Anita Dunn Steps Down, Fox News Rejoices!

White House communications director Anita Dunn denounced Fox News on CNN



Glenn Beck responds




Fox news also responds







Anita Dunn leaving White House, Dan Pfeiffer takes over


White House communications director Anita Dunn will step down from her post at the end of the month and Dan Pfeiffer, her deputy, will take over, according to sources familiar with the move.

Dunn, a longtime Democratic media consultant, took over the job on an interim basis earlier this year when Ellen Moran abruptly left the post to take a job at the Commerce Department. Dunn will return to Squier Knapp Dunn, the consulting firm where she is a partner, but will remain as a consultant to the White House on the communications and strategic matters.

The move will be formally announced later today.

On Oct. 11, speaking on CNN, Dunn attacked Fox News as "a wing of the Republican Party." Her comments sparked a fresh battle between the White House and the network. In response to the criticism, Fox News executive Michael Clemente said in a statement that Obama's aides had decided to "declare war on a news organization."

A source inside the White House, who was not authorized to speak about strategy meetings, said at the time that Dunn went out front against Fox first and foremost because it was her job, but also because it potentially gave the administration the opportunity to distance itself from the flap with the Roger Ailes-led news channel once she leaves the communications job.

Pfeiffer began working for Obama in 2007 following Sen. Evan Bayh's (Ind.) decision not to pursue the presidency. He served a stint as the traveling press secretary for Obama's presidential bid but eventually took a slot overseeing the campaign's communications operation.

Prior to Obama, Pfeiffer worked for Sen. Tim Johnson's (S.D.) re-election race in 2002 and on then Sen. Tom Daschle's (S.D.) unsuccessful bid in 2004.

The passing of the baton from Dunn to Pfeiffer had long been expected within White House circles as she had made clear when she took the job that the "interim" in her title was meant to be taken literally.

Unlike when Moran left, the transition should be somewhat seamless as Dunn and Pfeiffer are longtime confidantes -- having worked closely in Daschle's political orbit for years.

The turnover in the communications director slot is the only change in Obama's senior staff with 10 months (or so) of his presidency having passed.

Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff and former Illinois Congressman, has made clear he would like to return to elected office at some point in the not-too-distant future and, if past presidencies are any guide there will be some further turnover in the senior staff over the next year or so.

Eyebrows were raised recently when David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, was asked in a live chat with the Washington Post about why he had not joined the Administration and responded: "I needed to take a couple years to re-balance and spend time with my family, knowing that perhaps in the future my life will need to get unbalanced again."





Fox News: "We Wish Anita Dunn Well"


A Fox News spokesperson says the network wishes outgoing White House Communications Director Anita Dunn well as she transitions out of the Obama administration.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Dunn would be leaving the White House and will be replaced by Dan Pfeiffer.

When asked for comment, a Fox News spokesperson said, "We wish Anita well in her future endeavors."

TIME magazine called Dunn "the general" in the administration's war against conservative media, and Dunn's appearance on CNN on October 11 — when she said that Fox News "operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party" — was the first step in the Obama administration's recent feud with the cable news network.

"At the White House, she has become a devoted consumer of conservative-media reports and a fierce critic of Fox News, leading the Administration's effort to block officials, including Obama, from appearing on the network," TIME magazine said of Dunn.

Glenn Beck called Dunn out on his program in October, leading some to wonder if he had set his sights on ousting her from the administration after successfully lobbying against Van Jones.

Dunn had always planned to serve as Communications Director for a short time. She joined the White House on an interim basis in April, and has since been planning to leave her post to spend more time with her 13-year-old son.

Update: "If someone at Fox News Channel wishes you well, watch your back," the AP's David Bauder wrote in 2006. "The seemingly benign sentiment is a creative signature of Fox's public relations, usually accompanied by a kneecapping. It's something like a kiss from a Mafia don."



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Sources: Washington Post, Huffington Post, Fox News, Youtube, Google Maps