It was fascinating to watch NPR's reaction to the James O'Keefe videos. After the (deceptively edited) tapes were released, NPR rapidly and forcefully distanced itself from the two fundraising executives in question, placing them both on administrative leave. CEO Vivian Schiller was forced out, and all the while NPR media reporter David Folkenflik reported on the turmoil at his own company as if he were tapping on the glass of a fishbowl.
The two executives captured on the videos had no say over NPR's news product or editorial direction, and regardless of whether you agree with the actions NPR's senior management took, those corrective moves were clearly intended to demonstrate a culture of accountability and preserve their credibility as a news outlet. After all, that's what reputations and, ultimately, success in journalism are staked on... right?
Perhaps, for news outlets that hew to traditional modes of journalistic practice. Fox News, however, has proven to be largely disinterested in accountability, even in the face of numerous fiascoes that, had they occurred at other news outfits, would likely have sent heads rolling.
Let's break down Fox's reaction to their latest credibility-killing debacle. Last week, Media Mattersrevealed that Washington managing editor Bill Sammon admitted to pushing on-air the idea that Barack Obama advocated "socialism" despite "privately" thinking the idea was "rather far-fetched." Howard Kurtz of The Daily Beastspoke with Sammon, who said that his comments were "inartful," but by 2009 he was "astonished by how the needle had moved" -- a comment many interpreted as Sammon retroactively justifying a claim he believed to be false. He later spoke with NPR's Folkenflik and said he was simply characterizing conservative thought at the time: "I was, frankly, astonished that that was a serious topic of conversation in a presidential campaign."
That's pretty much been it. Perhaps more revealing are the steps not taken. Have any Fox News reporters commented or reported on the situation as Folkenflik did during NPR's troubles? Nope. Has Sammon faced any public consequences? No. Have there been any reports of private reprimands? Also no. Has there been any indication whatsoever that Fox News has shown any contrition for -- or even awareness of -- the gaping ethical breach that their Washington managing editor has torn open? Crickets all around.
Special dishonor goes to Fox News Watch, the Fox News weekend program specifically tasked with covering the media, which ignored the story entirely. Host Jon Scott even proclaimed at one point during the April 2 show that the mission of his program was to "cover the coverage and uncover media bias" -- right before launching into a mocking report on an over-the-top pro-Qaddafi Libyan news anchor.
The Sammon non-fallout is in keeping with past Fox News scandals, in which the unprofessional and offensive on-air comments of employees (up to and including jokes about the president's assassination) have been met with neglect from the network. After Glenn Beck called Obama a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred for white people," NBC's First Read blog observed: "What's most amazing about this episode is that what Beck said isn't a fireable or even a SUSPENDABLE offense by his bosses. There was a time when outrageous rants like this would actually cost the ranters their jobs. But not anymore; if anything, it's now encouraged."
What Fox goes for instead is the appearance of accountability. Whenever one of these controversies pops up, the offender is typically on the "opinion" side of Fox News and the network's defenders are quick to claim that there exists a division at Fox News between "hard news" and "opinion." The network promotes this supposed division as well; when Special Report anchor Bret Baier appeared on The Daily Show two weeks ago, he said "we respect the viewers' ability to discern the difference between the two." The message is clear: Our news guys don't do, and wouldn't get away with, Glenn Beck-style hijinks.
However, the fact that a bona-fide ideologue like Sammon is a managing editor at Fox News suggests the exact opposite is true. And the fact that Sammon remains secure in his position suggests that the network executives want him to continue twisting the "hard news" coverage to echo the hard-line conservatism that saturates the "opinion" portion of Fox's programming.
It's not "news" in the traditional sense, and it's fundamentally dishonest. But Fox News' departure from traditional journalism necessitates a departure from established notions of accountability. After all, when you hire someone to be a liar, can you really fire him for doing his job?
The revelation that Fox News Washington managing editor Bill Sammon intentionally misled viewers in 2008 with speculation linking Barack Obama to socialism has drawn criticism from a handful of veteran Washington bureau chiefs.
Several former D.C. newsroom leaders told Media Matters that Sammon acted unethically when he publicly hinted several times in 2008 that Obama might have socialist tendencies, only to later admit that at the time, he "privately" believed the allegations were "far-fetched."
"At that time, I have to admit, that I went on TV on Fox News and publicly engaged in what I guess was some rather mischievous speculation about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism," Sammon said in a 2009 speech that Media Matters publicized this week, "a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched."
Later in the speech, Sammon said his "mischievous speculation" was actually proven correct during the first months of Obama's presidency.
John Walcott, former McClatchy Washington bureau chief who stepped down in 2010 and ran the bureau during the 2008 election, criticized the actions.
"I don't think deception is ever acceptable in journalism," Walcott said. "I think there are times when we don't say everything we've learned for reasons of personal security and national security. But outright deception, saying something that you know to be untrue or have no basis for believing is true is not journalism, it is propaganda."
"This also reflects an increasing tendency to abandon the fourth estate's role of holding those in power -- political, economic, whatever -- accountable, regardless of their ideology, political party or social standing, in favor of taking sides."
Walcott added: "In theological terms, this is a sin of commission. This is more overt. This isn't journalism."
Frank Sesno, CNN Washington bureau chief from 1995 to 2001, said of Sammon: "Of course he's partisan. If Fox wants to define the role of its reporters and its bureau chief in a traditional journalistic capacity, then they have no business offering opinions or political speculation in any fashion.
"But if Fox wants to define itself differently, not as a traditional news organization but a news and opinion organization, then he is free to do that."
Marc Sandalow, San Francisco Chronicle bureau chief from 1996 to 2007, said Sammon's actions were not proper for a news person.
"Journalists should not be involved in mischievous speculation, journalists should not engage in mischievous speculation, they should be provocative and if they identify it, they can be analytic and opinionated," Sandalow said. "But mischief is not part of journalism."
Asked what it means for Sammon's newsroom leadership role, Sandalow added: "That's a problem, he is overseeing the news operation. For news gatherers, credibility is everything. You should never deceive viewers or readers."
