An American Lion

This squirrel has more influence than Fox News, and that’s not saying much

The idea that Fox News is an influential organization, capable of bringing down the Obama Administration, is ridiculous and unfounded. Fox News is a successful news organization only because it caters to the needs of about 33% of the American people. It intentionally alienates another 33% of the American people, and does things that drive them batty. The remaining 34% of the American people live in the middle of the political spectrum and couldn’t care one way or the other.

Sure, a lot of people watch Fox News. A lot of old people. With no money. No purchasing power. A lot of people, in other words, who wear diapers and count their pennies and won’t buy the things that advertisers need them to buy, except for that Civil War Chess Set, Christy Lane CDs, the aforementioned diapers, and a nifty device for putting pennies into paper rolls. Oh, joy.

I don’t know if anyone has hit you on the head with this before, but there’s a third of this country that hates the Republicans, a third that hates the Democrats, and a third that flips back and forth when the wind blows a certain way. There’s nothing to be done about it. I don’t care what they say or do, nothing is going to change that. In the current discourse in which we find ourselves, there are still conservatives or liberals who get their panties bunched in terrible knots trying to convince—CONVINCE!—their opponents to stop being who they are and become exactly like them. It’s a reality-based community thing, you see. Only, the two polarized sides think they have the answer, and the moral authority, and the means by which to lead the third in the middle around by the nose.

This White House is terrified that Fox News might be the catalyst of something that flips the middle third back to the conservative side. They’ve launched an ill-advised campaign to try to stop this. National Public Radio, which is only listened to by people who have made up their minds to be liberal or conservative, is caught in the middle, and is pressuring one dingbat that works there to stay off Fox News:

According to a source, Liasson was summoned in early October by NPR’s executive editor for news, Dick Meyer, and the network’s supervising senior Washington editor, Ron Elving. The NPR executives said they had concerns that Fox’s programming had grown more partisan, and they asked Liasson to spend 30 days watching the network.

At a follow-up meeting last month, Liasson reported that she’d seen no significant change in Fox’s programming and planned to continue appearing on the network, the source said.

NPR’s focus on Liasson’s work as a commentator on Fox’s “Special Report” and “Fox News Sunday” came at about the same time as a White House campaign launched in September to delegitimize the network by painting it as an extension of the Republican Party.

One source said the White House’s criticism of Fox was raised during the discussions with Liasson. However, an NPR spokeswoman told POLITICO that the Obama administration’s attempts to discourage other news outlets from treating Fox as a peer had no impact on any internal discussions at NPR.

Never mind that neither Fox nor NPR really shifts public opinion. A Jay-Z song has far more influence than the two combined. Celebrity news, celebrity opinion, and entertainment reporting means a great deal more in this country. Mara Liasson has almost zero name recognition outside of the polarized electorate, if that. What Republican, in this country, has any audience or influence right now? What conservative, of any stripe, can claim to be a household name that can translate their influence into real political jeopardy for the White House? The answer is, none. No one. Nada. This is the most fearful, amateurish White House you’re probably ever going to see.

If the White House would focus more on governing, less on the media, and thereby do the right thing by the American people, it would show itself to be above the fray. Elevating Mara Liasson to a position of having far greater importance than it would ever be possible for her to attain by giving her wrong-headed, ill-advised, and ridiculous opinions every week is a fool’s errand. The great presidents always ignored the media. Think Sam Donaldson shouting into the wind and Ronald Reagan smiling and walking away, saying nothing.