There’s a reason why we always refer to Fox “News” here with quotes around that second word. Simply put, they’re not a news outlet, they’re a Republican propaganda outlet. That’s fine, but it ain’t news. Looks like the White House may have finally developed their own quiet version of that, as noted by Shepard Smith following his pre-SOTU luncheon at the White House last week…
In 2009, the White House took a bunch of push-back (and largely folded to it), when their Communications Director at the time told CNN: “What I think is fair to say about Fox — and certainly it’s the way we view it — is that it really is more a wing of the Republican Party. They take their talking points, put them on the air; take their opposition research, put them on the air. And that’s fine. But let’s not pretend they’re a news network the way CNN is.”
They were right (correct, I mean, if not necessarily politically wise), in calling out Fox back then for what they are, even as they publicly backed off the accurate assertion in the face of the usual outrage — OUTRAGE! — from the Fox “News” Stooge Brigade. They are no less correct now in dropping the word “News” when referring to Fox…even if it wasn’t necessarily meant as a slight in this case. It just happens to be true. Sorry, Shep.
[Hat-tip Blue Nation Review & @JillEBond on the Twitters.]
