Speaking with political analyst John Dickerson on Monday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith asked about the latest Obama administration attack on Fox News: “Anita Dunn, the communications director for the White House, pushed back against Fox. This is the first time that we’ve seen somebody really come out, out loud and say what she had to say....Now there seems to be a full frontal assault.”
Dickerson replied by describing the White House mud slinging as a win-win: “..the White House website where they talked about the ‘lies of Fox News,’ which is stronger language than you usually hear. This is kind of good for both sides. Fox News sees its viewers – viewership increase, the White House has an enemy. It can galvanize its liberal supporters by attacking Fox News. That’s something that gets cheers in those quarters.”
However, he did follow up by warning of a potential downside: “The problem for the White House, of course, is that it can look a little petty and a little small as it sort of takes it sort of punches down at a cable network. And so they have to make sure that if they’re going to take on Fox News, that they don’t seem overly obsessed by it.” It seems like that ship has already sailed.
Smith’s final question to Dickerson was about Obama’s Afghanistan strategy: “There have been these many meetings at the White House, these conferences involving Hillary Clinton and all of the important other players on Afghanistan. When might a decision be forthcoming?” Dickerson attempted to spin the President’s indecision as just being thoughtful: “We still think it’s weeks, Harry....It’s kind of been extraordinary watching the Pentagon and voices from there and then voices from inside the administration all while the President is going through this careful deliberation.”
Here is a full transcript of the exchange between Smith and Dickerson:
HARRY SMITH: Joining us now is CBS News political analyst John Dickerson. John, good morning.JOHN DICKERSON: Good morning, Harry.
SMITH: So we affirm Saturday night his support for ‘Don’t ask, Don’t Tell’ he has said this many, many times before. Any indication from the White House he’s going to act on it?
DICKERSON: No. The indication from the White House is they want to show the President is still committed to this, but that it’s further down on the list of priorities. He’s got a lot in front of him and the big question is how much political capital he’ll put behind this. Will he pressure Congress? Will he pressure the Pentagon? And there’s just no indication right now that he’s going to spend his political capital in that way.
SMITH: Yeah there’s plenty of other places to spend his political capital, as it were. It’s very interesting because one of the things that happened over the weekend was Anita Dunn, the communications director for the White House, pushed back against Fox. This is the first time that we’ve seen somebody really come out, out loud and say what she had to say. Let’s listen and I want to get your reaction.
ANITA DUNN: [no audio] -almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party.
SMITH: Speaking about Fox is what she was doing. John, what is your reaction? Because this has been sort of trickling out of the White House for a couple of weeks now. Now there seems to be a full frontal assault.
DICKERSON: That’s right. There was even a posting on the White House website where they talked about the ‘lies of Fox News,’ which is stronger language than you usually hear. This is kind of good for both sides. Fox News sees its viewers – viewership increase, the White House has an enemy. It can galvanize its liberal supporters by attacking Fox News. That’s something that gets cheers in those quarters. The problem for the White House, of course, is that it can look a little petty and a little small as it sort of takes it sort of punches down at a cable network. And so they have to make sure that if they’re going to take on Fox News, that they don’t seem overly obsessed by it.
SMITH: Yeah. The other question, of course, over the weekend and for the last couple of weeks, is a decision about Afghanistan. There have been these many meetings at the White House, these conferences involving Hillary Clinton and all of the important other players on Afghanistan. When might a decision be forthcoming?
DICKERSON: We still think it’s weeks, Harry. And what’s going to happen in these intermediate weeks, or what we’ll look for, is to see how much of this debate plays out in the papers. It’s kind of been extraordinary watching the Pentagon and voices from there and then voices from inside the administration all while the President is going through this careful deliberation. It still looks like it’s weeks and we’ll just have to see which way it goes.
SMITH: Alright, John Dickerson in Washington this morning, thank you so much.
DICKERSON: Thanks, Harry.
SMITH: Appreciate it, you bet.
—Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
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Did you ever wonder what people said about you behind the back?
October 12, 2009 - 14:59 ET by acaiguanaThe brutal childishness of this exchange leaves one sitting with a dazed feeling.
ACA
...
Quoted from: 'Acaiguana notes from the Underground' (Soon to be at theaters near you)
Great job, White House!
October 12, 2009 - 15:05 ET by bse5150Great job, White House! Attack the news channel with the highest ratings. You're on defense all the time, let's REALLY piss off the opposition. Notice how high FoxNews ratings have gone since Obama's people called them out? You guys never learn, do you?
BTW, I'm watching FoxNews now, I've got my homepages on all my browsers set to FoxNews and I'm buying Palin's new book. Just wanted to let you know.
