Pres. Obama has completely lost it: Calls Foxnews 'destructive'

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Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
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He said nothing about pitching a conservative agenda. He said fox was promoting it's viewpoints, and that those viewpoints were destructive to America:

The Faux viewpoint supports the conservative agenda. It's really just that simple, and it's dishonest to claim otherwise.

You're not just splitting hairs, you're splitting imaginary hairs.
 

Bowfinger

Lifer
Nov 17, 2002
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I guess the other media wants you think that fox is biased and they are not. The rating speak for themselves, the public is not buying what the other stations are selling.
Wait. So all the other media is left-biased while Fox "News" is the lone right-biased network, Fox has higher ratings, therefore you reason the public in general is buying what Fox is pushing. Really? One Fox. Many not-Fox. Are Fox ratings higher than all the not-Fox combined? If not, your "reasoning" fails.

Of course the fact is the base premise fails too. It's just the usual right-wing persecution complex coupled with typical misrepresentation of fact. The myth of the left-wing media is self-serving tripe as has been shown through objective studies. More than anything, media serves the agenda of its corporate owners, owners who are first and foremost interested in making money. Like Fox. Moreover, while the Fox "News" network may have higher ratings than the cable news networks, its ratings are dwarfed by the news programs of the three broadcast networks. There is only a small minority "buying" the Fox point of view.

Finally, Fox News' top-rated shows are not their straight news programming but talk shows like Beck and Limbaugh that even many righties will acknowledge are entertainment, not news. Oh noes! Americans prefer entertainment to news! Film at 11!
 

OrByte

Diamond Member
Jul 21, 2000
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Any citizen has a right to express his opinions, and Obama is no different in that regard. I find the fact that a sitting president specifically rails against one particular news organization -- the only large one that doesn't support him 100% -- is somewhat disturbing. And yes, I would have had the same opinion if Bush specifically called MSNBC or some other media outlet "destructive", even though just about every media outlet hated his guts and did whatever they could to get him out of office.

There are things that any regular citizen can do that are simply not appropriate for a president to do. The average citizen is perfectly fine saying "Bush sucks!" or "Clinton sucks!"... but I'd be appalled to hear a sitting president say something like that about a previous president, just like I don't think it's appropriate to be making such comments about the only media outlet that opposes your political agenda. It smells like Chavez lite.

I agree with this. Obama should let other people snipe at Fox he doesn't need to get his hands dirty with this noise.
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
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Amusing that the news channel that gave Obama a 6 percent advantage over McCain is destructive to America, but the news channels that gave him 50 percent and 96 percent advantages are just peachy. The community organizer has an enormous sense of entitlement.

Given half a chance, Obama will be Chavez - which would greatly please roughly half of this forum anyway.
 

woolfe9999

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2005
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I rarely watch fox for anything, I don't like the propaganda.

Pointing out the trouble the dems are facing says nothing about them supporting him. A Detroit Lions fan pointing out that the team is in trouble and going to lose doesn't mean he doesn't support the team. The reality is that for the most part (again, fox excepted), the media supports Obama and his policies, and they certainly prefer him over any republican candidate by a wide margin.

That's baloney. Sure, they complain, because they want him to be even *further* to the left than what he is now, but do you really think for a second that in an election they don't support him over whoever the republican candidate is? Get real. That's like fox attacking McCain over certain issues where they consider him too liberal. Sure they attacked him, but at the end of the day would you say they supported McCain or Obama?

He said nothing about pitching a conservative agenda. He said fox was promoting it's viewpoints, and that those viewpoints were destructive to America:



It isn't like 'the left' has been restrained about anything, and I don't expect them to be. The 'right' and 'left' can say whatever they want. They are not the president, he is. Part of that job is knowing what is appropriate to say.

They (whoever you're referring to) are not the POTUS, he is. Also, as I pointed out, he didn't say that conservatism is destructive (which would have been equally stupid since the country is generally fairly conservative), he said fox - like Hearst newspapers in the past - promoted their viewpoints, viewpoints he considers destructive to America.

