On the Wednesday edition of the Fox News Channel’s Special Report, conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham and her fellow panelists thoroughly excoriated President Barack Obama for a hypocritical and “infantile” attack on the cable network’s reach leading to Donald Trump’s election that’s grown to become a tiring “common thread” for the duration of presidency.
“[T]his president for all of his kind of no drama Obama, comes out and in a very infantile manner, blames cable news and I'm surprised he didn't mention talk radio, my field, because that's what he usually does, without any sense of personal responsibility. So, they say Trump can be immature at times. What was that,” Ingraham wondered.
The issue of the media first came up when covering on the reelection of Nancy Pelosi to the House Minority Leader post and National Review’s Jonah Goldberg highlighted the left’s “huge cultural problem” of holding white working class voters in contempt after relying on them as a bedrock of their base for decades.
“[T]he response from the cultural elites in the Democratic Party and from the media, the Jon Stewart types, The Daily Show types is that these voters suddenly who’ve sustained the Democratic Party for generations are now racists because they didn't vote for Democrats and that's not a winning message,” he explained.
A few minutes later, host Bret Baier read aloud the section in question from Obama’s interview with fake-news-promoting Rolling Stone where he trashes FNC before stating with a hint of frustration to Wall Street Journal editorial board member Jason Riley that blaming Fox News for any shortcomings “is a common thread for this president for seven and a half years.”
“Exactly. This goes back to Anita Dunn, this goes back to David Axelrod. Fox is not a legitimate news organization,” Riley responded.
Following a slew of viral moments recently in which she owned NBC’s Matt Lauer and FNC colleague Juan Williams, Ingraham cut straight to the chase and then provided an addendum over Obama’s assertion that his policies are still popular:
[Y]et, this president for all of his kind of no drama Obama, comes out and in a very infantile manner, blames cable news and I'm surprised he didn't mention talk radio, my field, because that's what he usually does, without any sense of personal responsibility. So, they say Trump can be immature at times. What was that? And he goes over to Europe and says, well, you know? I’m actually very popular. Look at the polls. My policies are popular. You just got shellacked. Your party just got shellacked. At least do what Bill Clinton said and say, you know? That was a drubbing. We really — we really — we really took it.
Baier took the swipe in stride and sarcastically quipped to Goldberg: “I mean, we are number one, Jonah, but he thinks we control the universe.”
The pair also engaged a rather humorous back and forth about the lack of FNC dominance at airports prior to Goldberg asking rhetorically “[w]hat was the last bar or restaurant that Obama went to that had Fox News blaring” even though this is “classic Obama where the only reason I'm not fully succeeding is because there are people being deluded and being fooled and they don't believe their lying eyes.”
“Instead, they’re sort of be ensorcelled by Fox News and this has sort of been his shtick for a very long time and it's not true that his policies are all that popular. You know, ObamaCare, which is his signature policy, has never been popular,” he concluded.
The relevant portions of the transcript from FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier on November 30 can be found below.
FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier
November 30, 2016
6:42 p.m. Eastern
JASON RILEY: This is a woman who’s led Democrats to four straight defeats when it comes to elections that control the House. That is why Republicans are thrilled with this choice.
JONAH GOLDBERG: And also, there’s a huge cultural problem. The white working class, the guys who put Trump over the top in this election, they have been the bedrock of the Democratic Party's coalition since FDR. Republicans have won college educated whites for all time. Goldwater won college educated whites and the response from the cultural elites in the Democratic Party and from the media, the Jon Stewart types, The Daily Show types is that these voters suddenly who’ve sustained the Democratic Party for generations are now racists because they didn't vote for Democrats and that's not a winning message to win them back.
MARA LIASSON: That's not actually true. Obama didn't win those white working class districts. He just lost them by 43 percent instead of Hillary's 37 percent.
RILEY: But he won Tim Ryan's district.
LIASSON: Yes in that district, but the point is the white working class has been trending Republican for a while but Barack Obama kept his head above water with them.
LAURA INGRAHAM: I think we also remember that the Democrats have been running this identity politics political correctness game for a long time. You just get the sense that people are getting real tired of it. If you are for immigration enforcement, you are anti-immigrant. If you think Black Lives Matter goes a little bit overboard, you are racist. I mean, everyone is tired of it. They play that morning, noon and night and yet, we have no growth. We had no real great job creation. Their policies failed the regular working people, identity politics aside.
(....)
BRET BAIER: You mentioned President Obama. Rolling Stone's interview. He says this: “There is a cohort of working-class white voters that voted for me in sizable numbers, but that we’ve trouble getting to vote for Democrats in midterm elections. In this election, [they] turned out in huge numbers for Trump. And I think that part of it has to do with our inability, our failure, to reach those voters effectively. Part of it is Fox News in every bar and restaurant in big chunks of the country, but part of it is also Democrats not working at a grassroots level, being in there, showing up, making arguments. That part of the critique of the Democratic Party is accurate.” Jason, I mean, we’ve heard that it's the messaging and you weren't there in Wisconsin, Hillary Clinton, but Fox News is a common thread for this president for seven and a half years.
RILEY: Exactly. This goes back to Anita Dunn, this goes back to David Axelrod. Fox is not a legitimate news organization, but the second part of that sounds like Obama hasn't been president for the past eight years. How can a man go and complain about middle America clinging to their guns and their Bibles and then say, but my party hasn't done a good job of reaching out to these rural voters? Maybe they have been taking their cues from him for the past of eight years.
BAIER: We have seen this evolution, Mara, of him explaining this election. This is the latest in this Rolling Stones [sic] interview.
LIASSON: Everything he said except for Fox News was pretty correct. I mean, he was critical of his own party. He threw that whiny aside in there
(....)
INGRAHAM: And almost seven in ten people routine say the country is going in the wrong direction. Wages have basically been flat since 1999 and yet, this president for all of his kind of no drama Obama, comes out and in a very infantile manner, blames cable news and I'm surprised he didn't mention talk radio, my field, because that's what he usually does, without any sense of personal responsibility. So, they say Trump can be immature at times. What was that? And he goes over to Europe and says, well, you know? I’m actually very popular. Look at the polls. My policies are popular. You just got shellacked. Your party just got shellacked. At least do what Bill Clinton said and say, you know? That was a drubbing. We really — we really — we really took it.
BAIER: I mean, we are number one, Jonah, but he thinks we control the universe.
GOLDBERG: I don’t mean to be pedantic about this but, just as a matter of fact, it's not true that every bar and restaurant in this country is running Fox News.
BAIER: How about every airport? We’d like to get in the airports. Speaking of that — airports, listen up. Fox News — that’s where you need to go.
INGRAHAM: Thank you.
GOLDBERG: What was the last bar or restaurant that Obama went to that had Fox News blaring? I really want to know and but it's classic Obama where the only reason I'm not fully succeeding is because there are people being deluded and being fooled and they don't believe their lying eyes. Instead, they’re sort of be ensorcelled by Fox News and this has sort of been his shtick for a very long time and it's not true that his policies are all that popular. You know, ObamaCare, which is his signature policy, has never been popular.