First...they came for Fox...
October 13, 2009 - 01:33 ET by Army BratBut I do not work for Fox...so I said nothing...
islam is a lie and Truth is killing it.
HARRY SMITH - THE PREFECT BETA MALE
October 12, 2009 - 15:04 ET by SgthulkaHe's the perfect male anchor for a show mostly watched by women.....Non-threatening, vaguely effeminate and comfortably liberal.
Harry Smith...
October 12, 2009 - 15:14 ET by sam12663...one time weatherman and all around milktoast reporter. Its easy to act like you have a set of balls when your on a show that has about 50 viewers, and most of those who are women, or unemployed Obamabots living in their parents basements on a sofabed.
President Obama is nothing more than a lying empty suit; a Hollywood style special effects smoke and mirrors show that has shown itself to be a total fraud.
WAKE UP AMERICA! SAVE OUR CONSTITUTION!
fox is great
October 12, 2009 - 15:17 ET by tomolson3Fox is making the Hussein Obama whitehouse feel like Ned Beatty in the movie Deliverance!!!! Squeel like a pig!!!!!!!!
It’s kind of been
October 12, 2009 - 15:32 ET by MidAmericaIt’s kind of been extraordinary watching the Pentagon and voices from there and then voices from inside the administration all while the President is going through this careful deliberation. It still looks like it’s weeks and we’ll just have to see which way it goes.
I never really thought that the inability to make a decision was called 'careful deliberation'.
I've seen this all before and when the advice of the military is overruled by the Whitehouse then the catastophe that will befall Lyndon Baines Obama will seem like deja veu all over again.
Obama is spending a lot
October 12, 2009 - 18:50 ET by ThisnThatObama is spending a lot more time with his Communications Director, Anita Dunn, on the War With Fox than he is with Gen McCrystal on the War in Afghanistan.
__________
"mmm, mmm, mm. Barrack-Hussain-Øbama↓." - The liberals coolaid drinking song
What a bunch of babies.
October 12, 2009 - 15:42 ET by Six String SpiffWhat a bunch of babies. With all respect to those who don't have control of their bowels yet :-).
Come on Obama. You show more disdain for your own countrymen than of brutal regimes.
Why are you going after FOX when you have the entire monolith of liberal media on your side? this only proves how thin skinned you are. Say have you noticed the deficit and unemployment issues? Yeah, you might want to be concerned with that instead.
Moron
Its Chicago Thuggery
October 12, 2009 - 16:32 ET by Forest for the TreesIts all about Chicago thuggery strategy - take out any competition or POTENTIAL competition.
This time, I thik they took too big a bite and it will backfire on them.
Obama better hope hope his
October 12, 2009 - 16:19 ET by jkwtradingObama better hope hope his current birth certificate isn't a photoshop
product. His website better contain real facts or he wil be taken and shredded..
for instance his website says at 100 day mark of his presidency we will keep the Americans posted on our job improvement all summer long and also into the Fall.
Well Obama it is the Fall and where are the jobs?
At the 100 day mark he commented on 150,000 jobs saved..did he?
Fox can take Obama's own words and literally shred him to pieces if they choose.
Well, let's look at the playing field.
October 12, 2009 - 16:16 ET by Willis_Leon_JohnsonFoxNewService.
The name pretty much explains it all.
CommieBullSh!t.
The name pretty much explains it all.
Playing field looks level to me.
http://gjresult.com
huh? again
October 12, 2009 - 16:31 ET by bertkillian"...Because this has been sort of trickling out of the White House for a couple of weeks now. Now there seems to be a full frontal assault."
Trickling out of the White House where Harry? The only thing trickling here is your show; right down your backside. For crying out loud, do some real jounalizing for once in your life and quit crying like a baby. If the truth is lies Fox then..., keep lying.
harry smith & anita dunn
October 12, 2009 - 16:34 ET by NotFondOfLibsharry smith is a wimpy excuse for a man. anita dunn knows the pressure is on the incompetent obama administration and has to strike back at Fox News because they aren't falling in line like all the gutless wonders at cbs, nbc, abc, cnn, new york times, washington post, la times, associated press, etc. who are drinking the obama kool aid.
That anita dunn accuses Fox News of being an arm of the Republican Party shows how desperate they are to throw any b.s. against the wall and hope it sticks.
If Harry wanted to be a
October 12, 2009 - 18:56 ET by ThisnThatIf Harry wanted to be a real man, he'd report the following:
So Harry, these are the facts. As a reputable newsman (vs. all those non-Fox "opinion" types -- ahem), why don't you do some digging and actually report the news? Who's really biased, and who really reports the news? You can't figure that out, can you -- but Fox News viewers have, and more and more are each day.
