Thank You, Mr. President

Frankly, it seems obvious that presidential press conferences are a waste of everyone's time.  Nobody dares ask the dangerous questions, but it really doesn't matter, because the answers are totally non-responsive anyway... Q:'Do you plan to increase support for [fill in the blank]. A: 'America is at the dawn of a new day, and we are moving forward through the mist.'  (Huh?)

If the media just sent down a clerk to pick up a printed copy of the day's 'talking points' these meetings could be wound up in two minutes. 'Does everyone have copies of my answers to the questions I wanted you to ask?' 'Yep!' 'Dismissed!' It totally puzzles me that the media and the White House continue with the charade, frankly...

Whether or not American taxpayers are or are not entitled to anything beyond the right to send their money off to Washington could be debated endlessly.  Same the idea that those outside government have some entitlement to 'straight answers about how decisions are reached'. We live in a world where the 'Politburo' decides things, and the 'masses'  (us) are expected to toe the line and accept what comes out of the Ministry of Truth.  It's 1984, and we never noticed!

Let's hear it for nosy, opinionated, educated WOMEN!

YAYYYYYYYY!!!

I second Olivia's opinions. 

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!

As has frequently been said, well-behaved women rarely make history.  We need more women with Helen Thomas's bravery and cheek.

The public's right to know is certainly evident in the news today. With McCain's health records shrouded in mystery and Ms. Palin a heartbeat away.

Well...Doc Nolan has summed it up VERY accurately!  No need to elaborate.   

PLEASE don't forget that "The publics right to know" could also be a dangerous thing. I can name a bunch of people I would rather not know the code numbers for the little red button. 

I'm not big on the Health of someone being a big concern in comparison of what they say they want to actually do as a president. Some people drop also dead at 30 & 40 years or have even have already had cancer. Running mates are picked because they are an asset to the party & help represent a mutiple view & also hold the party line. I would hate the fact that people decide their votes on the fact that well he's like 70 years old or he's like only 40ish & not what the persons platform actually is.

Helen Thomas broke the glass ceiling for the press corps when women where still being looked down upon for having a career outside of the home. My generation & the one before me actually owes a lot to her. 

It's to bad that everything to day is SO Scripted by the White House Spin Doctors, to be a journalist in that land of sharks in the past you had to be JAWS himself & Helen Thomas certainly was.  Now it doesn't even seem to matter anymore. What a shame.....     

I think a lot of us were spoiled by listening to John Kennedy's press conferences. He might not have said much, but he said it with so much consummate style, and humor, somehow it didn't matter. Come to think of it, he said quite a bit. The problem is Bush couldn't give you an honest answer, because he doesn't know it. Unless he said something like, "I went to war because I didn't want to be weak like my father." 

I guess I'm not as cynical as Doc Nolan. Somehow I think the next president, once unburdened by running for office, might be a pleasant surprise. And he's not the friend of Joe, the plumber.  

As works of fiction, presidential press conferences can be entertaining.  You can get drama, high comedy, a horror story or low burlesque.  But truth and facts are missing, so using them as a barometer for the state of the nation is a dangerous folly.

Hooray, Helen Thomas, for your dogged insistence that the press never give up in the quest for truth and disclosure in politics. As American citizens, we owe it to ourselves to pay attention to and be involved in our government; to expect substance in and demand answers from our elected officials. The people of the press have a duty to be tenacious in asking the pointed question. In turn, we must also insist that the media serve the public interest through accurate reporting and give us the information we need to hold our leaders accountable. For 59 years, Helen Thomas asked the tough questions and worked diligently to help keep us well informed. We need more people like her - be it man or woman.

A few days ago (during "The Art of Persuasion" discussion), drdgscott wrote that today's vote seekers should "Assume our intelligence, not our ignorance or apathy."  We must charge the media to convey our interest, concern, and desire for the truth. The truth is often elusive but that does not mean we should ever give up the pursuit.

"Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country." FDR

 Good Monday, PE-ers

I agree with Doc Nolan.

