Following their humiliating defeat in the 2016 election, the Democratic Party found themselves in a terrible place where they were down over 1000 seats through all levels of government since 2008. And according to one high-ranking Party official, one person held the blame. “The number two official for the Democrats says former President Obama is to blame for the Party's recent electoral failures,” Fox News’ Bret Baier reported on Special Report on Thursday, while the Big Three networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) ignored the figure pointing.
Baier played two clips of Democratic Party Vice Chair Keith Ellison where he ripped into the former President during a forum in Minnesota:
Barack Obama could have been a better Party leader, And I think that the fact that he wasn't has put his legacy in jeopardy … We lost a lot of statehouse seats, governorships, secretaries of states. His true legacy is in danger, and I think that he can't say that he wasn't—he wasn’t part of those losses. I mean, who else?
According to a report by The Hill, Ellison may have gotten a little personal in his criticism. “Ellison added that Obama was ‘great at getting himself elected’ but said he should have worked closer with party leaders to ensure the Democrats were in power to protect his accomplishments,” they reported.
“Ellison's representatives insist the congressman was talking about election reality and not trying to be overly critical of former President Obama,” Baier concluded.
This instance of blacking out Democratic infighting is a fantastic example of just how the networks aid the Party. By ignoring the blame Ellison placed on Obama it creates the illusion that all is well while preserving their image of the former President.
But when it came to squabbles inside the Republican Party, they were quick to eat it all up. And they were more than happy to try and drive wedges between the factions of the “big tent.”
In late March, all three of the networks reveled in GOP fighting over the failed replacement for ObamaCare. “President Trump with a tweet storm, naming names, after his failure on health care, ObamaCare still the law of the land,” hyped ABC Anchor David Muir on March 20, “And President Trump is making it clear who he blames. Some conservative Republicans who did not vote for the president's plan.”
An obvious far cry from not reporting how Ellison named a name and made it clear who he blamed for the Democratic Party’s weak position.
Transcript below:
FNC
Special Report
April 20, 2017
6:26:22 PM EasternBRET BAIER: From U.S. markets to U.S. politics. The number two official for the Democrats says former President Obama is to blame for the Party's recent electoral failures. DNC Vice Chair Keith Ellison made the comment yesterday in Minnesota.
KEITH ELLISON: Barack Obama could have been a better Party leader, And I think that the fact that he wasn't has put his legacy in jeopardy. We lost a lot of statehouse seats, governorships, secretaries of states. His true legacy is in danger, and I think that he can't say that he wasn't—he wasn’t part of those losses. I mean, who else?
BAIER: Ellison's representatives insist the congressman was talking about election reality and not trying to be overly critical of former President Obama.