__________
"mmm, mmm, mm. Barrack-Hussain-Øbama↓." - The liberals coolaid drinking song
Levin just asked Dunn to
October 12, 2009 - 19:27 ET by celatorLevin just asked Dunn to come on his program tonight, and she emailed back she was too busy tonight... LOL. I'll bet.
No citizen's right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, or property is safe as long as Obama is President of the United States.
"the lies of Fox?"
October 12, 2009 - 17:15 ET by Gary HallOh goodness. Don't they know that in one media bias study after another, including the likes of the UCLA, and Harvard's Project for Excellence in Journalism Fox is consitently found to be closer to center than darn near everything else out there. Another finding which I've seen in some of the studies, is the analysis, that one is much more likely to hear all the news, if one watches Fox, i.e., the other MSM outlets are more likely to censor it if reporting certain news makes for a risk to the liberal media agenda (think Van Jones, ACORN, Edwards, Obama's 2006 campaign experience in Kenya - the horrific slaughter of humans, which followed, how Obama stole his first election, etc.)
Oh, many national polls (inc. recent ones) clearly show that the general public agrees with the aforementioned studies.
Does Fox lie? Well, we certainly know that many of the others do. The WH should be serioulsy challenged here.
Wallace should invite the source on his show. Invite that person to lay it out. Wallace should have his list of lies from the administration and the Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader, and from the national MSM ready to go. If the WH person does no show - then Wallace should read it.
(;~/ gary
This is a huge problem.
October 12, 2009 - 18:42 ET by EdhenryThis is a huge problem. Fox news....then who?
Tell the white house they have no business, matter of fact the constitution specifically prohibits them, from abridging free speech.
Looks like Helen Thomas was right on...
October 12, 2009 - 18:37 ET by Gary Hall..when she said:
And this comment was funny.."almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party."
Yea, like when Carl Cameron, Fox News chief political correspondent, broke the old DUI arrest of George Bush, as a youngster, just before the 2000 election - a move that almost cost Bush the election.
The MSM, broadly and often, held back [CENSORED] stories on Gore, Clinton, Kerry, Edwards, Hillary Clinton, and certainly Barrack Obama so as not to hurt their chances. And they are holding back stories each and every day of the week, which the public, "we the people," not only have every right to hear, but must hear if we are to be informed enough to have intellectual national dialog on the issues facing us.
(;~/ gary
Come on, Gar
October 12, 2009 - 18:48 ET by BlondeYou really, seriously need to leave those pesky facts alone!
I hope he fails, too.
Very good Gary
October 12, 2009 - 18:50 ET by general companyYou would think the rest of the madia would wise up. I am always stunned how many folks are willing to hand over their liberty, for so much partisanship or cookies and icecream. So many of them,,,,
My Gov. thinks I am dangerous, so be careful
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
Operation Mockingbird Returns?
October 12, 2009 - 18:51 ET by celatorI posted this in another thread, but it probably belongs here.
--------------------------------
Are certain left wing media pundits, columnists, editors, reporters and broadcasters being paid by the government to attack government critics, and espouse the Obama Administration's programs? Since NB's purpose is to expose media bias, this might be one of its areas of concern.
It would not be the first time our government has paid off members of the press to push the government's point of view.
"Operation Mockingbird" was a 1950's government program to mock, destroy and otherwise attempt to silence those who criticized the government at the time.
Some mighty big media names were given money by government agencies and operatives to to go after--through their national publications, movies, television and radio stations-- the perceived enemies of the Washington establishment. Walter Cronkite, Tom Braden, Arthur Sulzberger (NYT), James Reston, Joseph Alsop, Philip Graham (WAPO) and many, many others took money and orders about what to print, who to demonize and who to discredit in the country by their Washington-based handlers. The networks were up to their eyebrows in this disgraceful activity.
All those citizens and public figures who didn't have the "proper" opinion of the government were the targets of this attack. Sound familiar?
Is it happening today? My personal opinion is that is IS happening today. Particularly today.
You can read about "Operation Mockingbird" on many web sites. See if it sounds like what is happening today. Here's a site I like. There are many more sites to help you learn about Operation Mockingbird.
http://www.spartacus...
Those who don't know history will.....well, you know the rest of the statement.
No citizen's right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, or property is safe as long as Obama is President of the United States.
Obama's War Frontline PBS OCT 13th
October 12, 2009 - 20:11 ET by lareeDoes this mean that PBS is next on the list Republican arm?
Obama's War Frontline PBS OCT 13th Video Marines.
Still...
October 12, 2009 - 22:25 ET by OutInTheAStreet...won't help their falling ratings!