Editor & Publisher - Rove to 'Further Neuter Reporters'

NewsBusters.org ^ | 8/5/06 | warner todd huston

[Mobile Vulgus]

In a classic example of self-pity, Editor and Publisher writer David S. Hirschman's latest article is so full of whining, moaning, assumption and gnashing of teeth that one would think the world is about to end. All this wringing of hands is over the revamping of the White House Press Room.

As many of you know the press room in the White House, the place where countless spokesmen for the President have held innumerable briefings on issues important and not so important, is being shut down and a new one is being built to better fulfill the needs of a more modern era. The creation of this new press room is Hirschman’s excuse to attack Karl Rove and the Administration who he imagines wishes to "weaken the press corps".

Hirschman is all aghast over his vague feeling that Karl Rove has somehow "neutered" the press "much of the time" in the old White House Press Room. And he wonders what new ways Rove will "Inspire (Even More) Fear and Loathing in the Press Room".

"It's hard not to be somewhat skeptical of the Bush Administration's move to revamp the White House Press Room. Yes, the old one was clearly decrepit and out-of-date, but one can't help but suspect that Karl Rove is already in a super-secret bunker in Bethesda scheming with GOP architects -- and interior designers -- about ways to use the new room's design to further neuter the Washington reporters the administration has so successfully managed, spun, and blamed for the past five-and-a-half years."

What does Hirschman imagine here? That Bush will install ejection chairs, to be used when some wayward reporter asks a question Bush or Presidential Spokesman Tony Snow don't like, flinging the hapless reporter into the parking lot?

It is merely a revamp of a decaying, old facility that has been avoided for a long time by other administrations, not some Machiavellian scheme to make the press irrelevant.

Certainly, the press needs no help from the president on that measure as they are doing a great job of making themselves irrelevant already.

But, Hirschman goes off on all kinds of ruminations of the schemes of Rove and the president to make the press uncomfortable and to hasten their irrelevancy. Of course, much of what Hirschman wrote is in jest, which is obvious to see, but the underlying sentiment is self-pity and a desire to foist the blame for the press' poor reputation -- one that is getting worse all the time -- on someone, ANYONE, else other than themselves.

Hiding behind the "humor" is just another reporter who is finding that the vaunted Washington Press Corps is consider a pack of jackals without the slightest bit of common sense or patriotism and who are actual enemies to the country with their desire to assist terrorists. Hirschman may have given a comic twist to the self-pity and lamentations, but it is one we see in the press on a daily basis these days.

My Mother used to scoff at us kids when we got all whiney about not wanting to do something she asked us to do. She used to say, "Do you want me to throw you a pity party?" Well, Editor and Publisher just threw themselves a pity party and David S. Hirschman was the party master!

[Mobile Vulgus]

What a bunch a whiners the press corps is!

[GSlob]

They got on the game somehow. Every chair will have electrodes built into its cushion, with the control panel hidden in the lectern. A good 150KV zot is never amiss in the press room.

[Leisler]

How do you neuter sackless metrosexuals?

[GeorgiaDawg32]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1678326/posts

[Gordongekko909]

What does Hirschman imagine here? That Bush will install ejection chairs, to be used when some wayward reporter asks a question Bush or Presidential Spokesman Tony Snow don't like, flinging the hapless reporter into the parking lot?

Naah, the chairs will fall over backwards down chutes that lead to incinerators. Immediately afterwards, Tony Snow will declare "Now you see the price of insolence!" There will also be a giant monitor on the wall for receiving incoming transmissions from supervillains with whom the administration is working.

[Deb]

Hopefully, Helen Thomas' chair will have an "ejection" feature.

[sgtbono2002]

I would put in commodes for all of them to sit on, They are all full of crap. The ejection seat would be nice for Helen Thomas.

[Boundless]

If the White House had the gonads to neuter reporters,
The Gargoyle would have been gone long ago.

I'm tempted to write to them and ask:
"Just what does a reporter have to do
in order to get their WH Press Pass pulled?"

[Gordongekko909]

No, Helen Thomas gets a chair with titanium manacles that clamp her down and then electrocute her to death. Or maybe her chute goes into a tiger pit instead of an incinerator. Shark tank, maybe?

