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Did Shep Smith Suggest That The White House May Have Manipulated Speech Night?

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In the event that anyone was wondering why the Republican party did not put forth an on-camera response to President Obama‘s job speech tonight, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith explained much of the last minute schedule changes the led to the GOP to only issue a written statement from Speaker Boehner‘s office. In doing so, Smith seemed to insinuate that the White House might have manipulated the evening to squeeze out the GOP response, before praising them for an effective job of doing it.

Here is the big picture on all of this. You may have noticed there is no Republican response on camera. Right? Why was that? Remember the speech was supposed to be yesterday and then there was something or other that happened with the Republicans and the White House that’s murky, depending who you talk to. Then the speech was tonight. Football begins on another network in a few minutes. So there might not have been time. The last thing the Republicans want to do is stepping on the first game of the football season.

So the president comes out and just before this speech, the White House sent out an advisory to all of the news media that this would last 43 minutes without applause. Didn’t start ’til 9 minutes after the hour. That’s not what happened. This speech lasted 32 minutes and 43 seconds. Total, including applause. Which leaves us all this time to talk at the end. We give analysis and the White House puts out about a credible threat and now we’ve gotten word from our producer on capitol hill that Eric Holder will be sending out a bulletin on this shortly.

Producers love to produce programs. White Houses love to produce evenings. They produced this evening and it appears to me from their perspective, they might have done an effective job of it.

After Shep described the events, guest Gerri Willis asked “are you feeling manipulated?” before other guests tipped their hat at the choreography of the evening.

Watch the clip below, courtesy of Fox News:

Speaker Boehner’s statement:

“American families and small businesses are hurting, and they are looking for the White House and Congress to seek common ground and work together to help get our economy back on track. Republicans have laid out a blueprint for economic growth and job creation – our Plan for America’s Job Creators – that focuses on one thing: removing government barriers to private-sector job growth.

“The proposals the President outlined tonight merit consideration. We hope he gives serious consideration to our ideas as well. It’s my hope that we can work together to end the uncertainty facing families and small businesses, and create a better environment for long-term economic growth and private-sector job creation.”

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  • troy l bowen

    what a jack ass this reporter is, well it comes from the unbalance and unfair Fox News   shame on you

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ECYBIXNKAG5E46BC3GCJQPA7CQ well_its_no_cannibal_holocaust

    “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated”-Johnny Rotten at Winterland

  • B W

    Uh, derp-derp… Of course the White House was going to manipulate the evening. Is this any different than what Presidential Administrations have been doing for 30 years? Not surprised, nor do I really care, either.

  • Norbit

    HA!
    What about using the DOJ, EPA, HUD, Labor, and the rest to impose the same failed ideology that’s burning Europe down…and here you can throw in crony-capitaism as well.

