During a taped interview at the Woman's Conference in California later broadcast on CNN's "Campbell Brown," Valerie Jarrett sidestepped this marvelous question and instead haplessly said, "I don't want to just generalize all Fox is biased or that another station is biased."
Actually, Jarrett already had, and the incredulous look on Brown's face when the high-ranking Administration official contradicted herself and refused to talk about MSNBC's eminently apparent political leaning was absolutely priceless (video embedded below the fold with transcript, h/t TVNewser):
VALERIE JARRETT, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISOR: What we're saying is is that we want the public to understand what's going on. When we saw the kind of distortions this summer, particularly directed at seniors, over health care reform, it was really outrageous. And I think what the president said in his message before Congress is we're going to speak directly to the American people and make sure that they understand the truth. And so, certainly, if we see somebody distorting the truth, we're going to call them on the carpet for that. But we don't want to take our focus away from the core issues that are so important to the American people. Now, when there's all that chatter and distortion and false information, we have to disseminate -- we have to distinguish between truth and fiction.
BROWN: So do you think Fox News is biased?
JARRETT: Well, of course they're biased. Of course they are.
BROWN: Well, then do you also think that MSNBC is biased?
JARRETT: Well, you know what, this is, this is the thing. I don't want to -- actually, I don't want to just generalize all Fox is biased or that another station is biased. I think what we want to do is to look at it on a case-by-case basis. And when we see a pattern of distortion, we're going to be honest about that pattern of distortion.
BROWN: But you only see that at Fox News. That's all, that you've only spoken out about Fox News.
JARRETT: That's actually not true. I think that what the administration has said very clearly is that we're going to speak truth to power. When we saw all the distortions in the course of the summer, when people were coming down to town hall meetings and putting up signs that were scaring seniors to death. When we've seen commercials go up on television that are distorting the truth, we're, we're actually calling everybody out. So, this isn't anything that's simply directed at Fox. We really just want the American people to have a clear understanding. There's so much at stake right now. We really don't have a lot of time for nonsense and distortions. The American people are also smarter than that. Let them reach their own judgments based on the facts. Let's just take health care, for example. Reasonable people could differ about the right approach. So let's have a conversation about that. Let's not scare people by telling them that things are going to happen that are actually not even on the table. Let's just talk about the facts.
Yeah, let's just talk about the facts, but don't ask us about the biases of other media outlets, okay?
Any questions?
Post facto commentary: the hypocrisy on display here was amazing, and very much explained the expression on Brown's face.
Here's this senior advisor saying, "[I]f we see somebody distorting the truth, we're going to call them on the carpet for that." Yet, when she's asked about MSNBC, who even the astoundingly liberal Marc Lamont Hill admits is further to the left than Fox is to the right, Jarrett refused to apply the same standard.
As such, when Jarrett said, "[W]hen we see a pattern of distortion, we're going to be honest about that pattern of distortion," that was obviously a lie, for she wasn't willing to discuss MSNBC's distortions.
Beyond this, when she said, "The American people are also smarter than that. Let them reach their own judgments based on the facts," she was also lying, for if the American people are indeed smarter than that, then they should be allowed to make their own decisions about which news organizations are telling the truth and which aren't.
Given how Fox destroys MSNBC in the ratings, it appears the people have already made that decision.
More importantly, the most poignant aspect of this segment was once again the look on Brown's face, for it's become clear in the past week or so that most of the mainstream media are realizing just how off-base the Adminstration is with this attack on Fox, and they're all beginning to have a problem hiding their embarrassment.
With each passing day, it's becoming more and more apparent just how hapless this White House is, and the folks in the media who aided and abetted Obama's presidential campaign clearly are getting sickened by the trainwreck that's happening before their very eyes.
If only they would have asked him some tough questions last year rather than being dazzled by his charm and overcome with a desire to help elect our nation's first black president maybe they wouldn't be acting so surprised by the lack of adequate attire adorning this exceedingly less than qualified emperor.
