox, Media, Obama administration, spin
posted by Libby Spencer at 3:21 PM
4 Comments:
"I remain astounded that clearly intelligent people don't see how excusing Fox mendacity destroys the credibility of the whole traditional media."
But how many are there -- 1000, 5000?
The only thing that never ceases to amaze me is the profound irrationality and willful ignorance of Americans and the passion with which they defend it.
It's really hard to blog any more and harder to give a damn.
Living in the south skews your view of what America really looks like Fogg. The irrational are concentrated here, but spend a month in lovely downtown Noho, MA and you could be lulled into believing the world is ruled by reasonable liberal thinkers.
We're a fractured nation but not quite beyond repair yet.
I'm sure all is lost - at least until tomorrow, but the trolls who make me the most murderous all seem to be from the Northern Midwest.
The racists here are more polite about it.
You got me there. The northern trolls are the rudest.
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