Fox News must be getting desperate for ways to spin the federal government shutdown to benefit their Republican home team. First, they pretended the shutdown was no biggie. Then, they called it a “slimdown.” Now, they’re pretending that President Obama is the one shutting down the government.
As we’ve previously posted, Fox presented the looming shutdown as no big deal and even a likely net plus for the economy. Todd Starnes snarked that maybe the TSA would stop “fondl(ing) our private parts” as a result.
Yesterday, our Priscilla caught Fox using the “fair and balanced” (and almost certainly Frank-Luntz designed) term “slimdown” instead of shutdown. Even Fox’s own media critic, Howard Kurtz, mocked that term, saying, “No one would claim this was some kind of sensible Weight Watchers method of trimming government spending.”
But Fox is nothing if not dogged in its zeal for making the Republicans look good, no matter what. The headline currently splashed at the top of FoxNews.com’s homepage “asks” if the Democrats and President Obama are “seeking political leverage” from the “slimdown” by “making it HURT?”
Not surprisingly, the “It’s the Democrats making the shutdown hurt” accusation comes straight from the Republicans, as you learn – after clicking through to the actual article. However “article” is a bit too generous for a piece of print that could have been transcribed directly from a Republican press office. For example, it contains paragraphs such as:
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., accused the administration of selectively closing parks. His office noted that less-visited sites like the Constitutional Gardens remain open, while major draws like the National Mall are closed.
“It appears as though only the highly visible monuments and areas are being closed to the public—further proof that the Obama Administration is only playing politics and purposely choosing to make this shut down as painful as possible,” he said in a statement.
House Republicans are trying to push a series of mini-spending bills aimed at prying open certain portions of the government, including national parks and monuments.
Oh, and Howie? You might want to reconsider what kind of media outfit you’ve just joined. Not only is Fox News continuing to use the “slimdown” term you just ridiculed, they even retitled your own article that did so to include it.
Unfortunately for Fox, the public is not buying their spin, no matter what they call it.
Who said that the National Park closures were “selective” other than Fox News and some GOP politicians trying to deflect attention from their failure to do their jobs? The statement about some kind of deliberate and selective closure process has already been rebutted by the Park Service. It’s a red herring argument of the strangest kind.
The fact is that the GOP politicians proposing to “investigate” might be better advised to spend their time passing the budget and not trying to grandstand. I would add that the GOP’s attempted use of World War II veterans as campaign props is shameful – and I wish that the pundits trying to play this card would apologize to the veterans and their families for this unfortunate behavior.
1. This shutdown is not happening because both parties won’t compromise. This shutdown is happening because Republicans in the House of Representatives have refused to pass a budget bill without a bunch of amendments tacked on to it, chiefly amendments nullifying Obamacare.
2. Obamacare is not directly tied to this budget bill in any way. It is a separate piece of legislation, already passed and signed into law back in 2010. The House Republicans are just saying, “We don’t like this law, Obamacare, that was already passed, and because we do not have the votes to repeal it in the manner laid out in the Constitution” — they don’t; they’ve already tried to repeal it 42 times, yes, that is true, 42 times — “we’re going to instead DEMAND that the law be repealed or delayed, or else we won’t pass this budget legislation necessary to keep the country running.”
3. Again, Obamacare was signed into law, in the fashion laid out in the Constitution of the United States, in 2010. It was not, like, laid down by martial law, unless you think a bunch of congresspeople and senators voting for a bill counts as martial law.
4. Also, the president behind Obamacare was reelected in 2012. Also also, in 2012 the Democrats retained control of the Senate, and House Republicans actually lost the popular vote, but stayed in control of their chamber because of shrewd gerrymandering. All of which is to say: If Americans hate Obamacare so much, how come they reelected Obama and voted so strongly for Democrats.
5. Remember that in 2012, the Supreme Court, led by a conservative chief justice and majority, upheld Obamacare’s constitutionality, except for one part. (And that part is kaput. The president is not trying to enforce it with UN troops and black helicopters. It’s why we don’t have a state-run health exchange here in Wisconsin.) So, to sum up: Obamacare was not only enacted according to the rule of law in this country, it also survived scrutiny by the highest judiciary body in the land, which is in the hands of the opposition party.
6. The point being: None of this is to say whether Obamacare will be good or bad for the country! It is only to say that it was passed according to the rules, and it’s been legitimized by our top court and implicitly by citizens who voted to reelect the president whose name it bears. Socialist tyranny, it’s just not.
7. What the House GOP is pulling right now — “Get rid of Obamacare or we’ll shut down important services and risk a global financial catastrophe by not raising the debt ceiling” — this is not politics as usual. This is extortion. They are a minority; even plenty of other Republican legislators think that what these guys are doing is absurd and dangerous (and this will likely become more clear the longer the shutdown goes on). If these guys want to get rid of Obamacare, they should go out and campaign and get more senators and a president elected. That is how democracy works. AMERICA, Y’ALL.
8. A note on the debt ceiling: Voting to raise the debt ceiling is not voting to spend money that the U.S. doesn’t have. Congress already voted to spend that money. The debt ceiling is a bizarre, redundant device, and we are basically the only country that has one. (Denmark has one, but it’s just a formality and has never been a point of controversy or contention.) Essentially, it’s like if your dad went out and bought a lot of stuff with his credit card, but then he had to ask your mom if it was OK for him to pay the credit card off. The money is already spent. If your mom says no, then your dad is failing to honor his obligations, and his credit rating (and your mom’s!) is going to be trashed. The difference on the larger scale is that if the U.S.‘s credit rating is trashed, the whole planet’s economy could take a massive hit, because we are, you know, a global super-power.
9. Again, this is not about a lack of compromise on both sides. The House GOP is demanding that the president and congressional Democrats just undo their chief legislative victory. And it was a legitimate victory! And frankly, Obamacare is something that a lot of Americans want. Those Americans are real citizens, too. So this is like if your dad and your mom and you and your sister all vote to go to Olive Garden one Thursday evening, but your little brother wants to go to Applebee’s, and so instead of just accepting that he won’t always get his way and planning a stronger case for Applebee’s for next Thursday, he flips out and runs outside and slashes all the tires on the car so you guys can’t go anywhere. Except, again, much crazier, because instead of just one family it affects millions of people and could also set off an economic calamity of titanic proportions.
10. Let me be clear: I do not hate Republicans. My dad is a Republican! I am a small businessperson! I go to church! I LOVE CHRISTMAS. This is not about name-calling or hating on anyone, and frankly, I do not expect to change anyone’s mind about any of the proceeding details. But I am tired of the notion that both parties are equally to blame for our troubles; it has surely been true in the past, but it’s not right now. (And it is entirely possible for ALL POLITICIANS TO BE AWFUL and for ONE OF THE TWO PARTIES TO STILL BE CONSIDERABLY WORSE.) Believe me, I would love nothing more than to see a revitalized Republican party, with views that I might disagree with but which were not straight-up lunacy. IT WOULD MAKE MY DUMB INTERNET FIGHTS A LOT MORE INTERESTING.
Koch is it! Oh, an’ we’re a grassroots org, huh …
Orange Boner needs to put down his glass of Merlot, put out his Marlboro, and tell the teabagging Repugs to STFU. I wonder if he has the manhood to do so.