Outgoing White House Communications Director Anita Dunn pictured earlier this year with White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
by Mark Silva and updated
Was Anita Dunn, the outgoing communications director of the White House, speaking for herself when she called FOX News "an arm of the Republican Party'' on a rival cable news network's program, or was this something that Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and political adviser David Axelrod had planned ahead of time?
"I am not exactly one known for 'going rogue,''' Dunn said today, with an allusion to the well-known Republican, Sarah Palin, whose campaign had accused her of going off-script.
"The reality is that the media environment has changed so dramatically over the last decade, that what we think of as traditionally news sources, has changed,'' Dunn said, pointing to Comedy Central this week calling out FOX's Sean Hannity for mixing video of one well-attended protest rally with video of another less-attended rally ("We screwed up,'' Hannity acknowledged on his own program this week.)
"The people who did the fact checking on this, the people who exposed this, Jon Stewart on Comedy Central... well, that's where you're getting fact checking and investigative journalism these days, folks'' Dunn told an audience at Bloomberg's Washington Summit this afternoon, and so the White House too is watching when news is skewed. "For mainstream journalists, it is important for them to know that we are following those stories... that really don't live up to the scrutiny that you would bring to them.''
Okay then, was the president aware that Dunn was going to say what she said of FOX in that appearance on CNN, where she also suggested that FOX is not a news network in the traditional sense?
"I am not a person who is known for going rogue,'' Dunn said carefully, "but we also don't discuss personal decisions.''
This drew a knowing laugh from an audience here at the Newseum, where interviewer Al Hunt of Bloomberg News also asked Dunn what she thinks of MSNBC. It's different from other networks too, Dunn said. The morning host, she noted, is a Republican from the "Gingrich Revolution'' (that's former Rep. Joe Scarborough of Pensacola), and they have a lot of commentary. "I do regard them differently as a network,'' she said.
Dunn herself also has come under the scrutiny of FOX's Glenn Beck, who had some fun playing the video of a speech she gave in which she cited her two favorite political philosophers, Mao Zedong and Mother Teresa. Dunn, who campaigned for Barack Obama for president, and fomer Sen. Bill Bradley before that, stepped in as White House communications director on an interim basis earlier this year, and is leaving on Dec. 1 - though says she will continue to serve as a consultant. Her husband, Bob Bauer, will become White House Counsel by year's end.
Is Obama disappointed on not having changed 'the tone'' in Washington that he hoped to change, Hunt asked? "I think he would have loved to be able to change more of the tone,'' Dunn said. "At the end of the day there is only so much he can do.''
For its part, FOX News wishes Dunn a bon voyage.
"We wish her well in her new position,'' a FOX spokesperson told the Swamp today, "where we're sure she'll continue providing brilliant strategic vision."
Is there one big communication success she can cite?
"I think that the successful communications triumph is probably, it always starts with the president, and his speech to a joint session of Congress,'' Dunn said. "Which really did redefine the issue, which really did give momentum to what you're seeing today.... We have a president who writes most of his best speeches and really delivers them well.''
One big communications disappointment?
"I wish that we had earlier put more attention and resources into building our online community in the White House, which is something we did successfully during the campaign,'' Dunn said. "I think, in keeping with the president's real commitment to transparency, but also in bringing more people into the process, there is more we can do..''
Asked about Republican strategist Karl Rove's comment that the Obama White House is uncompromising and running roughshod over critics with a Chicago-brand of politics:
"Well, gee, Karl... At times like this, as the mother of a boy who only recently hit his teen years, I am always inclined to fall back on something like, 'I'm rubber, you're glue.'... .
"You see a president who has really gone to extraordinary lengths to reach out with people who don't agree with him,'' she said.
"The reality is that, for the first time in history -- and this is a bell that can't be un-rung after we leave -- every visitor to the White House is going to be made public,'' she said of the Obama administration's decision to publish quarterly the list of everyone who visits the White House - a visitors log that the Bush White House fought to keep secret. "We are running this transparent and accountable administration that basically reaches out to people who agree and disagree with us... That was not the case when Karl Rove was calling the shots in the last eight years,''
Are the public opinion polls "heading South'' a measure of a problem of policy or communication, Hunt asked Dunn.
