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Audacity of Truth
Whiner-in-Chief:
"[W]hether the grumbling is about Republicans on Fox or bloggers in pajamas, there's a word for what the president and his aides are doing. That word is "whining." And nothing [...] does more damage to Obama's credibility or authority than the sense that a popular president is becoming the whiner-in-chief."
- John Nichols, Nation Magazine - 10/12/09
Obama’s upcoming overseas trip being treated by the mediots like Elvis’ tour of duty
The International Herald Tribune/NYT reports on how certain “media stars” will get ringside seats for Obama’s first trip to overseas since becoming the Democrat nominee for president (via Memeo):
WASHINGTON: Senator John McCain’s trip to Iraq last spring was a low-key affair: With his ordinary retinue of reporters following him abroad, the NBC News anchor Brian Williams reported on his arrival in Baghdad from New York, with just two sentences tacked onto the “in other political news” portion of his newscast.
But when Obama heads for Iraq and other locations overseas this summer, Williams is planning to catch up with him in person, as are the other two evening news anchors, Charles Gibson of ABC and Katie Couric of CBS, who, like Williams, are far along in discussions to interview Obama on successive nights.
And while the anchors are jockeying for interviews with Obama at stops along his route, the regulars on the Obama campaign plane will have new seat mates: star political reporters from the major newspapers and magazines who are flocking to catch Obama’s first overseas trip since becoming the presumptive nominee of his party.
The article goes on to talk about how the media’s coverage of Obama has been overwhelmingly favorable towards him for months, and quotes at least one mediot as blaming the excess coverage his overseas trip is going to receive on … Republicans:
“If this were John McCain’s first trip to the war zone, that would be a story and we would cover it big time,” said Paul Friedman, the senior vice president of CBS News. “This is Senator Obama’s first trip — his positions and the public’s perception of him on national security issues are important.”
Friedman said McCain and the Republicans have helped make the visit a bigger story because they have repeatedly questioned Obrama’s credentials, keeping a running count of the number of days that have passed since Obama last visited Iraq, in 2006.
Right. The MSM’s near-obsessive fascination with The Chosen One has nothing to do with it, I’m sure. The article also quoted a McCain spokeswoman talking about the issue of the level of coverage the trip will receive:
But the coverage also feeds into concerns in McCain’s campaign, and among Republicans in general, that the media is imbalanced in their coverage of the candidates, just as aides to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton felt during the primary season.
“It is unproductive to spend it worrying about the way Obama is covered,” said Jill Hazelbaker, a spokeswoman for McCain. “That being said, it certainly hasn’t escaped us that the three network newscasts will originate from stops on Obama’s trip next week.”
In response, liberal mega-blogger Josh Marshall scribbles:
First McCain wanted Obama to go to Iraq; now he’s complaining that people care more about Obama’s trip than his dog-and-pony show last spring. I think the American people have to admit that they’re biased against John McCain.
Bullcrap. Can’t this guy comprehend that it’s not about “more people caring” about Obama’s overseas trip than McCain’s but rather the fact that it’s not being done on the down low but rather pumped up not just by the Obama campaign but the mediots as well in a similar fashion that was seen during the days when Elvis was drafted to serve in the military? This isn’t supposed to be star-studded affair; at least two stops on his whirlwind trip are going to be in both Afghanistan and Iraq, two places that don’t need the over-hyped, sensationalistic coverage we usually get from the MSM as it relates to every move Barack Obama makes.
Ed Morrissey sums up:
So the news media can’t even claim novelty when explaining this effort. When was the last time we saw any network anchor doing a remote, let alone all three at the same time? Not even the Iraq War merited it after the first elections in 2004-5, and I don’t believe that involved all three anchors at any time. Afghanistan hasn’t merited it. This is nothing more than the media fawning over Obama, and looking to give him as much earned media as they can. Their pretense of objective reporting has been ripped away, and the media looks like little more than groupies vying for the attention of a pop star, hoping that some of his popularity rubs off on them. This should embarrass journalists, but instead they’re busy rationalizing their utter lack of self-respect.
So much for Obama’s self-proclaimed desire not to turn his trip overseas into a political stunt. All signs point to it being just that, courtesy, in part, of the intense media circus that will surround the trip.