Max Frankel, former executive editor of The New York Times and its Washington bureau chief from 1968 to 1972, called Sammon's actions "clear partisanship."
"In our politics, the word socialist is a curse word," Frankel said. "Especially when hurled at the Democrats, it is a clear case of partisanship and I don't believe that anybody who is calling Obama a socialist to this very day, really believes that."
"It is obviously name-calling, and partisanship of that sort has no place in fair journalism," he said. "The only surprising thing about the episode is that he would go so far as to admit it."
Marvin Kalb, a former NBC News chief diplomatic correspondent and one-time Meet The Press host, said Sammon went too far:
"I believe that Bill Sammon crossed a line between reporting and editorializing in his 2008 coverage of candidate Obama," Kalb said, later adding, "Decades ago, his campaign commentary would have been unacceptable. Reporters reported and did not offer personal critiques."
Steve Goldstein, former Washington Bureau chief for The Philadelphia Inquirer, e-mailed this view:
"If I'm not mistaken, Sammon also wrote a column for the Examiner. In any event, that's where his work came to my attention. After reading some pieces by him, it was abundantly clear that he was writing as some sort of party apparatchik and not as a journalist."
Dean Baquet, the current Washington bureau chief for The New York Times, told Media Matters: "Come on, it is Fox. So no surprise, right?"
In newly uncovered audio, a Fox News executive boasts that he lied repeatedly during the closing days of the 2008 presidential campaign when he speculated on-air "about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism."
Speaking in 2009 onboard a pricey Mediterranean cruise sponsored by a right-wing college, Fox Washington managing editor Bill Sammon described his attempts the previous year to link Obama to "socialism" as "mischievous speculation." Sammon, who is also a Fox News vice president, acknowledged that "privately" he had believed that the socialism allegation was "rather far-fetched."
"Last year, candidate Barack Obama stood on a sidewalk in Toledo, Ohio, and first let it slip to Joe the Plumber that he wanted to quote, 'spread the wealth around,' " said Sammon. "At that time, I have to admit, that I went on TV on Fox News and publicly engaged in what I guess was some rather mischievous speculation about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism, a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched."
Indeed, in the weeks leading up to the 2008 election, Sammon used his Fox position to engage in a campaign to tie Obama to "Marxists" and "socialism." A Media Matters review found that Sammon - then the network's Washington deputy managing editor - repeatedly linked Obama's "spread the wealth around" remark to socialism during his October 2008 Fox appearances.
Sammon's "mischief" wasn't limited to his on-air appearances. As Media Matters reported, Sammon also pushed Fox News colleagues to play the socialism card. On October 27, 2008, Sammon sent an email to staffers highlighting what he described as "Obama's references to socialism, liberalism, Marxism and Marxists" in his 1995 autobiography Dreams From My Father. Shortly after sending the email, Sammon appeared on two Fox News programs to discuss his research and also wrote a FoxNews.com piece about Obama's "affinity to Marxists."
On October 14, 2008, Sammon said that Obama's "spread the wealth around" remark "is red meat when you're talking to conservatives and you start talking about 'spread the wealth around.' That is tantamount to socialism."
Sammon repeated the "tantamount to socialism" line later that day, stating: "That's anathema to conservatives. That's the same as saying, 'Spread the misery around.' That's basically tantamount to socialism. And that bothers a lot of people. So I think if McCain is going to have any chance of moving ahead, he's got to turn this economic discussion from something that's been hurting him for the last couple weeks to something that can help him by focusing on what to do about the economy in the future."
On October 21, 2008, Sammon appeared on Greta Van Susteren's show, where he referred to Bill Ayers "talking about being a Marxist." Sammon then said, "I have read Barack Obama's books pretty carefully, and he in his own words talks about being drawn to Marxists. ... Now all this stuff's coming out about whether he's a socialist. I don't know why anyone is surprised by it, because if you read his own words and his sort of, you know, orientation coming up as a liberal through college and as a young man, it's not a huge shock."
On October 25, 2008, Sammon said: "As soon as I heard Barack Obama say, and it's gone on almost two weeks ago - two weeks ago -- 'spread the wealth around,' I mean, the red flag went up. I mean, that's just code - and I knew that conservatives would say, 'That is exactly code for income redistribution which is tantamount to socialism.' And I talked about this for several days right after it happened. And the McCain campaign has now picked up this socialism word on their own, and they're running with it."
"I think some of these substantive issues, such as, you know, higher taxes, are we going to head more towards a socialistic government, could play in McCain's favor," Sammon said on October 27, 2008, after Fox aired a clip of Obama responding to McCain's accusations of socialism.
"I do think that when you start talking about 'spread the wealth around,' which is what Barack Obama said to Joe the Plumber, and now this new radio thing that came up today where he talks about redistributing the wealth, you know, those two things together are tantamount to socialism to conservatives," Sammon added later in the October 27 interview. "That's red meat. That'll fire up the conservative base, who had been a little bit dispirited."
Sammon went on to say that Obama "was drawn to Marxists, he was drawn to liberals, he was drawn to socialists by his own admission as a young man, so I think even though he postures as a moderate now as a presidential candidate, I think his heart is really towards the hard left, and we may see whether that comes out as he governs, if in fact he wins."
During an October 28, 2008, appearance on Fox & Friends, Sammon again said Obama "was drawn to Marxist and socialists as a young man" before adding, "Now, let's be clear. I mean people had political ideologies in college that they don't necessarily have later in life, but I do think it indicates that he may be a little bit more liberal than he presents himself."
Later in the interview, Sammon said that "there certainly is a consistency there when you look at the people he was drawn to going to socialist conferences, hanging out with Marxist professors, going to see Stokely Carmichael, even after he got out of college, for inspiration. The former Black Panther. And then you look later at life, where his association with Bill Ayers, the radical. You look at his association with the Reverend Wright. It does make you wonder whether indeed some of his leanings in his college days still carry through today, only are a little bit more fuzzed up because he's a politician who's running for high office. And I think it's worth examining."
