Congressional Democrats defend the White House's snub of Fox News

The growing rift between the Obama administration and the Fox News network is attracting criticism from Republicans, support from Democrats and a healthy number of legislators on both sides who want to stay out of it. The administration has taken increasing steps in recent weeks and months to isolate the TV network, with some Capitol Hill veterans recalling no such similar steps by any president since Richard Nixon's retaliation against The New York Times and The Washington Post during Watergate. The effort hasn't been a total blackout; White House press secretary Robert Gibbs still calls on Fox News reporter Major Garrett at press briefings, but the Obama White House is clearly targeting the network that it believes is biased. "The point is this, and it really needs to be made: Fox is not just another television network," said Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (IL), a close Obama ally. "Fox has become the official/semi-official voice for the Republican Party, in opposition to the president. And I think calling them out is the only way to delegitimize them as political propaganda." Asked if he would follow Obama's lead and boycott Fox, Durbin said, "I don't know that I'd never go on Fox, but I will tell you that when I go on, it's with a clear understanding that this is not a news network. This is the closest thing to the Republican Party's official voice on television."