# Obama vs. Fox **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 20, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497 "2009-10-20T16:57:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/301 "2009-10-23T14:17:45Z")
I’m just dumbfounded by all the incredible stuff \*\*Diogenes \*\*“knows”. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/302 "2009-10-23T14:18:03Z")
> [@intention](#): > > Oh, man, this is so depressing. I’m so tired of stupidity coming from the White House. Compare and contrast this from Tuesday, with Robert Gibbs, Presidential Spokesman: > > OK, that’s excellent, the White House won’t mess with the press pool, that’s decided by the WHCA … but then we get to today. Today, forty eight hours later, the White House offered interviews with Kenneth Feinberg, the “Pay Czar” to the press pool … well, all of them except Fox, they said Fox couldn’t attend. They’re trying to kick Fox out of the press pool, how infinitely stupid is that?!? > > To their eternal credit, the heads of the five networks represented in the press pool (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and CNN) got together and told the White House to fuck off, either Fox was included or none of them would go … > > So now, in addition to boosting Fox’s ratings, the White House has managed to both frighten and piss off the rest of the networks. Because unlike the White House idiots in charge of this ill-advised war on the media, all of the network heads can see that this is an extremely dangerous incursion on press freedom. They can see that if Obama can do it to Fox, the next Bushalike could do the same thing to any one of them … and that’s a very scary thought. > > Man, just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse … I notice you haven’t provided cites for any of this. And Fox doesn’t deserve to be in the Press pool. Fox isn’t part of the Press. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/303 "2009-10-23T14:20:13Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’m just dumbfounded by all the incredible stuff \*\*Diogenes \*\*“knows”. I’ll be borne out by Obama’s approval ratings, which will be completely unaffected (or go up). Fox’s rating will likewise be unaffected. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/304 "2009-10-23T14:50:01Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Forget polls, did you miss the articles where the media admitted being biased towards Obama? > > [Brian Williams from NBC](http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59593) admitted during the campaign that he was biased in Obama’s favor This link says nothing of the sort. It contains an alleged quote from Brian Williams quoting a \*different \*reporter, Lee Cowan, who said it’s _difficult to remain objective_ (not “I am biased in Obama’s favor”) when covering Obama because of the popularity he has with the public. > [@elfkin477](#): > > The Washington Post also said the media was biased in Obama’s favor in [this piece](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/07/AR2008110702895.html) Again, not quite. It is the ombudsman from the Washington Post reporting that \*readers \*perceived a slant in the Post’s (and not “the media’s”) coverage, and acknowledging that there were more _news_ stories about Obama than McCain and more “laudatory” pieces on the opinion page about Obama (unsurprising, as he was the candidate they endorsed). > [@elfkin477](#): > > Mark Halperin of Time magazine called the election media coverage “the most disgusting failure of people in our business since the Iraq war. It was extreme bias, extreme pro-Obama coverage.” [cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Halperin#2008_elections) Fair enough, and he’s certainly entitled to his opinion. Having been himself dragged through the slime by the right in 2004, after his memo to ABC news staff covering instructing them not to “reflexively and artificially hold both sides [i.e., Kerry and Bush] ‘equally’ accountable” for factual “distortions” arising during the campaign, one might imagine that Mr. Halperin is keenly interested in avoiding all appearance of bias. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/305 "2009-10-23T15:09:00Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > This link says nothing of the sort. It contains an alleged quote from Brian Williams quoting a \*different \*reporter, Lee Cowan, who said it’s _difficult to remain objective_ (not “I am biased in Obama’s favor”) when covering Obama because of the popularity he has with the public. I remember when the right wing tried to create this story during the campaign. Five minutes of reading uncovered that this was a flat out lie, but Fox News ran with it anyway, and reported it as fact. News organization, please! ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/306 "2009-10-23T15:26:21Z")
> [@intention](#): > > To their eternal credit, the heads of the five networks represented in the press pool (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and CNN) got together and told the White House to fuck off, either Fox was included or none of them would go … > > So now, in addition to boosting Fox’s ratings, the White House has managed to both frighten and piss off the rest of the networks. … I wouldn’t go so far as “piss off” … heck, they didn’t even bother to report it. AFAICT, though, none of them bothered to report it. It would seem newsworthy, and they had the cameras already there… ---
**Author:** ![intention](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e95f7d/32.png) [@intention](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/intention)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/307 "2009-10-23T18:52:43Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > … All those peopel are wrong. I’m right. I give up. I can’t argue with either the logic or the spelling. Or, to quote **John Mace’s** reply to you: > [@](#): > > At this point, I’m just going to say that it’s not worth the effort to debate with you. You never admit an error unless someone opens a multi-page Pit thread to call you out. I don’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/308 "2009-10-23T19:05:17Z")
I don’t know if this has been covered in this thread (I went through several pages looking for this, but didn’t find it), but I think attacking Fox is a brilliant strategic move by Obama. Now the people at Fox are talking quite a bit about how the White House doesn’t like them and is trying to censor them and exclude them etc., instead of talking primarily about how evil health care reform is. Again if this has been brought up, sorry. This is just something I noticed as I watching Fox News for a while last night. Health care never even came up. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/309 "2009-10-23T19:51:50Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Again if this has been brought up, sorry. This is just something I noticed as I watching Fox News for a while last night. Health care never even came up. Oh, man, that’s a good point. ---
**Author:** ![Sinaptics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Sinaptics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaptics)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/310 "2009-10-23T20:20:34Z")
Two videos for your perusal: I’d love for a single person to come back with coverage by Fox that was complimentary of Obama. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDR47EKTrCQ&feature=player\_embedded#](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDR47EKTrCQ&feature=player_embedded#) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRx5ethd8JU&feature=player\_embedded#](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRx5ethd8JU&feature=player_embedded#) ---