Sammon made his startling admission during an August 2, 2009, speech onboard a 12-day cruise sponsored by Hillsdale College. Conservative writers Walter Williams, Paul Johnson, and Victor Davis Hanson also gave lectures. A Hillsdale newsletter states that "in addition to giving lectures, guest speakers also hosted private dinners for invited guests, and joined in the daytime excursions and camaraderie with their fellow 136 Hillsdale friends and nine Hillsdale staff."
A brochure for the cruise promised attendees a "great opportunity to gather and discuss history and ideas with noted scholars and like-minded friends of Hillsdale." Cabin rates ranged from $11,800 to $37,600 per couple.
The National Review has described Hillsdale as "a citadel of American conservatism," and the conservative Young America's Foundation has listed Hillsdale as one of the top conservative colleges in the country. Hillsdale President Larry Arnn, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin have issued fundraising appeals touting the college's conservative credentials. Rush Limbaugh has also done on-air radio advertisements for Hillsdale.
During his cruise speech, Sammon said that while he found his own socialism speculation "far-fetched" in October 2008, it was actually proven correct during the first months of Obama's presidency.
"Now imagine my surprise when this year, I witness President Barack Obama standing in the cross hall of the White House and having taken over the American car industry, look into the camera, and announce to the nation essentially, that he would personally vouch for the warranty on your car's muffler," Sammon said on the cruise. "All of a sudden, the debate over whether America was heading for socialism seemed anything but far-fetched."
In a later portion of his speech, Sammon said:
Better yet, people are now surprised that we suddenly gotten serious about the debate over whether America is headed for socialism? I mean, come on. Americans were well aware all throughout the campaign that Barack Obama had chosen to spend 20 years of his adult life at a church that required its congregants to embrace economic parity and disavow the pursuit of middle-classness. OK? Barack Obama admitted that for much of his life he has been drawn to Marxists. I mean for crying out loud, he stood on that sidewalk in Toledo and said to Joe the Plumber, on camera, that he wanted to spread the wealth around. So there shouldn't be a lot of surprise here.
Media Matters obtained audio of Sammon's remarks by purchasing it through Hillsdale College.
Update: The Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz has a response from Sammon about his 2009 remarks:
In an interview, Sammon says his reference to "mischevious speculation" was "my probably inartful way of saying, 'Can you believe how far this thing has come?'" The socialism question indeed "struck me as a far-fetched idea" in 2008. "I considered it kind of a remarkable notion that we would even be having the conversation." He doesn't regret repeatedly raising it on the air because, Sammon says, "it was a main point of discussion on all the channels, in all the media"--and by 2009 he was "astonished by how the needle had moved."
Sammon notes that in the same talk on the cruise, he pointed out that George W. Bush had his own stimulus package and had spent half the TARP bailout money: "I was talking about both sides being big spenders." (True; he also told the cruise guests that "when it comes to spending money, Obama makes Bush look like a piker.")
From Sammon's August 2, 2009, Hillsdale College cruise speech:
SAMMON: It is so nice to be back with my Hillsdale friends again, although I have to say that when I arrived last week, the very first person I encountered was James Carville, my old friend James Carville -- made me wonder whether I had boarded the wrong boat. James assured me that he had not known in advance that this was going to be the Hillsdale cruise, which then made me wonder, I wonder if his lovely and talented wife Mary Matalin, who by the way published one of my books, and who affectionately refers to her husband as Serpenthead, I wondered whether Mary had mischievously arranged for James to come on this ship, maybe mingle with some of you Hillsdale people in hopes of saving his ideological soul. Mary, if you're out there, good luck with that one.
You know, speaking of mischief, last year, candidate Barack Obama stood on a sidewalk in Toledo, Ohio, and first let it slip to Joe the Plumber that he wanted to quote, "spread the wealth around." At that time, I have to admit, that I went on TV on Fox News and publicly engaged in what I guess was some rather mischievous speculation about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism, a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched.
Now imagine my surprise when this year, I witness President Barack Obama standing in the cross hall of the White House and having taken over the American car industry, look into the camera, and announce to the nation essentially, that he would personally vouch for the warranty on your car's muffler. All of a sudden, the debate over whether America was heading for socialism seemed anything but far-fetched. In fact, when you consider the massive expenditures of your tax dollars on such programs as TARP, and stimulus, and in fairness, our pres -- our former president George W. Bush had his own stimulus package towards the end of his administration -- nobody remembers that -- and he also spent the first half of the TARP money.
So we went from a big government conservative to a big government liberal. Although I will say that when it comes to spending money, Obama makes Bush look like a piker. When you consider that those expenditures of money by this administration, which by the way will quadruple the deficit from this year to next year, for the next fiscal year, starts October 1, the deficit will quadruple and when you consider the sweeping expansion of government regulation over such sectors as the finance industry including caps on executive compensation. When you consider the Obama administration's concerted effort to nationalize health care, which of course accounts for a sixth of our economy, and when you consider the Obama administration's concerted effort to impose a cap and trade regime which will profoundly reorder the rest of our economy and mandate massive transfers of wealth. When you consider all of those things and more like them, the debate over whether America is headed for socialism seems all too real, especially to those who still believe in capitalism.
And consider this final thought. When it comes to government spending as a percentage of gross domestic product, the United States has now surpassed Sweden.
[...]
SAMMON: In 2008, obviously, he was elected the nation's first black president, a historic achievement. But did so in part by presenting himself as a moderate. In 2009, at least during the first six months of his term, he has instead demonstrated that he is actually quite liberal, quite an ideologue, and quite an ambitious leftist.
Oh, yeah, I mean he made a few overtures to the political opposition. He, you know, had an off-the-record dinner with Charles Krauthammer and some other conservative columnists. He invited a few Republican lawmakers over to the White House for some social events, but you know, those invitations have been quietly discontinued. You don't hear much about that anymore. And the truth of the matter is that the golden era of post-partisanship that Barack Obama was supposed to usher in really ended before it ever started.
And the only thing that should surprise us about that is that we are surprised at all. I mean, it's not like America couldn't see this one coming. Remember, Barack Obama, long before he was elected president, was ranked the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate by the National Journal, a non-partisan magazine. He was given a 95 percent liberal rating by the left-wing group Americans for Democratic Reform. He was on record in his own memoirs as saying, quote, "the arguments of liberals are more often grounded in reason and fact," end quote. And now people are surprised that he's turned out to be a liberal president?
