Did his parents raise him wrong or does he work for a company that encourages boorish behavior? Baier was unconscionably rude to the President of the United States. I don’t care if you like or hate the President, no one addresses the President like that. Why didn’t Baier just tell the President to shut up, throw a shoe at him or call him Bub? It would have been no more rude.
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Fox News should be ashamed and put Baier on administrative leave. Interrupting has become a part of politics and it is very much a sign of disrespect and ill breeding.
Is there ever an excuse for rudeness like this to any President of the United States?
UPDATE:
Cargosquid left parts 1 & 2 of the entire interview. The video that is posted is an encapsulation. It is important to me to give honest information.
I don’t know if I consider it a right or not, Cargo. What do we do as a nation though? We are paying through the nose for medicaid as tax payers. If we have job, our employer pays, sometimes. That probably cuts down on the number of employees. If we don’t work, we do without or we pay out of pocket. If we pay out of pocket, we pay big bucks. We can be dropped if we have the audacity to get certain diseases. If we don’t pay out of pocket we can acquire huge bills that we can’t pay because the bill is do disproportional to our salary. Some of those people simply don’t pay the bills. The hospitals then up the rates on the payings customers….and the whole cycle starts over.
Cargo, how do we stop this? I hear all the don’ts. I just don’t hear solutions.
After looking at both the MSNBC clip and the full clips of the actual interview, I don’t see all that much wrong with the interview per se. The President had plenty of time to make his points, and Baier was doing his job in trying to hone in on some specifics. If Baier doesn’t do that, what ‘s the point of an interview at all unless it is just to let the President have another stump from which to make a speech.? This was pretty tame stuff compared to, let us say, Question Time in the British Parliament. Health care reform is a controversial topic, perhaps one of the most controversial in recent memory. It deserves the tough questions and the candid answers. We are certainly not getting that from the Hill, where the main action is. There we have even been told that we’ll see what is in the bill AFTER it has been passed.
All in all, I thought it was a pretty good conversation and a lot more candid and to the point than the stuff we usually see. Yes, there were a few moments when both were talking over each other; but, all in all, I would say that both of the participants did a pretty good job at their respective crafts. Personally, I think the President needs more of those close and sharp encounters as a way of relating to the public. This is the first time I have seen him in anything but a rehearsed and practiced role in front of the public. I think we need to see our leaders in encounters where they are obliged to feint and parry against some sharp questions and not just have truncated questions thrown at then from the back of a press conference — questions which usually get sloughed off with a brief and not very detailed, often just canned, response.
As for that MSNBC clip. If that is the sum total of what appeared on MSNBC, then I think MSNBC is truly a negative in this whole thing. It looks like they cut and cherry picked to their heart’s delight and then presented a childish piece for public consumption. That I see as the real cheap shot here. Real shoddy, even by Olbermann’s standards.
Moon, you and I were both raised to show a certain deference to the man in the Oval Office; but I think we may rue the day if we ever forget that the man in the Oval Office is a politician and always a politician.
Yes, very unlike the way the Dems treated Bush, with respect and dignity, Not! I recall the word lier being used long before it became popular. Respect doesn’t happen anymore, anywhere. Except if you’re referring to a minority group, then you’d better watch what you say, or all Hell will break loose.
That’s absolutely wrong. Bush gave interviews to Larry King multiple times (he’s on CNN, not Fox), and many other’s including CBS news and so on.
And, I know – people will say I’m making that up – so here’s just a few examples I found with a quick Google search (presented in the order I found them – all of which are other news outlets than FOX – and these are just a few – the list is pretty endless). I guess we all see what we want to see – as I posted in another thread:
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Politics/story?id=6356046&page=1
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10316.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4179618/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A12570-2005Jan15?language=printer
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7245670.stm
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0901/13/lkl.01.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7065633
http://www.prnewschannel.com/absolutenm/templates/?a=749
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/05/white-house-obj.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/06/five_years/main1979933.shtml
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jul/04/politics.g8
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/27/politics/campaign/bush_excerpts.html?pagewanted=1
The list goes on and on and on – these are just the first few hits I got!
Yeah, Bush only gave interviews to Fox News…. I guess if I believe that you could sell me the Brooklyn Bridge too!
Then again, maybe some people’s definition of “very limited” is quite different than mine.
I wonder though – how many people believed the original posters statement – and said to themselves – “yes indeed, the only time Bush made himself available for interviews was when he talked to Fox News, and he almost never gave any other interviews”!
