Fair and Balanced When Needed

Am I the only person who can remember how the Democrats were decrying the unfair and unbalanced coverage of the Fox News Network? The outcry was so vociferous that few if any Democrats (except Joe Lieberman) would even appear on the network. In another example of how today’s MSM does not report the news but tries to generate the news, the Fox Network has suddenly become Democratic central. The MSM has convinced the Democratic candidates that they now need the network to reach those “bitter” white voters. The campaigns have become so desperate to court the white vote that they have bought into the Fox narrative that they are the only way to reach these voters.

Standing in front of a television camera last week, the chairman of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign, Terry McAuliffe, uttered four words that the Fox News Channel would not soon forget.

“Fair and balanced Fox!,” he exclaimed, noting that the network was the first to project Mrs. Clinton’s Pennsylvania primary win.

Fox executives could not have asked for a more rousing endorsement. The next day it showed up in promotions.[1]

Now, I can accept that in an effort to disseminate the Democratic message one might appear on the network for an interview to present the Democratic plan for America, but for a Democratic campaign chairperson to promote the network as “fair and balanced” is beyond comprehension. Mr. McAuliffe has now provided Fox with the credibility it sorely was lacking among Democratic leaning voters and independents. Instead of Republican hacks and wing-nuts making the pronouncement about Fox, we will now have a leading Democrat in their network promotions. So another fall out from this win at all cost primary campaign will be the elevation of Fox from the conservative echo chamber it has been to a “legitimate source” of news. This same legitimate source which will “swift boat” the Democratic nominee come the fall.

A good example is the “Jeremiah Wright” controversy, no network has used it more to frighten and divide the country than Fox. There has not been a day that you can’t find sound-bite after sound-bite followed by expert commentary depicting this incident as the end of not only Obama’s campaign, but also the end of Western Civilization as we know it. Is anyone foolish enough to believe that these same clips and commentary won’t be out in full force if Senator Obama is the nominee. The problem with espousing the virtues of Fox in May is that it will be difficult in October to return to the truth about their agenda.

The majority of viewers of Fox know what they are getting, these are not voters who will typically support the causes of the Democratic Party. So while the Democratic candidates prostrate themselves before the Fox News audience it will have limited or no effect on the outcome in the fall. The majority of Fox News viewers tend to be older, white, and right of center. These are the viewers who still believe that Saddam Hussein masterminded 9/11, that there are still WMD’s in Iraq; we just haven’t found them yet, and that Iran possesses nuclear weapons.

Mr. Obama’s aides have been more reticent, and some supporters say privately that Fox has been the most aggressive in covering the inflammatory comments by Mr. Wright. Mr. Obama’s own complaints about the sound bite coverage of his former pastor at times seemed directed toward Fox.

Before Mr. Obama’s appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” an unnamed Obama adviser told the Web site Talking Points Memo the campaign was “clear-eyed about Fox’s role in the dissemination and amplification of Republican talking points.”

But neither candidate has criticized Fox in public. “Fox clearly takes on a conservative bent or slant in its coverage,” said one aide, who asked for anonymity to avoid angering other media organizations. On the other hand, “with Fox,” he said, “at least you know what you’re getting.”[2]

Just remember when you dance with the devil, there will be a bill to pay later and it will be a bill I don’t know if the Democrats can pay. This election should have been a cake-walk, a landslide for the Democratic candidate, but as this primary campaign continues to unfold the only candidate getting stronger from it is John McCain, who by the way is a regular on Fox News and has received little if any negative coverage on the network. It is sad to see the Democrats willing to sell their souls for a few thousand votes, what’s next an appearance on the Rush Limbaugh show? The Democratic campaigns have now provided cover for those same reporters and analysts who will be ridiculing them during the summer. I have never thought that providing your enemy with ammunition in which to shoot at you with was a good strategy, but what do I know. I am just some inexperienced and naïve guy pounding away on his computer in his parent’s basement.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/business/media/02fox-1.html?pagewanted=2
[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/business/media/02fox-1.html?pagewanted=2