Better yet, people are now surprised that we suddenly gotten serious about the debate over whether America is headed for socialism? I mean, come on. Americans were well aware all throughout the campaign that Barack Obama had chosen to spend 20 years of his adult life at a church that required its congregants to embrace economic parity and disavow the pursuit of middle-classness. OK? Barack Obama admitted that for much of his life he has been drawn to Marxists. I mean for crying out loud, he stood on that sidewalk in Toledo and said to Joe the Plumber, on camera, that he wanted to spread the wealth around. So there shouldn't be a lot of surprise here.
During a 2008 radio appearance, Bill Sammon, then a Fox News contributor, said: "I've always felt that it's not going to be Jeremiah Wright's views on race that are necessarily going to doom Barack Obama's presidential bid. It's Barack Obama's own views on the white race which are, I think, fairly controversial."
On March 28, 2008, Sammon, who would later become Fox News' Washington managing editor, appeared on Hugh Hewitt's radio show along with Morton Kondracke. After Hewitt asked Sammon about a passage of Barack Obama's book that quotes Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sammon responded:
SAMMON: Well, if you read, and I know you have, the rest of his book, and I've written about this and talked about this a number of times, Barack Obama himself expresses a grave distrust of white people in general.
HEWITT: Yup.
SAMMON: He anguished for the first quarter century at least of his life over his mixed race heritage and there are many, many passages in that book where he talks about how he often spoke disparaging about quote, "white folks" this, and "white folks" that. And then he would remember, you know, that his mother was white and he would feel guilty and conflicted about it. But there is a lot - I've always felt that it's not going to be Jeremiah Wright's views on race that are necessarily going to doom Barack Obama's presidential bid. It's Barack Obama's own views on the white race which are, I think, fairly controversial.
Later, after Kondracke defended Obama's writings about race, Hewitt said, "Look, there's nothing offensive in it at all except the language but there is a lot that will impact the election, I believe, Bill Sammon, in that, as Morton just said, most Americans don't - don't travel this path, and don't obsess on this the way that Barack Obama has."
Sammon then said, "Yeah, that's right. And, you know, the other thing is this. And I agree with what Mort said, this is very eloquent and he's obviously very anguished. And he's being, and he gives him credit for being blunt and candid and everything."
"But let's, let's pull back here for a minute," Sammon added. "This guy is applying for a job to run a country that is predominately white, OK? And if you are on record as expressing resentment and suspicions and antipathy towards the white race in general, that's a political problem."
Sammon then said, "Now I know a lot of people inside the Beltway, and a lot of the elites are very, you know, taken by, by this eloquent writer, and eloquent speaker, and look, 'he's raised this racial debate, we now can talk about the nuances of it,' but let me tell you something, you know, the Appalachian region is not going to go for this. There's, you know, when you have a guy who's running for president talking about how he spoke disparagingly about whites, that's a political problem."
On the April 30, 2008, edition of Special Report with Brit Hume, Sammon said Obama "is never again going to be the post-racial candidate thanks to Jeremiah Wright. That's over. He is the candidate about race, for better or for worse."
SAMMON: Meanwhile the post-racial ship has sailed. He is never again going to be the post-racial candidate thanks to Jeremiah Wright. That's over. He is the candidate about race, for better or for worse.
I think half of the respondents to this poll said that they looked at Reverend Wright as anti-white, which he obviously could be viewed that way.
But, again, if you look at his first memoir, Barack Obama's first memoir, he spent several decades of his life having antipathy towards white people because of his mixed race heritage, by his own words. When that comes out in the general election, I think that will hurt him, too.
At the time of his prediction, Sammon was a Fox News contributor and a Washington Examiner senior White House correspondent. In August 2008, Sammon was hired as Fox's Washington deputy managing editor, and in late February 2009, he was promoted to managing editor.
Media Mattersnoted that as deputy managing editor, Sammon engaged in a campaign to tie then-Sen. Barack Obama to "Marxists" and "socialism" in the days leading up to the presidential election. One of Sammon's leaked emails to Fox News colleagues linked Obama to socialism, and also catalogued "a couple of his many self-described 'racial obsessions'..." from Dreams From My Father.
In an October 28, 2008, FoxNews.com article, Sammon wrote that "Obama has been widely criticized for choosing the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, an anti-American firebrand, as his pastor. Wright is a purveyor of black liberation theology, which analysts say is based in part on Marxist ideas."
While appearing on Greta Van Susteren's October 21, 2008, program, Sammon said, "[F]or the life of me I cannot understand why John McCain--if he loses this, I think one of the things will be when people look back on it is that he didn't exploit this relationship with Reverend Wright."
From the March 28, 2008, edition of Salem Radio's The Hugh Hewitt Show:
HEWITT: I don't know if you guys have a chance to read or listen to Dreams From My Father, the Barack Obama autobiography from 1995. Bill Sammon, have you had a chance to read it or listen to it yet?
SAMMON: I have read it very carefully several times.
HEWITT: Alright, he, he recorded it himself and I want to play for you the audio of Barack Obama talking about his very first visit to Trinity Church, which puts into context his "I never heard this sort of stuff before" because at the end of this sermon, he cries. Cut number 12, Barack Obama on his first visit to hear Rev. Wright.
OBAMA (audio): The title of Rev. Wright's sermon that morning was "The Audacity of Hope." He began with a passage from the Book of Samuel: the story of Hannah, who, barren and taunted by her rivals, had wept and shaken in prayer before her God. The story reminded him, Rev. Wright said, of a sermon a fellow pastor had preached at a conference some years before, in which the pastor described going to a museum and being confronted by a painting titled Hope.
"The painting depicts a harpist," Rev. Wright explained. "A woman who at first glance appears to be sitting atop a great mountain. Until you take a closer look and see that the woman is bruised and bloodied, dressed in tattered rags, the harp reduced to a single frayed string. Your eye is then drawn down to the scene below, down to the valley below, where everywhere are the ravages of famine, the drumbeat of war, a world groaning under strife and deprivation.
