More Whitehouse Thuggery
Ten days ago, I posted a piece entitled The End of Civility, in which I drew attention to an incident that took place at a fundraiser for Barack Obama held in San Francisco:
Those in attendance had paid $35,000 each for the privilege of being there -- $30,000 to go to the Democratic Party, and $5,000 for the President’s re-election campaign – and some in their number evidently thought that they were entitled.
In the middle of the President’s address, a woman in a white dress suddenly stood up and interrupted his speech, announcing, “Mr. President, we wrote you a song.” Then, to the President’s evident dismay, she and nine others at her table launched into a ditty which should perhaps be entitled “The Ballad of Bradley Manning” (See VIDEO here):
Dear Mr. President we honor you today sir
Each of us brought you $5,000
It takes a lot of Benjamins to run a campaign
I paid my dues, where's our change?
We'll vote for you in 2012, yes that's true
Look at the Republicans - what else can we do
Even though we don't know if we'll retain our liberties
In what you seem content to call a free society
Yes it's true that Terry Jones is legally free
To burn a people's holy book in shameful effigy
But at another location in this country
Alone in a 6x12 cell sits Bradley
23 hours day is night
The 5th and 8th Amendments say this kind of thing ain't right
We paid our dues, where's our change?“That was a nice song,” an obviously displeased Obama reportedly responded. "Now where was I?" As was indicated by that song, he began, "Over the last 2 and a half years, change turned out to be tougher than we expected.”
This is a story that will not die. The piece to which I linked was written by Carla Marinucci of The San Francisco Chronicle, who was the pool reporter on the spot, and it was she who with her cell phone produced the video to which I also linked.
In retaliation for doing her job, the White House barred her from covering future events and threatened that, if the Chronicle reported the fact, they would bar other reporters from the Hearst papers from the pack. Then, when called on it, the White House denied that they had done anything of the kind. Here is a response issued by Ward Bushee, editor of the Chronicle:
Sadly, we expected the White House to respond in this manner based on our experiences yesterday. It is not a truthful response. It follows a day of off-the-record exchanges with key people in the White House communications office who told us they would remove our reporter, then threatened retaliation to Chronicle and Hearst reporters if we reported on the ban, and then recanted to say our reporter might not be removed after all.
The Chronicle's report is accurate.
If the White House has indeed decided not to ban our reporter, we would like an on-the-record notice that she will remain the San Francisco print pool reporter.
So much for “the most open and transparent [administration] in [American] history.” The good news is that The San Francisco Chronicle and the rest of the legacy press may no longer function as what Ezra Klein famously called “the unofficial campaign.”
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Jun '10
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
Washington, District of Chicago
Feb '11
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
It should not be surprising that a man with Obama's thuggish instincts ends to sympathize with other thugs.
Edited on May 1, 2011 at 7:51amMay '10
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
Obama, as is usual for Democrat officeholders, is delivering exactly the type of society that they charge the opposing political party of supporting. Unfortunately other than the SFChronicle and the conservative blogosphere the MSM is not giving BHO's heavy handed slap of the press much, if any coverage. Just imagine the MSM coverage were these circumstances to have occurred during GWB's admin. Sad to see the MSM so spineless, even in the event of a direct attack by POTUS [regardless of party] of the very freedom that provides them the freedom to create an industry and great employment for so many people. We'll have to get used to the USA having only a Pravda Press.
Jul '10
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
The impulse on the part of radical Leftists to flock to the defense of a traitor like Bradley Manning is nauseating.
Of course, this sort of thing isn't limited to the United States. Israeli leftists rushed to comfort the mothers of the Itamar killers, too - describing the arrest of one of the killers and other members of his family as an "atrocity" and a "pogrom".
May '10
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
Don't the White House know Marinucci does not work at Fox?, surely they learned from the last time they tried this?
Contemptible amateurs in foreign policy, defence, effective government, the economy, with no budget for 2 years, and now this.
Edited on May 1, 2011 at 7:54amFeb '11
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
So the White House thuggery failed in this case.
I wonder how many times it worked, and how much of the legacy press has quietly agreed to print merely what they're told to print.
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
Kenneth: The impulse on the part of radical Leftists to flock to the defense of a traitor like Bradley Manning is nauseating.
Of course, this sort of thing isn't limited to the United States. Israeli leftists rushed to comfort the mothers of the Itamar killers, too - describing the arrest of one of the killers and other members of his family as an "atrocity" and a "pogrom". · May 1 at 7:46am
Yes, indeed, and Obama -- had he had moxie -- could have turned their protest to his advantage by giving them the back of his hand.
Jul '10
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
If you know how left wing the SFChronicle, is you know what it took to separate itself from the MSM herd and call out the Black Jesus.
Jan '11
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
I'm surprised at the surprise.
Aug '10
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
Obama as komodo dragon.
Gotta love it.
May '10
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
What kind of idiot zoo-keeper takes a guy into a Komodo dragon enclosure without suitable protection. These lizards are not known for being placid and gentle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrx-ohT9r1s&feature=related
May '10
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." - H.L. Menken
May '10
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
The SF Chronicle endorsed Obama in 2008, they will almost certainly endorse him in 2012. What happens in between is just sound and fury signifying nothing. Or more accurately, the Left will fuss, fume, rant, rave (sotto voce), stamp their feet until they turn blue in the face, then go and vote for Obama.
Aug '10
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
flownover: Obama as komodo dragon.
Gotta love it.
Ooh, Far Side Time!
"Dang it, Michelle! I can't live this charade any longer! I'm not a community organizer who stumbled into your life - I'm a Komodo dragon, largest member of the lizard family and a filthy liar."
Jun '10
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
The absence of shame on the left never ceases to amaze me. First, the fact that somebody would stand up in public and give this "performance". Second, that our fundraiser/campaigner-in-chief and his minions would try to squelch the press as they did. While I'm sure The One has plausible deniability, I'm also sure that he told one of his underlings to "make it happen" as they were wrapping up the event.
Jul '10
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
The media as a whole will continue to carry the Regime's water. If nothing else, they are terrified of the race card. The scandal is not that there is a Democrat media, the scandal is the scarcity of other voices. That void is starting to be filled locally, Washington has seen a return of the Washington Times and the arrival of a Washington Examiner paper (National Review's with Byron York as lead editorial voice), but for decades the major conservative press in the nations capital was Korean.
This Administration styles themselves as the Regime for a reason, and announced their contempt for a free press in the closing days of the 2008 campaign when they kicked three conservative press outlets off the campaign plane in retaliation for their coverage. The scandal is not that the crooks behave as crooks, but that the nation elected them.
555 days until the corrective.
Mar '11
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
"The good news is that The San Francisco Chronicle and the rest of the legacy press may no longer function as what Ezra Klein famously called “the unofficial campaign.”
Oh yes they will. They'll continue to do his bidding once the campaign ramps up, because even though they're angry at Obama, Republicans are dangerous. They'll cheerlead as hard for him in 2012 as they did in 2008. I guarantee it.
Aug '10
Re: More Whitehouse Thuggery
Does Phyllis Diller still have anything to do with the Chronic ?
thats a riddle because Hearst bought deYoung and sold to Fang
But Midge you're right.
Far Side ,whenever that cartoon is dated from, was prescient in bringing the chaos theory into play using a large lizard and liars ala Larson.
Edited on May 2, 2011 at 5:37pm