"This is my third go-'round with this,'' she said, having worked with Sen. Bradley on the issue and then during the New Jersey Democrat's bid for his party's 2000 presidential nomination. "There is a reason that people have not been able to do this. It is complex.... It is the communications challenge of all time... but when it passes, and when it becomes law, people will feel that real change has come to Washington.''
On Afghanistan, would it have been better for the administration to have moved more swiftly on a new deployment?
"I think the American feel we want to put a process in place, to ask questions before we put troops in,'' she said. "This is the toughest and most serious decision that any president faces, committing American troops... and taking the time to do it properly, to make sure you have asked all the questions and challenged all the assumptions... that is something the American people appreciate.
Dunn, one of the higher-level women to work in the Obama White House, also was asked here about those all-male basketball games that the president plays.
"I don't want to play basketball with the president,'' Dunn told Hunt. "We work really long hours. We want to go home.''
Comments
Why is it so hard for the right to admit to Faux's bias? Is MSNBC biased? certainly....I don't watch either...well except to get a good laugh now and again on Faux.
Posted by: bill r. | November 13, 2009 2:16 PM
Anita Dunn.
Partisan liberal.
Loves Chinese Communist dictators and mass murderers.
Hates conservatives.
If hired by The Swamp, she'll fit right in.
Posted by: Dissent is Patriotic | November 13, 2009 2:33 PM
THANK YOU FOR EXPOSING FAKE NEWS CHANNEL, ANITA DUNN!
Posted by: HHH | November 13, 2009 2:55 PM
As Anita Dunn returns to private life, she deserves a round of virtual applause. By daring to speak honestly about Fox, she initiated a dialogue that reverberated throughout the media. It got everyone into the debate as to the legitimacy of Fox News. That's a discussion that produces positive results no matter which side of the fence you're on. In fact, it is almost more enjoyable to hear Fox News advocates, and even their own anchors and commentators, batting the issue around. Every time someone poses the question of whether Fox is really news, it reminds everyone that Fox's credentials are suspect at least. So let the debates continue.
Thank you, Anita Dunn. Thank you for your service to America. Thank you for your honesty and courage. And good luck in all your future endeavors
Posted by: KingOneEye | November 13, 2009 3:00 PM
Loves Chinese Communist dictators and mass murderers.
Posted by: Dissent is Patriotic | November 13, 2009 2:33 PM
You're confusing dissent with disconnected!
Posted by: bill r. | November 13, 2009 3:01 PM
_______________________________
Loves Chinese Communist dictators and mass murderers.
Hates conservatives.If hired by The Swamp, she'll fit right in.
Posted by: Dissent is Patriotic | November 13, 2009 2:33 PM
______________________________
RNC Brucie,
In your deluded mind, anything to the left of Mullah Rush and Billo the Clown at Fixed News Channel is the "librul media". If you don't like The Swamp...leave. It's that simple, you moron.
And the fact that Anita Dunn made an ironic comment about Mao doesn't mean that she admires him, it means that mental midgets like you, who only watch Fixed News Channel, have their heads up their butts.
Posted by: Derrick | November 13, 2009 3:09 PM
ClusterFox FAILS again:
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http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-november-10-2009/sean-hannity-uses-glenn-beck-s-protest-footage
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Posted by: Jeff Y | November 13, 2009 3:22 PM
WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee's health insurance plan covers elective abortions for its employees, an option Republicans strongly oppose in health overhaul legislation that Democrats are trying to push through Congress.
Posted by: bill r. | November 13, 2009 3:26 PM
When you hold high position such as Anita Dunn you have to be very careful on what you say. The cameras are always rolling and the microphones are turned on. Dunn and others probably wish they could take back their stupid comments about Fox News. Regardless whether Fox News has a conservative tilt, those comments made the Obama White House look childish in their responses and look like they could not take any criticism. They even went after Jim Cramer who has a show on CNBC called "Mad Money." Fox News along with MSNBC have their Right and Left Wing lineups in the evening that many times tell only half or even no parts of the real the story. They seem to always have a political agenda they are pushing. Just watch Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, and Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck on Fox and you will see what I mean. If you want a more unbiased news report I would Not recommend either of those networks at night. All they do is make some outrageous comments and rally their more extreme Right and Left Wing viewers. So the Obama White House needs to lighten up. Criticism and political opposition on the issues comes with the job. As President Harry Truman once said "If You Cannot Stand the Heat, Get Out of the Kitchen." And in Washington there is always a lot of heat.