"It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where white folks' greed runs a world in need."
HEWITT: "White folks' greed runs a world in need." Bill Sammon, if you stick in a church after you hear that, aren't you kind of buying into the whole theory of a sort of a white supremacy infrastructure to society?
SAMMON: Well, if you read, and I know you have, the rest of his book, and I've written about this and talked about this a number of times, Barack Obama himself expresses a grave distrust of white people in general.
HEWITT: Yup.
SAMMON: He anguished for the first quarter century at least of his life over his mixed race heritage and there are many, many passages in that book where he talks about how he often spoke disparaging about quote, "white folks" this, and "white folks" that. And then he would remember, you know, that his mother was white and he would feel guilty and conflicted about it. But there is a lot - I've always felt that it's not going to be Jeremiah Wright's views on race that are necessarily going to doom Barack Obama's presidential bid. It's Barack Obama's own views on the white race which are, I think, fairly controversial.
HEWITT: Let me play for you a couple of these. By the way, did you know he read this book, Bill?
SAMMON: I did, but I assumed when I -- and I was thinking about this a couple of weeks ago. I was going to get it, but I saw that it was -- he did an abridged version and I figured he probably took out maybe some of the more controversial passages.
HEWITT: Well, he did but he left a lot in. Let's play cut number two from the Barack Obama audio.
OBAMA (audio): Our assistant basketball coach, a young, wiry man from New York with a nice jumper, who, after a pick-up game with some talkative black men, had muttered within earshot of me and three of my teammates that we shouldn't have lost to a bunch of n-[radio bleep]; and who, when I told him -- with a fury that surprised even me -- to shut up, had calmly explained that "those guys were n-[radio bleep]." That's just how white folks will do you. White folks. The term itself was uncomfortable in my mouth at first; I felt like a non-native speaker tripping over a difficult phrase. Sometimes I would find myself talking to Ray about white folks this or white folks that, and I would suddenly remember my mother's smile, and the words that I spoke would seem awkward and false. Or I would be helping Gramps dry the dishes after dinner and Toot would come in to say she was going to sleep, and those same words - white folks - would flash in my head like a bright neon sign, and I would grow suddenly quiet, as if I had secrets to keep.
Later, when I was alone, I would try to untangle these difficult thoughts. It was obvious that certain whites could be exempted from the general category of our distrust. Ray was always telling me how cool my grandparents were. The term white was simply a shorthand for him, I decided, a tag for what my mother would call a bigot. And although I recognized the risks in his terminology -- how easy it was to fall into the same sloppy thinking that my basketball coach had displayed ("There are white folks, and then there are ignorant motherf[radio bleep] like you," I had finally told the coach before walking off the court that day).
HEWITT: What do you think, Morton?
KONDRACKE: Look, I think, I think this guy is clearly agonized about, about who he is and he describes it brilliantly and it's, and it's, and it's very frank, and it's all, it's all hanging out there. Now, he didn't know that he was going to run - that he was going to be running for president when he wrote that book.
HEWITT: But he recorded it in 2005.
KONDRACKE: OK. OK. He did - he recorded it in 2005, he did not change the text. He did not say, you know, he did not exempt it from the, from the book. And I think, you know, I do think - you know that I think that what Jeremiah Wright said is outrageous and that, and that Obama should have left the church. And he's going to suffer for not leaving the church.
On the other hand, the black experience in America is one of feeling as though you are considered inferior. And you have this constant, this is the legacy of slavery, it's the legacy of Jim Crow. It's the - it's what you hear from your, from - on the knee of your uncle, you know, about race is a constant subject among African-Americans, the way it is not among us, white people. And I just think that if he is open in discussing all that stuff, I think that's terrific.
And I don't -- I don't find any offense in what, in any of that stuff that he said. He's talking about the struggles that he had to come up with his own identity, and who he considered a white bigot, and who he considered just an ordinary white person, but it's evidence of how, of how black people cannot get away from this subject.
HEWITT: Look, there's nothing offensive in it at all except the language but there is a lot that will impact the election, I believe, Bill Sammon, in that, as Morton just said, most Americans don't - don't travel this path, and don't obsess on this the way that Barack Obama has.
SAMMON: Yeah, that's right. And, you know, the other thing is this. And I agree with what Mort said, this is very eloquent and he's obviously very anguished. And he's being, and he gives him credit for being blunt and candid and everything. But let's, let's pull back here for a minute. This guy is applying for a job to run a country that is predominately white, OK? And if you are on record as expressing resentment and suspicions and antipathy towards the white race in general, that's a political problem. Now I know a lot of people inside the Beltway, and a lot of the elites are very, you know, taken by, by this eloquent writer, and eloquent speaker, and look, "he's raised this racial debate, we now can talk about the nuances of it," but let me tell you something, you know, the Appalachian region is not going to go for this. There's, you know, when you have a guy who's running for president talking about how he spoke disparagingly about whites, that's a political problem.
HEWITT: It is, Bill Sammon and Morton Kondracke, maybe over - one to be overcome, but we'll see. Thanks for being here, I'll be right back.
On June 4, 2009, a couple of hours after President Obama delivered his much-anticipated speech in Cairo regarding America's relationship with the Muslim world, Fox News Washington managing editor Bill Sammon sent an email to Fox staff pointing out that Obama did not use "the words 'terror,' 'terrorist' or 'terrorism.' "
The email, which did not include any text beyond the subject line, read as follows:
From: Sammon, Bill
Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 9:23 AM
To: 169 -SPECIAL REPORT; 069 -Politics; 036 -FOX.WHU; 030 -Root (FoxNews.Com); 050 -Senior Producers; 051 -Producers
Cc: Clemente, Michael; Stack, John; Wallace, Jay
Subject: FYI: My cursory check of Obama's 6,000-word speech to the Muslim world did not turn up the words "terror," "terrorist" or "terrorism"
Sammon's "cursory check" quickly became the editorial focus for Fox News journalists covering Obama's speech, and was repeated (in some instances almost verbatim) by the network's hosts. Sammon himself appeared on Fox shortly after sending the email and claimed that Obama, in not using "terrorism" or any of its variants, showed that "he has taken us off a war footing as a nation."
