Discussing the Obama White House's quest to discredit and banish the Fox News Channel, NPR's Nina Totenberg declared going “on the offensive publicly against Fox was not too bright” and she recalled how, in contrast, the Bush White House “just cut people dead, it froze them out, you know it froze whole institutions out, didn't talk about it.”
Putting it in the most-nefarious light, she charged on the weekly Inside Washington: “It was much more like the Mob.” Seemingly ruing Team Obama's miscue in not matching the Bush method, Totenberg asserted that “when you talk about it, you diminish your influence.”
Totenberg, on Inside Washington, first aired Friday night on Washington, DC's PBS station:
People in administrations make short-term decisions, and I think the one to sort of go on the offensive publicly against Fox was not too bright. Now, the Bush White House did that, it just cut people dead, it froze them out, you know it froze whole institutions out, didn't talk about it. It was much more like the Mob. When you talk about it, you diminish your influence.




















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Nina Totenberg?
October 24, 2009 - 03:16 ET by jdripperWow is she still alive? She must be 100 at least, senile old fool.
Jack
"If at age 20 you are a conservative then you have no heart. If at age 30 you are a liberal then you have no brains." Sir Winston Churchill
How did she get her job?
October 25, 2009 - 02:12 ET by GalvanicTotenberg is one of the silliest pundits on television. Her analysis is so shallow as to be useless. A total twit.
She certainly didn't get to where she is on good looks? How does one explain it?
Whoa!
October 24, 2009 - 03:26 ET by FuzzlenutterLooks like a dude in drag to me...
Why she wouldn't hurt a fly...
October 24, 2009 - 08:26 ET by helyanweI wonder if that's her son who manages the old hotel on the
outskirts of town that lost all of it's business when the freeway came
in last year. They sure do look alike.
Vague charges no longer cut it.
October 24, 2009 - 03:48 ET by DustBunny01Nina Totenberg:
...it just cut people dead, it froze them out, you know it froze whole institutions out...
Names? Dates? or it simply didn't happen...
Of course, no one will actually ask those questions; why spoil a good opinion based on nothing substantial.
Froze People
October 24, 2009 - 08:14 ET by allanfI remember Bush complained to NBC about selective editing of an interview. I recall Bush sitting down with Elizabeth Bumiller of the New York Times --- one of his most trenchant critcs.
Given that, I'd like to see Nina support her contentions a little better.
substantiation needed
October 24, 2009 - 14:31 ET by konoExactly, db...
Who?! Which institutions?! Either name one of these "people" or "whole institutions" to substantiate your accusation, or shut yer slanderous suck-hole, Nina.
These lieberals are just
October 24, 2009 - 03:52 ET by rockyracoonThese lieberals are just going to keep kicking the blame-Bush, dead horse. I don't seem to remember former POTUS Bush wasting his time trying to freeze-out any members of the Pravda media, no matter how hard they hammered him.
It's a sad fact to me that we have to pay for this continual propaganda from NPR.
Facts are like kryptonite to the liberal.
nina
October 24, 2009 - 05:31 ET by Jay in NHNot only is she still alive, but she is stepping out with Daniel Schorr!
it froze them out, you
October 24, 2009 - 05:40 ET by Jack BauerWho? What "institutions."
The Unions? The lawyers special interest groups? And SO WHAT? Every administration has its favored political groups it consults. You think the NRA isn't "frozen out" of this gang?
That's nothing to do with trying to "freeze out and demonize" a news organization.
The founding fathers thought it so important that the governing bodies they had just formed should be open to scrunity of a free press, they amended the constitution in short order to cover it.
Come on Totenbag, details on the news networks Bush frooze out of the White House.
Morning, Jack, or afternoon, as it is for you...
October 24, 2009 - 05:51 ET by motherbeltMorning, Jack, or afternoon, as it is for you...We both...actually we all know that that's a favored arrow in the liberal quiver....that's because they know the person interviewing them will just nod in agreement and wouldn't dream of asking them for corroboration or examples. And of course Nina's assertion that the difference is that the Bush admin did it in secret (how convenient!) is just, well, B as in B, S as in S!
mb -- yeah, these liberal
October 24, 2009 - 06:27 ET by Jack Bauermb -- yeah, these liberal elites really do live in some parallel looniverse.
