Reporter to Sen. Jim Inhofe: "You're ridiculous."

By GottaLaff

Copenhagen antics with none other than Jim the Dim Inhofe. You remember who he is, right?

But Inhofe’s aides eventually rustled up a group of reporters, and the Oklahoman — wearing black snakeskin cowboy boots — held forth from the top of a flight of stairs in the conference media center.

I love that sentence: Snakeskin Cowboy Boots Guy "holds forth". For some reason I found the juxtaposition of those words amusing.

A reporter asked: “If there’s a hoax, then who’s putting on this hoax, and what’s the motive?”

“It started in the United Nations,” Inhofe said, “and the ones in the United States who really grab ahold of this is the Hollywood elite.”

One reporter asked Inhofe if he was referring to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Another reporter — this one from Der Spiegel — told the senator: “You’re ridiculous.”

Ding! Give that reporter a cee-gar!

There is a prologue:

You know who Inhofe is. I know who Inhofe is. But...

After Inhofe left, some reporters were still a bit confused about what had happened and who he was.

“His name is Inhofe,” a German journalist told a Japanese reporter, “but I don’t know if it’s one or two f’s.”

Join the club. Many of us are often confused about what has just happened after he has spoken.

The difference here is, these journalists weren't afraid to speak up and say something about him and to him.

Our News Dee Jays either ignore this kind of idiocy or encourage and perpetuate it.

And so it goes.

Main Entry: ri·dic·u·lous
Pronunciation: \rə-ˈdi-kyə-ləs\

Function: adjective

Etymology: Latin ridiculosus (from ridiculum jest, from neuter of ridiculus) or ridiculus, literally, laughable, from ridēre to laugh

Date: 1550

: arousing or deserving ridicule : absurd, preposterous

synonyms see laughable

Video- Gibbs Hammered with Questions, But Says Social Office Not At Fault in Party Crashing

I'd bet good money (if I had any) that April Ryan is friends with the Social Secretary that was fired.

Obama and the Press (So Far)

Laura Flanders does a round table featuring FOB Greg Mitchell, Chris Hayes and Nomi Prins.

New president, new questioners: Meet the (new) press

By GottaLaff

Because the media snuggled up with Little Georgie Bush for so long, my money is on the "new" press overcompensating and making every attempt to nail Obama as often and as hard as they can. Key word: Overcompensating:

When incoming press secretary Robert Gibbs approaches the podium in the White House Briefing Room, a new cast of notebook-clutching, laptop-tapping reporters will be there to greet him as the five biggest news networks are all switching up their chief White House correspondents to cover the 44th president.

The new faces will be Chuck Todd (NBC), Jake Tapper (ABC), Chip Reid (CBS) and Ed Henry (CNN). Although Fox News hasn’t named a replacement for Bret Baier — who just took over “Special Report” — the betting money in Washington is on correspondent Major Garrett, who covered the Obama campaign. While all the correspondents played significant roles during the 2008 election, their White House experience varies from several years to none at all.

With surveys showing the public believes Barack Obama received easier coverage during the campaign, coupled with lingering criticism of how the White House press corps dropped the ball as the Bush administration made the case for invading Iraq, the incoming group has a few hurdles to overcome.

Overall, it's not a bad team. But I have this nagging suspicion that they'll feel obligated to be more aggressive, whether it's warranted or not. I may be wrong, it's just a gut feeling.

Not that tough questions are a bad thing, far from it. I'd just hate to see gratuitous gotchas rather than fair, dispassionate, and thoughtful journalism.

This quote from Ed Henry was somewhat reassuring:

Asked about the perception that Obama has had easy treatment from the press so far, Henry warns against overcompensating: “We can’t turn every nit-picky thing into Watergate.”

Thank you.

For background on each of the reporters, go here.

Obama mortifies reporter in front of love interest, calls to apologize

By GottaLaff

If I write a post blaming Barack Obama for inadvertently embarrassing me, can I get a call, too?

In a recent column in the Henry Daily Herald of McDonough, Georgia, reporter Nicklaus Lovelady lambasts Obama for ruining his chances with a love interest working for a rival paper. Best to let Lovelady take it from here:

I had the looks, I had the charm and I had my eye on this pretty young thing who was doing an internship for a competing paper.

It took me nearly two months of running into each other at various news events before I worked up the nerve to begin talking to her.

And then Obama shows up.

The senator made his way to SIUE one day to introduce some legislation that would increase grants for students. Prior to that, me and the girl became really cool as I let her in on a few tricks of the trade.

The day Obama came, there was a huge press conference at the university’s student center [...]

Obama did his thing, and at the end there was segment for questions by the media. [...] I stood up to ask mine.

“Wait a minute son, this is for professional media only,” Obama said to me.

“What do you mean? I work for the local paper,” I said with a crackling nervous voice.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you were a college student. You have such a baby face,” he said with an unremorseful grin.

At that point everyone in the room turned to look at me and laugh. The 800 people in the lobby laughed as my face was projected on the big screen.