Sammon's criticism, however, was misleading. Obama devoted a significant section of his remarks to denouncing and confronting Al Qaeda and other "violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security." Sammon's criticism also disregarded the analyses of Middle East and terrorism experts who viewed Obama's word choice as an effort to remove as a source of tension terms that, through overuse and misuse, have become incendiary in the Muslim world.
The New York Times noted the rationale behind Obama's word choice in a June 4, 2009, article:
But while he spoke uncompromisingly of the American fight against Al Qaeda, Mr. Obama never mentioned the words "terrorism" or "terrorist." That was a departure from the language used by the Bush administration, but one that some Middle East experts suggested reflected a belief by the new administration that overuse had made the words inflammatory.
Similarly, then-CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour explained: "I don't know what goes on in his head. But I certainly know what the people in the Islamic world say. In all those countries which I visited, where there are wars or not, they are fed up with being completely and monolithically associated with terror. Perhaps that was what was going through the president's mind when he chose not to use that word."
Obama's speech ended just after 7 a.m. EDT on June 4. Sammon sent his email at 9:23 a.m., informing Fox journalists: "My cursory check of Obama's 6,000-word speech to the Muslim world did not turn up the words 'terror,' 'terrorist' or 'terrorism.' "
Ten minutes later, Sammon appeared on America's Newsroom -- one of Fox's supposedly objective daytime "news" shows -- with host Megyn Kelly.
Introducing the segment, Kelly said: "Well, the president talked a lot in his speech today about reaching out to Muslims. What he did not talk a lot about was terror." The on-screen text for the segment asked: "Why didn't Pres Obama use the word 'terror' in Cairo speech?"
Kelly asked Sammon what he made of Obama not mentioning "terror, the war on terror, or terrorism."
Sammon responded, "Well, I make of it that he has taken us off a war footing as a nation."
KELLY: So he goes out -- this is a big speech, 3,000 people in attendance, but millions, if not more, watching around the world, and not one mention of terror, the war on terror, or terrorism. What do you make of it?
SAMMON: Well, I make of it that he has taken us off a war footing as a nation. And it's now clear -- when you give a 6,000-plus word speech to the Muslim world and you don't mention terror, terrorist, or terrorism, you know, that's not an accident.
I also noticed that, you know, he quoted from the Quran three times, and we did a search to see how many times as president he's quoted from the Bible, and he's quoted from the Bible three times as president. Including the one quotation he made from -- during today's speech. So--
KELLY: You mean total, from the time he took office until today.
SAMMON: Total, from the time he was inaugurated until today, he's quoted from the Bible three times. I'm not sure what that tells us, other than look, President Bush did a lot of outreach to the Muslim world as well. He gave speeches, he went into mosques, he took his shoes off, he gave interviews to Arabic TV stations. But with him it was sort of counter-programming. With Obama, I think, it reinforces what his critics feel are some concerns about him.
Later in the program, Kelly hosted former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen, who said of Obama's speech: "I mean, he did say some things that were good, and we should give him credit for it. He did say that we're going to relentlessly confront the extremists and that -- and that was a good thing. Though interestingly enough, he didn't mention the word 'terrorism' once in the speech."
Later in the day on Studio B with Shepard Smith, Smith told White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton: "I want to tick off a couple of things I've gotten in the email inbox, Bill, from viewers who are upset about a couple of things. One, not a lot of talk about terrorism or the war on terror, and they wish there had been more." Smith then asked Burton: "Why no more war on terror and why is it not being addressed?" Burton corrected Smith, saying: "First, I think that the president did spend quite a bit of time talking about terrorism and terrorist attacks, and he said specifically that what people do when they execute a terrorist attack is they surrender their moral authority."
On the June 4 edition of Fox News' Special Report, both host Bret Baier and correspondent Wendell Goler noted that Obama did not use the word "terror," but neither explained the possible reasons for Obama's word choice. Baier introduced his report on Obama's speech by saying: "Well, President Obama today said in a speech directed at the world's 1.3 billion Muslims that the cycle of suspicion and discord with the U.S. must end. The address from Cairo, Egypt, featured references to both the 9-11 attacks and the war in Iraq, but did not use the words 'terror,' 'terrorist,' or 'terrorism.' " Goler noted: "Although he didn't use the word 'terrorism,' the president noted Islamic extremists have killed more Muslims than anyone else and he called on believers to fight them."
Later in the same program, Baier kicked off the "All-Star Panel" segment by saying: "It lasted a little over 55 minutes, was 6,000 words. Words that you did not hear in the speech -- 'terror,' 'terrorist,' or 'terrorism' -- although the president did talk about the 9-11 attacks and a lot of other topics."
Fox News' commentators also seized on Sammon's framing to attack Obama. On the June 4 edition ofThe O'Reilly Factor, former Bush adviser and Fox News contributor Karl Rove said:
ROVE: He talked about confronting extremism but could never bring himself to say "terrorism." He had eight paragraphs mostly devoted to criticizing the United States and then one paragraph in which he called upon the Muslim world to confront extremism. He was critical constantly of the United States.
Sean Hannity accused Obama of "blaming America first," saying on the June 4 edition of Hannity: "And that is our headline tonight: Blaming America first. Now in his remarks, Mr. Obama refused to use these words -- 'terror,' 'terrorism,' 'terrorist' -- or even that term 'manmade disasters.' But he repeatedly quoted the Quran and even accused Americans of overreacting to the 9-11 terror attacks." Appearing on Hannity's program, Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich agreed with that analysis:
HANNITY: The word "terror" didn't come up. "Terrorism" didn't come up. "Terrorist" didn't come up. "Manmade disaster" didn't come up. Don't you think that that would be -- those would be vital terms to use in a speech like this?
GINGRICH: Well, I think you captured part of what's going on here, which is you have a man who's in considerable conflict with himself. On the one hand, he's trying to reach out to the Muslim world and trying to open up a new dialogue. On the other hand, he just can't help himself in blaming America first and saying things about America.
