Why Oh Why Can't We Have a Better Press Corps? (Special Michael Abramowitz/Juan Williams Journamalism Edition)
Greg Sargent writes:
Horses Mouth January 30, 2007 12:35 PM: BUSH CLAIMS THAT HIS SAYING "DEMOCRAT" MAJORITY WAS AN "OVERSIGHT" -- EVEN THOUGH HE'S DONE IT AGAIN AND AGAIN IN THE PAST. This is kind of funny. Via Political Wire, President Bush claimed in an interview with National Public Radio's Juan Williams yesterday that his use of the term "Democrat majority" in the State of the Union speech was a mistake:
PRESIDENT BUSH: ...Yeah. Well, that was an oversight then. I mean, I'm not trying to needle. Look, I went into the hall saying we can work together and I was very sincere about it. I didn't even know I did it.
Really? If so, it's an "oversight" that Bush has committed an awful lot of times in the past.... November 8, 2006... it is clear the Democrat Party had a good night... November 5, 2006... the Democrat party has adopted a clear strategy of opposition and obstruction... October 30, 2006... the top Democrat leader... October 20, 2006... people in the Democrat Party... October 19, 2006... the Democrat Party... November 7, 2005... the Democrat Party. The Democrat Party...
It wasn't hard to find these past Bush quotes. All it entailed was going to the White House's Web site and plugging the phrase "Democrat party" into the search box. If you do that, you get this rundown. Nothing to it. Yet the Washington Post, which devoted a stand-alone story to this latest explanation by the President, apparently didn't take this elementary step...
But why not share this kind of info with readers? I just don't get it. What's the problem? It's easy and fun. Readers are grateful, too. And the White House wouldn't mind -- after all, the info is right there on its Web site.
Incidentally, anyone who wants to know why "Democrat" as an adjective is taken as a slur should read Hendrik Hertzerg's useful primer in The New Yorker.
Let me be blunt: Greg Sargent doesn't understand the mindset of Washington Post reporter Michael Abramowitz or NPR interviewer Juan Williams. Informing their readers and listeners is not their objective: sucking up to the powerful and aiding in their media-transmitted presentation of self is their objective. News and information are best gained through weblogs run by honest patriots, not through journamalists like Michael Abramowitz and Juan Williams.
