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After successfully taking down two low-level officials in the Obama administration, Fox News commentator Glenn Beck has trained his sights on a third -- advisor Valerie Jarrett -- and this time the White House is fighting back.
On his show -- which hit 3 million daily viewers in late August, second only to the O'Reilly Factor -- Beck tried to paint Jarrett as a Chicago "slum lord" whose public efforts to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago are self-serving because of her real-estate holdings.
The White House responded by creating a post on its blog titled "Reality Check."
"In the past, hosting the Olympics has been a source of pride and unity for the country, but once again Fox News' Glenn Beck program has shown that nothing is worthy of respect if it can be used as part of a partisan attack to boost ratings," wrote White House online program director Jesse Lee.
Among other claims, the White House sought to debunk Beck's contention that Jarrett would benefit financially.
For instance, the blog said upon entering government, Jarrett divested all real-estate holdings except one that she was unable to sell.
"This single real estate investment has been determined by White House Counsel and the independent Office of Government Ethics to present no conflict of interest in performing her duties as a White House advisor. It has nothing to do with the Olympic bid."
The blog also refutes Beck's assertion that the city of Vancouver lost $1 billion hosting the Olympic Games, noting that Vancouver hasn't hosted them yet -- that happens in 2010.
Last month, Beck took down Van Jones, the administration's "green jobs czar," and Yosi Sergant, the communications director of the National Endowment for Arts.
Beck used his show to paint Van Jones as a self-described Communist radical, and to criticize Sergant's connection to the famous "Hope" poster of Obama before being appointed to the post.
The bottom of the White House blob includes this coda:
"For even more Fox lies, check out the latest "Truth-O-Meter" feature from Politifact that debunks a false claim about a White House staffer that continues to be repeated by Glenn Beck and others on the network."