On June 5, Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy, speaking to Rove, criticized Obama's speech using language very similar to Sammon's email: "President Obama was at Cairo University, he had a 6,000-word speech, and yet, of those 6,000 words, not once did he use the word 'terrorist,' 'terrorism,' or 'terror,' 'war on terror' or any of that stuff." Doocy asked: "What's going on here?" Rove responded:
ROVE: I'll tell you what's even more troubling than that is he did say the word "extremism," he did make it clear that we would fight against those who attacked America on 9-11, he did use the word "Al Qaeda," but in the section of the speech devoted to the war on terror, he had eight paragraphs mostly critical of the United States, and one paragraph in which he called upon the Muslim world to confront extremism that emerged from within.
Sources familiar with the situation in Fox's Washington bureau have toldMedia Matters that Sammon, who became the network's Washington managing editor in February 2009, uses his position to "slant" Fox's news coverage to the right. He has instructed reporters to adopt Republican terminology when reporting on health care reform and to cast doubt on climate change science. Just before the 2008 election, when Sammon was serving as Fox's Washington deputy managing editor, he spearheaded a campaign to link Obama to "Marxists" and "socialism."
During the final days of the 2008 presidential race, Bill Sammon used his position as a top Fox News editor to engage in a campaign to link then-Sen. Barack Obama to "Marxists" and "socialism," internal Fox documents and a review of his televised appearances show.
On October 27, 2008, Sammon sent an email to colleagues highlighting what he described as "Obama's references to socialism, liberalism, Marxism and Marxists" in his 1995 autobiography Dreams From My Father. Shortly after sending the email, Sammon -- then the network's Washington deputy managing editor -- appeared on two Fox News programsto discuss his research and also wrote a FoxNews.com piece about Obama's "affinity to Marxists" that was disseminated throughout the conservative blogosphere.
From: Sammon, Bill
Sent: Monday, October 27, 2008 1:02 PM
To: 069 -Politics; 169 -SPECIAL REPORT; 030 -Root (FoxNews.Com)
Subject: fyi: Obama's references to socialism, liberalism, Marxism and Marxists in his autobiography, "Dreams from My Father." Plus a couple of his many self-described "racial obsessions"...
* "To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists." (Obama writing about his time at Occidental College in "Dreams.")
* After his sophomore year, Obama transferred to Columbia University. He lived on Manhattan's Upper East Side, venturing to the East Village for "thesocialist conferences I sometimes attended at Cooper Union," he recalled, adding: "Much of what I absorbed from the sixties was filtered through my mother, who to the end of her life would proudly proclaim herself an unreconstructed liberal."
* After graduating from Columbia in 1983, Obama spent a year working for a consulting firm and then went to work for "a Ralph Nader offshoot" in Harlem. "In search of some inspiration, I went to hear Kwame Toure, formerly Stokely Carmichael of SNCC and Black Panther fame, speak at Columbia. At the entrance to the auditorium, two women, one black, one Asian, were selling Marxist literature."
During this period, according to Obama, he began a serious romantic relationship.
* "There was a woman in New York that I loved. She was white," Obama wrote in "Dreams." "We saw each other for almost a year. On the weekends, mostly. Sometimes in her apartment, sometimes in mine. You know how you can fall into your own private world? Just two people, hidden and warm. Your own language. Your own customs." But Obama said their relationship was doomed by the racial difference. "I pushed her away," he recalled."The emotion between the races could never be pure; even love was tarnished by the desire to find in the other some element that was missing from ourselves. Whether we sought out our demons or salvation, the other race would always remain just that: menacing, alien, and apart."
* In June 1985, Obama was interviewed in New York by Marty Kaufman, a community organizer from Chicago. Obama recalled: "There was something about him that made me wary. A little too sure of himself, maybe. And white."
By that evening, the subject line of Sammon's email had been inserted -- word-for-word -- into show notes written in preparation for the next morning's Fox & Friends, which featured an appearance by Sammon.
The information in Sammon's email wasn't exactly breaking news. He had already published essentially the same research about Obama's 1995 memoir a year earlier in his book Meet the Next President. But Sammon, who has since been promoted to Washington managing editor, believed the "biased" media were failing to question Obama's purported links to radicals and socialism. Sammon also believed Sen. John McCain's campaign could gain momentum by capitalizing on those links.
For weeks, Sammon had used Fox's airwaves to promote efforts to tie Obama to socialism. On October 14, 2008, Sammon said that Obama's "spread the wealth" remark to Joe the Plumber "is red meat when you're talking to conservatives and you start talking about spread the wealth around. That is tantamount to socialism."
Sammon repeated the "tantamount to socialism" line about Obama's remark later that day, stating: "That's anathema to conservatives. That's the same as saying spread the misery around. That's basically tantamount to socialism. And that bothers a lot of people. So I think if McCain is going to have any chance of moving ahead, he's got to turn this economic discussion from something that's been hurting him for the last couple of weeks to something that can help him by focusing on what to do about the economy in the future."
On October 21, 2008, Sammon appeared on Greta Van Susteren's show, where he referred to Bill Ayers "talking about being a Marxist." Sammon then said, "I have read Barack Obama's books pretty carefully, and he in his own words talks about being drawn to Marxists. ... Now all this stuff's coming out about whether he's a socialist. I don't know why anyone is surprised by it, because if you read his own words and his sort of, you know, orientation coming up as a liberal through college and as a young man, it's not a huge shock."
Sammon appeared on Fox & Friends' October 25, 2008, program and said that the McCain campaign "has now picked up this socialism word on their own, and they're running with it. I think it's their one opportunity that they have to turn this economy into something that actually works for their campaign because as you know, for weeks the economy has been killing the McCain campaign and I think this helps them."
Then, on October 27, 2008, the Drudge Report posted audio of a 2001radio interview with Obama. Fox News and conservative commentators distortedthe interview, with some falsely claiming that Obama said it was a "tragedy" that the Supreme Court had not pursued "redistribution of wealth."
It was in this context Sammon sent his "Marxism" email to journalists at Fox.
