Over the past two weeks, three prominent White House officials have publicly come out and criticized Fox News by demeaning its status as a news outlet - White House Communications Director Anita Dunn, Senior Advisor David Axelrod and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. And today, the president himself commented on Fox News.
However, this hasn't gone unnoticed by members of Congress. Yesterday, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., commented on the inappropriate nature of the White House-instigated feud from the floor of the Senate. And on Oct. 22, Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. reacted to it from the floor of the House of Representatives.
"You know, the American people cherish our freedom of speech and a free and independent press," Pence said. "That's why I found this morning's headlines so troubling. Goaded on by a White House increasingly intolerant of criticism, lately the national media has taken aim at conservative commentators in radio and television - suggesting that they only speak for a small group of activists and even suggesting in one report today that Republicans in Washington are quote, ‘worried about their electoral effect.' Well, that's hogwash."
According to Pence, the effort to marginalize a growing sentiment by framing it as a movement of "grassroots activists" was absurd.
"To suggest that men and women that are taking a stand for fiscal discipline and traditional values in the national debate today only speak for quote, ‘grassroots activists' is absurd," Pence continued. "As evidenced by the hundreds of thousands that filled town hall meetings this summer and the nearly a million Americans who gathered here in Washington in September - millions of Americans, Republicans, Democrats and Independents are worried about liberal social policies and runaway federal spending, deficit and debt."
And Pence really connected when he explained that conservative talk radio was more reflective of the American people than what has been deemed the "mainstream media."
"So to my friends in the so-called mainstream media, I say, conservative talk show hosts may not speak for everybody but they speak for more Americans than you do," Pence concluded.
