In a speech this morning on the Senate floor, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) offered the White House “a friendly suggestion.”
“Don’t create an enemies list.”
Alexander, according to his prepared remarks, described President Nixon’s famous list of political opponents and dissenters, which included journalists.
“Now the only reason I mention this is because I have an uneasy feeling, only ten months into this new administration, that we’re beginning to see symptoms of this same kind of animus developing in the Obama administration,” he said.
Video after the jump.
Alexander mentioned the animosity between the White House and Fox News as evidence of a pending enemies list. He also cited the White House’s issues with the Chamber of Commerce (which opposes health care reform and climate change), President Obama promising to “call out” people who lie about health care and the Democrats’ attempt to revoke the insurance industry’s antitrust exemption — which, Alexander says, is punishment for the insurers’ “insubordination.”
In related news, Fox News personality Sean Hannity claimed last night that the White House is already developing an enemies list.
