Posted on 07/16/2015 9:05:01 AM PDT by Kaslin
Maybe this was more of a Rorschach test than first thought. When a reporter asks a tough question of a president, many of the people who get upset at the “tone” and who cheer for the reporter switch sides when the party affiliation of the President changes. So far, though, only Bill Maher has managed to toss race in as an issue with Major Garrett’s sharp exchange with Barack Obama yesterday:
#MajorGarrett is a huge asshole. If U wanna "strike a nerve" with POTUS, why not just scream the N word? That shld get his attention.
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) July 16, 2015
Liberal HBO “Real Time” host Bill Maher took offense to a CBS White House reporter who on Wednesday admitted to intentionally provokingPresident Obama with a question about Iran.
“Major Garrett is a huge a–hole,” Maher wrote late Wednesday in a message to his 3 million-plus followers on Twitter.
Maher suggested Garrett’s interaction with the president had a racial element to it. “If you wanna ‘strike a nerve’ with [Obama], why not just scream the N word?” Maher’s tweet continued. “That should get his attention.”
It’s interesting that Maher didn’t actually use @MajorCBS in the tweet. If Maher really wanted to send a message, why not actually send it into Garrett’s mentions column? Why hashtag the name instead?
On top of that, it’s a little odd to see someone like Maher object to a tough question for a President, even one calculated for provocation, as Garrett himself admits was his intent. Isn’t that what Maher does for a living with his guests? It’s been a very long while since I’ve bothered to watch Real Time, but Maher’s entire schtick is provocation, both of his on-set guests and cheap-shot jokes at people who aren’t there. As Erik Wemple noted in his defense of Garrett, the framing of the question was provocative but the subject matter was “a critical matter” on which Obama had not been challenged. If Obama had been Republican, one can imagine a much different reaction from Maher.
Furthermore, Chris Cillizza argues, it was apparent by that point in the presser that the reporters were being used as window dressing by Obama:
In truth, Obama had very little interest in engaging the press and their questions Wednesday. Instead, he wanted to use them as a prop to get out his talking points and answer his growing chorus of critics on the Iran deal. …
So, when the president chooses to give a press conference, the expectation is that he will, you know, answer questions. That’s not really what he did Wednesday. Instead, he used the edifice of what looked and sort of sounded like a press conference to dismiss critics and ensure that his case was made by the person he believes is the best messenger for it: himself.
This was a speech on Iran that reporters attended. That’s not the reporters’ fault — they can only do so much if the president is determined to filibuster every question and go on at length (and then some). And it’s a near-certainty that Obama could care less what the media thinks of him at this stage of his presidency. (He likely never much cared.)
Still, what he did Wednesday was something well short of an open back and forth between the leader of the country and the fourth estate. You might not care. But you should.
Again, one wonders why a media figure like Maher thinks asking a tough question of a President determined to avoid them is not just assholery but also racist. Golly, I can’t wait for a Republican to be president so that dissent can once more be patriotic, and the media can suddenly feel the need to hold the powerful accountable again.
Ace nailed the Maher angle long before Maher even tweeted it out:
same media that had vaginal-not-clitoral orgasms about Iraqi reporter throwing a shoe at Bush pretty sure now Major Garrett is racist
— TheUltraYachtLife (@AceofSpadesHQ) July 15, 2015
Perhaps this is more of a hack test than a Rorschach test.
Don’t ask me, I changed the channel before that arrogant pos arrived
You'd think Major Garrett insulted the Prophet or something.
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“Basically “Why weren’t the 4 Americans being held in inran part of the deal?””
Not exactly. More like “How can you be content with the deal knowing that 4 Americans are being held ...”
Obama responded ... ‘how can you say I am content and celebrating ...
(paraphrased)
how dare anyone ask his majesty a difficult question?????
(Just more confirmation by behavior that liberals are totalitarians)
Well, it would certainly have “livened up” the press conference now wouldn’t it!
Major Garrett: As you well know, there are four Americans in Iran - three held on trumped up charges according to your administration, one, whereabouts unknown. Can you tell the country, sir, why you are content, with all of the fanfare around this [nuclear] deal to leave the conscience of this nation, the strength of this nation, unaccounted for, in relation to these four Americans? ...
President Obama: I've got to give you credit, Major, for how you craft those questions. The notion that I am content, as I celebrate with American citizens languishing in Iranian jails - Major, that's nonsense. And you should know better. I've met with the families of some of those folks. Nobody's content, and our diplomats and our teams are working diligently to try to get them out. ...
It should be noted that President Obama has done very well in learning how to look properly vexed in these situations. I think that the rest of the MSM got their marching orders just from his body language; "How dare you say that, you uppity honky!"
Wow - that was the first question in my mind as well. So he got offended! LOL !!!
If Maher likes to defend blacks, why did he beat up his black girlfriend?
“If you wanna ‘strike a nerve’ with [Obama], why not just scream the N word?”
Works for me!
-PJ
The video can take forever to load...too many viewers I suppose.
But the Breitbart site does give you the text version too.
Maybe the youtube version will load better:
The reply should be “I didn’t have to shout that, he already knows what he is”. And, he’s a fascist as well.
975th amendment. The ‘right’ to be offended.
The question should have been “What kind of effin moron negotiates anything with a terrorist state while said terrorist state holds 4 Americans hostage?”
Charlie Rose also attacked Garrett, asked him if he wanted to take the question back. Unbelievable.
How I wish Major would have come back and said:
“I don’t have to know better, Mr. President. You have not answered the question. Shall I repeat it for you?”
In the meantime these 4 people have concerned families that are worried about them no doubt.
Nice job Bill if that is your real name.
Nope, but they took Garrett to the woodshed on CBS this morning, Charlie Rose asked if he should take the question back. The media is circling the wagons
Well, if he were talking to you Maher, he would have to screw the “A” word, ass in @$$.
I guess if you challenge the “ONE”, you are by definition a racist, acording to this nitwit Maher.
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