Read more via Stop The ACLU, The Anchoress, The Other McCain …
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Reminds me of a joke I just heard:
“A biker stops off at the zoo to take in the sights. As he’s checking out all the animals he gets to the lion cages. He sees a boy get to close and the lion lunges through the bars and grabs the boy. The biker jumps in and punches the lion as hard as he can in the nose, causing the lion to release the boy and run off whimpering. A reporter jumps out of the crowd and says ‘That was amazing! You’re a hero!’ The biker says ‘It’s not a big deal. I did what I had to.’ The reporter says ‘I’m a reporter for the New York Times and I’m gonna make sure you get some press for this’ The reporter begins asking the biker questions. ‘So tell me about yourself’ he asks the biker. ‘Well, I’m a U.S. Marine and I’m a Republican.’ the biker responds.
The next day the headline reads: U.S. Marine Assaults African Immigrant, Steals His Lunch
The media are proving every day that terms like fairness and objectivity are merely terms taught in journalism classes.
Friedman said McCain and the Republicans have helped make the visit a bigger story because they have repeatedly questioned Obrama’s credentials, keeping a running count of the number of days that have passed since Obama last visited Iraq, in 2006.
He should have finished the thought for us….
“Of course, we really haven’t covered the Republican’s dissatisfaction concerning an inexperienced Presidential candidate waxing poetic on how he would save the Iraqi and Afghani masses while not having the least bit of personal experience in the area.”
Friedman says that Republican’s brought to the forefront by challenging Obama’s credentials. Yet, the media refuses to publish those challenges, but assist in dismissing them out of hand as “racism.”
Capital job boys…just capital… *har*
Fascinating. Every move O makes, every breath he takes, they’ll be watching him. Move on out, oh Media Minions, and cover the dawn of a new day!
“All for our vantage. Then, in God’s name, march:
True hope is swift, and flies with swallow’s wings:
Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.”
–Shakespeare, Richard III Act 5, scene 2
I appreciate the pundit “mediots,” a very fitting description. I just wonder if the american poeple will wake up and start thinking for themselves and stop relying in the mediots to shape their world view.
Perhaps we are missing a point here. McCain’s visit was low key because what terrorist would not want to take a shot at him?
Obama on the other hand is totally safe there. For a terrorist to take a shot at Obama would be a totally unprofessional act of stupidity. He is their only hope for winning.
Sharks don’t attack lawyers out of professional courtesy. Same thing here.
He is only going to say silly things, like when he said our involvement in Iraq led to a shortage of Arabic interpreters in Afghanistan.
“First McCain wanted Obama to go to Iraq; now he’s complaining that people care more about Obama’s trip than his dog-and-pony show last spring.”
So, when McCain travels, it’s a “Dog and pony show” but Obama travels and it’s the news of the earth. This FEELS almost evil.
Amen!! – Lorica
Excellent point, Vita…well said.
Meanwhile, the current President of the United States just finished his G-8 trip and some additional overseas travel, and was basically ignored by the MSM drones. They’re treating Obama like he’s the leader of the government in exile, and hopeful of his restoration as the rightful emporer. Bleccch.
You can be sure everything on this trip will be tightly scripted. No impromtu meetings with troops who might raise uncomfortable points about the success of the surge, for example. I’m sure Obama’s bringing his teleprompter…you know what happens when he leaves home without it.
Obama is supposed to be going to Europe and the Middle East as a fact finding mission, to save the lives of American soldiers and to insure the security of Americans … but, as usual, Obama is turning his responsibilities into a promotional photo op. Our country’s problems are serious, and it’s getting rather disgusting watching Obama the Opportunist, use America to further his personal ambition and aggrandizement. Also, the three network anchors, and the rest of the media, who are tripping over each other to accompany Obama overseas should be ashamed of themselves.
Who cares who the Europeans prefer … if it was up to France, our next President would be Jerry Lewis. How about focusing on who has the experience, judgement and character to protect us and bring prosperity to Americans … not someone who in the eleventh hour, finally tries to establish foreign policy credentials, in a one week visit, as a transparent political ploy to get himself elected. Where was Obama, when he was supposed to chair the congressional committee on Afghanistan, and never had a single meeting. Why did Obama vote ‘present’ over 100 times in the senate? Even if Obama manages a political rally in the Roman Coliseum, he’s still just an inexperienced politician, who is not qualified to be President of the United States of America !!!