Now you know why I don’t believe much of what I read in print from any news source, blog, etc. More times than not, I can find it 100% wrong.
Yes, it seems the Democrats want to rewrite history – and say they never treated Bush in an undignified way! No, they were just as bad as the Republicans. Neither side can claim “clean hands” in the way they treat Presidents on the opposite party.
I love how everyone wants to rewrite history though, that all this Republican anger is something new and unprecedented! What a laugh! Some people either aren’t being honest or they just have blinders on and don’t remember what things were like when Bush first came into office, before September 11 happened.
I recall the words liar, thief, dictator, etc. being used – all because the Democrats were angry that “Bush stole the election”. And, it was said by many Democrats, not just a few! Who can forget all the angry signs along the innaugural parade route for example. What a shameful display that was! But it was freedom of speech, and I support their right to say that, but then I have the right to criticize what they said and what their signs say, and say that it was an awful display of behavior, that was caught on TV cameras and broadcast around the world. I’m guessing they were fine with that – but I would not call it a shining moment in American history.
GR,
I’ll disagree on one point – about the shining moment in American history – and argue that it was. Because, all the world could see that our President is not mearly a king. That a citizenry can stand post on a street corner that he is visiting or driving by and carry a sign with even the most vile words on it and that it’s protected by our laws. That we CAN question the emperor, that we can tell him that he’s naked, that we can demand answers…that he is an ELECTED official and both represents and is beholden to us.
I’ll make the same arguement about burning a flag. While it hits me in the gut and hurts me deep down… A symbol of this nation cannot just be the flag but some pissed off smelly hippy that drove to the protest in mommy’s 8 passanger SUV and on daddy’s trust fund burning it in protest. Thats why we’re the land of the free and home of the brave. 🙂
In defense of Elena; she did caveat her response a few times as she didn’t know and didn’t research the topic. So, that part can slide.
Well, I’ll agree with you as far as that it was a good demonstration of Freedom of Speech, which is one thing we have in the USA that many other countries don’t have. So in that regard, yes, it was good for the world to see that I suppose.
As to the thing about Bush interviews – it just seems to me that any person even flipping the channels over the years, or reading random news papers/websites – would have known that in the 8 years he was president, he gave many many many (and I’m not exaggerating) interviews to all kinds of media organizations.
For someone who seems to be politically active, and to be a critic of Bush – I’m just surprised that it wasn’t noticed that he did give so many interviews.
I just believe some people are so biased against Bush and Fox News, that they believe what they want to believe – and in this case that Bush only gave interviews to Fox News, and made himself inaccessible to other news media.
It just shows – if these thoughts about Bush can be proven to be inaccurate, probably many others are as well.
Agreed.
And, I am not a big Fox News watcher. In fact, until this thread came up – I had no clue who Brit Baier is. The only time I really watch Fox News is when I’m out in the field at work – as the system I work on does carry it and broadcast it to the troops in the field. It used to carry CNN, but CNN aired some piece that painted the soldiers fighting the war in Iraq as being somewhat like terrorists, and it highly angered the Air Force General in charge of this system at the time – and he pulled the plug on the CNN broadcast for that, as well as for CNN not letting us carry them for free or at low cost. FOX news, and other networks, have allowed us that. CNN tried to jack up the rate by 500% one time, so that was the final nail in their coffin, so to speak. Usually for sporting events, such as the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the World Series, we get granted permission to broadcast to selected locations (like submarines who can’t get it any other way) for free. We were granted permission to broadcast the Olympics for free, and did so just last month – to selected submarines and also troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they greatly appreciated it, as an example. Same with the recent Superbowl.
Anyway, that’s getting off-topic, my point is I rarely watch Fox unless I happen to be in the field and monitoring the broadcast.
@marinm
About the flag burning,
The American Legion continues to push for a “flag burning” amendment to protect the flag from abuse. I’ve always believed that if the citizens surrounding said abuse aren’t enough to stop it, then no law is worthwhile and will be worse than useless.
I’ve always supported the right to burn the flag and I’ve always felt that how I put out that dangerous fire is …..my business.
There’s a comment of mine that is suffering from a moderation glitch – I obviously posted too many HTML URL links – but I was pointing out that a quicky Google search turned up many many interviews of Bush with the media – other than Fox news. In fact, I just posted the first 10 or so I found, but it went on for pages and pages. Anyway, when MH gets around to it (no hurry) she can release that post from moderation – it would be post #54 in this thread. Not a big deal though – the moderation software obviously decided there were way too many HTML links in that post!