His comments fall under "bush league", I would have expected better.

A couple of comments here. Your position is that people on the right can say whatever they like about Obama, but Obama better keep his mouth shut or it violates your sense of Presidential decorum? Is that about right? Oh wait, he can offer very soft, weak criticisms only, right?

His use of the word "destructive" was a reference to the conservative viewpoint.

"It's a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world."

Fox is media outlet, not a "viewpoint." It was the viewpoint espoused by Fox that he was labeling "destructive." He wasn't ascribing that level of significance to Fox itself.

If saying the opposing ideology is "destructive for the long term growth of a county that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world" violates presidential decorum, then I guess you expect him to pretty much always keep the political gloves on. Personally, I have never seen this level of disrespectful vitriol levelled against a POTUS in the country as we have seen over these past 21 months. I think on the whole he has been remarkably restrained. Yet every time he criticizesanything about the right, whether it is Fox News, George Bush, you name it, suddenly he isn't being "presidential." It's just an excuse for gagging the opposing view.

- wolf
 

eits

Lifer
Jun 4, 2005
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Unacceptable. I may not be a fan of Fox but this is no way to talk about a news channel.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/28/obama-fox-news-is-destructive-to-america/?hpt=T2

um, fox news isn't a news channel.

according to murdoch, the point of fox news is to influence public opinion and shape conservative agenda. it is NOT an objective or reputable news source.

it IS destructive because people, obviously, don't realize this and believe everything some chubby mormon douchebag tells them, whether it's bullshit or not.
 

piasabird

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
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I think some people are confusing themselves and doing a lot of lying. You are taking the commentator opinionated talk shows and confusing them with the actual news side of fox news. I dont really wantch fox news much.

Guess what the reason is?

Fox news has too many east coast yuppie news personalities. There is no way you could call them conservatives.
 

trenchfoot

Lifer
Aug 5, 2000
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Pres. Obama calling out the murdoch neocon propaganda ministry for what it really is and does, somehow offends the legion of self-righteous ideologically corrupted greed-driven 'bots that gorge on the outright lies, disinformation, fear mongering and other swill that's being pumped out of that sewage distribution facility called fox?

Not bad for a minute's work I'd say. And besides, who can resist such a juicy fat target that fox, by its own nature, makes itself out to be.
 

her209

No Lifer
Oct 11, 2000
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Pres. Obama calling out the murdoch neocon propaganda ministry for what it really is and does, somehow offends the legion of self-righteous ideologically corrupted greed-driven 'bots that gorge on the outright lies, disinformation, fear mongering and other swill that's being pumped out of that sewage distribution facility called fox?

Not bad for a minute's work I'd say. And besides, who can resist such a juicy fat target that fox, by its own nature, makes itself out to be.
If Obama gets them all worked up, then he must be doing something right.
 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
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Lame. You don't express curtail of rights you are sworn to defend. Especially against a group in obvious opposition, what the very right was created for in the first place. Make you look cheap and lame.
If Obama would try to shut down or censor Fox, that's completely 100% unconstitutional and wrong.
Calling a tabloid "destructive" is quite different from that.


Lots of people describe Obama using only 4 letter words as well. I'll use a 7 letter word to describe him though because I am smarter than them:
FAILURE
I agree, he has been pretty bad and done very little of what he promised he would do. He is obviously owned by corporations just like the last few presidents have been. I will agree that FOX is not a failure, they spread their destructive propaganda very efficiently. :)
 

Double Trouble

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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A couple of comments here. Your position is that people on the right can say whatever they like about Obama, but Obama better keep his mouth shut or it violates your sense of Presidential decorum? Is that about right? Oh wait, he can offer very soft, weak criticisms only, right?

This is not rocket science. "People on the right" are not the POTUS, and yes, being just some shmo you can say a lot more than the president, just like some shmo on the street can say a lot more than you'd expect a member of the SCOTUS to say. Someone like the president generally doesn't get their hands dirty in political mudslinging, they have people in the party do that for them.

