We saw the enemy last night and it is the White House press corps...

[kentuck]

And they are the ones that are always on TV making pronouncements. But we now have seen with our own eyes who the enemy is. It is not all journalists or all media - it is the White House press corps. Here was a very telling quote from last night:

Addressing the reporters, he said, "Let's review the rules. Here's how it works. The president makes decisions, he’s the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Put them through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know--fiction."
============================================

You know -- fiction. :)

[tsuki]

1. That had me rolling with laughter. nt

[blm]

2. Hey kentuck - we saw that in 2000 campaign - and 2004 - and the DSM

revelations that were roundly IGNORED.

Really, DSM proved it to the point of no return.

[kentuck]

4. True...

But the influence of the White House press corps on all the news that is reported on television must be noted.

[blm]

6. Heh - some of us make sure to do that on a DAILY BASIS here at DU

and in letters sent to corp media.

[kentuck]

7. I know.

You guys are true patriots.

[blm]

8. I always LOVED the news and the media and it breaks my heart to see what

it has become - it's now nothing more than a tool to catapult the fascist agenda and their propaganda

. But, breaking my heart is squat compared to how it has BROKEN THIS COUNTRY and the world.

[emulatorloo]

3. Do you include the ones Colbert featured in his press conference?

i.e., Helen Thomas, David Gregory, and the others that were asking about Karl Rove's guilt, investigations, the failed response to Katrina, why we invaded Iraq?

In otherwords, I don't think the whole White House Press Corps is our enemy.

[kentuck]

5. Helen Thomas is not our enemy....

And she is ignored. But name one more. Gregory is much like Sam Donaldson during Reagan years - he's a foil for the Administration.

[Fridays Child]

9. Mark "getting it just about right" Smith personifies the enemy.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this past year the White House Press Corps has, once again, been upbraided and vilified. We have been called, by the Left, putty in the administration's hands. We have been called Bush's trained dogs. At the same time, the Right has accused us of relentless negativity, liberal overreach. Sounds like another year of irritating absolutely everyone and, in so doing, getting it just about right."

Smith made the above comment, last night, with all the snooty and arrogant mannerisms of a typical, tone-deaf Beltway insider. The man would be eaten alive out here in the real world.

Memo to Mark: There's more to "getting it just about right" than just pissing everyone off, you idiot.

[grasswire]

10. yes, thank you for posting that

This is the falsehood they hide behind. The notion that the right and the left are morally equivalent, so if both are on their heels they are reporting "balance." Earth to journos: your job is not to report balance. Your job is to report the truth, even when it means the truth comes down hard on one side. The truth. Only the press stands between the people and tyranny.

I'm going to write to Smith. His words were pure bogus crap.

[blm]

11. Bob Woodward hides behind that same bullshit - they can't even be accurate

about criticism directed at them to their face.

They should only ask, "What do the FACTS prove?"

And leave it at that.

[BeFree]

12. Too,

The way Smith squirmed, when introducing Colbert, makes one think that his career is the most important item on his agenda. Not that his career produces the truth, only that he stays on top.

His boss, methinks, is aware of what's going down, and may be the person responsible for Colbert's opportunity for Colbert's moment of truth?

[KoKo]

13. What I've wondered is who was responsible for inviting Colbert?

Was it Smith? C-Span's "Steve" was the VP of the White House Press Assn..so he had to know what it meant to invite Colbert. I've always felt Steve was the most right wing of all the C-Span hosts.

What if both Smith and Steve (sorry don't know his last name) knew what Colbert was going to say? Or, did Colbert "spring it on them?" Hard to believe with the control Bush has that they would have let Colbert spring an "Imus" (Imus trashed Bill and Hillary with disgusting jokes)on Bush.

Did the Bushies get wind of Colbert doing a hatchet job on them and that's why they made sure they had the Bush Dummy who would get all the media attention? :shrug:

[kentuck]

14. I believe they thought Colbert was a "friend" of El Presidente...

...and the person that invited him did not understand where he is coming from? Probably a decision they regret today? :)

[KoKo]

17. Thanks for info. I'd never seen Colbert before Saturday Night

and yet I've seen posters here saying that the Freeps thought he was conservative. I guess his brand of satiric humor goes over their heads...but not having seen him before I can only go by what I saw at the WPA...performance.

That's a good one...if he was chosen because they thought he was conservative. :D

Thanks for the info....:-)'s

[Crankie Avalon]

15. I don't suppose it could ever occur to this guy that...

...if everyone is saying you do a bad job, it might actually be because you are doing a bad job.

How Bushian--"I've heard the voices, and they all say I'm doing a bad job, so that means I must be getting it just about right."

In what other job besides press corps poodle (and now POTUS, I guess) can one get away with saying that.

I don't suppose this guy could ever aim for a time when people of just about every political stripe would reluctantly have to admit the press was fair in challenging whomever happens to be in power.

[XemaSab]

19. I noticed that comment

:eyes:

[UTUSN]

16. That nails it. n/t

[chicofaraby]

18. Here is what I wrote to AP this morning

Dear AP,

I understand that you are embarrassed that a comedian exposed your shoddy work at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner this past weekend. You should be embarrassed. However, that is no excuse for failing to report on Steven Colbert's speech. That said, we the American people aren't surprised. Your failures are what made Mr. Colbert's speech an embarrassment for you. It took a comedian to do your job.

Shame on your association. Shame on you for weakness. Shame on you for bias. Shame on you for cowardice.

[fightingdem]

20. This has probably been said before

From now on we should call them the White House Press Corpse also known as the Evil Dead Who Walk Among Us.