Anita Dunn Takes Parting Shot At Fox, Hannity And Beck

[babylonsister]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/13/dunn-takes-parting-shot-a_n_357202.html


Anita Dunn Takes Parting Shot At Fox, Hannity And Beck
Sam Stein
First Posted: 11-13-09 02:42 PM | Updated: 11-13-09 03:37 PM


In a parting shot at Fox News, White House Communications Director Anita Dunn mocked the conservative-leaning network on Friday and laughed off its controversial host Glenn Beck for calling her a Mao enthusiast.

The outgoing administration spokeswoman took a clear and enjoyable dig, first at Sean Hannity for recently airing spliced footage designed to make a crowd of anti-health care protesters seem bigger than reality.

"A fun fact from this week is that an opinion show on a certain news network was using edited footage to make it appear that a rally last week, and political opposition to the president, was much larger than it appeared," said Dunn, during her appearance at the Bloomberg News Washington Summit. "Some of you may have heard about it. The people who went in and did fact checking on that, and actually exposed the spliced edited was... Jon Stewart of the 'Daily Show' on Comedy Central. Well that is where you are getting fact-checking and investigative journalism these days folks. It is a different media environment."

Showing an even greater appreciation for the "Daily Show"'s Fox News fact-checking abilities, Dunn referenced another Stewart triumph later in her question-and-answer session.

"Jon Stewart actually did one of the most amazing pieces of journalism last week or a couple of weeks ago," she said, "in which he looked at the way Fox, on their opinion shows, raises some issue that then gets reported on by their news division as 'a controversy.' ... Now, that's a point of view. That's fine. That's entertainment. It helps their ratings. But I think if you go downstairs and walk through the Newseum that's not traditionally what you think of as traditional news -- to some extent inventing the story."

Approached in the halls outside the forum, the Huffington Post asked Dunn to put Glenn Beck's recent theatrics into the context of her critiques of Fox News's coverage. She chuckled. For the past few weeks, Beck has insisted that the outgoing communications director considers Mao Zedong a political hero and has put a red telephone on his set begging for her to call and explain her political dispositions.

"I think it was news to everybody who knows me," she replied. "You know, most media consultants usually are accused of other things, but that's not one of them."

Last month, Dunn got caught up in a war of words between the White House and Fox News when she made the rather bland observation that the network carries a Republican agenda. On Friday, she was asked whether she considered MSNBC to have a counter-balancing bias -- a common retort offered by Fox's defenders. Dunn replied by noting that for three hours every morning that network handed over its programming to "a former Republican congressman who was a member of Newt Gingrich's revolution": Joe Scarborough.

Elsewhere in her remarks, Dunn acknowledged that her decision to go after Fox News was not an example of her "going rogue." White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and perhaps even the president himself gave her the green light. She also mocked Fox for proclaiming that it had secured an exclusive sit-down interview with President Obama during his trip to Asia when, in actuality, it was simply part of a rotating pool of reporters.

"We have on past foreign trips done what are called round-robins where there are short interviews with all of the networks that travel with us," she said. "We have not made a decision network on whether or not we are going to do those. There are no confirmed television interviews in china. And if, oh, some network sent out a press release announcing that was going to happen you'd have to ask about that network and whether or not they really had their facts confirmed before they leaked that."

[firedupdem]

1. Go Anita! Wish she was staying on. She doesn't bite her tongue. n/t

[timeforpeace]

2. No sin in idolizing Mao. Or in starting a war with a broadcast network. Obama's going on Fox?

[Major Hogwash]

3. Did Dunn quit of her own accord or was she asked to quit?

I'm going to miss her honesty and truthiness, that's for sure.

[Cha]

4. This has been in the planning for a long time..

Her husband is now going to work for the Obama admin.

[Major Hogwash]

9. Okay thanks. I couldn't find the story to see if she left on her own or not.

She is definitely going to be missed.
By me.
I only saw her on tv a few times and she really handled herself very well.
I don't think I could have done as good of a job as her when she was asked difficult questions about Afghanistan or Iraq.

I would have been more like -

"Well, Iraq is important and the country of Afghanistan is important, too, and their history is important and if you look at a map, and see that they are both on the map, and such that, we need to be on the map with them, and such that, we need to study history and President Obama knows that, so we are helping out those people who don't have maps or know their own history, and such that, and so we can have better relations."

[rvablue]

10. She took the position temporarily at the outset. So the answer to your questions is: neither. n/t

[Cha]

5. THis is Great, babylonsister..Anita Dunn

has a way with the words..way too smart for faux.

[babylonsister]

6. I love the fact that she seems to so enjoy the sparring with faux. I'll

miss her feistiness!

[Cha]

8. Yes, but, we'll have her husband in the admin and

hopefully we'll get someone on her par of savvy and fiestiness!

<snip>

TOKYO (CNN) – In the first major shakeup among President Obama's senior staff, CNN has learned that White House Counsel Greg Craig is being pushed out in favor of veteran Democratic lawyer Bob Bauer because of a dispute over the struggle to close the U.S. Military prison at Guantanamo.

A senior administration official and a senior Democratic source confirmed the move will be officially announced by the White House in coming days. The sources said it could be announced as early as Friday in Washington while the President will be in Japan starting a four-nation tour of Asia, which would make it likely the staff change will be overshadowed by other events.

Reached late Thursday evening by telephone for reaction, Craig told CNN, "I'm not going to comment" before hanging up.

Bauer is the husband of outgoing White House Communications Director Anita Dunn, who recently led a so-called "war" on Fox News. Dunn earlier this week announced she is leaving her White House post, a long-anticipated move that was not connected to the media battle.

<more>
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x243

Still not sure I understand why Greg Craig is leaving?

[Hutzpa]

7. Attack Dog 101

that'll work...:headbang:


Perfect!!

[Mr. Sparkle]

11. I really liked her during the campaign and even more so now. I wish she could have stayed on.

She is one of a few people inside the whitehouse who has gone after fox noise. I would like to see more of them do it.