Structural Issues
White House Communications Director Anita Dunn whines that Fox acts as a “wing of the Republican Party.” No complaints about the rest of the White House Press Corps acting as a Democratic high-rise condo development, though. via Think Progress, your go-to place for skewed views on the news.
They’re widely viewed as, you know, a part of the Republican Party — take their talking points, put them on the air, take their opposition research, put them on the air, and that’s fine. But let’s not pretend they’re a news network the way CNN is.
That’s funny, because here, the Republican Party Media Wing buries the startling news that lib Dem Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of Senate Intel, is breaking right on Afghanistan. Fox:
Top Republican senators escalated their call Sunday for President Obama to grant Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s request for more troops in Afghanistan, and one prominent Democrat warned that a failure to do so could jeopardize U.S. forces.
The Obama administration is deep in deliberations over whether to build on its counterinsurgency strategy with thousands more troops in Afghanistan or focus more on taking out top Al Qaeda targets, particularly in Pakistan. The bloody clash this weekend at the Pakistan army headquarters, where commandos freed dozens of hostages early Sunday after militants attacked the facility, underscored the instability in the region.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the attack emphasized the “danger of the Taliban not only in Afghanistan but in Pakistan as well.”
But he said any attempt by the administration to scale back the fight against the Taliban in favor of a tactical battle against Al Qaeda would damage security.
“They are different. But they are inter-connected,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
He said Republicans would “almost overwhelmingly support” the president if he opts to grant McChrystal’s request for more troops, estimated to be for about 40,000.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also said the counterinsurgency strategy pursued by McChrystal is “really critical.” She said the American people don’t have the stomach to stay in Afghanistan for another 10 years, but that the mission there is in “serious jeopardy” and Obama has an obligation to follow his commander’s advice.
“I don’t know how you put somebody in who was as crackerjack as General McChrystal, who gives the president very solid recommendations, and not take those recommendations if you’re not going to pull out,” Feinstein said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“If you don’t want to take the recommendations, then you put your people in such jeopardy.”
I’d call that inept GOP propagandizing on the part of Fox, which was effectively carrying the White House’s water as far as the day’s Afghan War politicking goes.
If I were the Republican Party Media Wing, and Dianne Feinstein said she thought Joe Biden and Carl Levin were dangerous morons, I would have led with it, like the Obamist Press did:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee says the U.S. mission in Afghanistan is in “serious jeopardy” and more troops must be committed. That view puts Sen. Diane Feinstein (FYN’-styn) at odds with Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, who says he doesn’t want to send any more combat troops “at this time.” Feinstein was on ABC and Levin on NBC.
CNN, to its credit, led with John McCain calling the surrender advocates dangerous morons, but that was just because McCain said that on CNN. Feinstein’s similar sentiments, voiced on ABC, followed.
Here’s what McCain said:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. John McCain said any added military deployment in Afghanistan smaller than the 40,000 troops reportedly requested by the top U.S. commander there “would be an error of historic proportions.”
…
“I think the great danger now is a half-measure, sort of a — you know, try to please all ends of the political spectrum,” McCain told CNN chief national correspondent John King. “And, again, I have great sympathy for the president, making the toughest decisions that presidents have to make, but I think he needs to use deliberate speed.”
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Topics: Obama, media, moronocy
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:00 pm Comments (5) on Sunday, October 11, 2009
5 Responses to “Structural Issues”
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October 12th, 2009 at 7:33 am
Even Kirsten Powers agreed that the White House is behaving like a bunch of crybabies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4ANi3TQrdQ
h/t Allapundit
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/10/11/video-white-house-communications-chief-whines-about-fox-news-media-for-nine-minutes/
October 12th, 2009 at 9:51 am
McCain for war czar!
A couple of obvious points:
1. This administration is inept.
2. They HATE it when anybody points that out, and will take revenge on those who do.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:06 am
[...] White House wants to call Fox News the Republican media outlet, yet Jules Crittenden provides numerous examples showing just the opposite. Share [...]
October 12th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Gee, is this what a “Communications Director” does? Seems more like a job for a nameless flunky to me, but I’m not a finely-nuanced Dem.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
“McCain for war czar!”
I’d rather have Gen Mattis in that slot.