I've been thinking a lot about presidential accountability this weekend, after the Palin appearance on SNL. Did you see it?

"Drill, baby, drill-a"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6ya39slPgs 

Don't get me wrong. I laughed HARD. But at the end, when Amy Poehler was shooting 'caps' off right over the governor's (very tight) grin, it made my chin hit the floor. 

And then there's the new Oliver Stone movie, "W," released even before he's out of office.

I don't know how to feel about it all. On one hand, I feel we act like petulant children and embarrass ourselves and the office of presidency to the rest of the world. On the other hand, I think it happens for the very reason Doc Nolan described. We want accountability. We want to ask the hard questions and have them answered. And if they won't answer, we'll publicly mock them until they come out of hiding.

And they do. Play that clip. Watch Palin's strained grin when they take out the moose. God, I love this country. 

Whatever happened to the press?  Where have the real reporters gone?  The evening news is now read by people who have spent half their careers talking to celebrities about their breast implants.  Used to be, the evening news slot was for veteran reporters who had gone through hell and had the balls (proverbial, of course) to go after whoever was on the recieving end of the question.  Can you imagine Walter Cronkite's take on the idiocy of some of the current political moves?  Or David Brinkley taking on Sarah Palin? 

I came to realize just how far things have dropped during the Democrat debate hosted by Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopolous;  it was truly pathetic.  The questions were straight out of checkout line tabloids, without a word on policy.  The whole thing was a joke.

There are a few real reporters left.  But they're on PBS, which is largely ignored by the public, who prefer the rantings of Bill O'Reilly or Keith Olbermann (I have no idea if I'm getting the names spelled right, nor do I really care). 

Is it now a case of the press giving the public what it wants (fluff) or is the press now so scared they can't do anything?

Bring back the tough reporters!  I miss the days when a press conference would make the pressee sweat.

Serious note:  I have set my DVR to record every single Charlie Rose show... his program is one of the few lights in a sea of darkness. I'e discovered whole seas of new information, authors, unexamined backwaters, etc. via his show.

Second serious note:  Sadly, another great show (this one a radio show once on Public Radio International) has mostly died... I speak of the Christopher Lydon Show, now reduced to a website with podcast... It was great while it lasted.

On the other hand:  Maybe I shouldn't bring up The Daily Show, but....  I love it when a public feature comes out (on different days) and flatly contradict themselves -- but even better are the straight 'reductio ad absurdum' commentaries by such guys as Aasif Mandvi, John Oliver, and Larry Wilmore.   (It's interesting to contrast, however, the 'interviews' on the Daily Show, which are not very enlightening with those of Charlie Rose...

I actually LOVE the Daily Show & The Colbert Report ~ As I am more than aware that they are spoofs of what "used to be" Newscasts. I really enjoy them as I always seem to find something that John Stweart or Steven Colbert says makes me rethink about the topic.  I don't seem to find that in the national or the local newscasts, which is a shame. 

I can honestly its interesting the hoops reporters have to go through to get footage of the President or Candidates, & how all the items are SO micromanaged that even if the reported wanted to think forthemselves & ask a question that wasn't on the approval list the station would most likley be blacklisted for a long time & cost the reporter their job. What a sad commentary that is as the U.S.A. is suppose to be the land of Free Speech, even at political assemblies. I really do think Jefferson is spinning in his grave.....

On a lighter note about the political season, I just had a candidate at the front desk who wanted to see the books on the political advertising. showe dup with NO appointment waht so ever  & The lady who deals with that she was busy so he had to wait 15 minutes. He walks up to me & says well I NEED to see them books right now can you just give them to me.  I stated that as soon as the Lady was finished with her current project she would be right with him. This candidate replied ~ Well I can't beleive she has had me waiting already for 10 minutes. I just repeated that she would be with him as soon as she could ~ He gave this dirty look &  said well this is unbeleievable, MY time is VERY Valuable.   I found this to be UNBELEIVEABLE this guy had NO IDEA whether or not I was part of his voting district or if anyone in my family or cirlce of friends happens to be. DId he Really think I would tell everyone what a Jerk he was while waiting in our office? I mean really no wonder he didn't have a press agent with him. They all probably quit. Talk about the common sense of Political Candidates. Helen Thomas held the Presidents accountable for either having or not having Comon Sense while being part of the White House Press Corps, too bad she seems to be the last one to be able to do so.     

