Today the New York Times (4/3/12) has a long report detailing how the Obama White House has politicized the regulatory process, apparently partly out of a fear of being portrayed by Republicans as “an overzealous and job-killing regulator.”
It’s an interesting piece, covering an array of regulatory decisions. One of the more interesting media anecdotes was the suggestion that fear of Fox News motivates some of the White House’s decision-making. A recommendation that calorie information for movie popcorn should be made public, for instance, was thought to be
unnecessary and would probably be lampooned on Fox News as an especially silly example of the government intrusions that conservatives often mocked as the nanny state.
The Times added:
“This was the era of Glenn Beck, and the White House was terrified that Beck would get up and say this is all part of the nanny state,” a senior FDA official said.
This reminds me of the story of Department of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod, who was smeared as a racist in a deceptive video released by Andrew Breitbart. Without checking things out for themselves, government officials apparently quickly pushed for Sherrod’s dismissal.
In that case as well there seemed to be some panic about the Fox News Channel‘s ability to drive the scandal. The Associated Press obtained internal emails about the Sherrod decision, including this one from Agriculture Department communications chief Chris Mather:
“She goes on to make it a larger case about understanding race…. but looks bad. [Fox News host Bill] O’Reilly just called us for statement,” Mather says in the e-mail.
And another, courtesy of GQ:
“Forgot to mention, Fox been sitting outside building all day,” wrote Mather. “Followed [Vilsack’s] car, tried to sneak in building with photo of Cook, asking for interview.” And: “Ed Henry [then of CNN, now of Fox News] was literally hiding in bushes outside USDA and ran after [Vilsack] as he got out of car.”
Serious question: Do any powerful Republicans fear the likes of, say, MSNBC?
Do any Republicans fear MSNBC?Nope not in the least bit.We encourage those on the left to speak out loud and clear.Im sorry Kieth O got sacked last week.Im always sorry to see mouthpieces for the left leave the field of battle.THEY are our best weapons.The only thing I fear is when you get a slippery one who believes one thing but says another to get elected.There is no doubt in my mind the powers that be fear FOX.Fox is not a dragon slayer network.It is the network of THE NAIL.The nail dreamed of, and created to NAIL jello to the wall.The left does not believe in the constitution.They do not believe in non governmental interference in our lives beyond what the constitution allows.They want a government not just to govern but to rule.They want government in its wisdom to care for us.Even down to popcorn on a Sunday afternoon..You God damn right FOX would point it out.Damn straight.
FOX will no doubt take this as proof of their potency, but there’s a logical disconnect here.
FOX portrays the administration as this “radical liberal” (there’s a textbook contradiction in terms) juggernaut hellbent on eviscerating the rights and liberties of free men (oh, yeah … and women, too), and itself as one of the only champions of “the people” standing in the way.
Yet the portrait we see here is of a regime dedicated to staying as far away from the fringes of “acceptable” political action as possible, and scared shirtless to be painted as anything other.
One and one equals negative seven in this equation, don’t you think?
But empiricism – as opposed to imperialism – has never been a concern of Reichsmarschall Murdoch and minions, has it?
And FOX is a rabid pit bull.
By comparison, MSNBC comes across as a yappy toy fox terrier.
the 2 responses coming from the right are just more of the same lies, fear, hate and racism being spread by faux “news” and the so called conservatives who believe that the repulsive party of NO (republicans) is the way to go even if it is against what they really want. Liberals want clean water and air, food that will not harm or kill a person, products that will not harm of kill. The ability to live their lives free of religious control. The ability to send our children to schools for a good education without bias and religious control. The ability to have a choice of the way we live.
It’s simple; it’s spelled C-O-W-A-R-D-I-C-E.
Fox is in the news profit making business, so they welcome all controversy. The far right public fears everything, that’s maybe why they want a police state. They must have enemies, such as commies, dark skinned people, intellectuals, non-Christians, liberals etc.
“They do not believe in non governmental interference in our lives beyond what the constitution allows.”
Interesting Michael E….
Trying to figure this sentence out…
And yet we have so much non-governmental interference in our lives. Corporations dump oil in our oceans and grow food with chemicals implanted in the seed, leak radiation in our seas, blather through mouthpiece news organizations on our TV in our homes … and buy our decision-makers, Republican and Democrat wholesale. There’s too much non-governmental interference already when it comes to our health, economy and above all our CONGRESS.