Posted by: Depot- Jim | November 13, 2009 3:27 PM
In order for the RNC to regain the trust of their donors, they must disclose the names of all people involved in any way of the selection of their health care plan. And those people must be summarily fired. No severance packages, no golden parachutes; fired. For cause.
No pro-lifer in good conscience can give them a dime until this happens.
IF YOU HAVE DONATED TO THE RNC AT ANY TIME SINCE 1991 CALL THEM AT (202) 863-8500. GET NAMES. DEMAND REFUNDS UNLESS THE PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE ARE HELD ACCOUNTABLE. IF THEY DON’T HEAR DIRECTLY FROM YOU THEY WILL DO NOTHING
Posted by: bill r. | November 13, 2009 3:30 PM
Fox is a propaganda outlet and it is now in the business of organizing and promoting anti-government protests. This is not what news organizations are supposed to do. The press reports the news, it does not make it, then report on it.
Posted by: Megan | November 13, 2009 3:31 PM
Fox News admits that their talk shows are opinion based, which is obvious and indisputable. It's not straight news and it's not meant to be. No problem. The problem lies in their "news" side. They don't have a straight news division like CNN, MSNBC, ABC, etc. They have propaganda disguised as news. That's a serious issue that must be addressed.
The problem with Fox News is that they have shown over and over again that they tilt their news coverage indisputably toward a right-wing perspective and refuse to admit it. They are not purely driven by the news. They are driven by an agenda.
The Daily Show did a great segment just last week showing how Fox News acted as cheerleaders for the 9/12 Tea Party protests and gave it wall to wall coverage, yet for a protest of almost the same exact size - the Gay Rights protest last weekend - they didn't send a single camera crew. And The Daily Show didn't even mention a Fox News producer who was caught on camera riling up the crowds in the 9/12 protest and literally encouraging them to cheer louder. I don't think they sent a similar "news producer" to the gay rights march. To argue that they covered these protests straight without any leaning toward one side or another is comically disingenuous.
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http://www.mediaite.com/online/daily-show-fox-news-prefers-teabaggers-over-gay-rights-marchers/
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/19/fox-news-producer-caught_n_292529.html
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Posted by: Fake News | November 13, 2009 3:34 PM
Posted by: Dissent is Patriotic | November 13, 2009 2:33 PM
You wouldnt know a true COnservative it they were in your face! Ike is turning in his grave with you people who claim to be Conservatives.
No true Conservative would not have supported DIck Cheney with his 5 referrals from the Viet Nam war due to ''Other priorities'' Ike would have told him to boot up buddy there's no priority more important than defending your country!
No true Conservative would have gone without protesting Bush's largest government in Americna history. Ike would never have cut taxes while supporting 2 wars!
So please spare us your dribble.
Tell me, how's that RNC funded abortions with your donations thing working out for you?
Posted by: Scot S. Blakeley | November 13, 2009 3:37 PM
We've known blogs have trumped tradition tv for years now, nice to see someone's finally figuring out the media can't constantly lie anymore,
Except she seems to think it's only one organization spreading propaganda.
Posted by: chrisb | November 13, 2009 3:40 PM
I'm pleased to see the propogandist go.
Posted by: JoeoutWest | November 13, 2009 3:50 PM
Fox is not news at all. It's opinionated lies, distortions, spin, and falsehoods put foward by a bunch of derelicts. People who watch and believe the trash that is spouted on Fox are either mentally slow and/or incapable of independent thought.
Posted by: Brain Dead Republican | November 13, 2009 3:50 PM
Fox has gone so far away from being about news rather than propaganda, that comparing their ratings to CNN or MSNBC is apples and oranges. Might as well compare the Disney Channel to CNN and see whose ratings are higher.
Once one moves the comparisons away from "cable news", Fox News gets clobbered.
For example, Meet The Press and This Week clean the clocks of Fox News Sunday's ratings. Fox News Sunday appears, not on Fox News (until reruns later in the day), but on broadcast TV's Fox Network (which is a separate operation, whose programming often mocks conservatives and even has a history of being targeted by conservative boycotts (such as the boycott that tried to get Fox to dump Married With Children)). Therefore, Fox News Sunday competes against the broadcast network news shows and gets clobbered.
