# Has the media "turned" on Obama? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 14, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323 "2013-05-14T16:36:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/81 "2013-05-16T03:36:29Z")
Oh, you mean the End Times! Well, why didn’t you just say so? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/82 "2013-05-16T05:22:27Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Step 1… prove that these are scandals. Well you would think that leaving 4 people to die in an 8 hr terrorist attack with no explanation as to why a rescue team was told to stand down would be news. But what the hell. It’s one thing to swoon over a beloved leader it’s another thing to ignore such a lapse of support and then to ignore the political lie that followed. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/83 "2013-05-16T06:44:14Z")
Wow, the administration managed to irritate the AP. Guess which other friends they are alienating? Just about all of 'em: The complaint explains there was no warrant authorizing the seizure of the medical records and the records were not germane to the IRS search. The complaint alleges that the seizure violated the 4th Amendment, according to the extensive quotes from the complaint complied by Courthouse News. “These medical records contained intimate and private information of more than 10,000,000 Americans, information that by its nature includes information about treatment for any kind of medical concern, including psychological counseling, gynecological counseling, sexual or drug treatment, and a wide range of medical matters covering the most intimate and private of concerns,” the complaint reads. The records are believed to concern the medical records of every judge in California, every state court employee in California, members of the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild, and people in “all walks of life.” Read more: [IRS sued for improperly seizing the medical records of 10 million Americans | The Daily Caller](http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/15/irs-sued-for-improperly-seizing-the-medical-records-of-10-million-americans/#ixzz2TR3rOHKv) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/84 "2013-05-16T06:51:04Z")
But wait! There’s more! Looks like even the EPA has become politicized. > **[EPA waives fee requests for friendly groups, denies conservative groups](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/epa-waives-fee-requests-for-friendly-groups-denies-conservative-groups)** > > Conservative groups seeking information from the Environmental Protection Agency have been routinely hindered by fees normally waived for media and watchdog groups, while fees for more than 90 percent of requests from green groups were waived,... ``` Conservative groups seeking information from the Environmental Protection Agency have been routinely hindered by fees normally waived for media and watchdog groups, while fees for more than 90 percent of requests from green groups were waived, according to requests reviewed by the Conservative Enterprise Institute. CEI reviewed Freedom of Information Act requests sent between January 2012 and this spring from several environmental groups friendly to the EPA’s mission, and several conservative groups, to see how equally the agency applies its fee waiver policy for media and watchdog groups. Government agencies are supposed to waive fees for groups disseminating information for public benefit. “This is as clear an example of disparate treatment as the IRS’ hurdles selectively imposed upon groups with names ominously reflecting an interest in, say, a less intrusive or biased federal government,” said CEI fellow Chris Horner. ``` It’s hard to believe that a government could become this politicized without direction from the top. And as for the media still turning against the President, the Washington Post has given Obama 4 pinocchios for saying he called the Benghazi attack an “act of terrorism” right away. > **[Obama’s claim on ‘act of terrorism’](https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/obamas-claim-he-called-benghazi-an-act-of-terrorism/2013/05/13/7b65b83e-bc14-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_blog.html)** > > FACT CHECKER | President Obama asserts he called the Benghazi attack an “act of terrorism” within a day. But that’s not correct. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/85 "2013-05-16T11:07:42Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Well you would think that leaving 4 people to die in an 8 hr terrorist attack with no explanation as to why a rescue team was told to stand down would be news. But what the hell. It’s one thing to swoon over a beloved leader it’s another thing to ignore such a lapse of support and then to ignore the political lie that followed. Well, you’d also think that repeating endlessly debunked right-wing manufactured talking points and the ridiculous “beloved leader” meme would be seen as a ludicrous, credibility-destroying thing to do, but what the hell. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/86 "2013-05-16T11:17:47Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > But wait! There’s more! Looks like even the EPA has become politicized. This could be the unintentionally funniest comment in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/87 "2013-05-16T11:20:24Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > He won by running a relentlessly negative campaign, not by articulating a positive vision of government. **Obama** ran a relentlessly negative campaign? You’re aware that the tall white guy with the good hair was from the _other_ party, right? I’m really wondering what your basis for comparison is. > [@](#): > > “I have political capital, and I intend to spend it.” > > Well, he spent it, got nothing. > [@adaher](#): > > Besides, the President has to show that he can actually implement the things he advocates, rather than being a passive bystander. The health care law will be a big test. If things go badly and he points fingers everywhere but at himself, his Presidency is going to be finished. We got nothing? He hasn’t implemented anything? [What a slacker.](http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/what-has-obama-done-since-january-20-2009.html) > [@adaher](#): > > You’ll know. It’ll be when you give up defending him like so many liberal journalists have. Ah, the “liberal media” thing. So nice to see it again. To recap: A) When the media gives positive coverage - or fails to give negative coverage - to Obama, it’s because they’re biased in his favor. B) When the media gives negative coverage - or fails to give positive coverage - to Obama, it’s because he’s so bad he’s managed to overwhelm their natural bias in his favor. Is that about how you see it? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/88 "2013-05-16T11:25:20Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > This could be the unintentionally funniest comment in this thread. I don’t know [Watt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_G._Watt) could possibly tri[Gor such](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_M._Burford) a response. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/89 "2013-05-16T14:51:26Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Late Monday came the breathtaking news of a full-frontal assault on the First Amendment by his administration: word that the Justice Department had gone on a fishing expedition through months of phone records of Associated Press reporters. This news broke Friday afternoon. > [@elucidator](#): > > Because he won? Minor quibble: won twice. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/90 "2013-05-16T14:58:42Z")
Well, sure its minor, that’s the trouble with quibbles. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/91 "2013-05-16T15:15:56Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > This news broke Friday afternoon. Btw I was wrong about this; there’s been so much reporting on these scandals the last couple of days that it feels like it’s been going on for a week. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/92 "2013-05-16T15:20:28Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Well, sure its minor, that’s the trouble with quibbles. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/93 "2013-05-16T15:23:34Z")
> [@Sateryn76](#): > > I don’t know - this AP thing is pretty shifty, and you don’t cross the media. > > I sometimes think there’s kid gloves when dealing with the Obama administration that weren’t worn with Bush, but I don’t agree with the hard-core ranting of a lot of people on the right. > > But this AP thing…it may be bad for Obama, even beyond the facts of the matter. And if what has been alleged is true, then it is well deserved. It was Bush who got the Kid Gloves treatment. Hell, the media, up to and including the supposed liberal bastion of the New York Times, was complicit in the buildup to the Iraq War. They HELPED the Bush administration! Kind of the opposite of “kid gloves.” ---
**Author:** ![Molesworth\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Molesworth\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Molesworth_2)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/94 "2013-05-16T15:31:34Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Besides, the President has to show that he can actually implement the things he advocates, rather than being a passive bystander. The health care law will be a big test. If things go badly and he points fingers everywhere but at himself, his Presidency is going to be finished. I’m fairly certain that Obama’s Presidency is going to finish in January of 2017, and not a moment before. Enjoy it while you can, son. I know I will. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/95 "2013-05-16T15:39:38Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The other stories broke before the AP thing did. Benghazi has been in the news on and off for months, of course. I would say more, the conservative media, especially Fox News, has been pimping Benghazi desperately for months. The rest of the media have been correctly ignoring it, as it is obviously a made-up scandal, and more to the point of the news organizations, it’s a boring scandal. Basically, it’s about which government functionary made up which talking points when? It’s a real yawner. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/96 "2013-05-16T15:44:00Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > He has actively protected torturers by prosecuting the whistleblower while refusing to prosecute the torturers - not even the one who destroyed evidence and then wrote a book gloating about it. His administration is the enemy of the Sixth Amendment, fighting for indefinite detention without trial and actively refusing a US citizen on US soil his right to counsel. He literally had an American child murdered by the CIA, and wants to retain the power to kill whoever he wants, wherever he wants, without oversight. > > He is, in short, an evil man. Very true. And his administration doesn’t even have the balls to prosecute admitted money launderers for Mexican drug cartels and Al Qaeda, when they’re bankers. Yet Somehow, Republicans are not upset about that … or the drone strikes. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/97 "2013-05-16T16:10:33Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > I would say more, the conservative media, especially Fox News, has been pimping Benghazi desperately for months. The rest of the media have been correctly ignoring it, as it is obviously a made-up scandal, and more to the point of the news organizations, it’s a boring scandal. It hasn’t gotten the coverage some people want, but the different hearings and things have been covered. And of course there was much breathless reporting of some of the emails on (I think) Friday- and not as much coverage of the fact that the reported emails were essentially fake. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/98 "2013-05-16T16:17:03Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I know apologies don’t fix everything, but this whole thing was disclosed by the IRS, was condemned by the IRS and President Obama, and people said it was wrong and they were sorry. That should take some of the sting out of any scandal. It’s not like these groups were imprisoned, or shot. They had to _answer a few extra questions_ (which may have been appropriate in any case). I don’t think our liberty is in jeopardy. I’m not a conspiracy theorist or very big into the slippery slope but a partisan IRS isn’t just a bad thing it is a dangerous thing. Its is dangerous to our democracy and its hard to overreact to actual partisanship being demostrated by the IRS. > [@Airbeck](#): > > You said, and I quote, - “Its wrong to only question the conservative organizations about it.” > > That didn’t happen. They didn’t ‘only question conservative organizations’, so that’s why I corrected you, because what you said was wrong did not actually happen. I’m not saying that the IRS was totally in the right on this whole deal, but your characterization of what happened was overly simplified and seemingly an attempt to exaggerate the issue. We will have better debates if people stick to what actually happened rather than exaggerating things to try to increase the outrage factor. I think your quibbling. The IRS wasn’t just not totally in the right, they were totally in the wrong. If they can find a link to the white house (and I don’t think there is a link to be found), it would be a very big deal. > [@Procrustus](#): > > Ok, fire that guy then. And everyone who knew he lied and did nothing. scandal over. There will need to be an investigation to find out who knew what and when. > [@adaher](#): > > He won by running a relentlessly negative campaign, not by articulating a positive vision of government. It takes more than winning an election to get your way. Ask George W Bush about the effort to privatize Social Security. > > “I have political capital, and I intend to spend it.” > > Well, he spent it, got nothing. He won because the Republican party imploded on itself with tea party rhetoric and ended up with a country club moderate candidate that had taken such hard right positions during the primary that it was hard to tack back to the middle. Obama blew his political capital on a bunch of things, other than gun control, I don’t see where he wasted it. There has been a lot of progress on legislation since the beginning of the year. [quote=“Gyrate, post:87, topic:658323”] [What a slacker.](http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/what-has-obama-done-since-january-20-2009.html) Yeah, but a lot of that was from the first term, primarily from the first half of his first term. > [@](#): > > Ah, the “liberal media” thing. So nice to see it again. To recap: > > A) When the media gives positive coverage - or fails to give negative coverage - to Obama, it’s because they’re biased in his favor. > B) When the media gives negative coverage - or fails to give positive coverage - to Obama, it’s because he’s so bad he’s managed to overwhelm their natural bias in his favor. > > Is that about how you see it? All the crap the republicans have thrown against the wall (hoping something will stick) has had a “boy who cried wolf” effect on critics of Obama but the IRS thing is pretty bad. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/99 "2013-05-16T16:54:51Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Very true. And his administration doesn’t even have the balls to prosecute admitted money launderers for Mexican drug cartels and Al Qaeda, when they’re bankers. Yet Somehow, Republicans are not upset about that … or the drone strikes. I hate to derail this thread further, but I was under the impression (please correct me if I’m wrong) that the only reason that any of those things were “admitted” was because of the equivalent of a plea bargain, and that prosecuting them for the things they admitted under those circumstances would be equivalent to the DA trading man 1 in exchange for a confession, then using that confession to prosecute for murder 1. Anyway, I’m always a little surprised at how easily many people assume that prosecutions of the rich and powerful would succeed in court. Perhaps the process is more important than the winning in cases like that (to discourage future wrongdoing), but the people in charge would be poor criminals indeed if they didn’t insulate themselves enough such that cases would be dismissed for lack of evidence before they even got close to a grand jury. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323/100 "2013-05-16T17:10:07Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Cops treat criminals differently than law abdiing citizens. > > You have to prove that the difference in tratment is unwarrranted. Well, no. A press that is supposedly objective has to prove that their differences in treatment, stretching back over thirty years, and consistently treating the Republican Presidential candidates worse than they do the Democrats, is justified. Since that is an opinion, it is not something that the supposedly objective media can prove. So by definition, they are violating their own standards by slanting their coverage to fit their opinions. Regards, Shodan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-media-turned-on-obama/658323.md?page=6)