**Author:** ![flonks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3ab097/32.png) [@flonks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flonks)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/311 "2009-10-23T20:30:09Z")
> [@Sinaptics](#): > > Two videos for your perusal: > > I’d love for a single person to come back with coverage by Fox that was complimentary of Obama. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDR47EKTrCQ&feature=player\_embedded#](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDR47EKTrCQ&feature=player_embedded#) > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRx5ethd8JU&feature=player\_embedded#](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRx5ethd8JU&feature=player_embedded#) Scary. News, yeah. quote “Obama’s health care plan is scarier than cancer. Why one patient needs to fear for her life”. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/312 "2009-10-23T20:35:41Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I’ll be borne out by Obama’s approval ratings, which will be completely unaffected (or go up). Fox’s rating will likewise be unaffected. You’ll be borne out by Obama’s ever-decreasing approval ratings? \*"Barack Obama sees worst poll rating drop in 50 years… Gallup recorded an average daily approval rating of 53 per cent for Mr Obama for the third quarter of the year, a sharp drop from the 62 per cent he recorded from April… His current approval rating – hovering just above the level that would make re-election an uphill struggle – is close to the bottom for newly-elected president. Mr Obama entered the White House with a soaring 78 per cent approval rating."\* [Cite](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6409721/Barack-Obama-sees-worst-poll-rating-drop-in-50-years.html#) ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/313 "2009-10-23T20:37:18Z")
> [@flonks](#): > > Scary. > News, yeah. quote “Obama’s health care plan is scarier than cancer. Why one patient needs to fear for her life”. My favorite part was when that one loon insinuates that Obama had gay sex with Hugo Chavez. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/314 "2009-10-23T21:22:46Z")
Rahm Emanuel’s enemies list mentality is beneath the office of the President and nothing good will come if it. Trying to isolate Fox is something even friendly news outlets will recognize as a danger to a free press. The White House should not be surprised if there is a circling of wagons among the other network news groups. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/315 "2009-10-23T21:38:16Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > You’ll be borne out by Obama’s ever-decreasing approval ratings? > > \*"Barack Obama sees worst poll rating drop in 50 years… > > Gallup recorded an average daily approval rating of 53 per cent for Mr Obama for the third quarter of the year, a sharp drop from the 62 per cent he recorded from April… > > His current approval rating – hovering just above the level that would make re-election an uphill struggle – is close to the bottom for newly-elected president. Mr Obama entered the White House with a soaring 78 per cent approval rating."\* > > [Cite](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6409721/Barack-Obama-sees-worst-poll-rating-drop-in-50-years.html#) Helpful of the ever-objective Telegraph to provide links to some of their related bias-free Obama articles, including “Barack Obama’s oratory loses its oomph” and “Barack Obama ratings fall as polls show honeymoon may be over.” ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/316 "2009-10-23T21:46:12Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Rahm Emanuel’s enemies list mentality is beneath the office of the President and nothing good will come if it. Trying to isolate Fox is something even friendly news outlets will recognize as a danger to a free press. The White House should not be surprised if there is a circling of wagons among the other network news groups. To the credit of the other news organizations, the circling has already begun. [Cite](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/23/white-house-loses-bid-exclude-fox-news-pay-czar-interview/) You know, I had high hopes for Obama – relatively speaking, that is. But more and more I’m finding it hard to think he has a clue about what he’s doing. He seems to feel that as long as he comports himself in a calm, unhurried manner and utilizes his relatively good speaking skills, all will be well. T’aint so. On a practical level, I suppose that given his experience this should come as no surprise. Still… And on preview: **Vinyl Turnip** , I didn’t mention the other articles so I don’t see what they have to do with what I said. Do you contest the reported Gallup results? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/317 "2009-10-23T22:12:01Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > You’ll be borne out by Obama’s ever-decreasing approval ratings? > > \*"Barack Obama sees worst poll rating drop in 50 years… > > Gallup recorded an average daily approval rating of 53 per cent for Mr Obama for the third quarter of the year, a sharp drop from the 62 per cent he recorded from April… > > His current approval rating – hovering just above the level that would make re-election an uphill struggle – is close to the bottom for newly-elected president. Mr Obama entered the White House with a soaring 78 per cent approval rating."\* > > [Cite](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6409721/Barack-Obama-sees-worst-poll-rating-drop-in-50-years.html#) His approval rating is ridiculously high for a President dealing with a recession and two wars. Telling the truth about Fox will not drop his approval by a single point. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/318 "2009-10-23T22:34:02Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > His approval rating is ridiculously high for a President dealing with a recession and two wars. Not when you consider that he inherited them all and is only nine months into dealing with them. Still, I think that the more he dilly-dallies over sending more troops to Afghanistan, his approvals will drop accordingly. > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Telling the truth about Fox will not drop his approval by a single point. I think it will to a certain degree. As others have said, it’s beneath the office and makes him look amatuerish, petulant, clumsily combattive and clumsily controlling. These are not good qualities to see in the nation’s president. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/319 "2009-10-23T22:37:05Z")
Wish in one hand, shit in the other. His approval ratings are fine, and will remain fine. Actually putting some thought into what he does with human lives is not going to hurt him either, so don’t get your hopes too high. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497/320 "2009-10-23T22:55:38Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Wish in one hand, shit in the other. His approval ratings are fine, and will remain fine. I suppose so – as long as you consider dropping fine. > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Actually putting some thought into what he does with human lives is not going to hurt him either, so don’t get your hopes too high. Haven’t his generals – you know, the ones who know about war – been telling him that their soldiers’ lives are being put at much greater risk without the additional troops that are needed? Paralyzation by analyzation is not the same as thoughtfulness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-vs-fox/514497.md?page=17)