Media Sour On Bush Press Conf.

[Onlooker]

I didn't see this posted anywhere. Perhaps it belongs in the general forum, but I think it's pretty newsworthy and very enjoyable to read.

"President Bush's Tuesday night White House press conference was a disappointment – at least according to the members of the press who covered it. ...."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/14/politics/main611892.shtml

[Gothmog]

1. The media is slowly waking up

The media is beginning to wake up. If the media stops covering for Bush, then it is all over.

[Emboldened Chimp]

2. No, they've been hip to what's going on...

it's only recently that they've had the spine to say anything about it...

[Bill Wade]

5. This has nothing to do with the topic, but nice sig pic.

:)

Trey is a jedi!

[Emboldened Chimp]

6. yep...and i'll be feeling the force in vegas tomorrow!

friday and saturday, too!

[dolo amber]

13. That's Trey?

I thought it was Eric Clapton. x(

D'oh! :D

on edit: I like how even though the article is primarily saying it was a pathetic performance, they manage to shove this in at the very end:

Nevertheless, Shales nails the fundamental point missed on most reporters, adding in closing, "By expressing tremendous confidence in his own judgment and actions, even to the point of not being able to recall a single mistake, it's likely Bush made Americans feel a renewed confidence as well.

Sorta nullifies all the *negatives*, eh?

[rocktivity]

41. The Bush regime's continuing degeneration has backed them into a corner

The mainstream has been playing along in order to avoid getting an envelope that contained either white powder or a pink slip. But as a result, they now are faced with as much of credibility/competence problem as Bush is, best illustrated by the CNN/Dave Letterman "Yawning Kid" affair. Did CNN lie about the Bush White House calling them and saying the tape was faked? Or did they lie when they said that THEY had lied about getting the call? Some people thought it was a relatively trivial manner, but this article shows that there are things that even a media whore won't do.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Pastiche423]

3. What is waking the media up

is the sound of their money dropping out of their pockets if they continue to cover up for whistle ass.

The sharks are looking for a different ocean.

[radfringe]

31. the only surprise at the "press conference"

was the questions -- I had expected the press to be on their knees, with lips poised for butt kissing

bush*'s "answers" were just as expected - recite the "talking points", repeat the "sound bites" and dance around the answers

[napi21]

4. Somebody on TV last night asked what made the press

guys change and start asking more pointed questions. The answer was that * was considered a war President in the past and it's understood that you don't do anything to undermine that.

The WH and *'s treatment of the Press folks has really begun to pi** them off, and it's no more nice guy.

I'm not sure, but I think this was a chat between Chris Matthews and Howard Fineman after the Press Conference.

[booksenkatz]

7. How can that be their excuse?

He wasn't a "war president" in 2000, yet they were actively fellating him throughout that entire year. Had they done their job in 2000, none of this, NONE OF THIS, would have happened. So it's gotta be something else.

[pinerow]

8. When did Shales, who is a movie and TV critic, get the

"bona fides" to pontificate on matters political.
Saw him the other day on MS...repeating the republican mantra...stay the course...resolute...resolve...I believe these poltico's and their sycophants think that if one repeats something often enough, it shall come to pass...

Sheesh

[Shakespeare]

9. He often comments on prime-time press conferences.

There is a performance aspect to them, after all. Shales is a sharp critic--his bonafides are every bit as good as Howie Kurtz's.

[pinerow]

11. Kurtz is just as idiotic as Shales as far as political 'bona fides' are

concerned...I trust him to give a learned account on the latest episode of CSI, not the political landscape.

[Shakespeare]

14. Have you ever listened to Shales?

Seriously?

Please point to something--anything--in his review of the press conference that wasn't spot-on. I'm not terribly concerned whether you "trust" him or not; the man's a gifted observer who's unafraid to be harsh when harsh comments are appropriate.

[pinerow]

16. Dang...did not realise that Shales' agent posted on DU.

nt

[Shakespeare]

45. tsk, tsk...