[Gordongekko909]

With a scalpel and some anesthetic?

[top 2 toe red]

...to further neuter the Washington reporters..." uh...Don't you have to have a couple of testicles before you can be neutered?!?

Think someone should have mentioned to Editor & Publisher that takes these Washington reporters outta this equation then.

[Tall_Texan]

I think it proper to build the new White House briefing room with prison bars separating the reporters and the podium. For security, of course.

Perhaps the press secretary can occaionally delight them by tossing in peanuts or raw chicken.

[YHAOS]

Hirschman needs to see a psychiatrist. No further analysis is required.

[Texas_Jarhead]

I recently caught a segment about this topic on FNC where a few 'journalists' were interviewed. It was a demonstration in whining & bitching from an obvious position of arrogance and haughtiness.

[mikeybaby]

I am reminded of the scene of the SPECTRE meeting in the James Bond flick "Thunderball" when number 2 catches one of the operatives cheating.
ZAP.
The chair disappears below the floor with the smoking body and the chair returns , still smoking, empty.

[Democratshavenobrains]

Burns: I suggest you leave immediatly

Homer: Or what? You'll release the dogs? Or the bees? Or the dogs with bees in their mouths, and when they bark they shoot bees at you?

[Enchante]

I just hope the new press briefing room will enable the nefarious Karl Rove to provide sudden electroshock treatments to any reporters who step out of line..... if Helen Thomas could receive her electroshock in advance of her saying anything, that would be even better. If David Gregory could receive a continual electroshock so that he cannot do anything except whimper and moan, that would be best of all.

[longtermmemmory]

ATTENTION WH:

How about just having a system where we can ask our own 50 word or less questions? We email them to the "question box" and the press secretary reads them and answers them during the press briefing.

Who needs the prima donna press corps?

Cut out the middle man...

[Old Student]

"No, Helen Thomas gets a chair with titanium manacles that clamp her down and then electrocute her to death. Or maybe her chute goes into a tiger pit instead of an incinerator. Shark tank, maybe?"

I'm starting to think that you are cruel, cruel person. Why do you hate tigers and sharks so much?

Maybe we should go with a variation of your first idea: electrocute her, but not quite to death, just until her teeth light up, as often as necessary to throw a scare into the others? Or should we just hook the chair up to the full output of a spare Nuke sub power plant, and see if we can vaporize her? But whatever we do, ya gotta lay off the poor animals! ;)

[Old Student]

I like that idea!

[listenhillary]

I had a whole different visual image when reading the headline. Reading the article was a HUGH letdown to find out they weren't really going to neuter the reporters.

It is probably an impossibility anyway as there is nothing to neuter.

[ChessExpert]

Neuter the press corps? It sounds like a great idea!

But I'm afraid that the press corps is like the homosexuals, extreme feminists, nihilists, extreme environmentalists - the left in general. Production, and the responsibilities associated with it, is just too difficult and daunting for them. They prefer to steal. This theft includes some, or all, of the the next generation. No member of the press corps need have children in order for the press to reproduce. They will take the children of productive people and indoctrinate them in schools of journalism.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

I GUARANTEE THIS MEDIA FREE OF BIAS

[6SJ7]

I am reminded of the scene of the SPECTRE meeting in the James Bond flick "Thunderball" when number 2 catches one of the operatives cheating. ZAP.

When they open the new press room, Tony Snow should walk to the podium carrying a large white cat.

[operation clinton cleanup]

What is it with these peoples obsession with Karl Rove? If I were Karl, I would have kept the current press room and installed a new heater and replaced all the chairs with milk crates and put hay on the floor.

[the invisib1e hand]

they're girlie men to begin with. How can you neuter 'em any further?

[nonliberal]

is being shut down and a new one is being built

Just throw all the reporters outside in the heat, cold, snow and rain. Don't let them in unless there is a press conference. That will save some wear and tear on the press room.

[ChessExpert]

I love it!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

That Bush will install ejection chairs, to be used when some wayward reporter asks a question Bush or Presidential Spokesman Tony Snow don't like, flinging the hapless reporter into the parking lot?

All in favor of this improvement say Aye!

Aye!

