I honestly believed by going on Fox news, Pres Obama would have been able to discuss everything on his terms.
Can't cut the microphone off, because he's the President. Not only would that be disrespectful, but it would also be such a blatant act of disrespect, not to mention the desperation of a network trying to keep their viewers from the truth.
They also wouldn't have been able to switch to commercial as soon as the President responds, what would be the point of the interview if they didn't want the President to speak.
So what do they do, interrupt him so many times, that even the coolest, most patient man in this country gets a little irritated.
I give props to Barack Obama for going into the liar's lion den. We need more Democrats to do this and overload Fox News with the truth. They'll end up having to turn down Democratic guest because of their need to keep political viewpoints imbalanced.
Also, somebody fire Bret Baier, this man can't interview people because his attention span is too short. Either that, or he was commanded to interrupt Barack Obama every time he spoke. I feel that if this was George W. Bush, he would have been given an unlimited amount of time to sputter out those incoherent statements he's so famous for.
But then maybe that's just giving Fox too much credit. Why hold a interview with him if you won't even allow him to respond to your questions? They wanted to embarass the President in front of all those viewers shivering with anticipation at his mistakes. They wanted to piss the President off to try and bring out the "angry black man". They wanted him to say something that they could take out of context and then turn it around on him, just to further enrage the teabaggers to take it a step further than just carrying guns around his events.
It pisses me off, because out of all we had to endure under Bush, and all the respect we had to show him when he didn't deserve any of it. If you're going to have the President on your show, let him speak and say what he has to say. If he lies, correct him.
We see what happens when you tell the truth on Fox:
Excerpts from AP
"Bret, you've got to let me finish my answers," Obama told Baier, the news channel's White House correspondent during the Bush administration.
"Sir," Baier responded, "I know you don't like to filibuster, but ..."
"Well," Obama said in cutting him off again, "I'm trying to answer your question and you keep on interrupting."
Baier first asked about the latest efforts in the House to pass the bill, which elicited Obama's standard talking points about the benefits of the overhaul effort. Baier tried to bring Obama back to the question.
"Bret, let me finish," Obama said.
An unhappy Obama completed his answer . . .
As a commentator pointed out, it seems AP has gone a little Conservative. If they think that all Pres Obama is doing is parroting out the same talking points, while it seems to them Bret's interview is worthy even of Rachel Maddow's envy.
"Let me insert this," Baier said, trying to regain control of the conversation by citing some of the 18,000 questions Fox News viewers had sent to him ahead of the interview. The two he mentioned were critical of what they called bribery and trickery to pass a bill supposedly good for the country.
"Bret, I get 40,000 letters or e-mails a day," Obama said.
"I don't want to interrupt you," he said, trying to get one last question into the interview and drawing a smile from Obama.
Baier wrapped up the interview by noting the tension.
"I apologize for interrupting you, sir," he said. "I tried to get the most for our buck here."
Yeah right, you have no respect and to try to apologize for intentionally interrupting THE PRESIDENT, it's too late for all that.
Update: Video posted by ferallike in comments, placed here in diary for your pleasure:
Update II: Just finished the Newsweek article, here are the interesting bits, and the explanation for the President's appearance on Fox:
A White House official told Mark Knoller of CBS tonight that part of the motivation the President's appearence on Fox was a belief that many undecided House Democrats and their constituents watch it. Evidently Obama was trying to make a closing pitch for his plan, emphasizing again the benefits of reform for the sick and underinsured. But Baier didn't let the President have his way.
What was unusual - and at times downright jarring - was Baier's repeated interruptions. He tried time and again to pin the President down, but Obama was having none of it. "I think this conversation ends up being a little frustrating is because the focus entirely is on Washington process. And yes, I have said it, that is an ugly process. It was ugly when Republicans were in charge, it was ugly were in Democrats were in charge," he told Baier.
It was certainly out of the ordinary for a Presidential interview, and after a while, watching him badger Obama over process questions became irritating.
The President too seemed a little exasperated, asking Baier three times to let him finish his answers, and once accusing him of interrupting. Still, it's good viewing.