Nope, not Shales' agent. Merely pointing out that knee-jerk rejection of his criticism of the press conference--without bothering to discuss the actual content of the criticism--is rather silly.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

17. 'President' is a theatrical role. Press are critics who review plot+scenes

But this week, all the scenes are about massive failure and death without any happy endings being offered. They'll lose their audience if the story keeps being gloom and doom with no let-up.

They can't sell this poorly budgeted and poorly cast presidency anymore. It just doesn't...work...anymore.

They've seen the approval ratings plummet, public wilting over visible carnage in Iraq and confessions of incompetence in the 9/11 hearings.

The suspension of disbelief in the neocon's public theatrics doesn't hold for the press corps who just want a good story to sell. They don't really care who gets killed in the story as long as it is marketable.

PICTURE THE PRESS CORPS TURNING TO EACH OTHER AND SAYING:
"THIS MOVIE SUCKS, DOESN'T IT? I'M GONNA PAN IT."

[ultramega]

25. The press are directors gushing over their ingenue.

It's always the director in any article about an actor who waxes on shamelessly about the minutae of his lead actor's personality when they are doing rounds of pr for the film. Because it's his movie.

I think the uncritical press are this way, they are the director, the pres. is their lead actor, and the movie is their career.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

26. Yup. "Politics is showbiz for ugly people." It sure ain't a debate.n/t

[Mike Daniels]

39. Shales routinely rips Bush's TV appearances

Ever since the Nixon-Kennedy debates, the performance sometimes has meant more than what was said when it came to televised political discourse. I watched the Bush/Gore debates and visually (body language, facial expressions, physical conduct) I thought Gore come off the worse of the two.

I read the WP and always make a point to read Shales commentaries on Bush's SOTU or press conferences and I don't recall one time where I've seen him lavish exclusively uncritical praise on either Bush's presentation style or the content without throwing legitimate criticism into the mix.

[AlinPA]

10. That's print media. 'muricins don't read it. Broadcast media

that I saw or heard was singing the moron's praises, including Dan Rather and Chris Matthews......

[Merlin]

12. Bush scored a homerun last night. This is just sour grapes.

I hate the sonofabitch. But he did what he had to do to revitalize the 1/2 of the American public that doesn't use either half of their brains.

He never used a sentence of more than 6 words.

He called on all TV media (with one exception), and he did it from an acknowledged call list. "Won't do any good to holler." he said, "If you're not on the list, it doesn't matter."

What the hell kind of a President decides in advance who he will call on? It is an outrage that the media isn't as up in arms about this as they should have also been about his relegating Helen Thomas to the back row because she asked difficult questions.

[drfemoe]

33. WTF?

Who was the "exception"?

I read this today > snip <
(Alber, by the way, was imprisoned by Saddam for running a bakery. As he said, "Under the embargo, you could eat flour, you could eat sugar, you could eat eggs, all separately. But mix them together and bake them and you were harming the economy by raising the price of sugar and you could get 15 years in prison.) > snip <
http://www.empirenotes.org

Who does this remind you of? It sounds much like the current murican 'justice' system, does it not?

Saddam did not have the monopoly on insanity. I'm pretty sure it was just a franchise.

[leftchick]

15. There were 3 journalists on Lou Dobbs tonight and all concurred...

bush* bombed! :)

[Jazzgirl]

18. I liked this one statement.

William Saletan, Slate.com:
" misunderstanding of the word 'credible,' however, isn't harmless. It's catastrophic. To Bush, credibility means that you keep saying today what you said yesterday, and that you do today what you promised yesterday... When the situation is clear and requires pure courage, this steadfastness is Bush's most useful trait. But when the situation is unclear, Bush's notion of credibility turns out to be dangerously unhinged. The only words and deeds that have to match are his. No correspondence to reality is required.”

*shrub really doesn't know what the word credible means. I'm glad some of the press are finally waking up and calling it for what it is. I'm sick of the positive spin. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people thought he did well. They are still brain dead....