[WestVirginiaRebel]

"Yes, the old one was clearly decrepit and out-of- date"

An apt description of most of the lamestream media.

[A Citizen Reporter]

Aye!

[A Citizen Reporter]

[ChessExpert]

What is it with these peoples obsession with Karl Rove?

Good question. I mostly tuned out the anti-Karl stuff from the left. But apparently it’s a big deal for them. Clearly it is kooky conspiracy theory stuff. It reminds me of a headline I saw in a clearly African-American newspaper. It was something like “Is Bush playing Cheney? Or is Cheney playing Bush?” The idea of people playing other people is paranoid and delusional. It reminds me of the cartoons of puppet and puppeteer, with one or both as well know persons. From what I have seen Cheney, Bush, and Rumsfield are among the most transparent people I’ve ever seen; they mean what they say. The same probably applies to Rove, I know little about him.

[operation clinton cleanup]

From what I have seen Cheney, Bush, and Rumsfield are among the most transparent people I’ve ever seen; they mean what they say.

I have seen Rove in some interviews and giving speeches on CSPAN.... he is the same. Nothing sneaky or underhanded about him. I think the press is trying to transpose on the Bush Administration what they knew to be true about the Clinton Administration.

[PVT4evr]

Burns: Smithers! Release the Robotic Richard Simmons!

[ChessExpert]

I think the press is trying to transpose on the Bush Administration what they knew to be true about the Clinton Administration.

Yes. I think that is right. For example, Clinton lied, so it is (falsely) claimed that Bush lied. It is hard to fathom. It seems juvenile, as in “you lied” “no you lied” “no you lied” ad infinitum. Or it could be the foolishness that comes from assuming moral equivalence, when it does not exist: “everyone lies.”

It does have some use for the left. I’ve heard “Clinton just lied about sex; Bush lied us into war.” It is a nice line, but so wrong. Some of the following apply to those who repeat that talking point: uninformed, misinformed, unable to think straight, or unwilling to think straight and talk straight. For the person I heard uttering those words, the first three clearly applied.

[Right Winged American]

What does Hirschman imagine here? That Bush will install ejection chairs, to be used when some wayward reporter asks a question Bush or Presidential Spokesman Tony Snow don't like, flinging the hapless reporter into the parking lot?

Goodness, what a wonderful idea! Get a nice surplus ACES II in Large for Gregory. (the kind that trim too tall guys off at the knees...) Come to think . . . how about in Congress, too? The possibilities are endless . . .

[MNJohnnie]

I suggest to Karl Rove he skim the anesthesia and wear rubber gloves while doing this

[MNJohnnie]

That Bush will install ejection chairs, to be used when some wayward reporter asks a question Bush or Presidential Spokesman Tony Snow don't like, flinging the hapless reporter into the parking lot?

All in favor of this improvement say Aye

AYE!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

The Ayes have it. So let it be written; so let it be done.

[devolve]

[potlatch]

Nice post devolve.

[devolve]

I had a comment to me on an earlier thread asking where the animation on my posted graphic was
I told you some would start getting......

[potlatch]

I'll have to go look to see what graphic that was.

[Criminal Number 18F]

What does Hirschman imagine here? That Bush will install ejection chairs, to be used when some wayward reporter asks a question Bush or Presidential Spokesman Tony Snow don't like, flinging the hapless reporter into the parking lot?

Unfortunately, given the pusillanimity and spinelessness of the Bush crowd, this is not the plan. Pity, for I surely would have loved to see Helen Thomas making that high arc, arms flailing and screaming about the Neocon Jooooos all the way to "a sort of squelchy splat."

It would have been hard cheese indeed for the clean-up crew who had to mop up that blivet of suet and pus.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Covenantor]

"Unfortunately, given the pusillanimity and spinelessness of the Bush crowd, this is not the plan.

Pity, for I surely would have loved to see Helen Thomas making that high arc, arms flailing and screaming about the Neocon Jooooos all the way to "a sort of squelchy splat."

It would have been hard cheese indeed for the clean-up crew who had to mop up that blivet of suet and pus.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

Thanks for that fantasy. May she forever be captioned,

that blivet of suet and pus.

[Covenantor]

"

that blivet of suet and pus