Obama--the grumblings

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by sugarpop

God, can we just move on from the tax cheats? Personally, I think one would be hard pressed to find ANYONE in Washington who had never flubbed their taxes in their own favor.

I have no problem with it, just don't nominate them to be in charge of the IRS, ok?

[classicman]

Obama's Press List

Membership shall have its privileges.

About half-way through President Obama's press conference Monday night, he had an unscripted question of his own. "All, Chuck Todd," the President said, referring to NBC's White House correspondent. "Where's Chuck?" He had the same strange question about Fox News's Major Garrett: "Where's Major?"

The problem wasn't the lighting in the East Room. The President was running down a list of reporters preselected to ask questions. The White House had decided in advance who would be allowed to question the President and who was left out.

Presidents are free to conduct press conferences however they like, but the decision to preselect questioners is an odd one, especially for a White House famously pledged to openness. We doubt that President Bush, who was notorious for being parsimonious with follow-ups, would have gotten away with prescreening his interlocutors. Mr. Obama can more than handle his own, so our guess is that this is an attempt to discipline reporters who aren't White House favorites.

Why is Obama doing this? I really don't get it. There seems to be no need. He is smart, articulate, savvy and experienced enough.

Few accounts of Monday night's event even mentioned the curious fact that the White House had picked its speakers in advance.

We hope that omission wasn't out of fear of being left off the list the next time.

Keep that hope.

[sugarpop]

Originally Posted by classicman

Obama's Press List

Membership shall have its privileges.


Why is Obama doing this? I really don't get it. There seems to be no need. He is smart, articulate, savvy and experienced enough.

I thought that was odd as well. I'm hoping maybe he just wanted make sure different news organizations got a question, and so had a list of reporters for various ones prepared.

[TheMercenary]

So much for the unscripted open questions. Not that I am shocked. Bush probably did it as well. Reminds me of the famous stories about never calling on Helen "The Wicked Witch" Thomas.

[classicman]

But Bush never said ran on being transparent and open and ......

[Clodfobble]

But if he's going to pre-select to his advantage, why pick a Fox News guy? Maybe the pre-selection had nothing to do with what questions they were going to ask, but was a reward/punishment for unrelated things (which would still be weird; I'm just saying, if you're going to cherry-pick friendly questioners, the Fox News guy probably isn't the one you turn to.)

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

So much for the unscripted open questions. Not that I am shocked. Bush probably did it as well. Reminds me of the famous stories about never calling on Helen "The Wicked Witch" Thomas.

Where in the article does it suggest that the questions were pre-screened or scripted?

I dont get the story here.

Pre-selecting reporters? So what. This has little or nothing to do with transparency

In a national press conference with a hundred+ reporters in the room, you dont want to open it up to the possibility of questions about local issues by the reporters from Dubuque or Peoria.

There is a reason why the network guys, the cable guys, the big dailies always get the questions...and Helen!

But the questions are not pre-screened.

Town meetings are for both local and national consumption, not national press conferences, and unlike the Bush administration, these have not been pre-screened for the make-up of the audience or questions.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by Redux

Town meetings are for both local and national consumption, not national press conferences,

EVERYTHING is international - everything. Welcome to the age of the internet. That is just a simple fact.

Obama chose a normally very conservative town where the unemployment rate was more than double the nat'l average on purpose.

[TheMercenary]

I love the way that the CEO of Catepiller countered what Obama said at the same little dog and pony show.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpu...terpillar.html

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

I love the way that the CEO of Catepiller countered what Obama said at the same little dog and pony show.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpu...terpillar.html

Transparency...No pre-screening.

I would think you would like that rather than the scripted responses during the Bush town halls.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Redux

Transparency...No pre-screening.

I would think you would like that rather than the scripted responses during the Bush town halls.

What does that have to do with my comment?

[sugarpop]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

I love the way that the CEO of Catepiller countered what Obama said at the same little dog and pony show.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpu...terpillar.html

All he said is that wouldn't have an immediate effect because it will take time for the money to get out. I think everyone knows the impact will not be immedaite, but gradual. He still said he supports the bill.

This one caught my eye:

John Boehner, House Minority Leader: "the future of our party is Cao" referring to Anh Cao.

Anh Cao: "I'm voting along what my conscience dictates and the needs of the 2nd Congressional District dictate, even if I were to be the only member of the GOP to vote for the stimulus package.."

[sugarpop]

Originally Posted by Redux

This one caught my eye:

John Boehner, House Minority Leader: "the future of our party is Cao" referring to Anh Cao.

Anh Cao: "I'm voting along what my conscience dictates and the needs of the 2nd Congressional District dictate, even if I were to be the only member of the GOP to vote for the stimulus package.."

John Boehner is a tool. Notice how he always looks constipated?

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by sugarpop

John Boehner is a tool. Notice how he always looks constipated?

heh...yeah I know him. Probably wanting a cig.