  • Nancillarypeloslinton

    Opinion: What if we Blamed Obama for the IHOP Shooting? Crazy, Huh?
    Wednesday, September 07, 2011 – 01:49 PMBy Karol MarkowiczEnlargePresident Barack Obama (Getty Images/Getty)
    Read. Argue. Listen. Act.More
    To have the president shrug at these sorts of comments from someone on his own side, while sharing a stage, is a problem.— Karol MarkowiczIf you’re looking for someone to blame for the horrific shooting of National Guardsmen at a Carson, Nevada IHOP yesterday look no further: I blame president Obama.Allow me connect the dots.On Labor Day Monday, the day before the shooting, the president took to the stage in Detroit to address a Labor Day Rally. Shortly before Obama’s speech, Teamster leader James Hoffa spoke. Calling Republicans “sons of bitches” he assured the president that “this is your army. We are ready to march” and that it was time to take the other side “out”. The president didn’t disavow the remarks when he spoke shortly thereafter which would imply, if he were a Republican and the media cared about covering it, that he agreed with Hoffa.Obviously the crazed Carson gunman heard the call to arms and shot at military members, a segment of the population traditionally aligned with those Republicans he was instructed to “take out.” Taking the president’s silence as tacit agreement, the gunman followed the instructions given to him. President Obama really should apologize to the families of the dead and to the country.No? That sounds crazy? Is it disgusting that someone would take a tragedy like the one in Carson and distort and politicize it? Are you repulsed that someone would even make this kind of ridiculous, random and unfounded connection? Welcome to our world, liberals.Did you think the same thing when Sarah Palin was essentially blamed for the shooting in Tuscon? Was it ok that the NY Times pushed the line that “rhetoric”, especially rhetoric on the right, was to blame for the actions of a deranged man, even after it became crystal clear that it wasn’t?Writes the brilliant Allahpundit:Speaking of change, my favorite part of the Hoffa story is the left’s defense that he was talking specifically about voting when he called for taking those tea-party “sons of bitches” out. That’s super, but the whole point of the “new tone” demagoguery after Tucson was that intent doesn’t matter. Go re-read Palin’s Facebook post from March 2010 showcasing the crosshairs map that the media would make famous 10 months later.Sample quote: “This is just the first salvo in a fight to elect people across the nation who will bring common sense to Washington.” Elections. Voting. And yet it didn’t matter to our liberal betters after Giffords was shot; the argument then was that the political “climate” in America had become so heated that it was irresponsible to use violent rhetoric or imagery even in service to a perfectly pedestrian nonviolent call for voter turnout.Remember? We were all going to clean up our language lest the scrambled brains of the Jared Loughners of the world derive some sort of incitement to murder from them where none was intended.It’s been months since Tucson but it’s hard to forget the repulsive behavior exhibited by so many on the left. The finger-pointing in the wake of that tragedy was unacceptable and unforgettable. To have the president shrug at these sorts of comments from someone on his own side, while sharing a stage, is a problem.As with so many ridiculous things president Obama does, I invite you to imagine if it were a Republican president instead. It would be wall to wall coverage of Hoffa’s comments, probably interspersed with footage of the Republican shaking his hand, taking the same stage, etc. If you believe in fairness, and you so much as mentioned “rhetoric” or Sarah Palin’s map after Tucson, there’s only one thing to do today: hold president Obama accountable for the Carson shootings.Born in the Soviet Union and raised in Brooklyn, Karol Markowicz is a public relations consultant in NYC and a veteran of Republican campaigns in four states. She blogs about politics at Alarming News and about life in the city with her husband and baby at 212 Baby. She can be followed on Twitter.

  • B W

    Okay, that woman is a nut. So, what? What’s your point? Should I pick out a crazy leftist and tie him/her to the whole brand? I’m so sick of this guilt-by-association bullshit, already. Both from the right and the left.

  • Anonymous

    You should try using a link sometime.

  • Anonymous

    Obama called Republicans “hostage takers”. Yesterday his union pals went to “war” and launched a terrorist attack in which they held six people hostage. MediaiteMatters and the rest of the leftist media are silent.

  • Anonymous

    This Shep Smith is a hoot. Keep waiting for him to morph into Anderson Cooper, or Perez Hilton. He gets close; he looks like John Avlon over at the Daily Beast.

  • Broadhorizons

    This particular fellow has an inverted triangular shaped head. People with inverted triangular shaped heads tend to have upside-down ideas.

  • Anonymous

    Can’t stand Avlon. He is massive ewww-ness.

  • Broadhorizons

    If we put triangle head (shep), circle head (matthews), and rectangle head (cooper) together on the same show, we could say Romper Room has officially been revived.

  • Anonymous

    Poor Shep, he tries so hard to not be on the Left, he must feel so USED.

  • B W

    LOL… Cool idea…

    Why did you reply to yourself? You could’ve just edited your first comment…

  • Nancillarypeloslinton
  • Republicans are Liars

    Uh, do you believe we didn’t land on the moon as well?

  • Republicans are Liars

    Take another pill ass wipe, it will make you feel better

  • Republicans are Liars

    How’s the blood preasure holding up? You must have been near a stroke or anyrysm while the speech was goingon. It takes alot to sit there and here how everything you believe in is bullshit. Screw you Fat Jowl Go on a diet and stoip getting in to politics.

  • Anonymous

    Clever, but missing the point entirely.

    The news media isn’t liberal or conservative.  It’s just stupid.  It is built on a narrative and the eyeballs that they can get on any given topic.  The fact that Giffords had mentioned it a few months before the shooting was just so juicy.  

    Take this out of a political context and think about Columbine, Satanic cults, etc.

  • Anonymous

    LMAO! You’re hysterical tonight!

  • gwgm

    Part of Shep’s theory involved the notion that the post-speech disclosure of the ‘specific and credible’ 9/11 anniversary terror threats were part of the WH’s grand scheme to manipulate the press and keep the Republicans off the stage tonight.
    If so, that didn’t work out so well for Obama as all of the coverage I saw after the speech was about the terror threat… and THE SPEECH got short shrift.
    Shep has the “it’s all about me” disease that attacks so many members of the media.
    The Dems would have liked nothing more than for the GOP to take to the air immediately after THE SPEECH to Poo Poo the “PASS IT NOW” meme, given that the purpose of the speech wasn’t to get legislation passed… it was to blame the Republicans for the dead economy (i.e. Party of No). Ryan or Boehner whining about THE SPEECH would have been useful to The One. Shep’s an egomaniacal nut, as he best demonstrated during Katrina.

