The lapdog White House press corpse had a 75 minute meeting with the arrogant Robert Gibbs to complain about the fact that they are pretty irrelevant.
Press airs grievances to Robert Gibbs - Mike Allen - POLITICO.com (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/35944.html)

They compained that the adm makes use of Internet to disseminate information rather than going directly to the self appointed filter of information the major networks and news organizations provide. They complained that the White House hired people to take pictures of the President instead of making use of their staff photographers. They compained that the White House has shrunk the pool of reporters travelling for free on Air Force One when their own news organizations are cutting back on their travelling perks .They complained that they had to use their own net access instead of the White House providing it for them when they had a filing deadline to meet.

Hate to break it to them . The White House has 527,000 followers on Facebook and probably more on Twitter . The White House web site has an extensive listing of daily briefing ,statements and releases... it even has a blog .

Meanwhile the newspapers and the network news organizations face increasing decline in viewership and readership. I fail to see why the President should care that he offends the sensibilities of the press pool who think that they have sanctity in our system.

Is the 1st amendment violated if the President doesn't kiss the feet of the dinosaur media ? Under what authority do they demand the kind of access they get . More people read Huffpo and Drudge than the NY Slimes. Why isn't Arianna Huffington and Drudge assigned perches in the press room ? The press pool should be rotated in to include the 21st century media and the dinosaurs should be moved to a homeless tent in Lafayette Square .

Didn't they give a slot to Huffpo at one time, and did you hear about Soccergate (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/35639.html)?

The media has made themselves rather irrelevant, and yes that is the sound of tiny violins you're hearing. I can kind of understand their disappoint though, after carrying the water for Obama the last couple of years you'd think the White Hose would be more accommodating.

If the msm actually presented the facts and both sides of a story maybe they would be relevant. They can't compete against alternative media, whose agenda's and slant's are at least transparent.


G&P

I can kind of understand their disappoint though, after carrying the water for Obama the last couple of years you'd think the White Hose would be more accommodating.


Also the story has moved away from the White House .If I were stuck in the press pool I'd request a transfer to cover the Tea Party movement . It is growing ,building momentum and beginning to officially define itself as a force to be dealt with.
The Contract from America (http://www.thecontract.org/the-contract-from-america/)

The other problem I think is that Obama has become quite Nixonian in his relations with the press . He is thin skinned ;and obviously is not as extemporaneously comfortable as he initially appeared during the campaign.
The teleprompter has become a permanent prop ,but it can't be used in a press conference setting . So the President's solution is to stop giving off the cuff statements.

Finally Robert Gibbs is an arrogant punk who tries to inflate his self importance .He tries to make himself the story or a big part of the story constantly reminding the press that he confers often with POTUS,and has much face time. Whoop whoop .

My advice to the press corpse is to do some actual investigative reporting for a change and play the traditional role of the 4th Estate. Maybe then they can compete with citizen reporters in pajamas.

But tom, didn't you know, the media is already doing investigative journalism - on the Tea Party (http://bigjournalism.com/sright/2010/04/19/mr-blow-and-the-minstrel-show/).

Yes ;that type of reporting is why the Slimes is close to consignment to the trash heap.Jayson Blair comes to mind.

When they can't find overt racism they resort to these implied references .

It appears to be a concerted effort with the Democrats and the compliant press to paint with a broad brush the scarlet "racist" label on the Tea Party movement.

It could be a good strategy in that if the tea partiers get goaded enough into wasting time defending themselves against the slurs then it will distract them from staying on message.

But it also is a statement on how much the Democrats fear the popular opposition.

When they can't find overt racism Hello tom:

I agree. The tea partiers aren't overt in their racism. They're oblivious to it, and that, in and of itself, is racist.

To wit, from a recent CBS poll: 25% think that the administration favors blacks over whites — compared with 11% of the general public. They are more likely than the general public, and Republicans, to say that too much has been made of the problems facing black people.

I'd exchange the word "ignorant" for "racist" if that would make you feel better.

excon

Yes I put great weight behind CBS /NY Slimes polling . Like I said... baseless accusations need not be addressed.

Yes I put great weight behind CBS /NY Slimes polling . Like I said ...baseless accusations need not be addressed.Hello again, tom:

I know you don't like them. But, I don't believe they would conduct a fraudulent poll. As much as I don't like the right wing media, and as much as I believe the results of a poll can be manipulated, I don't even believe the right wing conducts FRAUDULENT polls.

If we have devolved to reporting ANYTHING we want, and the facts be damned, then our democracy is dead.

Look, you and I have had discussions about race and racism. YOU echo the tea party perfectly.

excon

Ex, CNN actually did a piece telling a different story (http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/07/tea.party.rallies/?hpt=Sbin) (though the author couldn't resist mentioning the Cleaver/Lewis non-incident which had already been refuted). And of course the blacks among the tea partiers are not really black, right?

P1CLPhz0DHM

Look, you and I have had discussions about race and racism. YOU echo the tea party perfectly

So I'm either racist or ignorant.

I find nothing wrong with the color of the President's skin.It's the content of his policies .

though the author couldn't resist mentioning the Cleaver/Lewis non-incident which had already been refuted.Hello again, Steve:

You can call it racism, you can call it ignorance, or you can call it a different belief system...

But, I for one, refuse to believe that a sitting US Congressman, who is an ICON of the civil rights movement, who was beaten to a pulp because he tried to cross a bridge while being black, who was arrested over 40 times in the honorable and worthy pursuit of desegregation, would flat out lie.