Also, the #1 news web site, in terms of visitors per month and video streams consumed per month is msnbc.com, followed by Yahoo news and CNN.com. FoxNews.com is well down in the rankings.
Faux news is and has always been the official propaganda organ of the Republican party.
The right wing dead-enders who watch their programming still believe that they represent the majority view and Faux will never tell them otherwise.
Posted by: ComeAsYouAre | November 13, 2009 3:54 PM
Breaking news - Fox is biased. Breaking news - NBC is biased. Breaking News - CBS is biased.
Breaking news - ABC is biased.
Breaking news - CNN is biased.
Breaking news - MSNBC is ridiculous.
Posted by: Terry | November 13, 2009 3:56 PM
Here was the perfect opportunity to ask Dunn exactly what she meant when she said Mao Tsung, the founder of Communist China and mass murderer of millions, is her favorite political philosopher. But no...
Posted by: Evanston | November 13, 2009 4:11 PM
"A President who reaches out..." The only reaching I'm seeing is into my pocket book and grabbing the food before it hits my childrens mouths!
This woman is a poor excuse.
Posted by: Jo | November 13, 2009 4:18 PM
Ms. Dunn is now free to put on her Mao suit and keep praising communist dictators. This administration is an absolute abomination.
Posted by: Darren | November 13, 2009 4:18 PM
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ms. Dunn is now free to put on her Mao suit and keep praising communist dictators. This administration is an absolute abomination.
Posted by: Darren | November 13, 2009 4:18 PM
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I realize that todays right wing wingers are kind of short in the IQ dept. But it's not our fault that you Wingnut droolers don't understand an ironic comment, like the one Anita Dunn made about Mao, when you hear one. It's also not our fault that you still don't get it that Stephen Colbert is not really a Conservative.
http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/2009/04/28/study-shows-that-conservatives-dont-know-stephen-colbert-is-joking/
Posted by: It's so easy a Cave man could do it | November 13, 2009 4:50 PM
Dunn must be referring to the MSM's fact checking of Rush Limbaugh's fake quotes about Martin Luther King Jr/James Earl Ray...
Keep up the good work, White House.
Fact Check: estimated number of posts by Liberal John E the Postman thus far: 5
Posted by: Dunn And Dunner | November 13, 2009 4:51 PM
I love the way the Faux News apologists are always excusing their partisan behavior by claiming that MSNBC is partisan too.
MSNBC gives right wing hack Joe Scarborough a full three hour show every single day to spew his nonsense. I don't see ANYTHING like that on Faux News - nothing, nada, zip.
Posted by: over do it and have a fit | November 13, 2009 4:54 PM
Fox News was started by a Republican. Every thing about it was word smithed by Frank Luntz to find out what words could be used to get the moron Republican base to hear and hold onto that word.
Then they advertised their words/slogans over and over and over and over, I would bet at least 100 times a day.
If someone (Fox News) has tell you how honest they are you can bet they are not honest! Fox News repeats over and over that they are "fair and balanced". That says it all. They might as well have the word lie printed across the screen.
I never met a Republican that would not lie to suit whatever need he/she might have. It doesn't matter if the lie causes someones death or a whole countries death as long as he/she gets what he/she wants out of it, it's OK!
Republicanism is a mental illness
Posted by: SteamingSoupAgainstTheMouth | November 13, 2009 5:09 PM
Beginning to sound like Ms. Dunn was a victim of The White ouse Gestapo.
Posted by: Inky | November 13, 2009 5:13 PM
It's time to close Fox news down along with any radio station that does not agree with our administration.
Posted by: Georgio | November 13, 2009 5:16 PM
Dunn got to take a parting shot at the idiotic fawkes news crowd and sure stirred up all the wackos, which is always great comic relief in these stressed times. The wingnuts almost fell off the shelf because someone dared to have the gall to tell the Foxers their emperor has no clothes.
Of course, Dunn got to say what most folks think as she was already leaving the job at the WH.
It was a breath of fresh air for someone to speak out so honestly, as the rest of the WH holds its tongue to be polite and all the while so many cloned tongues monotonously repeat Murdock's opinions verbatim.