Why on earth should anyone be afraid of FIX News ? or of all the other Republicans, be they candidates or pundits ? Everyone lnows by now that they are the party of NO and the party who unabashedly declared war on women, considering them to be 2nd class citizens.
We know now what was obvious before that FOX “news” is simply a mouth piece for the powers—-the Reich wing an their plans to subvert this country an bring back to what they see as the “Golden Age” of the Gilded Ones. An that is what they are slowly giving us. The 12% who like our Congress elect an reelect them at least 90% of the time. 95% keep their jobs too. Once the Middle Class is gone we are a de facto ologopoly. No Democracy in any reality.
At least MSNBC isn’t as bad as CNN an so many of the other news outlets who are just trying to be more like FOX noise. An I’d put the research done by those on MSNBC—in the later times from 2 PM (CST) on to anything FOX would make up. Or any Reich Winger either.
I’m really rankled that Keith Obermann got canned so fast. But it happens in the business. But this was so abrupt. He wasn’t a team player.
The FOX network has full, national media coverage on all cable and satellite networks and broadcasts 24/7 — unlike MSNBC which is not always available (for instance in many hotel rooms and other establishments) and does not broadcast 24/7, particularly on the weekends (at least on the cable provider in our region). The White House has good reason to fear FOX because (1) FOX is always on the air and is fully committed to aggressively tout, distort and even fabricate “news” in order to negatively portray the Obama administration while (2) working in league with other ideological right-wing media organs to brazenly undermine, oppose, neutralize and eventually obliterate the Obama Administration’s operation and legislative goals knowing that (3) no equivalent media cabal exists to effectively counter the lies, distortions and extensive media saturation of FOX and its allies. The Obama Administation knows that it has one hand tied behind its back and must largely fend for itself in the public arena served mainly by the “mainstream” media. Therefore, they must devote serious energy to prevention and damage control so that they are not continually on the defensive and have some degree of energy, resources and media “space” to assert an agenda deemed marginally acceptable by the mainstream media establishment if they hope to reach anyone not already in the liberal-left-progressive choir. They may not do a very good job of this, but they are almost never able to achieve the rhetorical initiative nor able to maintain it for very long. They “fear” FOX because they have to. FOX and its allies have the daily hour-to-hour power to largely set the tone and the agenda of public political discourse. The Left works hard to counter much of this but can’t come close to reaching the general public in the relentless manner of FOX et. al.
Despite the flaws, imperfections and mistakes of FOX News, they still seem to be doing a much better job of reporting news in a Fair and Balanced Way. They also tend to provide more relevant information than the other networks. One example that really sticks out in my memory is that while Fox News was reporting on the potential dangers and risks of radiation that had escaped from the Nuclear Power Plant in Japan that was impacted by the Tsunami last summer, ABC News was reporting on fluff like what apparel was being worn by Kate when she got married during the “Era” the British Royal Wedding. They report, you decide. If you want to hear about important issues like how the Obama administration is assaulting Freedom of Religion then tune into FOX. If you want to hear about unimportant and irrelevant fluff, then tune in to George Stephanopolous (sp?) on ABC. If receiving information on what some “royal” is wearing helps you ignore problems like record rates of foreclosures, high unemployment, super-low rates of teen employment, etc., and that helps you be happy, then watch ABC, not FOX. FOX reports on many negative aspects of what is going on–this Recession or whatever you want to call it and not everyone can deal with taking off the Rose-Colored glasses. The Truth Hurts. . .
Merriam-Webster defines “politicize” as a transitive verb
: to give a political tone or character to.
I take that to mean to transform something from what was not political in character to something that is political in character. I am now pondering exactly what was not political about the regulatory process before the current administration. For that matter, the same has been said of the health care debate, the budgetary process, and just about any other topic in the realm of political science, especially in the U.S.
I don’t think there is anything more political about our government now than previously. And I am NOT any fan of the Obama administration, or any other U.S. administration before it, and it is not my intention to debate or argue that in itself here. I am only pointing out that the nature of government is purely political, no matter when or under any particular leadership.
We can always argue our individual likes and dislikes about specific political issues somewhere else; Fair, Common Dreams, and other venues provide plenty of space for that. But I would be interested if anyone here agrees or disagrees with my point about the term “politicize” — which aspects of government do you think are not political in nature?
MichaelE’s comment puts the fear of God into me – I’m interested in this story not because I support one or the other (and the ‘left’ is NOwhere near left Dorothy) but because FAIR is for discussion and analysis… thought, even..