But all is right with the world now for the Totenbags. It's party night every night at the White.
The lefty social scene is a rockin' -- but only if you're part of their party set.
MB - that's because they
October 24, 2009 - 06:36 ET by ThisnThatMB - that's because they know the person interviewing them will just nod in agreement and wouldn't dream of asking them for corroboration or examples.
It would take a real news organization to do that, wouldn't you think? Something like Fox News? That's why they're so afraid.
__________
"mmm, mmm, mm. Barrack-Hussain-Øbama↓." - The liberals coolaid drinking song
What is she talking
October 24, 2009 - 06:12 ET by RR GOPWhat is she talking about...the Daily Worker not being given press passes to the White House?
These people just make up stuff as they go along. What folks need to do now is go back about 100 years and start thinking about the other BS they've been feeding us from the Left that we accept as fact and common knowledge.
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 86% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.
Excuse Me Madame?
October 24, 2009 - 06:31 ET by BourbeauIf you're going to make that charge, how about providing specific examples and rationale for why anything like that may have happened. If you don't know, then perhaps you should opt to talk about the weather, or the last Redskins football game. My recollection is that George Bush was treated savagely by the press, yet more often then I care to remember, he made himself available to the major networks for interviews with Brian, Tom, Katie, and the likes. Spare me your analogies, Obama is thin skinned and a bully, pure and simple.
Teach The Children Well
October 24, 2009 - 06:35 ET by MindsBiggerThe administration needs to grow up and take responsibility for their decisions. They once again are utilizing faulty logic in the attempt to justify why they are isolating FOX News.
Here's the faulty logic being used by the white House. The example of tu quoque has been cited from the UNC writing Center.
In a tu quoque argument, the arguer points out that the opponent has actually done the thing he or she is arguing against, and so the opponent's argument shouldn't be listened to. Here's an example: Imagine that your parents have explained to you why you shouldn't smoke, and they've given a lot of good reasons—the damage to your health, the cost, and so forth. You reply, "I won't accept your argument, because you used to smoke when you were my age. You did it, too!" The fact that your parents have done the thing they are condemning has no bearing on the premises they put forward in their argument (smoking harms your health and is very expensive), so your response is fallacious.
Just shut up, you complainers!
October 24, 2009 - 06:51 ET by diskinetichttp://www.youtube.c...
Seriously, guys, shut up.
Klavan is a good communicator!
October 24, 2009 - 08:07 ET by ThalpyKlavan is a good communicator!
Thanks Disk
October 24, 2009 - 10:15 ET by general companyVery appropriate
My Gov. thinks I am dangerous, so be careful
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
We pay this crazy broad's
October 24, 2009 - 07:07 ET by ricklailWe pay this crazy broad's salary like the rest of her buddies over there at NPR. Stop funding NPR and they'll have to go away.
By the way this is just another example of what Blonde deems galacticly stupid.
Semper suprene nitens
OBAMACARE: If it ain't good enough for my Congressman then it ain't good enough for me.
Name a network
October 24, 2009 - 07:20 ET by richb313Name a network that Bush did not appear on. Sure the White House would deny access from time to time if they thought coverage was unfair or dead wrong. All administrations do this. The Bush administration never ever called any news organization an arm of the Democrat Party. He never said that any one was not a news organization. His administration never conducted co-ordinated attacks on people.
The only ones looking like a mob are the current residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
I guess Totenberg's become
October 24, 2009 - 09:19 ET by winston smithI guess Totenberg's become wildly delusional in her dotage. Guess she quickly forgot how many of her media comrades waged war on the Bush administration exposing secrets and publishing classified info that hampered our intelligence capabilities and put our fighting forces in jeopardy, spiking stories on the war that would be favorable to Bush like the "yellowcake" story where the MI6 confirmed that Saddam did attempt to purchase uranium from Niger but not one single daily paper would run a story on it, publishing or recycling of old stories that would have a negative impact on the administration, the Rather/Mapes phony documents scandal courtesy of CBS, the Times publishing classified information on how terrorists are hunted down (SWIFT), and many others. If Bush really was freezing out the media, he had good reason to since they were blatanly attempting to freeze the administration's ability to conduct a legitimate war and stop the terrorists from committing any more atrocities.
