While President Barack Obama (D) and friends continue to publicly bad mouth Fox News, and continue to be unavailable for interviews, Christina Bellantoni of Talking Points Memo claims  that the publicized  incident of other networks rushing to defend Fox after the White House deliberately excluded them from interviewing "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg didn't happen quite that way.

According to Bellatoni, Feinberg used a network pool television camera crew who noticed the omission of Fox; they asked about it and were told Fox hadn't requested to interview Feinberg.

Feinberg's Treasury Department called trusted White House press advisor, and Mao fan Anita Dunn, who agreed to ask Fox, who subsequently sent a reporter to cover the story.

Simple as that, we're told, and the networks don't want to be seen as heroes for Fox.

TPMDC spoke with a network bureau chief this afternoon familiar with the situation who was surprised that Fox was portraying the news as networks coming to its rescue.

"If any member had been excluded it would have been the same thing, it has nothing to do with Fox or the White House or the substance of the issues," the bureau chief said. "It's all for one and one for all."

Glad to hear that. But...and it is a major but

"This White House has demonstrated our willingness to exclude Fox News from newsmaking interviews, but yesterday we did not," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

There, they admitted their childish ongoing feud with Fox again even though

As for the ongoing battle, Earnest said: "The president and other high ranking officials and people like Ken Feinberg have done interviews with Fox in the past and will do them in the future."

Uhm, that's nice but isn't that what they're supposed to do?

An administration source wondered if the networks were annoyed Fox disclosed logistical negotiations since they are treated as off the record, but the bureau chief did not view this in the same light as discussions about, for example, the president going to Iraq.

Children, children stop playing in the White House. Listen to the real radical, Joan Rivers, not Saul Alinsky, and grow up.

hat tip: Little Green Footballs