Forty years ago--on November 13, 1969, to be exact--Vice President Spiro Agnew set the political world on fire with his attacks on the liberal media. "Nattering nabobs of negativism" was perhaps his most famous line. Agnew became a hero to the right, and a pariah to the left. An incredibly polarizing figure of his time.
Of course, things worked out poorly for Agnew in the end. He was forced to resign in a scandal in 1973. That scandal, of course, was unrelated to his anti-media comments, but when the scandal broke, he found that he had relatively few friends.
Ever since, the general wisdom has held that launching attacks on the media from the White House is not such a good idea. And that wisdom has been echoed in the current debate, with such establishmentarian figures as David Gergen counseling the White House against its current course.
Indeed, for awhile, it seemed to me that this was going to be Anita Dunn's fight--and she has announced plans to leave her post as White House communications director. President Obama, for example, when asked by a schoolchild why he was so disliked in some quarters, chose not to join in on Dunn's fight. Which, of course, was wise of him.
But now two genuine bigfoots inside the WH, Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, have followed the lead of Dunn, not Obama.
On different Sunday shows this morning, they both jumped into the anti-Fox fray, on CNN and ABC, respectively.
Just in time for the Agnew anniversary.
