Sunday on CNN, White House communications director Anita Dunn said this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANITA DUNN, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: The reality of it is that Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party. And it's not ideological, but what I think is fair to say about Fox, and certainly the way we view it, is that it's really more a wing of the Republican Party. If you were a Fox News viewer in the fall election, what you would have seen would have been that the biggest stories and biggest threats facing America were a guy named Bill Ayers and something called ACORN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Which, of course, turned out to be a huge story, thanks to Fox News. But let's analyze Ms. Dunn's beef step by step.
First of all, there is no question that Fox News is tougher on the Obama administration than the other TV news operations, because we actually have some conservative commentators on this network. Because Mr. Obama is a liberal, the right-wing guys don't like his policies, so there's that.
However, our hard news people don't do commentary. Reporters like Major Garrett, Carl Cameron and Mike Emanuel simply tell you what's going on. Anchorman Shephard Smith rarely puts the White House in a negative light. People like Greta, Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Martha MacCallum all give the White House a fair shot every single day.
That leaves "The Factor." Judging from my mail, we have been fair to President Obama. Conservative viewers hammer me and liberal viewers hammer me. If I have been unfair to the president, I challenge you to demonstrate that.
By the way, the Associated Press said Monday that I have been a strong administration critic. The guy who wrote that, David Bauder, is a dishonest reporter and has been for years. We challenge Bauder to come on this program and back up his statement. He won't.
My interview with Barack Obama in September 2008 was the toughest one the president has ever done, but even the White House acknowledges it was a fair deal. And it actually helped Barack Obama, as millions of people all over the world saw him accept and answer tough questions.
A few weeks ago, "Fox News Sunday" anchor Chris Wallace said that the White House is the biggest bunch of whiners he's ever seen. I don't know about that. The Clinton people certainly whined a lot.
Finally, Ms. Dunn is seeing the world through the prism of the other media, like NBC News and CNN. By all accounts, those networks favored Barack Obama over John McCain, and NBC actually promoted the president's candidacy and continues to give him excellent coverage.
So by that measure, Fox News is indeed troublesome to the White House. But our hard news coverage is fair and balanced. Again, if somebody doesn't believe that, let's see the evidence because bloviating walks.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
Over the weekend there was a big demonstration in D.C., some gay Americans demanding equal rights. One of the protesters was singer Lady Gaga:
Click here to watch "Pinheads & Patriots"!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LADY GAGA, SINGER: They say that this country is free, and they say that this country is equal, but it is not equal if it's sometimes. Obama, I know that you're listening. Are you listening?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Now you can look at that two ways: Ms. Gaga is exercising her free speech, so she's a patriot. Or she's so over the top she's a pinhead. You make the call.
But Ralph Lauren is definitely a pinhead. He doctored a photo of a model to make her look even skinnier than she really is. Why is Ralph doing this? The model was fine in her natural state, was she not? Mr. Lauren should wise up.
— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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