Chris Wallace was right...

[Winnie]

they really do sound childish and petty. Gee whiz.

Calling 'Em Out: The White House Takes on the Press - TIME

So a new White House strategy has emerged: rather than just giving reporters ammunition to "fact-check" Obama's many critics, the White House decided it would become a player, issuing biting attacks on those pundits, politicians and outlets that make what the White House believes to be misleading or simply false claims, like the assertion that health-care reform would establish new "sex clinics" in schools. Obama, fresh from his vacation on Martha's Vineyard, cheered on the effort, telling his aides he wanted to "call 'em out."

The take-no-prisoners turn has come as a surprise to some in the press, considering the largely favorable coverage that candidate Obama received last fall and given the President's vows to lower the rhetorical temperature in Washington and not pay attention to cable hyperbole. Instead, the White House blog now issues regular denunciations of the Administration's critics, including a recent post that announced "Fox lies" and suggested that the cable network was unpatriotic for criticizing Obama's 2016 Olympics effort.

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

 

[LuciferSam]

they really do sound childish and petty. Gee whiz.

Calling 'Em Out: The White House Takes on the Press - TIME





Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Barack just needs to use option 3.

 

[Winnie]

Barack just needs to use option 3.

No doubt!!

 

[Winnie]

Now I'm sensing a trend.

I just loved Glenn Greenwald's article on Salon today. Gay issues, the "Fringe Left" and the liberal veal pen - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com
Dead on!

About those protests -- and Democratic and progressive criticisms of Obama generally -- NBC's John Harwood "reported" the following last night:

Sure but if you look at the polling, Barack Obama is doing well with 90% or more of Democrats so the White House views this opposition as really part of the "internet left fringe" Lester. And for a sign of how seriously the White House does or doesn?t take this opposition, one adviser told me today those bloggers need to take off their pajamas, get dressed and realize that governing a closely divided country is complicated and difficult.
​

In that regard, the furor over Obama's complete inaction on gay issues vividly illustrates the same elements that shape political controversies in virtually every other area -- from war to civil liberties to health care and beyond:

• Pretty words and inspiring pageantry from the President, accompanied by endless inaction or contradictory policies;
• Hordes of people who believe in their heart of hearts that the administration is led by such a nice, just and likable man that it couldn't possibly be guilty of anything worse than a little benign political calculation (just as the evangelical, Texas-swaggering Bush did for Red State loyalists, the urbane, charming and highly intelligent Obama possesses all the cultural markers of a good and decent person for Blue State loyalists, and thus simply can't be capable of anything malicious or destructive -- there's a reason Bill Maher tried to remind liberals: "He's your president, not your boyfriend");
• Organizations (exemplified by the truly dreadful HRC) that suck funding out of progressives and serve as liberal validators of administration conduct whose overaching devotion is to the Democratic Party and the administration rather than the causes they claim to promote (fortunately, civil liberties groups are the exception, as they have remained steadfast, unapologetic, independent and principled in harshly criticizing Obama); and,
• Deeply personalized scorn directed at those who try to hold Democrats and the Obama administration accountable -- since they're the ones who control all branches of government with huge majorities -- rather than devote all their energies to the cheap and easy partisan task of ridiculing and blaming a marginalized, impotent conservative movement which is a small minority and currently wields no power in Washington.

It's often forgotten or obscured, but the central political fact now is that the Democratic Party controls everything in Washington -- from the branches of government to favors doled out to lobbyists to the policies that Congress and the President enact. Wars that are fought and bills that are or are not passed and policies that are maintained are, by definition, Democratic actions. The dreaded Right can't dictate or stop anything. That's the burden of having massive majorities in all areas -- everything that happens is the result of what the Democratic Party does, and that's why the divisions and conflicts that truly matter are ones with the party itself.

All the petty bickering with any and all unfavorable coverage just makes the White House look thin-skinned and a bit small. If they don't change this strategy, it will be even more interesting to watch after the midterms!

 

[Blair]

Shame on FOX and Chris Wallace for exposing the truth....

 

[tsutcli]

What the Obama adm. seems to forget is that if you get down in the mud with pigs both of you will get dirty, the difference is the pigs enjoy it. This is not a good strategy in the long run for the adm. . As others have pointed out it makes them look petty

 

[AlphaCrab]

What the Obama adm. seems to forget is that if you get down in the mud with pigs both of you will get dirty, the difference is the pigs enjoy it. This is not a good strategy in the long run for the adm. . As others have pointed out it makes them look petty

True. I hope the White House quits trying to be as venomous as the Bush/Rove Administration was for 8 years--they are not a good example to follow.

My concern is that the Repubs./Libertarians/Consevative/Teanuts /Conglomerate party will still be totally defined in 2010 by Limbaugh, Beck, Michael Steele (Barack-lite) and Ms. Palin. My progressive Republican and Independant friends are very angry that no one WITHIN their party is stepping up to counter the venom.

We'll see.