{"id":878,"date":"2008-04-24T14:03:14","date_gmt":"2008-04-24T21:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=878"},"modified":"2008-04-26T10:40:01","modified_gmt":"2008-04-26T17:40:01","slug":"barack-obama-falls-into-fox-news-sunday-trap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=878","title":{"rendered":"Barack Obama Falls Into Fox News Sunday Trap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fox News has begun airing promos announcing that Barack Obama will appear this week on Chris Wallace’s Fox News Sunday. This is a huge error in judgment and is sorely disappointing. There is literally no advantage for Obama to subject himself to the prejudices of a network that is overtly hostile to his candidacy. What’s worse is that Obama seems to be capitulating to pressure applied by Wallace himself.<\/p>\n

Last month, in a fit of pique, Wallace launched the Obama Watch<\/a> to shame the candidate into granting Wallace an interview. The whole ploy was unprofessional and innately biased as it sought to portray Obama as either uncooperative or afraid. Having succumbed to the tactic, Obama will now be interrogated by a man who has called Democrats “damned fools<\/a>” on a network that is an endless loop of Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers videos, when they aren’t talking about how elitist or unpatriotic he is.<\/p>\n

At this point in the Democratic primary every appearance, every speech, every minute of a candidate’s time is precious. Why Obama thinks that this engagement with Fox in any way benefits him is inexplicable. The potential audience has little to no value for Democrats. And as the perennial fourth place finisher out of the four Sunday news shows, the potential audience is also, well … little.<\/p>\n

My previous article, “Fox News: For Republicans Only<\/a>,” shows clearly that Fox is unabashedly partisan. It’s CEO, Rupert Murdoch, is maxed out to both John McCain and Hillary Clinton in campaign donations. Nothing for Obama. For evidence of Murdoch’s hostile intent one need only to refer to his New York Post’s endorsement<\/a> of Obama that reads more like an indictment. [See Starve The Beast<\/a> for a detailed analysis of why it is not only pointless, but harmful, for Democrats to appear on Fox News]<\/p>\n

This is nothing but a trap. It makes Obama look small for having conceded. It exposes him to risks from a pseudo-news operation that is working openly with his opponents to orchestrate his defeat. A strong performance will net him nothing because the audience is limited in both size and ideological diversity. It will end right there. But the slightest misstep will be magnified a hundred fold throughout the Murdoch empire. Look for any rhetorical slip to be broadcast incessantly on the Fox cable and radio networks. Watch for it to be published in over 100 News Corp. newspapers and magazines. Then wait for the rest of the media to pick it up and pile on.<\/p>\n

\"ObamaIn addition, Obama’s presence will lend his credibility to a news enterprise that has none of its own. Fox will immediately brag about having made him cry “uncle”<\/em> and cite it as a victory that proves that they cannot be ignored. They may even edit Obama into future network promos as they just did with Clinton’s campaign chief, Terry McAuliffe.<\/p>\n

We can only hope now that Obama has a change of heart or a scheduling conflict that forces him to cancel this interview. Almost any other use of his time will be more productive since this use will be only counterproductive. Fox only wants this so that they can build themselves up and tear the likely Democratic nominee for president down. No good can come of it.<\/p>\n

Update:<\/strong> It didn’t take long but, just as I predicted, Fox is already bragging<\/a> about Obama’s retreat. Chris Wallace responded to charges that his “Obama Watch”<\/em> was obnoxious saying, “It may have been obnoxious but it was also effective.”<\/span> He went on to boast that Obama must need<\/em> Fox because of his loss in Pennsylvania. I told you so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fox News has begun airing promos announcing that Barack Obama will appear this week on Chris Wallace’s Fox News Sunday. This is a huge error in judgment and is sorely disappointing. There is literally no advantage for Obama to subject himself to the prejudices of a network that is overtly hostile to his candidacy. What’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[152,1],"tags":[183,116,33,31],"class_list":["post-878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election","category-general","tag-barack-obama","tag-chris-wallace","tag-fox-news","tag-hillary-clinton"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-ea","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":832,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=832","url_meta":{"origin":878,"position":0},"title":"The Obama Watch On Fox News Sunday","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/17\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Two weeks ago, I wrote that Chris Wallace was obsessed with absent Democrats when he featured a viewer email inquiring as to why Barack Obama has not appeared on his fourth-rate Sunday talk show. Now Wallace is escalating the obsession with a stunningly juvenile device he calls \"The Obama Watch.\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":883,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=883","url_meta":{"origin":878,"position":1},"title":"Barack Obama On Fox News Sunday","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/28\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Just prior to Chris Wallace's interview of Barack Obama on Fox News Sunday, I argued the futility of making an appearance on Fox: \"A strong performance will net him nothing because the audience is limited in both size and ideological diversity. It will end right there. But the slightest misstep\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":861,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=861","url_meta":{"origin":878,"position":2},"title":"American Idol Joins The Race For President","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/8\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"On Wednesday American Idol will present its second annual \"Idol Gives Back\" broadcast wherein viewers are asked to call in donations to benefit a banquet of charitable enterprises. This year will feature appearances by all three remaining presidential contenders, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. The taped segment by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1439,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1439","url_meta":{"origin":878,"position":3},"title":"Chris Wallace Romances Rush Limbaugh On Fox News Sunday","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/1\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"If there really is a war between the White House and Fox News, Fox has fired the most recent shot. By booking Rush Limbaugh on his Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace has unveiled his undisguised enmity of the Obama administration. After a week of grueling debate on critical issues like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1400,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1400","url_meta":{"origin":878,"position":4},"title":"WTG: Obama Stiffs Fox News","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/14\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Washington Post is reporting that President Obama will appear on five of the Sunday news programs this weekend. Apparently this is a notable achievement immortalized by William Ginsburg, attorney for Monica Lewinsky in 1998. It has since become known as \"the Full Ginsburg.\" The difference in this instance is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39767,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=39767","url_meta":{"origin":878,"position":5},"title":"Semper WTFi? Trump Tells Fox News that He Only Supports the Military if They Bow Down to Him","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/18\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This has been a busy Sunday for Donald Trump. When he wasn't posting flagrant propaganda videos of himself disrespecting California fire victims, he was excitedly planted in front of his television so that he could fire off rapid responses to the insolence directed at him by those pesky Democrats and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bill McRaven, Donald Trump","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/mcraven-trump-baby.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/mcraven-trump-baby.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/mcraven-trump-baby.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}