Let us set the scenario.
- On March 8, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney wrote an op-ed for the Boston Herald. Title: “Obama Misery Index hits a record high:” it’s about jobs, unemployment, and how this is lousy at encouraging the former and good at encouraging the latter.
- The Boston Herald decides to put said op-ed on the front page. Again: former governor. The Boston Herald doesn’t hate Republicans: after all, it endorsed McCain in 2008 (primary, too, so it’s not like they’re in the tank for Romney).
- As it happens, the President visited Boston at about that time for a fundraiser for the DCCC (note that this was before his official announcement that he was running for re-election.
- The White House was not happy about how the Boston Herald covered that particular event. Which is to say, the President’s appearance at a fairly generic DCCC meet-and-greet did not get front-page coverage, apparently.
- You know where this is going, don’t you?
Of course you do: the Boston Herald got shut out of full coverage of the President’s latest fundraising efforts in Boston. The truly entertaining part? Those genius polymaths in this administration still don’t understand how to talk to the press:
“My point about the op-ed was not that you ran it but that it was the full front page, which excluded any coverage of the visit of a sitting US President to Boston. I think that raises a fair question about whether the paper is unbiased in its coverage of the President’s visits,” [White House spokesman Matt] Lehrich wrote.
Not that the Obama campaign/administration ever needed to learn that particular life skill before now. In the article, Glenn Reynolds (H/T, by the way) sums up rather well the image problem that the administration is starting to suffer from when he writes “Most presidents behave in a more refined fashion.” Indeed, most do… because most Presidents got their position after having been subjected to a deliberately-brutal selection process. Particularly the Republicans ones; we complain about media bias (with cause), but there’s no denying that it at least helps keep our party’s politicians on their toes.
Unfortunately – for the country, the Democratic party, and (increasingly) President Obama – our current Commander in Chief never got to experience the dubious joys of a good media curbstomping. As a result, neither he nor his team is really ready to handle anything that resembles an adverse media atmosphere, which is why we keep seeing stories like this. Whether or not these provocations by this administration will translate into actual warfare with the press later on is still open to question. On the one hand, the media is predisposed to liking Democrats. On the other hand, their favorite story in the whole, wide world is The God That Failed.
On the gripping hand, it’s not like they’re progressives, or anything: the media still has its pride and self-respect…
Moe Lane (crosspost)
Neil Stevens
Erick Erickson
Jeff Emanuel
Steve Maley
Caleb Howe
It's much simpler if the free press consists of reprinting WH press releases -nt
bk (Diary) Wednesday, May 18th at 1:12PM EDT (link)It's too bad
rickbull Wednesday, May 18th at 9:11PM EDT (link)Dear Leader never had the pleasure of being interviewed by Mike Wallace. I would have paid GOOD MONEY to see that 60 Minutes episode.
WE ARE THE 53% (who actually pay taxes).
Even a lap dog will bite if you keep kicking it
Next93 (Diary) Wednesday, May 18th at 1:58PM EDT (link)Obamah may be in danger of losing his tailwind media if he keeps this up; even a lapdog will bite if you keep kicking it. You would have thought he’d have learned this in the battle over Fox News.
On the other hand, we all know the cute girl in high school who only dates guys who treat her like dirt, so the question is, is the media smarter than a pekingese?
wouldn’t it be amazing, though, if some news outlet actually looked into Obama’s past?
Obama was The One in 2008.
He’ll be a BIGGER one in 2012.
A hint of the ultimate fight rumored
blooch Wednesday, May 18th at 2:48PM EDT (link)to be going on between Jarrett and Daley?
I think it’s a fight over the steering wheel. The MSM stenographers don’t do things like this without direct orders…or at least permission.
Or maybe it’s the Hidden Hand of Hugh Hewitt…lol
“Lieutenant Dike wasn’t a bad leader because he made bad decisions. He was a bad leader because he made no decisions.”
You know what they say, "Lie down with dogs..."
sharonmcp (Diary) Wednesday, May 18th at 2:48PM EDT (link)I have no sympathy for the media at all. They brought it on themselves by being BHO’s lap dog for the past 3 years.
That said, I have been concerned by this administration’s attempts to suppress freedom of the press.
Apparently, I’m not the only one who is concerned.
Obama’s Media Machine: State Run Media 2.0? – Feb. 15, 2011
SF Chronicle video prompts White House threat – Published 04/29/2011
White House credibility gap on press coverage – Published 04/30/2011
“Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.” ~ Ronald Reagan
Boston Herald
RSSS Wednesday, May 18th at 4:25PM EDT (link)Isn’t the Boston Herald a conservative newspaper, like the Washington Times?
Enlighten me, please.
I do not believe that there is such a thing as a "conservative newspaper."
rickbull Wednesday, May 18th at 9:08PM EDT (link)Only ones that are not quite as liberal.
WE ARE THE 53% (who actually pay taxes).
So much for this "transparent" administration. -nt-
rickbull Wednesday, May 18th at 9:09PM EDT (link)WE ARE THE 53% (who actually pay taxes).
One would think that by now the Press would have discovered that Obama's butt
Tbone (Diary) Thursday, May 19th at 12:12AM EDT (link)doesn’t taste like chocolate.
Envisioning when all that is Left is the Right.
This is mild compared to what I've heard
Adjoran (Diary) Thursday, May 19th at 2:48AM EDT (link)The word is that any critical reporting results in angry calls to editors, producers, executives. Obama does not tolerate negative coverage and typically uses access as his Hammer of Compliance +4.
It is press intimidation on a scale never seen from an American President, and it is a threat to the public good.