Thursday, January 27, 2005
Anyone Catch This?
I was just reading President Bush's press conference from yesterday, and something has struck me as extraordinary. First, the administration has continued with the practice of preemptive press conferences. The conference yesterday was announced to the White House press corps with only 45 minutes advanced notice. Anything to give President Bush the advantage, but at least he is speaking with the press.
Now the extraordinary thing. Perhaps you saw a snippet of the press conference on your nightly news? Mark Knoller, the point man for CBS News, asked President Bush about the controversy regarding the White House paying commentators to advance White House policy without these commentators disclosing to their readers or listeners that they are receiving cash from the administration, something the FCC has begun to look into as a form of "Payola" (by the way, check out Maggie Gallagher's rant on the PBS "Newshour" tonight, or check tomorrow for the transcript).
Right after President Bush sternly admonishes the practice, and stresses that anyone else in his Cabinet ought not to engage in it, he gets this question. Now is it me, or might we consider this a "plant"?
Q Thank you. Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy. Harry Reid was talking about soup lines, and Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet, in the same breath, they say that Social Security is rock-solid and there's no crisis there. How are you going to work -- you said you're going to reach out to these people -- how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?
After this question, the President then gives an answer that is five paragraphs long! Now the President doesn't give answers that are this long unless he either has a teleprompter in front of him or unless he has...practiced it first?
The President does not use the reporter's name so I have no idea who it is. Maybe if we wait long enough we will learn how much he or she received to ask this "Chicago softball" sized question.?
The follow-up question, still without being clear who it is, is almost as bad:
Q Mr. President, Senator Ted Kennedy recently repeated his characterization of Iraq as a "quagmire" and has called it your Vietnam. And the questioning of Alberto Gonzales and Condi Rice in the Senate has been largely used by Democrats to criticize your entire Iraq program, especially what you're trying to do postwar. I wonder if you have any response to those criticisms. And what kind of an effect do you think these statements have on the morale of our troops and on the confidence of the Iraqi people that what you're trying to do over there is going to succeed?
First, you invoke the imagery of Ted Kennedy. Then you frame the question as Democrats who criticize the war undermine the morale of our troops and signal to Iraqi's that we do not support them by allowing such a democratic thing as criticism of the president and the war?
Again, this leads to a multi-paragraph answer. The next questioner the President calls by name.
Along comes Media Matters for America for the answer. It appears that the questioner was Jeff Gannon who works for the Talon news agency (a pro-Republican "news" agency). Jeff, not suprising, is a frequent guest on talk radio and hosts his own column that appears regularly on his website. His column is nothing less than scripting from the conservative playbook, with such insightful commentary about how the White House Press Corps is besides themselves for Bush's reelection and how Joseph Wilson owes the President an apology.
How completely pathetic!
Now the extraordinary thing. Perhaps you saw a snippet of the press conference on your nightly news? Mark Knoller, the point man for CBS News, asked President Bush about the controversy regarding the White House paying commentators to advance White House policy without these commentators disclosing to their readers or listeners that they are receiving cash from the administration, something the FCC has begun to look into as a form of "Payola" (by the way, check out Maggie Gallagher's rant on the PBS "Newshour" tonight, or check tomorrow for the transcript).
Right after President Bush sternly admonishes the practice, and stresses that anyone else in his Cabinet ought not to engage in it, he gets this question. Now is it me, or might we consider this a "plant"?
Q Thank you. Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy. Harry Reid was talking about soup lines, and Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet, in the same breath, they say that Social Security is rock-solid and there's no crisis there. How are you going to work -- you said you're going to reach out to these people -- how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?
After this question, the President then gives an answer that is five paragraphs long! Now the President doesn't give answers that are this long unless he either has a teleprompter in front of him or unless he has...practiced it first?
The President does not use the reporter's name so I have no idea who it is. Maybe if we wait long enough we will learn how much he or she received to ask this "Chicago softball" sized question.?
The follow-up question, still without being clear who it is, is almost as bad:
Q Mr. President, Senator Ted Kennedy recently repeated his characterization of Iraq as a "quagmire" and has called it your Vietnam. And the questioning of Alberto Gonzales and Condi Rice in the Senate has been largely used by Democrats to criticize your entire Iraq program, especially what you're trying to do postwar. I wonder if you have any response to those criticisms. And what kind of an effect do you think these statements have on the morale of our troops and on the confidence of the Iraqi people that what you're trying to do over there is going to succeed?
First, you invoke the imagery of Ted Kennedy. Then you frame the question as Democrats who criticize the war undermine the morale of our troops and signal to Iraqi's that we do not support them by allowing such a democratic thing as criticism of the president and the war?
Again, this leads to a multi-paragraph answer. The next questioner the President calls by name.
Along comes Media Matters for America for the answer. It appears that the questioner was Jeff Gannon who works for the Talon news agency (a pro-Republican "news" agency). Jeff, not suprising, is a frequent guest on talk radio and hosts his own column that appears regularly on his website. His column is nothing less than scripting from the conservative playbook, with such insightful commentary about how the White House Press Corps is besides themselves for Bush's reelection and how Joseph Wilson owes the President an apology.
How completely pathetic!