Just like when Joe Wilson said "you lie!". True or not is irrelevant, it was not appropriate.

then I guess you expect him to pretty much always keep the political gloves on. Personally, I have never seen this level of disrespectful vitriol levelled against a POTUS in the country as we have seen over these past 21 months. I think on the whole he has been remarkably restrained. Yet every time he criticizesanything about the right, whether it is Fox News, George Bush, you name it, suddenly he isn't being "presidential." It's just an excuse for gagging the opposing view.

Again, you seem to have a hard time with this concept. The public, the media, commentators are free to level whatever vitriol they want. The president should not engage in that kind of behavior. Can you think of any previous instances of presidents who specifically attack a particular network (one that is critical of their policies) repeatedly? Do you remember GWB saying "yeah, those morons over @ MSNBC do nothing but try and destroy the country"? I can't, because it didn't happen. You have lackeys do that for you. The president is supposed to represent ALL the people, whether they like him or his viewpoints or not. His party lackeys on the other hand are free to attack as they wish.

Either a sign of an inexperienced president who simply doesn't quite understand his role as a statesman yet, or hubris of one that does and simply doesn't give a crap about the office and what it stands for.
 

Farang

Lifer
Jul 7, 2003
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I agree.

I think 'King' Obama is getting in a grey area close to violating the tenents of the Freedom of the Press. Making these remarks as civilian? Fine. Making these remarks as President (official gov capacity), not so much. And because his criticism is over the disagreement of policy this surely looks like an offcial gov attack on Fox.



So Obama doesn't like Fox because it pushes different policies? Too Effing bad.

What you Lefties be saying if a Repub President was (officially) bashing CNN or MSNBC?

Fern

Holding a position as the political leader of his party, it isn't surprising that the President would criticize a network highly critical of his party. So no, this does not look like an official government attack on Fox news. No, you should not expect troops to storm the O'Reilly Factor tomorrow evening.

Throughout American history, Presidents have mostly been mouthing political rhetoric when they speak. The President is not the Pope, as you seem to think, and everything he says does not carry with it the weight of the U.S government. The U.S. government does not officially believe Kanye West to be a "jackass."
 

NetGuySC

Golden Member
Nov 19, 1999
1,643
4
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Can anyone here name a news outlet that is completely unbiased? I can't think of any.. Besides whats the big deal, I know there are news sites I can go to that are either conservative, liberal, progressive or libertarian in nature. If you don't like the channel then go to one that tells the story the way you want to hear it. I keep going back to this one jokwe I heard..

A reported was driving thru a quite neighborhood and he witness two young brothers being attacked by a pit bull. The bigger brother hits the pit bull in the head with his skate board and kills it. The reporter runs up to the children saying " I saw everything, I can see the headlines now. Young democrat saves brother from vicious Pit Bill attack". The older brother saids, "We're not democrats we are republicans". The next daythe the headlines read, " Young republicans kill beloved family pet"

This one little joke explains the new organizations of today. Every story can truthfully be told a variety of ways... If you don't like the news you are hearing then change the channel. Republicans didn't even have a news channel to change the channel to, until Fox News came along. Now you can keep watching your news channel that spews your liberal viewpoint like CNN, MSNBC and all the major networks and quit worrying about one little news channel that doesn't share your same liberal viewpoint.

99% of the news is told with a liberal slant, why isn't that enough? I guess that 1% of news that is told by a republican or a conservative is just enough to rock your liberal world for whatever reason.
 
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Tom

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
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Hey, I decided to actually read the article, Obama doesn't say Fox news is destructive..so what is this thread about ?
 

Bowfinger

Lifer
Nov 17, 2002
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Hey, I decided to actually read the article, Obama doesn't say Fox news is destructive..so what is this thread about ?
Gratuitous Obama bashing by sore losers, just like every nutter thread.
 

spacejamz

Lifer
Mar 31, 2003
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Hey, I decided to actually read the article, Obama doesn't say Fox news is destructive..so what is this thread about ?

Are you sure read the right article??

Fox News pushes "a point of view that I disagree with. It's a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world," Obama said.