Looks like the only place you’re going to hear criticism of Obama will be on the Internet:
Fox News boss Roger Ailes doesn’t want to spoil Barack Obama’s political honeymoon, we hear. A source says Ailes has told prime-time hosts Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Greta Van Susteren to lay off the President-elect – at least for a while. “We’re not going to have any personal attacks on Obama,” a network insider says. “The public has spoken – we must treat him with respect.”
Of course it goes without saying that we have to respect the will of the people and acknowledge the fact that he’s our president and we should treat the office with the respect it deserves (do we really want to emulate the left’s treatment of Bush?).But it’s our right and our patriotic duty “to debate and disagree with any administration.” Remember that, lefties? Here let me help (you might want to put the dog in the other room before you play the clip):And as this guy notes:
To be patriotic is to always strive for ways to make America an even better country, even if that means voicing dissent. The key to patriotism is upward, forward and organic. It is to commit yourself to loving and supporting your country and working toward that cause if it’s being derailed. Not to abandon it, criticize it (without action) or to blindly and uncritically adhere to what is currently happening.
So, it would be unpatriotic for us to hold back, we have to be the voice of the opposition when president-elect Obama blows it because no one else is going to do it. The press is Obama’s poodle so they won’t analyze his actions, we’ll just be getting puff pieces like this. Too bad Fox doesn’t realize that they have a duty to hold Obama accountable for his actions the way the press has for the Bush administration. This is why I don’t bother with TV and get my news and views online. I don’t need the blathering heads filtering my news for me. (via)
posted November 7, 2008 at 6:42 pm
FOX knows ratings. Their ratings are down. Their marketing boys have told them that folks are tired of the constant barrage of “Obama is a Muslim” crap.
And yes, there needs to be criticism of Obama’s policies. Had the GOP focused on that instead of on Obama as a person, we might be seeing McCain preparing for the transition now.
I hate to tell you, Michele, but “Obama is a Marxist” isn’t going to wash. Take the time to learn what Obama is proposing, spend the intellectual muscle tearing it apart, and then give us what is wrong with it. If you and the rest of the “loyal opposition” are not going to bother with that, why should we bother paying any attention to you?
posted November 7, 2008 at 9:37 pm
sure, i could care less if the stooges at faux news level personal attacks on obama. it’s their right, and it’s your right to do so on this blog.
rjohnson said it well enough. no reason to add more.
posted November 8, 2008 at 7:43 am
I agree that the right retains the right to criticize the left and not be seen as unpatriotic. However, I would prefer if people of either party spoke out against a president who’s policies needed correction rather than have blind loyalty to their party.
After 9/11 President Bush had the political honeymoon he’s was denied because of the 2000 election mishap. It was the Iraq war and certain other events that put him in the political dog house. If the Republican congress had maintained stricter oversight of the Bush administration they might still be a majority today.
I also seem to recall many attempts by the right to call anyone who criticized the administration as unpatriotic. John Ashcroft’s post 9/11 speech about Americans needing to watch what they as one example.
However, John Ashcroft redeemed himself in my eyes when he refused to override Justice Department officials and reauthorize a secret domestic wiretapping program when Alberto Gonzales went to his hospital room on March 10, 2004.
posted November 8, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Hats off to you gents and ladies on this post.
I am a Democrat an I can appreciate talk like this from a conservative POV. I agree that the role of the opposing minority should be oversight. It worked for Bush, and of course it will be employed the with Obama Presidency.
I think however that my vote for Obama represents the intellectual shift this country is making toward a more intelligble, rational, technologically advanced leader that is going to inspire intellectual thinking and both sides, rather than the mudslinging. The GOP needs to focus on sharing values and connecting with voters, and actually doing what they say rather than engaging in insipid parlour partisanship.
Voters want and deserve style AND substance that deal with the important, broader issues, regardless of the party of the candidates.
posted November 8, 2008 at 6:08 pm
> Too bad Fox doesn’t realize that they have a duty to hold Obama accountable for his actions the way the press has for the Bush administration.
Did Michelle just admit that Fox News isn’t actually part of “the press”?
posted November 8, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Ailes said the people have spoken, so ease up on Obama. Well, Mr. Ailes, only half the people voted for Obama, so does that mean the other half loses their voice. FOX news went overboard in making nice with Obama. I will continue to shout if necessary. I will not give up my freedom.
posted November 8, 2008 at 8:17 pm
I will not be supporting fox network, I felt that Ailes was sympathetic for Obama, now I know he is. He has no right to silence anyone. All of America did not vote for Obama.
posted November 8, 2008 at 8:17 pm
“FOX news went overboard in making nice with Obama.”
I can see why you might believe that.
posted November 9, 2008 at 1:49 am
“I can see why you might believe that.”
yeah, clearly fox was in the tank for obama… if they had been half as hard on obama as they were on mccain…
posted November 9, 2008 at 3:25 pm
FOX has been so hateful to non-conservatives for the past few years that I for one will be glad if they adopt a more respectful tone. (WWJD?)
Obama won in part because he was able to unite people from all walks of life. FOX’s pandering to the far-right will only continue to make the conservative movement a marginal, irrelevant player in our nation’s politics.