On Wednesday, White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer explained that President Obama has serious problems with the Drudge Report, the powerhouse website that drives much of talk radio and the news cycle. Drudge, said Pfeiffer, “hurts” the Obama message – unlike Politico, the source to whom Pfeiffer whined. “Anyone saying anything can get caught up in the spin cycle in a way that is very damaging,” Pfeiffer told Mike Allen of Politico. “It hurts what we’re trying to do, but then it is very damaging to that individual person.”
Pfeiffer said that when reporters say they are asking about a story because it is on Drudge, he gives them the evil eye: “I sort of ask them to repeat themselves – say that to themselves out loud again and think about it. And everyone’s always a little embarrassed about it and says, ‘My boss – my assignment editor’s on me about this.'”
For Pfeiffer to quiz reporters on why they ask about certain stories rather than answering their questions on the stories is silly in and of itself. For him to question why reporters should ask about stories covered by Drudge is insipid, considering how much traffic Drudge drives – and for good reason. Presumably, reporters would not be embarrassed asking about stories they saw at the Los Angeles Times website, ranked #150 on Alexa. Drudge is ranked #92. In other words, reporters should only ask about stories they’ve seen at administration-approved outlets. No wonder the media is such an echo chamber for the Obama White House.
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the book “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).