Alas, the "pretty young thing" was laughing, too. And, after that humiliating episode, she was no longer interested in Lovelady's "tricks of the trade." "Obama owes me a public apology for making me look like a court jester and for blocking my shot," Lovelady's column concludes. "Until that time, Hillary or Giuliani will get my vote."

Not about to lose Lovelady's vote, Obama, who has yet to declare whether or not he'll seek the presidency in 2008, phoned the reporter. [...]

Presidential material? Definitely.

Want to know what Obama said? Go here to listen to the audio of Obama's call. Then imagine the same scenario, only replace Barack Obama with George Bush. Painful, huh?

Starting January 20, we have a mensch in office.

Reporters get personal with Obama

By GottaLaff

What kind of tree is Barack Obama?

Reporters have been bombarding the president-elect’s transition office and those close to Obama with the most detail-obsessed questions about his every move.

Cabinet positions? Fuggetaboutit. Foreign affairs? Nah. Here are the pressing questions to President-elect Obama about which reporters demanded answers:

• Does Obama prefer Macs or PCs?
• Who designed that tie he's wearing?
  
• Where does he buy his suits?
  
• What's his morning exercise routine like?
  
• How about his basketball techniques?
  
• What movie has he seen recently?
  
• Who cuts his hair?
  
• Will he sell his house in Chicago?
• What did he have for Thanksgiving dinner?
  
• What’s his favorite food?
• Why hasn’t he been going to church on Sundays?
  
• And if he does start going regularly, where does he plan to attend church once he moves to Washington?
• Is he still smoking?
• Where does he get his ties?
• What kind of basketball player is he like?
• Can they play basketball with him sometime?

What's his major? Does he enjoy long walks on the beach? Who's he asking to prom?

When asked if he wore boxers or briefs, Obama said, "I don't answer those humiliating questions. But whichever one it is, I look good in 'em." Okay, that one piqued my interest.

At his first president-elect presser, Lynn Sweet asked him what books he was reading and what kind of dog he might buy for Malia and Sasha.

Sweet told Politico that she felt compelled to ask because “there are many moving parts to the story about Obama becoming president."

"And the personal side is also important to chronicle," she said.

How very Sweet.

Michael Strautmanis, a longtime friend of the soon-to-be first couple who will serve as the chief of staff to Assistant to the President Valerie Jarrett:

"One of the things people are going to learn is that, frankly, he's a little boring," Strautmanis said. "He likes to go home and be with his family. Michelle likes to stay home and watch 'The Dick Van Dyke Show.' They're a really traditional family." [...]

"Barack seems extraordinary to them but accessible," Strautmanis said. "They're looking for that real personal point to connect to him."

Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, said that Obama's got Kennedyesque star power, and so he generates intense interest. He added that "the Internet era has also contributed to the need-to-know phenomenon."

Or maybe it's that he's genuinely personable, encourages dialog, has mass appeal, is someone many of us can relate to, is the anti-stodge, and is a gigantic breath of fresh air that a gasping post-Bush electorate hungers for the way Palin craves adulation.

In other words, they finally care enough to ask, because they're compensating for the charisma/intellect drought of the past eight years.

Helen Thomas Is Back!

YEAH!!!!! Welcome back Helen! Very happy to see this. Via.

The press vs. John Sidney McCain

By GottaLaff

The reporters who regularly cover Gramm-pa Sid are getting impatient with the No Talk Ex-Press:

Reporters traveling with John McCain are slightly miffed that the senator hasn't had any face time with them in, well, a month and three days (but who's counting?).

So, when Straight Talk Air departed Tampa today, a dozen reporters chanted, "Bring Mac back! Bring Mac back!" (Some reporters expressed concern that chanting at takeoff could be against FAA regulations. Others joked that they could be taken away by the Secret Service agents on board.)

The chanting lasted under a minute as staffers in the business cabin smiled and then promptly closed the curtain between business and coach.

No word on whether McCain heard the chanting.

But, alas, he never made it back.

Alienating the media was one of the stupider things Gramm-pa Sid has done, considering he used to be the darling of the press.

Claiming to invent the Blackberry when he can't even use a computer makes this yet another Multi-Stupid news day for Palin/McCain.

McCain security ousts (African American) reporter

Nothing to see here....

Tallahassee Democrat senior writer Stephen Price on Friday was singled out and asked to leave a media area at the Panama City rally of presidential candidate Sen. John McCain.

Price was among at least three other reporters, and the only black reporter, surrounding McCain's campaign bus — Gov. Charlie Crist and his fiancee, Carole Rome, were already aboard — when a member of the Arizona senator's security detail asked the reporter to identify himself. Price had shown his media credentials to enter the area.

Price showed his employee identification as well as his credentials for the Friday event.

"I explained I was with the state press, but the Secret Service man said that didn't matter and that I would have to go," Price said.

More at the link here, some analysis of John McCain and his history with African Americans here.