IOKIYAR

For the uninitiated IOKIYAR is an acronym for "Its Ok If You're A Republican". Basically it denotes the double standard that Democrats are held to as opposed to their Republican counterparts. Glenzilla crushes the Wall Street Wing Nut Journal's editorial page for their criticism of President Obama with respect to him having a pre-selected list of names to call on for his press conference. You see this was just terrible and a travesty, especially since President Bush never did it. Except when he did.

Wall St. Journal Editorial Page, today:

About half-way through President Obama's press conference Monday night, he had an unscripted question of his own. "All, Chuck Todd," the President said, referring to NBC's White House correspondent. "Where's Chuck?" He had the same strange question about Fox News's Major Garrett: "Where's Major?". . . .

The President was running down a list of reporters preselected to ask questions. The White House had decided in advance who would be allowed to question the President and who was left out. . . .

We doubt that President Bush, who was notorious for being parsimonious with follow-ups, would have gotten away with prescreening his interlocutors.

Ari Fleischer, Tuesday night, The Bill O'Reilly Show:

O'REILLY: Look, [Obama] had those guys written down, who he was going to call on. Now, in other press conferences, they'd just look around and go: "this one, that one, this one" - correct?

FLEISCHER: Well, George Bush never did that. . . . Writing it down gives the President more control.

O’REILLY: OK, so George Bush came in with a list of guys he was going to call on?

FLEISCHER: Yes, I used to prepare it for him. I would give him a grid, show him where every reporter is seated. And there are some reporters, you know, in that briefing room, you can imagine, Bill, you get a lot of dot coms and other oddballs who come in there. They’re screened.

O’REILLY: Like the Huffington Post. Now it gets called on.

FLEISCHER: And I used to seat them all in one section. I would call it "Siberia." And I told the President, "Don’t call on Siberia."

Eric Boehlert, Lapdogs:

At one point while making his way through the press questioners, Bush awkwardly referred to a list of reporters whom he was instructed to call on. "This is scripted," he joked. The press laughed. But Bush meant it was scripted, literally. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer later admitted he compiled Bush's cheat sheet, which made sure he did not call on reporters from some prominent outlets like Time, Newsweek, USA Today, or the Washington Post.

Michael Crowley, The New York Observer:

In fact, the [] only moment of candor [of the March 6, 2003 Press Conference] may have come when Mr. Bush admitted during the conference that he was calling on reporters according to his pre-arranged list of names, which his press secretary, Ari Fleischer, later copped to preparing.

"This is scripted," Mr. Bush joked.

Strangely, many reporters laughed at this remarkable joke, which had the additional benefit of being true

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Deliberate deceit or complete editorial recklessness from The Wall St. Journal Editorial Page? And which is worse? Are there any limits at all to the factually false claims newspapers can spew without correction? We'll see

Now I have been thinking about this for awhile, especially as it pertains to FauxNooz's actual news shows which just like its opinion shows flog Republican talking points and make concerted efforts to spread patently false anti liberal/progressive propaganda. Well I for one am not an advocate for the fairness doctrine but I do believe that shows that promote themselves as news sources SHOULD be held to a higher standard. So I would propose legislation that allows the FCC to fine, suspend or cancel news shows that are found to have reported factually incorrect stories on purpose because of a particular political bent and or financial a financial conflict of interest or because of gross negligence repeatedly. To me that would pressure EVERYONE to raise their game up and it would make them live up to the standards set by the founding fathers when they wrote in the protections for the press in the 1st Amendment of the Constitution. Many of these shows do not at all deserve those protections nor do they deserve to try to pass themselves off as arbiters of the truth and the news. I believe just like you have truth in advertising laws when it comes to consumer goods we should be able to institute truth in advertising laws where it comes to shows promoting themselves as being reporters of the news. If we can punish the makers of a birth control pill for making false claims about its benefits, we should be able to punish a news source for making false claims about ability to uncover and report the truth. What say you?