MUCH TOO THIN-SKINNED - AT 10:48 A.M. ET:  I have no problem at all with the White House, or anyone else, criticizing journalists.  But the Obaman campaign against Fox News is starting to look like something out of a junior high school grip session.  From The Politico:

White House communications director Anita Dunn said Sunday that the administration views Fox News as an "arm" of the Republican Party.

"It’s fair to say about Fox, and certainly the way we view it, is that it is a wing of the Republican Party," Dunn said on CNN's "Reliable Sources."

"They are widely viewed as part of the Republican Party. Take their talking points, put them on the air. Take their research, put it on the air," Dunn said of the network. "Fox News often operates as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party."

Dunn scoffed at the network's defense that viewers can distinguish between Fox's news content and the conservative commentary of the network's primetime hosts.

"There is a very different story selection," Dunn said. "This isn’t us making it up."

COMMENT:  Of course there's a different story selection.  Fox does try to provide some balance in its news reports.  Independent studies confirm that.  Contrast please with CNN or NBC, which are decidedly liberal. 

This is whining by a White House known as the most thin-skinned in memory.  We must not criticize The One.  The Obamans should try to figure out why Fox is so popular, not just slam it.  Obviously, viewers are getting something from Fox that they're not getting elsewhere.

October 11, 2009