  • Sharpo

    except you are too stupid to admit that only a couple of countries in europe are burning

    How is norway doing with their socialized medicine?…. or switzerland with their regulated healthcare plans.. which they love?

    Why are you a coward? Is it because you have no poosey at night?

  • Sharpo

    why are you a coward?

  • Anonymous

    I don’t believe Shep knows what he’s talking about, but I will point out that the Obama regime is attempting, for purely political purposes to manipulate us ” real ” Americans and to a lesser degree you brain dead libs into falling for their ‘ cut frome whole cloth ‘ elevated ( credible ) terror alert warning.

    The only thing ( if you really listen ) the regime is basing this ” Breaking Story ” upon is something found in the bin Laden compound and the fact that the 10th anniversary of 911 is this coming Sunday.

    Next week, if nothing happens, the entire Obama disinformation, dissemination wing, commonl;y refered to as the MSM will praise the man/child and his administration for twarting the made up terrorists.

    The next week would have and should have put the entire country on high alert to possible terror attacks, yet the muslim prince refused to do so ( only NYC and Washington ) so as not to offend his brothers back in his homeland…….now that’s not only un-American…..it’s sick.

  • Anonymous

    I gather you had no rebuttal, so you went with your “offence” move.  

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JUT2TATEV3OHGQ7HZRYN472XVM Felix

    Did you see this in the House Chamber??!!

    “Mr. Speaker, the hosts of MSNBC!”… But, you had to look closely. They were right in front of Obama, carrying his water.

  • Mcox4

    Nice insult, shitdick.

  • Mcox4

    Nice insult, shitdick.

  • Mcox4

    Why do you keep calling people cowards?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Theresa-Darklady-Reed/581698361 Theresa ‘Darklady’ Reed

    “Sick?”

    Look in the mirror. 
    As soon as someone starts talking nonsense about “Real Americans” vs. (the rest isn’t really important) I know they don’t have a thing worth saying, although they may well be worth avoiding in a tense situation. I’m as real an American as  you are, regardless of whether I’m a “brain dead lib” or other.

    What is destroying this country is precisely that kind of thinking. When we turn on one another, claiming some of us are more “real” than others, we shred the fibers of what it means to BE an American

    The “muslim prince”and “brothers back in his homeland” nonsense just makes you sound extra special lost in your need to dehumanize those you don’t agree with… and that is seriously “sick.” 

    Who knew that Hawaii was a terrorist stronghold?

  • Broadhorizons

    Gotta be logged in to edit.

  • Anonymous

    They’re not that smart , Smith .

  • Anonymous

    He’s on your side numnutz, He’s a liberal, gay, Democrat (Smith) and a big fan of Obama, he just doesn’t like being manipulated by the White House. I don’t like Shep particularly but I’ll give hime credit for calling out his side’s shenanigans.

  • Anonymous

    As details of Barry’s speech leaked, the markets tanked and they are tanking again today.

    The best part of Obama’s speech was that it allowed some Dems to stand up and applaud- finally, they had a reason to get off their knees for a change.

  • Anonymous

    ass

  • Anonymous

    ass

  • Anonymous

    Did you catch the MSNBC balanced line up after Repub debate? You had the left and the really really far left critiquing the debate. Unbalanced I ask? Nah, there was Matthews and Maddow….left liberals and Lawrence O’Donnell….confessed socialist. Now that’s balance.

  • Anonymous

    I think he is rather “hot” myself.

  • Anonymous

    I think he is rather “hot” myself.

  • Anonymous

    I can’t wait until the republicans are in charge and are able to “fix” everything.  Where are the jobs Boner?

  • Anonymous

    I can’t wait until the republicans are in charge and are able to “fix” everything.  Where are the jobs Boner?

  • Pensyguy

    Please. The suspect is a mental case.  He probably would have done this no matter who was in the White House.  Blaming it on Obama or Hoffa is irresponsible. As irresponsible as Hoffa’s remarks.

  • David

    Do you really believe the BS your spewing.  If so, you are a asshole.

  • David

    Because It is one…  Like all lib scum.

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