Obama: 24-Hour News Cycle Feeding Anger

(CBS)  President Obama said the much-discussed protests and anger projected at his administration is in part fueled by the 24-hour news cycle and new media.

He told "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer that cable news and blogs, operating on a 24/7 news cycle, "focus on the most extreme elements on both sides. They can't get enough of the conflict - it's catnip to the media right now."

Given this environment, the president bemoaned, "it is more difficult for us to solve the problems" Congress and his administration face.

He argued that protest is an intrinsic part of the democratic debate - "that's not new."

More from "Face the Nation" (9/20/09):
Obama: No Higher Taxes With Health Reform
No Answer on More Troops in Afghanistan
Obama: Moscow Move 'Bonus' of Missile Plan
Full Transcript: Obama on 'Face the Nation'

"Every president who has tried to bring about big changes, I think, elicits the most passionate responses," he said, giving as examples Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan

He insisted that he has no intention of making government bigger and more powerful - a central charge of his opponents.

"[I] think what's driving passions right now is that health care has become a proxy for a broader set of issues about how much government should be involved in our economy."

Finally, President Obama said, "even though we're having a passionate disagreement here, we can be civil to each other."

Later in the interview, pre-taped Friday at the White House, the President implied that he would let Attorney General Eric Holder press on with his investigations of CIA interrogations conducted after September 11, 2001, even after seven former CIA directors sent him a letter asking him to reverse the plan.

"I don't want witch hunts taking place," he said, but "he's got to make judgement[s] in terms of what has occurred. My understanding is it's not a criminal investigation at this point."

[doc_holliday76]

by bcpats:
"Still on the campaign trail !! No, Bush did not go out on media blitzes"
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Sure he did, but maybe you missed all those media blitzes with all those vacations in crawford gulch, texass.

[bcpats]

Still on the campaign trail !! No, Bush did not go out on media blitzes - - he was the President tending to business.

The comments here are soooo left-leaning with the acerbic, non-substance rhetoric, name calling, put-down remarks with such psuedo-intellect to twist statements and facts to suit their cause is quite enlightening to say the least.

I am an "independent" - - I watch CBS and CNN as well as FOX. NBC and MSNBC are jut too left for me ( and owned by Immelt), and Hannity is too right.

[doc_holliday76]

by bcpats:
"Still on the campaign trail !! No, Bush did not go out on media blitzes"
----------------------------------




Aaaaah....you must have been totally asleep while the busheviks criscrossed the country in AF-1, selling their "trickle-down" economic lunacy of tax cuts for the wealthiest (their base) and then had the GOP congresscritters pass these failed policies by reconciliation.


GOP Senators Who Used Budget Reconciliation To ...GOP Senators Who Used Budget Reconciliation To Pass Bush Agenda Items ... The 2001 Bush Tax Cuts [HR 1836, 3/26/01] ? The 2003 Bush Tax Cuts [HR 2, 3/23/03] ...
thinkprogress.org/2009/03/24/budget-reconciliation/

[pepperwood2]

Stein: Democrats Are Elitists and Fat Cats ..... Says Party's Contempt for Tea Party Protesters is Un-American, and Not Helpful at Polling Booths.

That's James slick Carvelle - Jimmy peanut brain Carter - coming to provide lip service for BO & His Band of Elite Czars. It's time for these Fat Cat Elite Liberals to do away with their Elite Politics and get back to doing the work of The American People.

Ben has it right - whether it is dry lies, red lies, or clear lies these Liberal Fat Cats just enjoy looking down and taxing The American People. Tax & Spend - The Charges we have enough of and can count on. So Sad!

[doc_holliday76]

"Look, some of what is coming out of the Tea Parties baffles me and I don't care for it." -- ben stein
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by pepperwood2:
"Says Party's Contempt for Tea Party Protesters is Un-American"
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Nah, most people are just sick of the teabaggers total HYPOCRISY, after the past 8 miserable years of bushworld and doubling the national debt!

[lseeber]

Now you know what the republicans (and yeah, there are a few of us)have been having to deal with for the past 8 years. The libs only have to fear or dread fox news (whom they claim makes up stories because they can't be confused with the facts) and we had to tolerate abc,cbs,nbc,cnn,msnbc,pbs and others. You guys have 1 media outlet contradicting you or bringing up things you'd rather they not and you can't handle it.

[doc_holliday76]

by lseeber:
"...we had to tolerate abc,cbs,nbc,cnn,msnbc,pbs and others."
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Do you really believe that one entertainment source so obviously biased to the right, is giving you anything close to the "truth," and ALL the rest of the corporate media is conspiring against the rabid right?

No wonder why you and your ilk swallow glen beck's conspiracy theories!

[GuyfromUSA]

Does Obama have any idea what he's doing?

[rightbehind]

You bet! Don't see many credit default swaps, hedge funds, derivatives around these days. The economics of dung are in the rear view mirror!

[jsilver2th]

I find the President's remarks very interesting and insightful- and very much like the criticism aimed at the cable new networks by Lynne Cheney.

[ianlou]

These Teabaggers are going to get a rude suprise when their protests turn violent and they are denied medical insurance coverage for their injuries when the insurance companies deem "uncontrollable anger" a pre-existing condition.

[AOCGUY]

Ironically this has already happened. During a rally I belive last month a fight broke out where an anti-Obama attendee was hurt. Ironically, he did not have insurance and there has been a collection to raise funds to pay his medical bills.

[nomostew]

Yeah, the nerve of that guy, asking for civility, reason, facts, honest debate. Doesn't he know the right is just always right, no matter what? I mean, it's right there in the name - the "right." Sheesh. The Laffer curve deficits, the war in Iraq, deregulation of speculative finance - how could we have gotten those things if we'd used "reason"? What a weenie.

[payback108]

So doing five sunday morning talk shows did not add fuel to the fire?

[ianlou]

Next, the republicans will accuse Obama of dragging his teleprompter to all these interviews. I don't remember Bush allowing himself to be interviewed by anyone.

The most dangerous man to the Republican Party is an intelligent, articulate Democrat with a cause.

The most valuable man to the Republican Party is someone stupid enough to do whatever he is told by the wealthy.

[quapawsix]

I see the Human race still has a long way to go before we learn to get along and help one another. And yes the 24hr media does fuel the fires.

[velma179]

DL713..

Your grasp of history is questionable, at best.

But your statement "...created a demand for Talk Radio and FoxNews, to fulfill a demand for all the people to have access to the brand of truth they want." -- is beyond question, wrong minded.

Access to the BRAND of truth they want...?

Truth is not something that can be manipulated to fit different "BRANDS" (aka ideologies).

Yes, opinion will change according to point of view... but truth is not relative to "what you want to hear".

Dang! No wonder folks like you buy into biased reporting and commentary... you just want to hear what you, yourself can buy into.

This is far more dangerous than the erroneous, but often repeated assertion that "mainstream media" has a liberal/left bias. With a scintilla of objectivity you'd see that is not true... but your subjective statement proves you just plain don't like it when things are presented from a different point of view than your own narrow opinion.

Sheesh... that's just plain WRONG!

[ianlou]

by DL713 September 20, 2009 3:04 PM EDT
"...That created a market for Talk Radio and FoxNews, to fulfill a demand for all the people to have access to the brand of truth that they want..."

I congratulate you for using the term "Brand of Truth" instead of just "Truth"

Realising that "Truth" is in the eye of the beholder is very astute.
Unfortunetly, it may cost you your secret GOP encoder ring.