A Voice in the Wilderness In Defense of "Mere Conservatism"

Fox News Banned From Pay Czar Interview

It's fairly important to the story here that you take a moment and watch this:

From the mind of Charles Krauthammer we read the following:

The White House has declared war on Fox News. White House communications director Anita Dunn said that Fox is "opinion journalism masquerading as news." Patting rival networks on the head for their authenticity (read: docility), senior adviser David Axelrod declared Fox "not really a news station." And Chief of Staff Emanuel told (warned?) the other networks not to "be led (by) and following Fox."

Meaning? If Fox runs a story critical of the administration -- from exposing White House czar Van Jones as a loony 9/11 "truther" to exhaustively examining the mathematical chicanery and hidden loopholes in proposed health care legislation -- the other news organizations should think twice before following the lead.

The signal to corporations is equally clear: You might have dealings with a federal behemoth that not only disburses more than $3 trillion every year but is extending its reach ever deeper into private industry -- finance, autos, soon health care and energy. Think twice before you run an ad on Fox.

I do have to at least eat some crow and say that the other reporters from networks at loathsome as MSNBC did come to the defense of Fox News when the administration attempted to bar them from interviewing the "Pay Czar" Ken Feinberg.

Part of me wants to think that this whole thing, this "war" between Fox News and the White House, is nothing more than the staged brain-child of Fox News' Roger Ailes and David Axelrod.  The two met in New York last month when the president was in town for the United Nations General Assembly.  Not much attention was paid to the story at the time, but the pessimist in me says that these two strategic masterminds concocted the entire ordeal as a way to give both sides what they want: Fox News sees higher ratings, and the White House has a scapegoat (the Left's favorite scapegoat) to bash while continuing to work behind-the-scenes on health care.

But in such matters I suppose I defer to the experience and wisdom of someone like Chuck Krauthammer.

There's a principle at stake here. While government can and should debate and criticize opposition voices, the current White House goes beyond that. It wants to delegitimize any significant dissent. The objective is no secret. White House aides openly told Politico that they're engaged in a deliberate campaign to marginalize and ostracize recalcitrants, from Fox to health insurers to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

What do you think about this whole thing?