The Washington Managing Editor for Fox News, and anchor of Special Report, Brit Hume, has now officially moved from the anchor chair to the rocking chair. In his place is Bret Baier, who was interviewed today by Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post.
Baier considers himself an independent (so does Bill O’Reilly), but his remarks in this interview reveal a somewhat more partisan stance. For instance, he commented on the presidential campaing saying…
“…this campaign has at times been an easy ride for the Obama team. If that were to continue, people would be disappointed.
That would be true if what he means by an “easy time” is having the press continually harangue the candidate as a radical, Socialist, Muslim-raised, inexperienced, unpatriotic, elitist, who palled around with terrorists. Sure, it was a breeze. And I think that the people Baier asserts would be disappointed are Republicans and Fox viewers. But the next comment by Baier may well disappoint those viewers:
“Fox doesn’t have to be in a mode of attack…”
No, it doesn’t “have to be.” That’s just the way they like it. But the newsmaking moment of the interview came when Baier said:
“I hope the media will cover the Obama administration with as much aggressiveness as they covered the Bush administration.”
Really? So Baier wants the media to sit back and let Obama get away with things like lying to initiate an illegal war; with usurping power by presidential fiat; with rolling back Constitutional rights; with demonstrating ignorance and arrogance as he drives the nation into a death spiral? Does Baier want the press to attend parties with Obama and dispatch lobbyists seeking favor for their corporate enterprises? All of that would have to happen for the media to cover Obama as they did Bush.
In this era of change, the only thing changing at Fox News is the scowling old visage of Brit Hume for a younger, smiling version of the same thing.
I was tempted a few days back to blog on an article I ran across on the web pointing out that Bret dumped Brit’s habit of ending the show with the “fair, balanced, and unafraid” lie I’ve had so much fun mocking.
The article pointed out Brit’s hypocritical rationalization for said daily quote. Brit, like many fringe news network Fox apologists, rationalized pushing the news to the right on the basis the rest of the media tilts to the left so Fox News’ spin is necessary to balance things out.
The ying and yang theory of media bias? 😉
I haven’t followed Bret too closely to see if the omission is a permanent one. If it is, I wonder if it’s his fig leaf of cover for continuing Brit’s tradition of liberal-bashing during the “Political Grapevine” segment and featuring an unbalanced “all-star” discussion panel.