GOP leaders stick up for Fox, suggesting attacks 'beneath' Obama

The Obama administration's criticism of Fox News and some opposition groups is "beneath the White House," Republican leaders suggested Thursday.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) questioned the White House's offensive against unfriendly media and political opponents, insinuating that the attacks sully the dignity of the presidency.

"It really does to me look like Chicago-style politics, like they're trying to demonize their opponents and do everything they can to make them distasteful, when, in fact, the problem is, is that what they're offering to the American people, the American people aren't supporting," Boehner said in his weekly press conference. "And so to resort to these kind of tactics, really, is beneath the White House and a presidency."

The GOP leader stopped short of echoing Sen. Lamar Alexander's (R-Tenn.) warning yesterday that the White House was creating an "enemies list," but suggested that the administration's concerted campaigns against opponents was a new phenomenon.

"I don't recall seeing any of it," Boehner said when asked whether the previous administration of George W. Bush had practiced similar tactics.

"Lawmakers and the executive branch should be able to agree that going after individual news organizations for no other reason than to sully their reputations (oddly enough, the administration’s clash with Fox will only increase the latter’s profile) is not good for our nation," Cantor wrote in a blog post for National Review Online.

"President Obama should know better," Cantor added. "He is above this."

The words appear to come amidst a concerted effort by Republican leaders to push back against Obama's words toward Fox, and the White House's handling of other groups, like health insurers, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the third-ranking House GOP-er, got in on the action today by defending conservative media in a speech Thursday morning on the House floor.