Here’s a good take on the interview by Peggy Noonan, said more eloquently than I can do so. I only disagree with her on one point. Glenn Beck may be strange, but, he’s not insane. A little obsessive, perhaps…..
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704207504575130081383279888.html?mod=rss_opinion_main
On second thought – don’t waste much time retrieving that comment from moderation. It was just a bunch of links I found in a quick google search of Bush’s interviews with broadcast and print journalists, other than Fox. If anyone is interested, just google bush interview transcripts and you’ll see the exact results I saw, which I cut/paste the links of maybe the first 10 into that moderated post.
At this point, it’s a moot point, so not worth MH wasting time getting that out of moderation. It wasn’t a very important point in the grand scheme of things, and I don’t care if that post stays in moderation (it had more than 3 HTML links in it – and apparently the moderation software doesn’t like that).
Any comment that has 3 or more links in it will probably go to moderation or to spam. If it goes to spam, I might not be able to retrieve it.
It is a peculiarity of wordpress.
Again, it’s no big deal – don’t bother trying to retrieve it. Actually, nevermind – I just scrolled up and see you did somehow manage to get it out of moderation. Thanks – and I hope it didn’t take up too much of your time – it really at this point was pretty unimportant for that comment to be taken out of moderation.
And in the future – I’ll know not to put 3 HTML links in a post. Then again, this was a rare situation – I think this is the first time I felt the need to put more than one HTML link in the same post!
I enjoyed the interviews. It is easier to get the drift of the interview watching rather than reading. I didn’t see any where the interviewer was rude to President Bush. Id there one in particular where rudeness was shown?
I believe Pres. Obama was foolish to agree to be interviewed by Fox News. Leopards don’t change their spots.
I agree that people said rude things about Pres. Bush. I expect many of them were Democrats. But that has nothing to do with the treatment of Obama in that interview. I go back to the old childhood adage of 2 wrongs don’t make a right.
I believe Pres. Obama should have ended the interview. Just stood up and told Baier to get out. I would have.
Are you talking about the interviews I posted in that massive post of a lot of links? If so, that’s not what I meant. I just posted them to show evidence that Bush did not hide from the media, and only grant interviews to Fox News as was implied earlier in this thread.
I agree with that. But you can count on this: if ever there is a Republican President again, the Democrats will say just as nasty things about him, and there will be interviewers just as nasty to him, as there are current with Republicans saying things about Obama. You can count on it. But yes, two wrongs don’t make a right – but you can count on both parties getting nasty when they are the minority opposition party – as long as into the future as you want to think about. I don’t see it ever changing, quite honestly.
Then he should refuse to interview with anyone rude. Pres. Obama should have never interviewed with Fox News. All morning long they do nothing but bash them–from 6 am when their day begins until a brief respite with Shep Smith. At 5 pm, it starts up again.
I didn’t realize that something has been said about Bush interviews. I was looking for video. I don’t recall any reporter treating Bush in that horrid manner. I thought Gibson was polite. That is not to say that someone didn’t however, and if someone will drop the video, I will take out after them also.
I can’t even look at Baier now. He sickens me. What a nasty, disrespectful, LITTLE man he is.
Moon, Obama has his moments too. That comment he made to McCain at the so-called health care reform bipartisan summit was really out of line — that’s the one about the campaign being over. You could see that the comment insulted McCain to the quick. Politics and political commentary in our time has become rough and tumble all the way around.
@Wolverine It was obvious that President Obama had been dying to deliver that line, and he found his moment at last. I would put that in the unpresidentially- rude-and-inappropriate-comment archives to remember next election cycle, along with “The Cambridge police acted stupidly.”
I just noticed. We’re all “talking” about the interview, but, not one of us is discussing the answers in detail. I’m going to find a transcript. I’ll be back. Its too nice outside to “fisk” the interview now……
It does seem like things have changed. Years ago growing up I don’t remember political commentary being the way it is today – and also even debates between politicians seemed less contentious or more sticking to the topics and not to sort of just attacks on each other. Must be a sign of the times, I guess!
I do think you can look at any politician and find some not so nice things that politicians said if you look hard enough. Really, neither side can say they always take the high road, as it were.
Heck, today’s politics ARE civil. In days gone by, there were beatings, duels, slander, lies, riots, pay offs, etc. And that was just in the Capitol building…….
A law officer in Texas has an interesting piece: http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2010/03/meditations-on-civility.html
Perhaps we might need to return to something like that. Or not. Don’t know.