MSNBC - The Place For Lunatics
What she says make sense
October 24, 2009 - 08:05 ET by nwahsWhen you talk about it, you diminish your influence.
I don't know which news reporter Bush froze out on more than a temporary basis, or even if he did (I do vaguely recall a pool reporter complaining he was being frozen out by Bush, but I forget the network). But Totenberg is right, you don't make some grand announcement. Thats foolish. Its like announcing you're going to sue. Why? Too many warnings just make you look weak.
Amazing, guess you just cant help yourself?
October 24, 2009 - 10:31 ET by general companyI do vaguely recall a pool reporter complaining he was being frozen out by Bush, but I forget the network
Of course you do. So tell me, what's the difference between you and the jist of the artical. You seem to be in compleat agreement, even though you cant provide anymore examples then Totenberg?
Just because you say it doesnt make it so. That is why this artical is being highlighted, same for your comment. But I have a feeling you already knew that
My Gov. thinks I am dangerous, so be careful
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
and yet another
October 24, 2009 - 07:57 ET by sarainitalyHere we go again. Another person comparing Obama to Bush. Obama is just like Bush. Bush did it too. Bush did it, but he was even worse.
What the heck? Didn't Obama campaign and win on the idea that he WASN'T Bush?
All these talking heads and Obots keep justifying his behavior by saying Bush did it too. Well then, why the hell didn't we just keep Bush and save $1B in campaign contributions?
As I have commented before...
October 24, 2009 - 08:08 ET by CobraManObama, and his liberal supporters, LOVE to refer to Bush when Obama does something stupid. Usually it's "Bush did it too, so stop being hypocrites!" Obama, apparently, is take the "Bush" approach and magnifying it. Obama is turning Bush into Bush Lite. That's the message we need to send to people: Obama=Bush Max.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus.
The US Supreme Court
Not to mention...
October 24, 2009 - 09:41 ET by Blonde...a trillion in stimulus dollars thrown down the black hole, more on the way.
Good rant, Sarah, I thought I'd just pile on a bit.
I hope he fails, too.
Brutal
October 24, 2009 - 08:15 ET by nadadhimmiTotenburg, Moyers, and most of the rest of the socialist media desire to have the Government regulate and legislate their opponents out of existence. This will position the socialist media as the sole news source, allowing their propaganda to be dessiminated without refutation. Hey, it worked for Hugo Chavez, Lenin, Castro, and their absolute favorite, chairman Mao. They think it will work for them too.
Totenberg, as is probably
October 24, 2009 - 08:29 ET by Indiana JoeTotenberg, as is probably usual, has actually scored a hit while missing the point entirely. The Bush WH simply suffered the slings and arrows in relative silence, and pursued their agenda (flaws and all) without reacting to the bilious attacks hurled at them by the "free" press.
The Obama WH, OTOH, is the biggest bunch of cry-babies ever assembled under one roof. The One is expending more energy attacking those who dare criticize him than he is deciding about sending reinforcements to Afghanistan. This bunch is AFRAID to make any meaningful decisions, or propose any SPECIFIC policies, so they distract with bread ($$$) and circuses. And the Clown-in-Chief has the center ring, 24/7.
"Four legs good... two legs better!" - George Orwell
Once again, the same tired
October 24, 2009 - 08:44 ET by dscottOnce again, the same tired liberal tactic of deflecting by PROJECTION and Moral Equivalence. Notice that she didn't deny Obama was acting inappropriately singling out FOX? Instead she gives the "everyone else does it" defense in an attempt to deflect from Obama's obviously inappropriate behavior which the MSM would NEVER EVER accept from a GOP POTUS. In fact such an act would BE the news cycle endlessly until every juicy drop was extracted to the maximum embarrassment of the Administration. Remember, the cover up is MORE unacceptable than the actual act of wrong doing.
