by Mark Silva
In the cause of a certain book's promotion, it appears, a waiver is being granted in the White House's war with FOX News.
That book is Obama campaign manager David Plouffe's The Audacity to Win.
President Barack Obama, whose election campaign is chronicled in Plouffe's book, has cut FOX out of his own recent network news appearances, with White House aides dismissing FOX as an arm of the GOP. (Though a FOX executive dropped in at the West Wing last week to see about ironing some wrinkles out of the relationship.)
Yet, although author Plouffe made an appearance on NBC News' Meet the Press over the weekend, where he spoke of the " some of the irresponsibility coming out of that (FOX) network'' and called it a "24-hour propaganda channel'' for the McCain campaign, The Swamp has learned that Plouffe stands ready for some book promotion Thursday night on FOX's On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.
For whatever complaints that Plouffe has about FOX, it appears, Van Susteren's regular audience of about 2 million viewers - that was her average draw in October -- is too much to resist in an inevitable book promotional tour of the networks. The Swamp inquired this morning, and FOX confirmed that Plouffe will be on Thursday night.
Author Plouffe also got some good airtime on another big show Sunday, Meet the Press, where host David Gregory asked about the White House's fight with FOX - "Let's talk about the White House's decision to try to isolate FOX News, declare a kind of war on FOX News,'' Gregory said. "During the campaign, you all did business with Fox News, didn't have any problem with that. Why has that changed?
"Well, we did business,'' Plouffe replied. "Obviously, it turned into a 24-hour propaganda channel for the McCain campaign, really, in the last 60 days...''
FOX is the No. 1 rated cable news channel, yet Plouffe suggests it must be viewed in the context of a bigger picture.
"FOX News in the primetime, average viewers about 2.5 million. 140 million people voted in the election,'' Plouffe told Gregory. "So it wasn't 2 percent of the electorate. So I think sometimes we overstate, particularly in Washington, the impact of this cable news culture... But the point is, I think you have to put a spotlight on some of the irresponsibility coming out of that network, even though the audience itself is fairly modest. If it creeps outside of that, it becomes an issue.'
Still, the Obama campaign "went on FOX a lot during the campaign,'' Plouffe noted. "I think you've seen the administration have a presence on FOX. I'm sure you will again.''
Like Thursday: Plouffe On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.
Comments
I know this is probably out of the Swamp staff's job description (cough, cough), but what is the REAL reason the White House went after Fox? It's not anything they offered, I'm sure, as NO ONE in their RIGHT mind purports the existence of a PROPAGANDA channel and then goes ON IT to promote your work. In principle that would only lead a sane person to believe that your work is a piece of fiction, just like the network you are on. The idea that anything you approve of is the standard of "outside of" is subjective, self-serving, and micro-managed. Does this administration want to go down in history for it's micromanagement of the media? "We overstate." Yes, you did. Now, apologize.
Posted by: curious | November 2, 2009 12:29 PM
Plouffe ... Another partisan hack with a serious "agenda"
Posted by: Iben Hakeluggis | November 2, 2009 12:30 PM
"The Audacity to Win" - what a clever title for a book.
Posted by: Chris | November 2, 2009 1:44 PM
Nothing like putting principle before profit!
Posted by: MDr | November 2, 2009 1:46 PM
Reality check: We can sit down and talk, with no strings attached, to a revolutionary communist: Castro, a murdering, America hating, holocaust denying Jew hater: ArmedinaJihad, heck, hug and kisses for Hugo Chavez, but you can't talk to or go on a television news channel.
I think the behavior of the White House blows the lid off the fact that Obama is a complete Marxist radical.
Posted by: Gary | November 2, 2009 2:12 PM
Greta and Fox are crazy. If they don't want to be on Fox, then STAY OFF OF FOX.
Selling your crap there really will not help, but Greta should NOT let him come on.
Posted by: patriotparty1 | November 2, 2009 3:08 PM
The hypocrisy is stunning.
and I agree -- the host of the show should say no way! (On the other hand, perhaps she can get some good zingers in.)
Posted by: Beth | November 2, 2009 3:22 PM
I guess Gretta wants to be above the fray in the war between the Statists and Fox News. Personally, I don't care if I never hear from the White House on Fox. But speaking as a fan of "On The Record", I'll miss watching Greta's show that evening.
Posted by: Hue Moss | November 2, 2009 4:01 PM
ChickaBOOMer: The Audacity To Spin
http://chickaboomer.blogspot.com/2009/11/audacity-to-spin.html
Posted by: StewartIII | November 2, 2009 7:05 PM
NewsBusters: Despite 'Truce,' White House Continues to Peddle Misinformation About Fox
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/lachlan-markay/2009/11/02/despite-truce-white-house-continues-peddle-misinformation-about-fox
Posted by: StewartIII | November 2, 2009 8:10 PM
http://elections.gmu.edu/Turnout_2008G.html
131 million and change out of an eligible population of 212.7ish million
although many democrats, both in the press and in office are conducting marxist class warfare via propeganda and keeping the public ignorant, thats not the topic
The reason why the other news agencies get to play with Obama is they ARE propeganda for the Dems;
we had the Iraqi Air Force #2 General tell us exactly where Saddam hid his WMD's (they were secreted away to Syria in two Iraqi Airlines jets, the cargo listed as humanitarian aid because a dam burst in Syria), at that same time, the press was covering the much more important event of our VP's hunting accident just long enough for people to forget about the nukes being found
the recent balloon boy is being pushed because it is "OH SHINY" to America while the Dems do things behind our backs in Congress and try to marginalize FOX
the reality is FOX has news about Obama and the Democrat party that they don't want the public to hear like:
the idea that they give you the choice of buy health insurance you can't afford or go to prison as a tax cheat, during a bad economy, which will hurt our economy even more since even less consumer spending will occur; an action that the CBO (iirc) said during the first attempt of this in Clinton's day, was unheard of in the history of this nation, the requirement to purchase a specific product as a condition of lawful residence
this is NOT the first time Obama has attack FOX, long before the campaign in 2006, Obama said he would appear for an interview on FOX, he appeared 765 days (2 YEARS, 1 month, 5 days) later during his presidential campaign
Posted by: Elsydeon | November 3, 2009 7:07 AM
From a non-US resident's point of view, i think Fox News Channel delivers news at its best. eventhough i couldn't relate with what they say.
Posted by: FoxNews Profile | November 3, 2009 8:07 AM