The talk is that Major Garrett has a great shot at moving into Helen Thomas’ old seat. It’s also being speculated that Bloomberg will get the honor. My thinking – and not shared by anyone in the know – is that print media will be moving up. The Washington Post or NYT are both on the same side as NBC, ABC, CNN and Reuters, which is the White House side.
Read more here: The Daily Beast, NewsBusters, Mediaite
The honeymoon might be over for a few WH reporters. Everyone can’t be first and everyone can’t be the
Richard Wolffe
favored guy, all the time. But it appears that one guy is favored with the WH more often and more obviously than others.
Richard Wolffe, author of Renegade: The Making of a President and a planned sequel, is getting an unfair amount of access than other reporters and it’s not sitting well with many of the pool reporters. A fact that Wolfe does not dispute and in fact, verifies:
Wolffe said over email: “I’ve been in lots of parts of the White House and talked to lots of White House officials. Most often on my own. Sometimes with very few media present. Sometimes with lots of media present. I’ve never been a pool reporter. I negotiate my own access for the book and pursue my own reporting.” [Emphasis mine]
As background, Wolffe was a reporter for NewsWeek and was on the campaign trail with Obama – strictly Obama, during which he was doing foundational work for Renegade. His NewsWeek editors discovered indirectly that he was working on a book while he was also working on their dime. (NewsWeek reimbursed the Obama campaign $170,000 for travel expenses incurred by Wolffe.)
By the way, it was Obama who suggested that Wolfe write a Theodore White-type book [The Making of the President 1960] about the campaign and expected presidential win.
In his book, Wolfe wasn’t very kind to his bosses at NewsWeek. In one passage, Wolfe takes a direct shot at the Newsweek’s chief scribe, Evan Thomas [great grandson of socialist and several time presidential candidate Norman Thomas], describing him as one of the magazine’s “most senior, and white, writers” whose “racial stereotyping” wasn’t that different from Jeremiah Wright’s inability “to accept that America was in the process of change.”
We all remember Evan Thomas:
But I digress.
On the campaign trail, many of the pool reporters were unhappy and jealous of his almost unlimited access to Obama. He played basketball with the candidate while on the campaign trail and “after a campaign event at a restaurant in Reno…, Wolffe and Obama shared a heaping piece of frosted carrot cake as the Secret Service ushered the rest of the press corps to a waiting bus, according to a pool report.”
Fast forward to last month and the rising tension between the press and the WH. Julie Mason, pool reporter for the Washington Examiner said: “I was the print pooler, and I told him, ‘You are not in the pool — you shouldn’t be here [at a House Democratic Caucus meeting with the president],'” Mason recalled. “We did have words, and he invited me to take it up with Robert Gibbs. I asked him if he was now officially working for the administration, which rightly [ticked] him off.”
Wolffe is no longer with NewsWeek. Many at the publication felt that he had become too enamored with Obama during the campaign and that his coverage (or lack of it) effected his reporting for the publicaton. After the election, they wanted to take him off the WH beat for other duties but he was not inclined to accommodate their wishes. He’s now working for a public relations firm, writes for the Daily Beast and is a sometime consultant to – where else – MSNBC.
Well, aside from an Obama second term?
Another self admitted “progressive” on the Supreme Court.
It really doesn’t sound all that far-fetched after you read the opinion piece from The Daily Beast:
Last week, ABC News reported: “Lawyers for President Obama have been working behind the scenes to prepare for the possibility of one, and maybe two Supreme Court vacancies this spring. Court watchers believe two of the more liberal members of the court, Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, could decide to step aside for reasons of age and health. That would give the president his second and third chance to shape his legacy on the Supreme Court.”
…
Some have suggested Hillary play musical chairs with Joe Biden in a second term. Biden actually wanted to be secretary of State more than he wanted to be vice president. So, he’d probably be game. The problem with this scenario is that in terms of power and influence, the veep slot would be step down for Hillary. And Team Obama never liked the idea of giving Bill Clinton entrée to meddle around the familiar old 18 acres. On the other hand, the surest route to a party nomination is to launch your candidacy from the cat bird’s seat of the vice presidency.
…
But if in the end if it’s about what is realistic, and how Hillary could have the greatest impact on society, most would agree she could have the greatest political influence by hanging around for a couple of decades casting votes and writing opinions on the Supreme Court.
… why would Obama consider her?
One possibility: legacy. As popular as Obama is, and as many votes as he received in 2008, he still stepped over Clinton to get to the throne. And a lot of woman haven’t forgotten or forgiven. In one stroke, he would eliminate any remaining bad feelings and would become a Hillaryland hero.
Stripping away the drama, the politics and psychobabble, she’d be a great choice for Obama and the Democrats. She’s as smart and as qualified as any prospect her party could nominate.
~~~ooOoo~~~
Going to work fulltime has really messed up my ability to keep up on current events. There is just too much to read and catch up on after 3 days with virtually no Fox News – I”m just beginning a withdrawl process on day 3.
Watching a weeks worth of missed videos on PJTV today, I found one that really got me fired up. And after watching it I had to find the actual column they were talking about and read it for myself, here.
“In a world increasingly defined by the rise of the developing countries, most notably China, the United States was, in fact, in relative decline. It took the global financial crisis to begin to convince the U.S. that it could no longer take its global supremacy for granted. This dawning realisation has come desperately late in the day. Even now most of the country remains in denial. Never has a great power been less prepared or equipped to face its own decline.
Fortunately, in Barack Obama the nation has a president that possesses a rare characteristic for that office, humility.”
