Over the last few days there has been an explosion of stories regarding a Fox News report that claimed Fox was, initially, deliberately snubbed by the Treasury Department. Only after other networks in the press pool objected to the exclusion was Fox added to the list of participants, with Major Garrett eventually conducting the interview in question. From Fox:

The Obama administration on Thursday failed in its attempt to exclude Fox News from participating in an interview of an administration official, as Republicans on Capitol Hill stepped up their criticism of the hardball tactics employed by the White House.

Pushback on the story was immediate. The contrary narrative was that in no way was Fox ever deliberately excluded from anything, and by no means did the “real” networks ever defend Fox. From Talking Points Memo:

The network pool crew noticed Fox wasn’t on the list, was told that they hadn’t asked and the crew said they needed to be included. Treasury called the White House and asked top Obama adviser Anita Dunn. Dunn said yes and Fox’s Major Garrett was among the correspondents to interview Feinberg last night.

The story included a statement from the Treasury department that said there was “no plot to exclude Fox News, and they had the same interview that their competitors did. Much ado about absolutely nothing.”

After Talking Points Memo and other outlets began to question the details of Fox News’ initial report, the online left in blogs and on Twitter seized on this as an example of dishonesty on the part of Fox. Salon.com editor Joan Walsh went so far as to refer to it as a “hoax” on her twitter feed, a sentiment in common with some at DailyKos. Washington Monthly’s Political Animal blog declared “Fox News surely knows that this ‘controversy’ is not what it appears to be, but the network pushed it anyway, hoping to score some cheap points and desperate to position itself as a victim.”

The most popular quote, though, was from White House spokesman Josh Earnest, who told TPM that “this White House has demonstrated our willingness to exclude Fox News from newsmaking interviews, but yesterday we did not.”

“Simple as that,” said Talking Points Memo. Only it turns out, not quite.

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I realize you are all very busy cashing enormous checks from health care lobbyists and engaging in mob activity at town halls (with your old people and your sandals and whatnot), but please allow me to interrupt briefly with a story far too delightful to allow its passing unremarked.

This is a tale of Keith Olbermann: sportscaster, eye-glasses wearer, living comedy routine and, according to multiple left wing sources of late, a blatant liar. Actually, I believe Keith’s favorite way of saying it is ‘bald-faced’ liar. Just what is it (this time) this bald face is lying about? Oh, this is so where it gets fun. It’s not even one of those, ‘get the popcorn’ moments. This is like, you write in to popcorn forum … “Dear Orville, I never thought these stories were true until it happened to me.”

Wait, before we go on, I just want to throw this out there. Clark Kent was the worst secret identity ever. Right? He looked just like Superman, they were never in the same place at the same time, and just like Supe, Clark was a goody-two-shoes boyscout. But with glasses. Right? Obvious. See, if I were a super-hero, I would make my secret identity like, the biggest douche in the world. Like, the hugest. So no one would EVER think to suspect him. Plus he’d wear glasses. See where I’m going? Hey, I’m just trying to find some kind of balance in the universe, you know what I mean?

Anyway, back to the story. It all starts with an article that ran in the New York Times a few weeks ago. In it, a supposed truce between MSNBC and Fox News, and in particular between O’Reilly and Olbermann, was said to have been arranged by the network bigwigs. You see, Keith had been accusing Bill of being responsible for the murder of abortion doctor George Tiller, a sentiment cheered by the 23 people in Keith’s audience. In return, Bill led an effective campaign of boycotts and letter-writing against MSNBC parent, GE. I would say things got ugly, but considering the participants in this fiasco it should go without saying. Ergo, at last, the truce.

Not so fast, said Keith to three different cameras. No doubt out of fear of being seen as a “sell-out” by his kostituency, Olbermann went on the air with a worst persons in the world segment blasting the article, Bill O, and Fox News. He declared his independence, presumably from MSNBC not Kos, and then posted about it at, yes, DailyKos. Keith blogged that “there is no ‘deal’ between MSNBC and Fox over what we can and cannot cover. This is part of a continuing strategy of blackmail by Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes, that reaches back to 2004, and has as its goal the cancellation of ‘Countdown.’”

So. Definitive? Yes. Problem Solved? Not so much.

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Link:

Instantly opening a rift among New York Democrats, Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand - a little-known, pro-gun Democrat from a rural Republican district - won appointment Friday to the Senate seat left vacant by Hillary Rodham Clinton. Gov. David Paterson announced his choice a day after presumed front-runner Caroline Kennedy - a woman with considerably more star power but less experience - mysteriously dropped out of contention in an embarrassing turn of events that touched off sniping between the governor and the Kennedy camp.

Gillibrand, at 42, will be the youngest member of the Senate and one of 17 women in the chamber. The second-term congresswoman will assume the seat once held by Kennedy’s uncle Robert F. Kennedy as well as by Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

“For many in New York state, this is the first time you’ve heard my name and you don’t know much about me,” said Gillibrand (pronounced JILL-ih-brand). “Over the next two years, you will get to know me. And, more importantly, I will get to know you.”

Before the governor even took the podium to introduce Gillibrand, anti-gun crusader Rep. Carolyn McCarthy said she would challenge Gillibrand in the Democratic primary next year, or find someone who would. Gillibrand has a 100 percent voting record with the National Rifle Association.

McCarthy, a Long Island Democrat who ran for Congress after her husband was shot to death and her son wounded in the 1993 Long Island Rail Road massacre, said someone with such a record should not be the next senator from New York.

“The majority of New Yorkers believe in trying to reduce gun violence,” she said.

Her complaint was echoed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent who has been one of the nation’s most vocal gun control advocates. In a statement, the mayor noted his “strong disagreement with one area of her record as a member of Congress: illegal guns.”

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