2 words
Jeff Gannon

Ah, but the real news is that Obama continues to treat those filthy Huffington Post people like real journalists, which has the Village in an uproar. On the other hand, Arianna gives great parties, so we won't hear a real stink until someone who's really unwashed, say someone from Kos or Firedoglake gets a question.

Right. And let's all remember the grand complicity and coordination of the corporate media when Bush did his famous prime time 'news conference' just before he invaded Iraq. This is the one where they coordinated with the corporate media in such a way as to have the 'questions' asked by the 'reporters' scripted beforehand, and Bush practices the scripted answers all day long. The deception to the public was so complete that they even had 'reporters' waving their hands and if to ask questions, knowing that they would not be called upon. At one point Bush even , by accident, divulged this complicity when he said "I have been scripted". And guess who the ringleader was of this complicity from the corporate medias point of view ? None other than the great corporate piece of garbage called David Gregory. And, gee, no one, no one, in the corporate media even made a peep about any of this. This is the kind of crap that Scott McClellan was referring too when he said, after the fact, the corporate media was actively complicit in getting this country into war with Iraq.

I think this calls for a front page pic of Jeff Gannon.

Didn't the Bush WH routinely coordinate and fake news in all kinds of ways? Of course that crowd doesn't care ...

Remember, to the Right the issue about criticism (almost anything, actually) is payback, not validity. If the other side accuses them of X, they must accuse back - regardless of its truthfulness.

Your point is well taken but this was different from the examples you provided because HufPo covers any number of topics so the level of coordination beforehand would necessarily have been higher than the instances you mention.

2 words
Jeff Gannon

Posted by: judyo on June 23, 2009 at 4:56 PM

Precisely.

td - Except that Nico Pitney had already made clear his intention to ask an Iranian question if called upon.

So Obama would have known the likely subject would be when he called on him.

Yeah, I'm thinking of Democrats being escorted out of Bush rallies, countless exclusive Fox News interviews with softball questions, soldiers coached to ask Bush easy questions in a live satellite interview with the president, and on and on and on.

Talk about cozy.

There's a bit more to this than meets the eye. Here's Nico:

A few words about how this came about for those who are curious: as readers know, I've spent a lot of time writing and debating about the President's reaction to the events in Iran. Last night, after emailing with a few people about Obama's press conference and what he might say, I decided to throw it open to our readers. I received a call from White House staff saying they had seen what I'd written and thought the President might be interested in receiving a question directly from an Iranian.

The White House didn't guarantee that I would be able to ask a question. But I decided that if there was even a chance, I should try to reach out to as many Iranians as possible. With the invaluable help from some readers -- Chas, Chuck, and other Iranian Americans I wish I could name because they deserve the credit -- I was able to post a message in Farsi on Twitter and have my request for questions posted late last night on Balatarin. I ended up choosing the question I did because it was one of the consensus questions that many people had suggested.

Thanks also to the White House staff. They were up front about not being able to assure that a question would be asked, they never asked what the question would be, and they helped me move through the very packed briefing room when I showed up a bit late (sorry to the many toes I stepped on getting through).

In sum, I'd say there was some "coordination." But it's of a sort that does credit to the White House and Obama; they actually solicited a question from an Iranian, and were willing for it to be a toughie. This guy believes in letting voices be heard.

What I found remarkable about this press conference was how hostile some of the questioners were.

What I found remarkable about this press conference was how hostile some of the questioners were.

Obama doesn't play their chickenshit games and doesn't stroke their bloated egos, and naturally they don't like it. Too bad about them, fewer and fewer people are paying attention to them all the time and their employers are going broke.

Now the AP is mad because the Obama admin is translating their press conferences!

AP: ...on Monday night, the White House told Pitney that the president would be interested in replying to a question directly from Iran. And, according to Pitney, that's what Obama got — a way to answer an Iranian's question without allegations that he was directly trying to influence a tense situation.

That logic, however, seemed to fracture later in the day when the White House posted a transcript of Obama's remarks in Farsi on its Twitter page and an Arabic and Farsi version at WhiteHouse.gov.

What a bunch of parochial morons at the AP. Posting foreign policy comments from the President in a language that can be understood by the other parties discussed in the comments is meddling!

Not surprising Obama asked Nico about Iran. Nico has been providing some of the best Iran news on the web. I would think Obama called on Nico to acknowledge his work, which has certainly been more informative than CNN.

It's surprising that Obama anticipated Nico asking a question about Iran!? What topic would you expect from a guy who's covered Iran non-stop?

In Michigan the major dailies have gone down to three days--the ones still publishing. Other states report similar distress.

So of course the AP is worried about precedence among the Grooms of the Royal Bedchamber Anteroom.

Here's my favorite line from that ridiculous AP article: "Grumblings about favored reporters are not unique to the Obama White House. There were suspicions — never proved — that President George W. Bush's press operations often planted friendly questions in his news conferences."

"Never proved," my ass.

Jesus Christ!

What possibly could be anyone's complaint after the last 8 Years.

He holds press conferences, takes questions, and answers them coherently, in depth and at length.

Who has any complaints about that after GWB?

Correct if I'm wrong, but the Iranian questioner gets very specific about whether the Prez thinks the election result is legitimate -- and what, if anything, will prompt him to action?

Steve: "If someone has a legitimate concern about Nico's specific question, that's one thing. But that's just it -- it was a terrific question that the president wasn't anxious to answer."

$64,000 question: WHY NOT?

Was the American Revolution not a legitimate political movement?

Someone please tell me the difference.

how many minutes, hours, days did it take the Prez to figure out that the cold-blooded, govt-sanctioned murder of Neda was "outrageous"?

(actually, murder was not on his list of "outrageous" things)

This is a willful failure to comprehend simple syntax. Obama's question was (rephrased): "Pose me a question from one of the many Iranians who have sent you questions intended for me." This ensured that the Q would be unpredictable, not "pre-selected." The only thing pre-selected was the questioner.

The rightists are so unhinged just now that they are trying to make themselves believe that the question was pre-selected. Politico has a partisan interest in carrying that tainted water rather than authoring anything truthful. That interest stems from Politico's need to a) get linked by the drudge report, and b) cope with its insignificance vis-a-vis the Huffington post. the rest of the press there are too busy trying to appear tough on obama to say anything of use.

This is the swamp these hacks inhabit. Their problem is that there are so many turds in the water already, another one hardly makes a
splish.

sidenote to "matt" -- since you're so eager for "action" to be "prompted," why don't you offer a specific 3-point plan of action instead of sounding like the last wheezing remnants of the dick cheney bandwagon?

it was a terrific question

Just when I think that the White House press corps can't get any worse, in comes a kid to ask a ridiculous question that showed he and the Iranian he was channeling don't understand that the US doesn't even have diplomatic relations with Iran.

I finally am understanding why the media buzz is that Obama's a "genius" -- By comparison to themselves, he sure must seem that way.