Media Matters has acquired of audio from a cruise in 2009 in which Fox News Vice President and Washington Managing Editor Bill Sammon admits to knowingly pushing a false narrative that Barack Obama is a socialist. Sammon says, "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." Greg Sargent responds to Sammon's "clarification," in which Sammon basically says it's okay because Obama did turn out to be a socialist. :
That's pretty remarkable. Sammon is conceding that the idea did indeed strike him as far fetched in 2008, even though he and his network aggressively promoted it day in and day out throughout the campaign. And he's defending this by pointing out that the idea ended up gaining traction, as if this somehow justifies the original act of dishonesty!
Now, Sammon is also claiming here that Obama's behavior in office ultimately persuaded him that the original diagnosis of Obama as a socialist turned out to be correct after all. That in itself, of course, is also a ridiculous falsehood. But that aside, the bottom line here is that he doesn't regret having spread an idea he personally found far-fetched, because so doing helped ensure that the far-fetched idea ultimately gained widespread acceptance. That's a peculiar attitude for a “news” executive, isn't it?
I disagree with this characterization--I'd say Sammon is retroactively justifying having lied on the basis that enough people now believe Obama is a socialist that he can convince himself of the charge's original veracity. This also begs the question--what other elements of Fox's "news" coverage is driven by charges they know to be false?
At the very least, there's an opportunity for a new slogan here for the network.
Fox News: We lie to you. But it's okay, because you believe it.