For you to believe that he would, shows me that you have some racist bones in your body, because I think you WOULD believe a WHITE southern congressman with the bonifides John Lewis has.

excon

So I'm either racist or ignorant.Hello tom:

Yup.

excon

Ex

Speaking of racism - does the Rev Wright have to be brought up again?

When one side has no ideas that either are actually proven successful nor popular with the average American what do we get? The tactic of demonizing the opponent with false generalities.

If those who oppose the IDEAS of the Tea Party movement had any reasonable counter point to limited government, lower taxes, fiscal restraint by the government then why don't they tell us and show us the facts and the numbers?


G&P

I don't care what creds anyone has, if they lied they're a liar. See for yourself (http://www.rochesterconservative.com/blog/andrew-breitbarts-100000-challenge/). Has anyone claimed Breitbart's 100 grand?

Speaking of racism - does the Rev Wright have to be brought up again?Hello in:

If, by bringing it up, you AGREE with me that racism exists, sure.

But, if you mean to suggest that racism exists in the BLACK community, but not in the WHITE, and especially NOT in the tea partiers, then bringing it up only shows your own, shall we say, intolerance.

excon

Show us the you tube video[s] of the N word incident?

Limited government
Respect for the constitution
Fiscal sanity in DC
Lower taxes

Lets talk about these.

Fact is, this is going on

GM, church team up to convert sales | freep.com | Detroit Free Press (http://www.freep.com/article/20100419/NEWS01/4190324/GM-church-team-up-to-convert-sales)



G&P

Has anyone claimed Breitbart's 100 grand?

Show us the you tube video[s] of the N word incident?Hello again, in, and you too, Steve.

See post #13 above.

excon

PS> In the world, there can BE proof that something DID happen. However, there CANNOT be proof that something DIDN'T happen. It's an impossibility. To suggest that something DIDN'T happen because there's no proof it DID, is ludicrous on it's face.

No, follow the link on post # 17 above. There was no spitting incident and there was no "n word" incident.

You have to admit though it was clever bit of theater the House Dems staged walking through the protesters at the Capitol and equating the passage of health care with confronting mobs of white racists at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama .

The drama wouldn't be complete if there weren't allegations of racial slurs and spitting .

You would think that in the age of Youtube and cellphone video cameras someone... anyone would be able to produce the proof of the allegation. After all ,George Allen's campaign was derailed over a single word.

No, follow the link on post # 17 above. There was no spitting incident and there was no "n word" incident.Hello again, Steve:

Like I said, you CAN'T prove that something didn't happen. I get, though, that you don't think it did. But, I saw the video. I saw the anger. I saw the guy wipe his face. I KNOW who those people are...

Let's talk about that... How do I KNOW who those people are? Well, I'll tell you. Even I, a liberal, from liberal Seattle KNOW people who HATE Obama. They DON'T refrain from calling him a nigger in my presence. As a matter of fact, they LOVE calling him that.

Now, I don't know about you, and the circles you run in down there in liberal Texas, but I won't believe you if you tell me that you haven't heard him referred to as that. Given that I'm positive you HAVE heard it, then I cannot imagine, why you cannot imagine a tea partier saying it.

If you tell me, though, that your conversations with your right wing buddies down there in Texas, include words like African American, instead of nigger, I ain't buying what you're selling.

excon

Like I said, you CAN'T prove that something didn't happen.

Then I'll settle for proving it did happen. Incidental spittle is not racism.


Now, I don't know about you, and the circles you run in down there in liberal Texas, but I won't believe you if you tell me that you haven't heard him referred to as that. Given that I'm positive you HAVE heard it, then I cannot imagine why you cannot imagine a tea partier saying it.

Well then ex, you might as well start calling me a liar now because I don't recall ever hearing one person in my circle do such a thing. Did you forget that I am the minority in my community, that I grew up that way, that almost all of my friends growing up had darker skin than me? Why, would my circle change their behavior now?


If you tell me, though, that your conversations with your right wing buddies down there in Texas, include words like African American, instead of nigger, I ain't buying what you're selling.

Come on down and see for yourself. Send CNN, MSNBC, whoever, they're not going to find anything like you're describing in these parts.

He's on a role . He managed to call 3 of us racists in less than 4 hrs.

Yes, he's following the playbook perfectly.

Here is a perfect example of media hypocrisy (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jGTeutMM3f-Q6UsgYdc8NteWkxpAD9F6GDB00) on this today. While they continue their tea partiers as racists theme, vile, obscene attacks on NJ Governor Chris Christie are being portrayed as "schoolyard taunts that could get a student suspended."


"Never trust a fat f...," read one profane post on the Facebook page, "New Jersey Teachers United Against Governor Chris Christie's Pay Freeze," which has some 69,000 fans, many of them teachers.

"How do you spell A-- hole? C-H-R-I-S C-H-R-I-S-T-I-E," read another...

Another pointed out that Christie's late mother was a member of the teachers union: "It's not right to bite the hand that feeds you. Oh I forgot it's Chirs Christie, He's so large I bet he'd bite anything that's put in front of his face!"

"Remember Pol Pot, dictator of Cambodia?" warned another. "He reigned in terror, his target was teachers and intellectuals. They were either killed or put into forced labor... King Kris Kristy is headed in this direction."

Unlike the worries of mythical racial epithets, spitfests and "minstrel shows" at tea parties, now worries here, these teachers are just being emotional, "most aren't personal attacks."