Sorry I put the fear of God into you IC.For the love of God I cant figure out why.Fox came about at a time when the news cycle was slipping hard left(as far as a lot of folks were concerned).An opening appeared for the other side of the coin as it were.The business model worked and exploded.Now you may think they do a lousy job.Turn em off and click to Democracy now.I like the job they are doing(I still watch Democracy now too).I don’t want ANY left leaning shows off the air.I want a full blooded discussion in the arena of ideas.Let people hear both sides and choose.Now what would scare you about that?What would scare the President and his white house about that?
The commonly accepted norm that Fox News has any relevance is out there because we talk about them so much. They deserve only to be ignored. There are plenty of other ways to obtain useful information than a video presentation that gives no context, history or background to current affairs being discussed. Uninformed opinion is defined as bigotry.
A fish rots from the head. The cowardly ninny-in-cheif has been played like a fiddle by the right. “…they hate me and I welcome their hatred!” You’ll never hear MR Obama say these word. He doesn’t have a strong enough conviction on any issue.
leftbank
What I find annoying is no one is willing to speak the obvious truth – and in truth is power.
Everyone expects the government (either federal, state or local) to provide a standing military to protect the interests of the country (although size and what protect means is open to interpretation); a basic education for our children, assistancee for the elderly and disabled, roads, infrastructure in the community (water, sewer, etc), police, jails, prisons, etc.
The problem is we have allowed the crazies on the extreme right to so control the conversation and our tax code we are no longer able to provide even the most basic of services to citizens of the country. In too many areas of our country some less developed nations have better services for their citizens than we do.
We lag so far behind in areas of educating our citizens, health care, and basic services we will soon be seen as a 3rd world country.
Seeing the world in terms of right vs. left is simple-minded black and white thinking. The way I see it, you are either compassionate or not. If you are compassionate you speak up against injustice no matter who committs it. You do not apologize for or minimize the attrocities of your country and/or political Party. If you are compassionate you are sickened by the notion of war because you realize that many innocent people fall victim to a handful of fearful angry and unintelligent people’s violence in every war. Therefore you seek peaceful ways of conflict resolution. If you are compassionate you share the resources on the planet because you are capable of empathy and you realize that any one of us can become poor due to unexpected circumstances. If you are compassionate you empathize with those who are not free and you constantly work towards creating more freedom for ever expanding classes of existence (women, people of color, immigrants, LGBT, animals, etc.).
Left or right, Democrat or Republican, these are all meaningless labels. By labeling ourselves we diminish our humanity and apologize for our politicial football team.
I so wish that Obama were the militant black socialist caricature the right portrays him as instead of the moderate George HW Bush-style Republican he is on so many issues… praising Reagan, passing the Republican healthcare plan, using massive tax cuts for stimulus, expanding and extending the war in Afghanistan, trying to pass the Republican plan for addressing global warming, groveling before Wall Street and the bankers, etc. The incredible hypocrisy of the right in rejecting his program is stunning. The only major thing they can possibly have against him is who he is.
Well Tishado to revisit my famous quote “The left will see Obamas failures from only one standpoint.He wasn’t LEFT enough”.As far as I am concerned the best things about his time in office was his budgets being turned down by his own people.The blocking of many of his ideas by the right (and public opinion).And whenever he is away on vacation,shooting hoops or playing golf.He did I will admit learn a few things on the job.He learned everything he knew about the military going in- could fit in a tea cup.Some of his most ardent followers still are in that tea cup.Global warming did not reap the power play rewards he hoped for and he lost interest.Wall street and the bankers?Even he knows that is a load of bullshit used as a boogie man by the left.Same thing with corporations etc.Of course he will pull them out of the closet when needed.You can see on the things he has backed away from the learning curve.But you cant change a cats spots.He still believes the governments only job is as an endless tax collector.Its sole real job is to grow in power and scope.It is his sole education.And by the way WHO IS HE?And what program are you speaking about?Although in all fairness I cant remember any that ring true to the right.
That’s pretty funny, Jim Doyle–nice sarcasms. Or are you serious? If you are, then nevermind.
Obama never said he was of the Left or as I like to call it, civilized realism. No he is further to the right than the Saint Reagan an yet he can easily sound more liberal than the hardliners working to out do themselves in how hard they can goosestep into Klan territory. Pretty much there if they could even get their wished implemented. (So far even many of the Republican women are offended by it. They aren’t ready to become 21st century Puritans just yet.
Night gaunt
What would be the belief structure of civilized realism?