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Obama Assault on Fox News Is 'Nixonian'

White House needs to recognize the legitimacy of opposition

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 23, 2009 7:16 AM CDT

(Newser) – The Obama administration is over the line in its war on Fox News, seeking not only to criticize it, but to delegitimize and marginalize it, writes Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post. “There’s nothing illegal about such search-and-destroy tactics,” he argues, but they do violate “Madisonian norms.” James Madison argued that a working republic needs competing factions and interests to guard against tyranny.

Factions need to compete, therefore, while recognizing one another’s legitimacy, he writes. “Seeking to deliberately undermine, delegitimaize and destroy is not Madisonian. It is Nixonian.” There are loads of liberal news sources—“the lineup is so unbalanced as to be comical.” And Fox needs no defense; its evening news is the finest on television. “Definitive evidence: My mother watches it even on the odd night when I'm not on.”

Nixon would have approved of Obama's attempted Fox boycott.
Nixon would have approved of Obama's attempted Fox boycott.   (AP Photo/File)
President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign rally for Gov. Jon Corzine in Hackensack, N.J., Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009.
President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign rally for Gov. Jon Corzine in Hackensack, N.J., Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Rahm Emanuel told other news organizations not to follow Fox News' lead.
Rahm Emanuel told other news organizations not to follow Fox News' lead.   (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
We're supposed to care what Anita Dunn thinks? She once invoked Mao Zedong in a speech about individuality.
We're supposed to care what Anita Dunn thinks? She once invoked Mao Zedong in a speech about individuality.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 67 comments
Rattlehed
Oct 24, 2009 12:31 PM CDT
Why can't we just have neutral news reporting, conservative/liberal bullshit it's not news it's opinions, and i have no need of them.
dj-spellchecka
Oct 24, 2009 3:10 AM CDT
In May 2008, Bush White House counselor Ed Gillespie publicly sent a scathing letter to NBC News President Steve Capus, accusing them of deceptive editing and blurring the lines between “news” and “opinion.” Soon after, then-White House press secretary Dana Perino expounded upon the campaign against NBC from the White House podium: " The reason that we sent the letter yesterday is because we had gotten fed up with the way that the President’s policies are being mischaracterized, or the situations on the ground weren’t being accurately reflected in the reporting. We had complained before. And it just reached a boiling point." And surprise, commenters on Faux News came out in support of the White House.
RockyPneumonia
Oct 23, 2009 12:54 PM CDT
...As conservatives once more pretend that the White House's actions are not based on Fox's lies and distortions. It's long past time for Republicans to start debating honestly.

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Andrew Sullivan: Debate Me, Bill O'Reilly


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