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/14/politics/main611892.shtml

[osaMABUSh]

19. In baseball terms Shrub is batting zero in 3 at bats this year

Last night, the SOTU address in January, and the appearance on NBC's ‘Meet the Press.’

Yes, letting Sosa go was in Bush's mind his biggest mistake ever.

[Digit]

20. Ted Koppel

Did anyone else see Nightline on Tuesday night?
Ted also said how badly * did in the press conference.

[Ilsa]

22. Yes! Ted and terry Moran hammered on *!

Terry asked Bush about admitting that he had made mistakes. Bush ignored the question, so David Gregory followed up with a paraphrasing of Moran's Q. Bush blabbed about nothing, spewed a few Rovian talking points. Then pretty much was done.

[Voltaire99]

21. "WWWJS"?

David Sanger, The New York Times:

"Mr. Bush drove home the singlemindedness that has become the hallmark of his presidency, his greatest strength in the eyes of his admirers and a dangerous, never-change-course stubbornness in the eyes of his detractors... He described an America chosen by God to spread freedom.

Which wars would Jesus start?

[wabeewoman]

23. I know the networks can't be as partisan

as I am but Rather was praising bush's speech. It was the blathering of an idiot-hardly a coherent sentence in the whole thing except when he was reading the teleprompter. Why can't they just say the emperor is naked?

[Octafish]

24. Fred Barnes, Teeny Turd of the BFEE

From the article:

Excerpt...

Fred Barnes, TheWeeklyStandard.com:
“He was heroically on message, relentlessly repetitive, but effective in his own way... He's not aiming to please the Washington crowd - the political elite. His audience is outside the Beltway - the mass - and he does surprisingly well in appealing to it. How does he do it? By being plainspoken and amiable and down to earth. By sounding more like Midland, Texas, than like Georgetown or Chevy Chase. By honing in on a single message and not giving reporters much else to write about. Bush tried Tuesday night to dictate the lead of stories."

Continued...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/14/politics/main611892.shtml

This is a journalist of the type I've loathed since 22 November 1963.

[gemlake]

27. Plainspoken?

After all of bush*'s lies, including the barrage of lies about WMDs, how can Barnes say that? I wonder what bush* would have to lie about, to make Barnes change his mind.

[opihimoimoi]

28. Plain Spoken means babbling Idiot.

and this guy has a degree?

Grade schoolers speak way better than him.

Bush is damaged goods, should not be President. That he is speaks volumes about Americas level of intelligence

[Octafish]

46. Barnes is paid to lie.

Lying about Bush is putting bread on his family, as his pretzeldunce would say.

Me? Like most on DU, I can't stand the Chimperror. Or his fiends.



BTW: A hearty welcome to DU, boreDem! Where ya been?

[SoCalDem]

32. Dear Mr. Barnes,

What a condescending thing to say about the "mass" (ordinary people)..

The people of Midland, or "middle America" who talk like our (cough) president are probably residents of a group care home for the "intelligence-challenged".

Just because he cannot speak well, do NOT assume that people outside the "beltway" are morons too.

The time has LONG passed, for the coddling of this insignificant little pimple on the ASS of the world. He is president of the US, the most "powerful" leader on earth, and he has difficulty stringing five words together..and cannot even get the simplest syntax correct.. My kids did better when they were toddlers..

It is NOT "cute", "endearing", "plainspoken", or any other euphemism for DUMB, that you guys can come up with..

Half of the US, and about 95% of the rest of the planet KNOWS that he never should have been "selected", but he WAS, so we have to live with it..

It's bad enough that he's ruined our economy, stolen our retirement,shortchanged our kids' education,endangered the ecology of the world, sent hundreds of our military to an unncessary death, alienated most of the world against us (unless he gives them MORE of our tax dollars, to BUY their paltry support), and LIED to us about almost everything he does or did.

He is disengaged, unqualified,and is a danger to us all..

I know that you and your kind suckle at the teat of republican largesse, so I do not expect you, personally, to change your tune anytime soon, but please be aware that at least half of the US knows that you are "beating a dead horse".. The emperor is naked, and most of us know it.