Less than 90 minutes after sending the email, Sammon appeared on the October 27, 2008, broadcast of Fox's Live Desk -- one of Fox's supposedly straight news daytime programs -- to discuss, in co-anchor Martha MacCallum's words, how "quotes that you found earlier in one of Barack Obama's books" relate to questions about whether Obama's policies are "socialism." Sammon said Obama was "drawn to Marxists" and "socialists." Sammon declared that Obama had been posturing "as a moderate" when "his heart is really towards the hard left."
"If you read the autobiography of Barack Obama as I have done, his first autobiography, it's very telling," Sammon said. "He talks about these words that are being tossed around now. Socialism, liberalism, and Marxism came up in this Biden interview with this TV anchor, and Barack Obama talks about these terms in his books. And he was drawn to Marxists, and he was drawn to liberals, and he was drawn to socialists by his own admission as a young man."
MacCallum responded that Obama's past writings are "relevant at this time" because "there's been so much discussion about socialism, and Marxism."
When asked if he thought Obama might have changed his views over time, Sammon suggested Obama had not. Sammon cited the National Journal's ranking of "Obama as the most liberal member of the Senate" and said: "It wasn't just some random thing. He really is a liberal guy despite the way he postures, and has sort of been portrayed by the mainstream media as a very reasonable moderate kind of guy."
The next morning, October 28, 2008, Sammon appeared on Fox & Friends to discuss, in co-host Gretchen Carlson's words, how Obama "might agree" with claims that he's linked to Marxism. Sammon again quoted Obama's writing to claim he "may be a little bit more liberal than he presents himself."
Internal show notes compiled by Fox News producer Jennifer Cunningham in preparation for the program show that the segment was built around Sammon's email.
----- Original Message -----
From: Cunningham, Jennifer
To: 044 -Web Show Producers; 064 -Desk Assignment; 069 -Politics; 081- Radio; 085 - DC Booking; 100 -Media Relations; 162 -Promos; Brown, David; Glick, Alexis; Magee, Kevin; Moody, John; Scott, Suzanne; Shine, Bill; Tammero, Michael; Wallace, Jay
Sent: Mon Oct 27 18:17:41 2008
Subject: FOX & FRIENDS GUESTS FOR TUESDAY OCTOBER. 28 - EXACTLY 1 WEEK BEFORE ELECTION DAY
FOX & FRIENDS GUESTS FOR TUESDAY OCTOBER. 28 - EXACTLY 1 WEEK BEFORE ELECTION DAY
5:59 (A-BLOCK) COLD OPEN // QUICK TEASE
// News HEADLINES // TALKING POINTS
WX BUMP OUT TO TEASE
----------------------
6:15 (B-BLOCK) - 2 STORIES
AMANDA CARPENTER - DEMS PLAYBOOK SHOWS DIRTY TACTICS ((DC BUREAU))
----------------------
6:22 (C-BLOCK) - 2 STORIES ((ANCHOR))
& BILL SAMMON - FYI: OBAMA'S REFERENCES TO SOCIALISM, LIBERALISM, MARXISM AND MARXISTS IN HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY, "DREAMS FROM MY FATHER." PLUS A COUPLE OF HIS MANY SELF-DESCRIBED "RACIAL OBSESSIONS"... (( FOX DC ))
>> BDAY IN TEASE
----------------------
"Joe Biden calls links to Obama and Marxism ridiculous, but there's somebody that might agree with those statements: Barack Obama," Carlson began. "He writes in his book Dreams From My Father that in college, he chose his friends carefully so as not to appear a sellout. Among his friends, Marxist professors; among his activities, attending socialist conferences."
Carlson asked Sammon to respond to the Obama campaign's statement that attempts to link Obama to socialism were, in Carlson's words, "a fake news story and that Fox is to blame for it."
"Well I say that it's interesting to go back and look at what this young guy's political leanings were when he was in college and shortly after college, and it is interesting," Sammon replied. "I mean, now that the words Marxist and socialist are being thrown around out there in the news cycle I thought it was interesting to go back and revisit what Barack himself said about Marxists and socialists in his book and it turns out he was drawn to Marxists and socialists as a young man."
Sammon added, "Now, let's be clear, I mean people had political ideologies in college that they don't necessarily have later in life. But I do think it indicates that he may be a little bit more liberal than he presents himself." Sammon went on to cite Obama's National Journal ranking. (For criticism of the National Journal ranking, see here.)
Sammon's attempts to link Obama to radicalism were reflected in Fox News' graphics. While Sammon spoke, on-air text read: "The Real Barack Obama; Aligned W/ Marxists, Socialists"; "Obama's Radical Past; Chose Friends W/ Marxist"; "Obama's Chosen Friends; Marxist Profs & Structural Feminists"; and "Obama's Racial Divide; 'Emotion B/W Races Never Be Pure.'"
That same day, October 28, 2008, FoxNews.com posted a piece by Sammon under the headline: "Obama Affinity to Marxists Dates Back to College Days."
Sammon wrote: "Obama laughs off charges of socialism. ... But Obama himself acknowledges that he was drawn to socialists and even Marxists as a college student. He continued to associate with Marxists later in life, even choosing to launch his political career in the living room of a self-described Marxist, William Ayers, in 1995, when Obama was 34. Obama's affinity for Marxists began when he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles."
Sammon added, "Obama has been widely criticized for choosing the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, an anti-American firebrand, as his pastor. Wright is a purveyor of black liberation theology, which analysts say is based in part on Marxist ideas."
Sammon was frustrated with other media outlets' coverage of Obama.
"Let me be clear: The media is biased," Sammon said on the October 23, 2008, edition of Live Desk. "I have spent a lifetime in the media. I spent ten years as a White House correspondent surrounded by my friends from other major news organizations. They're liberals. They just are."
On the October 27, 2008, edition of Live Desk, while discussing Obama's Dreams passages, Sammon complained that the media weren't forcing Obama to reconcile his campaign platform with the excerpts from his memoir.
"I hate to blame the media for everything, but he just hasn't been asked those kinds of tough questions."
In February 2009, Sammon became the managing editor of Fox's Washington, D.C., bureau.
In a staff memo announcing the promotion, John Moody, then-Fox News executive vice president of news editorial, thanked Sammon for bringing "energy, leadership and inspired thinking to his role as Deputy Managing editor over the past six months."