Good Luck, Ms Dunn. Most of us are envious to be able to have stirred up the wingnuts so well as you did. No doubt we'll be seeing you on the outside doing more of the same.
Posted by: Darin | November 13, 2009 5:17 PM
Forgetting Anita Dunn will be sweet. Ego masking stupidity.
Posted by: Kermit | November 13, 2009 5:19 PM
The White ouse Gestapo.
Posted by: Inky | November 13, 2009 5:13 PM
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Inky,
Spell check is awesome, you should try it sometime.
Posted by: Stinky | November 13, 2009 6:06 PM
Faux News' War on the White House:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdHzWMPLiow
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Posted by: Zack | November 13, 2009 6:15 PM
I think the reason conservative media does so well is that liberals aren't looking for who to blame for their misirable lives.
Posted by: bill r. | November 14, 2009 8:28 AM
Glad to see that Anita's "Done."
For all of the Fox News haters on this site, you keep saying that Fox "lies." While I know you are all simply copying and pasting from your "thinkers" at HuffPost, but can any of you provide even a single example of where Fox News lied?
And please remember that "lied' means to intentionally and knowingly put forward false information.
I know I can cite an example where CBS lied, think Dan Rather and the National Guard.
Posted by: Ben R. | November 14, 2009 11:22 AM
Why so much VENOM spewing towards FOX/Conservatives?? This is the United States of America, and a balanced exchange of ideas is what this country was founded on. This administration needs to focus on the policies is has taken on, not trying to silence anyone who disagrees with THEIR view of how America should be shaped, long live the Freedom of the Press!!
Posted by: Eric M. | November 14, 2009 11:33 PM
Anita can't help it. Most colleges teach you to hate America and love socialism. She sadly really believes what she espouses. If she loved Mao's Revolution she may love whats coming if the politicians don't listen to the middle class. Small business could get a loan in the last year. Just the Politicos,Wall Street and the poor. Taxation without Representation. Hmm sounds like an American Revolutionary slogan. Nah just some crap old dead white guys thought up in the 1770'S.
Posted by: Brian F. Jordan | November 15, 2009 1:59 AM
Anita can't help it. Most colleges teach you to hate America and love socialism.
Posted by: Brian F. Jordan | November 15, 2009 1:59 AM
That is the most moronic generalization I have seen on the Swamp in quite a while. Tell us Brian which college did you go to?
Posted by: Scot S. Blakeley | November 15, 2009 10:58 AM
“I think the reason conservative media does so well is that liberals aren't looking for who to blame for their misirable lives.”
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Posted by: bill r. | November 14, 2009 8:28 AM
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Rubbish!!! Liberals always blame others for whatever it is they have to complain about. The liberals blame the former administration for global warming, 9-11, the lack of health care and the economy going south - rather than the terrorists, market players or even themselves. Can’t find work and out of luck? No problem. Just blame it all on racists and/or rich people, or those who don’t like unions. Homeless because of an unaffordable mortgage? No problem. Just blame all those evil banks and bankers for giving the mortgage that was asked for. After all, one can’t be responsible for not being able to afford stuff. And everything else is the fault of those greedy and ambitious American corporatists. Just ask Tim Robbins and Jim Carrey.
Posted by: John W. | November 15, 2009 4:11 PM
To add John W's response to Billy R - if you ever wonder why conservative talk radio has succeeded and Air America has fallen flat, the difference is the positive message about the greatness of this country and its opportunities for individuals to succeed. On the other hand, Airhead America just pees and moans about how awful things are and the gov't needs to take more from the haves and give to the have nots - a message of gloom.
Posted by: Terry | November 15, 2009 8:40 PM
It bothers me that no one seems to remember that Dunn also said she looks to Mother Teresa's philosophy for clarity too. Why is everyone so eager to forget that?
Posted by: Dramaticlookcat | November 16, 2009 8:37 PM
The real issue here is not which news station leans which way but why any administration feels the need to control the media and the information it gets. What is happening to the transparency we were promised and the reason why many voted for Obama? It''s really scary to think that our administration wants to have control over the press, its freedom of press, not control it.
Posted by: amy | November 20, 2009 11:46 PM