Democrat war with Fox and the right dates to 2008 or earlier

Commentary by Kay B. Day

There’s a war on, pitting leftwing Democrats against conservatives, and although the most recent target appears to be Fox news and assorted rightwing talk show hosts, fact is the war was on as early as October, 2008. Conservative blogger Protein Wisdom featured a post that same month based on a leftwing post titled ‘Crush their Spirits’ by Markos Moulitsas, headmaster for the leftie school kids at Daily Kos. The intent was clear. Moulitsas wrote:

“[W]e have an imperative to take advantage of a historic opportunity to break the conservative movement’s backs and crush their spirits. In the White House, that means getting Obama a broad popular and geographic mandate for change. In the House, that means annihilating the Republican caucus and working toward a 100-seat Democratic majority. In the Senate it means getting to a 60-seat filibuster proof majority…Republicans will claim that McCain wasn’t one of them, hence rationalizing away their loss. But if we decimate their ranks, including their conservative icons, it’ll make it harder for them to justify their spin. Remember, we want them broken, their ranks thinned, their treasury in heavy debt, their morale in the gutter, void of any leadership, discredited in the eyes of the public…A key component of this effort is to destroy their most beloved leaders…”

When Moulitsas speaks, conservatives should listen, because he reflects the current administration’s policy and agenda. He’s the voice behind Netroots Nation, the annual gathering of big government fans and Democrats of note. Netroots Nation was originally known at the YearlyKos Convention. Founders and fans are in the same league as White House communications director Anita Dunn, currently on radar for praising Mao Zedong—killer of millions—as a philosopher. To be fair, Dunn also rather strangely praised Mother Teresa in the same breath. Oxymoron is the new flack.

Dunn’s been around, behind and on top of Dem politics for as long as I can remember—at least to the days of former president Jimmy Carter. She’s married to high profile attorney Bob Bauer of Perkins Coie. Bauer once, according to the Richmond Times Dispatch [Oct. 4, 1991], defended her when she testified about secret tape recordings related to Sen. Charles Robb—basically perceived as an illegal wiretap. Robb got a pass; after all, he wasn't a Republican.  Democrats love American royalty and Robb fit that bill—he married one of former president Lyndon B. Johnson’s daughters.

Dunn’s latest controversy is her declaration to the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development at a conference in Santo Domingo. Explaining the strategy behind President Barack Obama’s rise from nowhere to the Oval Office, she said of messaging and media, “We controlled it as opposed to the press controlled it…very rarely did we communicate through the press anything we didn’t absolutely control.”

Dunn and hubby Bauer were named a top power couple by Newsweek in 2008, and you can take that to the bank literally. Perkins Coie took credit for assisting with a half a billion dollar loan: “[T]he U.S. Department of Energy announced that it has conditionally approved a loan of $528.7M to Fisker Automotive under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program. Perkins Coie served as legal counsel to Fisker in connection with the ATVM application.” [Sept. 2009]

On Sunday Obama’s senior adviser and media expert David Axelrod joined Dunn and other administration officials in criticizing Fox News. ‘The Axe’ said Fox shouldn’t be treated as a news organization, leading me to realize not even a top Dem can always get what he wishes for.

These latest proclamations are nothing more than a continuation of a formal strategy to take down talk radio, to neutralize any news outlet perceived as not fawning over the president in the vein of Chris Matthews, and to be completely honest, to conduct typical American politics.

In the United States, we shoot words at each other instead of bullets, courtesy of rights protected by the U.S. Constitution. That is something elected officials should praise rather than condemn. Let the word games continue. That’s what helped make this country the greatest in the world no matter what Democrats have to say about us when they’re gabbing with foreign leaders.

The Democrat war began long before the latest assaults on media and talk show hosts. Conservatives should view the latest developments in context.