Poor George.... in a game of wits, he is hopelessly unarmed.You, sir, are at least half way there.

[UpInArms]

36. couldn't have said it better myself

SoCalDem!

:yourock:

[Dhalgren]

37. Well put!

Yeeeowww, you go!

[truebrit71]

38. Couldn't have said it better myself!!!

Barnes is one of the many *apologists that REALLY gets on my nerves...

[Octafish]

48. Yeh. We're paying for what Barnes ilk has said.

Then again, they're Traitors. That's what they're paid to say.

Barne's type puts into words the evil thoughts of getting something for nothing, of doing things the "smart" way, of getting the free ride that is at the heart of gangsterism. So we see from that wonderful press conference where this future convict Gov George Bush refuses any responsibility for his dereliction of duty, at best, or his own Treason, most likely, in his capacities as commander-in-chief.

No matter what, NO American could miss seeing -- despite what Freddie Barnes or any other BFEE turd could dish out -- that the Little Turd from Crawford is an idiot. In his head, perhaps, a single numbnut of a neuron struggles to pass a thought. We all see and live in the end result of his evil thoughts -- that is a government of lies and a world built on deceit.



Only the Truth can bring them down, SoCalDem. Thanks for knowing and speaking and saying and living it. You are quite a communicator, in the best sense! And that's more powerful than any sword in battle -- for hearts, minds and souls.

EDIT: Typo or something again.

[Robbien]

29. Bush continues to defend the dubious

Wanted to post that. It is the title of a Texas editorial. The editorial is good, but the opening paragraph is great:

You ached for the president to say something like, "We made some mistakes and our intelligence was far from perfect. But we’re there now, Saddam is gone, and we’ve got to get through the tough times. Experience has made us realistic enough to know we can’t establish instant democracy. Democracy can’t be established from the top, a people has to grow into it. But we can make sure Iraq in the foreseeable future is not the threat we thought it was, and give the Iraqi people a chance."

If Bush would have said something like that he would have all those undecided voters in his corner.

http://www.valleystar.com/editorial_more.php?id=52850_0_28_0_M

[Cronus Protagonist]

30. We have to keep this one kicked

:kick: Important.

[dusty64]

34. From what I've heard

you'd never know this from the cooing and fawning going on especially in the cable Pravda.

[Mountainman]

35. "it's likely Bush made Americans feel a renewed confidence"

Which Americans? Just the freeper, dittohead, "he gets down on his knees and prays at night" crowd. All these non thinkers need is another hit from the right wing media whores and they are good to go for another couple of weeks of Bush butt licking.

[moondust]

40. "I'm sure something will pop into my head here."

Head of the Republican Party, which currently controls all three branches of the U.S. gov't.

The end is near.

[htuttle]

42. Well you know...

He's not as quick on his feet as he should be -- according to himself.

[skippysmom]

43. Things must be changing

I have heard several repukes complain about "those mean reporters" who were "so harsh" with him. I haven't heard that in a while.

I didn't see it, but I heard it on the radio -- and saying he sounded like an imbecile would be an insult to imbeciles.

[RobinA]

44. Have to Agree With Barnes

here. He may be an apologist, but I don't think this particular call is apologist, it's just an explanation of W's continued popularity. Look, whether we like it or not, the man sheds critics from inside his own administration like they are gnats. He makes inane comments. He demonstrates complete ignorance of almost everything a President should be expected to know. I admits on TV that his press conferences are scripted. He gets us into a war based on completely false information (to put the kindest spin on it), much of which was demosrably false when he uttered it. Yet he continues to enjoy the support at least half the population, even as many of them tell pollsters they disagree with what he's actually doing.

If Barnes is just a whore and an apologist, what is YOUR explanation for the continued support of this President? And don't tell me the press. The press can only say black is white for so long before responsiblity for seeing the difference passes to the audience. And I say we're way past that point.

[Zynx]

47. Bush's support isn't that high, that's my explanation.

It's higher than it should be, but it's not 70% folks. It's not even 60% or 55%.