I have to agree with this writer. We are a nation in decline because we are a nation that is leaderless. And the man we have in the position of leadership only knows how to manipulate and not how to inspire. He believes like the writer and like many in the world that we are not exceptional, that we are not great and that we are fundamentally a flawed nation. Obama began his administration, from day one, on bended knee, asking for the worlds forgiveness.
Yes, we are fortunate to have a head of state who is comfortable subordinating himself to our enemies and to the world at large.
Instead of building on the allies and friends in the world who admire us and value a relationship with us – like the former Soviet bloc nations – we are asking nations who have sworn themselves to our demise, to forgive us for our own greatness. Instead of aligning ourselves with the emerging democracies in Eastern Europe, we are begging for nations like Egypt and Syria to forgive us.
The good news for the U.S. is that China will continue to place great emphasis on a good working relationship.”
The Good News? So we are now allowing another nation to set OUR agenda? A nation that makes a mockery of human rights? That imprisons descidents? A nation that controls even its own citizens procreation? We are humbling ourselves to this? Well, of course, we have to. They are now holding the purse strings and they control our financial security, or insecurity, however you choose to look at it.
… the role of the state is highly circumscribed and viewed with inherent suspicion by American society; in China the opposite is the case, not just in the communist period but over many centuries, with no obvious boundaries to its power and the state enjoying remarkable legitimacy and deference (even though not a single vote is cast).”
I find this whole statement offensive on several levels. Suspicion of the government is a healthy state of affairs in America. It’s whats made us a unique nation. As Thomas Jefferson said “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” Americans must be suspicious and vigilant of the elected, else we are tortured by the type of government we have now.
“Remarkable deference” enjoyed by oppressive communist regimes that have been responsible for the imprisonment and deaths of tens of millions, is nothing short of disgusting. Proudly boasting that “not a single vote is cast” is to disparage the tens of millions dead at the hands of the communists in China. It’s a great moment when one man-one vote is no longer a wonderful practice, at least to this columnist.
The goal of this columnist and others like Evan Thomas, is to demoralize the people and create a declining nation, if not in reality then at least in the minds of the citizenry. They are preparing us for the third world nation that they envision for us.
The president is setting the tone for the next decade: bowing to dictators and promising billions of dollars (to aid in the fight against so-called global warming with money we don’t have and have to borrow from another totalitarian government) to America hating marxist regimes – like for instance, Hugo Chavez. Hey, maybe they’ll like us better if we give them money!
We aren’t in the cool kids club yet… but give him 8 years and Obama’s going to bow and buy our way in.
We have lost our clout and our credibility in the world, especially among our allies. I try to read international papers online, at least once a week to get a feel for what they are doing and how they are viewing us. It’s getting damned depressing.
On the 70th anniversary of the Russian invasion of Poland, we dropped a big bomb of our own on the Poles when it was announced that we were taking the missile defense system off the table. Could we have picked a worse day to do this to an ally? The Poles revere Ronald Reagan, love America and they have sent thousands of soldiers to Afghanistan to fight beside ours. So… we just dumped on the Poles and the Czechs and took the promised missiles away.
The Poles were so incensed, their president refused a call from Hillary Clinton.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Zbigniew Brezezinski (former adviser to that other impotent president, Jimmy Carter and an anti-Semite just like the president he served) said that we should make sure that Israel knows that if they attempt to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites, we will shoot down their planes.
“We are not exactly impotent little babies,” Brzezinski said. “They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch?… We have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you aren’t just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not…”
I’m sure the Israeli’s have all kinds of confidence in their ‘friendship’ with us. Obama and Hillary Clinton have demanded that they make concessions in the occupied West Bank but have asked nothing of Hamas. Hamas, who hides inside homes and schools, behind women and children, to launch missiles at the Israelis. Hamas – who go to war like cowards.
I wish someone could explain to me why Jewish Americans supported Obama. If this guy was going to allow Austria to threaten to blow up Vatican City, how many American Catholic votes would he have gotten? Seriously, this Jewish support just totally baffles me.
It’s being rumored that General McChrystal is prepared to resign if his requests for more troops is nixed. His request has been held up for nearly 3 weeks. American, and allied soldiers are waiting… It would take 60-90 days for those troops, if they are approved tomorrow, to be ready for deployment.
In March, Obama announced a “comprehensive, new strategy” in Afghanistan. What’s happened to that? On Meet the Press this last Sunday, he said he’s not ready to do anything until he’s sure it’s the right thing. And our soldiers are waiting…
How does all this effect morale?
This last weekend we had a friend from Germany visit us. When he was 17, he lived with us as an exchange student. He told us that the Europeans blame us for the worldwide financial meltdown. I’m not an economist, but I think he’s correct.
Almost daily, I can feel America declining. I read it, I hear it, I see it. Frank Luntz, in his new book “What Americans Really Want… Really” said that a depressing 33% of Americans feel that America will be a better place for their children and 57% believe that their children will have a worse quality of life.
We are polarized by a president who will not pull us together because it might jeopardize what he thinks is his place in history, i.e. passing his entire socialist agenda. He knows that it’s division that will win him his causes so he ignores the majority and pays back (with our tax dollars) his fringe supporters, i.e. unions and leftist politicians.
Obama has traveled the world apologizing and shaming us, shouldering the blame for everything from global warming to arrogance. He’s embarrassed the nation and weakened us in the eyes of friend and foe.
I believe we, and in a larger sense, the world is suffering from a real crisis of confidence.
And I don’t believe that this president is capable of fixing that.
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