Ari Fleischer, Bill O'Reilly and the Heritage Foundation, among others (including Mara Liasson of NPR), are outraged that a lefty interloper like Sam Stein got to ask a question at Obama's press conference. They're flipping out because Stein writes for Huffpost (!), and also, probably, because he asked a tough, important question, which is just not done by "real" reporters in DC. And so, as Fleischer smirked on FOX, the guy's an "oddball" of the type that he would always pointedly ignore, back when he did daily stonewalling for Bush & Co.
This moment is a replay of an episode that took place back in May, 2001, when Amy Goodman had the gall to ask Bob Kerrey some incisive questions re: his part in some atrocities committed long ago in Vietnam. Here's how some of DC's leading pundits (including Mara Liasson of NPR) responded to such insolence: http://www.democracynow.org/2001/5/7/media_attacks_democracy_now_questions_for MCM Hating Sam Stein http://washingtonindependent.com/29832/hating-sam-stein By DAVID WEIGEL 2/11/09 9:51 AM The Huffington Post's Sam Stein gets three or four scoops before you put in your contacts in the morning, so I wasn't surprised that he got to ask a question at President Obama's Monday press conference. Apparently, this was a pretty controversial move by the president. The Heritage Foundation sneered that "left-wing blogger Sam Stein" was on the president's call list. According to Ana Marie Cox, Mara Liasson of NPR (who asked a toothless question about bipartisanship) was "surprised he didn't call on Air America." Then there was former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer on The O'Reilly Factor. FLEISCHER: There are some reporters, you know, in that briefing room, you can imagine, Bill, you get a lot of dot coms and other oddballs who come in there. They're screened. O'REILLY: Like the Huffington Post. Now it gets called on. FLEISCHER: And I used to seat them all in one section. I would call it "Siberia." And I told the president, "Don't call on Siberia." You'd never know that Stein asked (and elevated) a question that the White House had been dodging, about whether it supported "truth and reconciliation" prosecutions of former Bush officials. You'd think Stein had asked about Alex Rodriguez or something. Nope: That was the Washington Post. http://www.democracynow.org/2001/5/7/media_attacks_democracy_now_questions_for --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [email protected] OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