Despite all, I'm still glad to live in the US: where a book, such as Tom Fenton's "Bad News - The decline of reporting, the business of news, and the danger to us all", is allowed to be published and read; where we can jab, without fear, at our political system on SNL and The Daily Show; where Charlie Rose is permitted to speak his mind; and where we can freely make all the comments we are making here at Peterman's Eye, without censorship.

This country has some serious problems...education to politics, economics to health care, and more. We've seemingly been overtaken by corporate greed and an entertainment-industry mindset. We need to reorient our political policies, both at home and abroad. I fervently believe that the US still has the strength, resourcefulness, and dynamism to succeed. What is it we are lacking? Is it a common goal, as a free people, since the end of the Cold War? What should our new goals be? Perhaps, if we as a nation can identify where we want to go and what we want to accomplish, we could get down to the business of planning how best to meet those objectives and give ourselves some much needed direction.

Kindlee,

Well said.  "If we don't know where we are going, then either way will get us there"

Kindlee: the current political speech writers just called and are looking for your phone number. 

If only we were so fortunate to witness a politician who not only can SINCERELY speak these words of wisdom (re: Kindlee), and implement them.

You are a pretty smart cookie!    

Oh my, how very kind of both of you to say such nice things...I haven't blushed like this in years...people here might start to wonder what it is I'm actually doing on this computer...time to fly home on my cloud...

"Bill Clinton was hounded like no president has ever been" ?????????????

OK, I really can't do much more than politely disagree with that.

I am afraid the People's Right to Know has been confused with Some People's Gall to Ask.  Granted, those who set themselves in public view are likely to find some people wanting to see more than they care to show, but the flimsiest of links and excuses are offered to justify the most intrusive of questions. If your business is "entertainment" or merely "celebrity" then your personal life is often the point, but if your job is working for the government, what effect does scandal have on it, other than the effects wrought by the scandal mongers?

The small sacrifice of no longer being au courant with most of popular culture is a tiny price for me to pay to avoid the worst of journalism. I do not watch broadcast TV and mostly listen to NPR, which is much better once you assume their biases. I get plenty of news from print sources or their web outlets.  Much may go past me, but I ask you how much of it I can control or expect to be influenced by. Certainly not much that Paris Hilton or K-Fed are up to...

But, here is a great line from Blackadder, which I must admit was originally broadcast on TV. I forget just what political pronouncement he called

Perhaps the greatest work of fiction since the promise of fidelity was added to the French Wedding vows. 

Kindlee:  My broom blew a fuze and I had to make a pit stop on cloud 9.  Girl, thought that was you! 

All joking aside... the media in general is programmed to ask elusive questions mainly to protect themselves.  It's intentional...keep us baffled. is their motto.  The amount of money they get paid to virtually stare into the camera makes me ill.  They are literally "full of bologna".  The John Mayer song "Waiting For The World to Change" sums it up pretty damn good;

"When you trust your television, What you see is what you got, Cause when they own the information, ohhhhh they can bend it all they want."

How sad but true!

I think I am a little po'd!  My feisty side just came out.  Sorry guys and gals...it ain't pretty! 

MACKDADDY1

Personally, I like your fiesty side.  It just shows you care and that's good.

House Guest, Welcome to the fold!

Has anyone had the chance to explore the Newseum in Washington, DC? You could literally spend days inside absorbed in 5 centuries of news history. It certainly allows one to reminisce about the apparently bygone journalistic era when reporters, like Murrow, had the grit, savoir faire, and determination to go after the real story.