August 13, 2009 News Corp
(Nicole:) I'm not a big fan of Democrats appearing on Fox News. In general, I think it legitimizes an outlet that is neither fair nor balanced and moreover, decidedly not NEWS.
However, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX18) does a pretty good job of keeping control of the interview and render host Greta Van Susteren's attempted sandbagging fairly impotent.
Jackson Lee was criticized--somewhat fairly--for appearing to take a cell phone call while being confronted by an alleged cancer survivor, Tracy Miller (who has apparently been training to be a teabagger). As Jackson Lee explains, she is actually talking to the White House-installed hot line that helps congresspeople address specific points of the health care reform bill to their constituents.
No matter how hard Van Susteren tries to say pin down Jackson Lee with how unconscionably rude she was to be on the phone (I guess the promoting of town halls disruptions with mob scenes and screaming scare tactics like death panels is the height of decorum), Jackson Lee insists that no offense was intended and that she was simply trying to get the information to her constituents that they deserve.
Again, Democrats, if you MUST appear on Fox, this is how you do it: have your message clear, do not deviate from it and do not allow the hosts to frame the debate.