There is a difference in dealing with individuals and organizations, Nina is hoping you won't notice. If an individual is acting with partisan bias, you can bar them. If an organization is acting with partisan bias you can handle that with the terms of the interview by insisting on being given equal time, exposing the false premise of the question or disecting the question as loaded. You force the partisan organization to decline giving the interview thus giving you fodder to accuse them of bias. Also, giving LONG answers forces them to edit and therefore exposes them to charges of being deceitful as with the edited video of the black male who brought his rifle to a Town Hall Meeting. (that whole episode struck deep into the MSM's credibility). The point is the interview is the opening shot in the media battle, not the whole battle itself. A point the GOP has repeatedly fell flat on recognizing. Are you listening Mr. Steele?
Nina just proved once again NPR is biased as she represents NPR with their explicit approval of her liberal propaganda.
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.
NPR
October 24, 2009 - 08:58 ET by NorthCoasterI quit giving anything to fundraisers years ago because I had a choice. I figured that I was forced to spend more than I wanted to support this version of the news through my taxes.
how appropriate
October 24, 2009 - 08:50 ET by jon_torlinHer last name is very appropriate for making mountains out of molehills that don't exist or are not based on reality, her name translated from German is "Dead Mountain." (toten=dead, berg=mountain)
Does she make a career out of doing this?
-Jon
Bill Clinton became distracted too
October 24, 2009 - 09:18 ET by lareeBlack Hawk Down 16 years ago this Month.
People remember there was a GREEN President in the White House back in 1993, with no Military Background either.
We are presently in two theaters Iraq and Afghanistan. What could go wrong with the current President ignoring precedent.
While the White House goes to War with a News Network. We have
Americans in Harms way, waiting for him to make a decision on Troop
deployment build up in Afghanistan.
Lest we forget, we have people fighting for us on the front lines of
Afghanistan. It was later determined that Al Qaeda and Bin Laden,
trained and funded the people who shot the Black Hawks Down, 3 Oct 1993
Mogadishu.
What is the President waiting for? An International Incident to give him political cover..al la Joe Biden. Gird Your Loins?
He's waiting for a miracle
October 24, 2009 - 09:33 ET by CobraMan"What is the President waiting for?"
He's waiting for someone else to take care of the problem for him. Never mind that he promised on the campaign trail to fight Al Qaeda where ever they are, even claiming that he'd send troops into Pakistan if this was necessary. Now he sits on his ass, waiting for the "problem" to go away while the problem grows larger and larger. Eventually he'll pull out altogether, claiming that the problem is just too big to fix, and place all blame on Bush for getting us into this "mess."
That's a typical strategy for the Liberals, do nothing to win then blame others for the inevitable failures. It worked for Vietnam, which the liberals all called "Nixon's War." Never mind the fact that it was a Democrat who started that war, a Democrat who expanded that war, and democrats who de-funded that war when more funding was desperately needed to maintain the Peace Agreement a REPUBLICAN President finally achieved. Never mind it was the democrats who caused, and exasperated, the problem. It's the Republicans fault. It's always the Republican's fault, you see.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus.
The US Supreme Court
do it mean what I think it do? ;)
October 24, 2009 - 09:38 ET by Patriot IIThis ol broad should retire....the Bush admin froze out the media LOL what a stupid comment......lets see now...has she/it noticed the media freezing out the public of late? No truth, no news, no publicity on the anti constitutional issues...on and on and on! Just another idiotic lefty! imo
The mob has
October 24, 2009 - 09:57 ET by jessieHThe mob has been in office for a long, long time, way before obama. The Senate, the Congress, the media and the White House have been corrupt for decades. obama is a fake president, invented and groomed by the mob.
More on NPR
October 24, 2009 - 11:06 ET by slickwillie2001This is funny, someone at NPR compared what the Bamster is doing to Fox News with President Nixon's policies, and for that had to apologize 24 hours later:
NPR Analyst Compares Obama to Nixon, Issues Full Apology: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com
First Glance
October 24, 2009 - 23:41 ET by sudmufAt first I thought NPR would force Nina to apologize profusely for her hate speech of the Soetoro regime. But as it turns out this is nothing more than another Bush bash so she will be ok. The thugs will not be out to get her.
Journalist = moral coward?
October 25, 2009 - 00:53 ET by snaggletoothieAm I to assume from this that the highest levels of journalism are filled with cowards who will not speak out if a wrong is being done?
That's not even mentioning the rather large question of whether there is ever any justification for ever listening to Nina T.