White House tries to muzzle media; draws back a bloody stump. Tell me again how smart these people are.

(Analyst's note:  Absolutely must read and see.  Finally people are beginning to realize that our Republic will only function with a "free press."

by Moe Lane

So this administration had what passes for a brainstorm among that group: now that they’ve made it clear that they disapprove of one particular news network, why, there would be nothing stopping them from stepping up their attempts to marginalize said network. So the White House announced today that a specific White House Press Pool access - Ken Feinberg, who is one of the myriad ‘czars’ so beloved of this administration - would explicitly exclude Fox News.  Despite the fact that the Press Pool is supported in part by Fox News.

And the media refused to play along.

This, oddly enough, has not been brought up by any of the other networks, so for right now the best source for this story is FNC (yes, savor the irony):



See Hot Air and AoSHQ for more.  In this particular case, the news bureaus decided that the White House could make Feinberg available for all five news networks, or for none of them.  Whether or not this was due to principle or pragmatism (Hot Air leans towards the latter), it was the right answer: the administration caved in short order.  Hopefully there won’t be a need for multiple lessons.  I’m forced to admit that I’m pleasantly surprised at how well the news media handled this one.  Even if they did do it solely because they don’t want the precedent set.

Moving along: AoSHQ is amazed at this administration’s priorities.  For myself, I’m reminded again of a thought that I’ve had a few times.  When you look at this administration’s performance to date, it’s like the Democratic Party went out and found themselves a caricature of everything that they complained about/hated/feared with regard to George W Bush… only this time? It’s all true.