I’ve had my deltoids massaged in candlelight by a licensed therapist; had a foaming pore cleanser and mask applied to my face by an aesthetician; been instructed in the Warrior, Half-Sun Salute and Dancer poses by a yoga instructor; and crawled into a hanging cocoon for a “meditative snooze.” I worked up quite an appetite doing all this, so I ordered vegan corn chowder and gluten-free chicken chile verde washed down with Fiji water — all courtesy of the Huffington Post.And yet we know the hotels you have to sleep in are horrible and bedbug-infested, not that I'd envy this time-wasting nonsense if I didn't know that. Personally, I'm glad to be in Madison, Wisconsin, blogging the convention by watching it on C-SPAN.
September 5, 2012
15,000 journalists cover 5,000 delegates in what Dana Milbank calls a "media lovefest."
Yikes.
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65 comments:
15,000 media + 5000 delegates = close to 20,000 liberals. No wonder it's a love fest.
Also just the right size group to fill the seats for Barry's speech now.
Doesn't the WaPo have limits on the dollar value of the gratuities its employees receive?
Media lovefest? More like circle jerk.
What's the difference?
How many single moms had to forgo the once-a-month treat of pizza for their children so this rich white guy could have the life of the 1%?
(Say, class warfare is fun - and easy! No need to worry about accuracy, just take an apocryphal tale of hardship, put it next to someone you don't like enjoying wealth, and let the reader's envy do the rest. Thanks for the idea, Democratic Party!)
Like I said before, real men don't vote Democrat.
Most of all, real men don't get "my deltoids massaged in candlelight by a licensed therapist; had a foaming pore cleanser and mask applied to my face by an aesthetician; been instructed in the Warrior, Half-Sun Salute and Dancer poses by a yoga instructor; and crawled into a hanging cocoon for a “meditative snooze.” I worked up quite an appetite doing all this, so I ordered vegan corn chowder and gluten-free chicken chile verde washed down with Fiji water..."
Damn. Some people don't have any self-respect.
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...
"Media lovefest? More like circle jerk."
And, maybe this year, without the happy ending.
So to speak.
where Mike Allen was interviewing President Obama’s confidant Valerie Jarrett.
“He’s a human being and he likes to laugh,” Jarrett disclosed.
Allen asked if it’s true that “they’re incredible parents.”
“They’re absolutely amazing,” Jarrett confirmed.
Good lord, that's quite a nauseating display of sycophancy.
That's.... weird.
But then I suppose it might be totally normal for people who live in that world.
What's the idea? Someone who had a great time will file happy stories?
And isn't Huff-Po supposed to be on the "journalism" side of that equation?
KFI John and Ken's interview with their reporter Kennedy is entertaining
mp3 starting at 18:12 minutes
Why is Bush so mean to journalists?
I'll bet dollars to donuts that those media and delegates are out there getting their chakras released with the best of them, too.
But, do you notice any stories about strippers and hookers looking forward to servicing the media & Demo delegates. Nooooooooooooooo!
That's because fornication & adultery are bad only when Repubs do them, dontchaknow.
Or, then again, we're not seeing any stories because the Demos & press are SO BAD that the whores & strippers are refusing to service them!
Scott said...
Doesn't the WaPo have limits on the dollar value of the gratuities its employees receive?
Er . . . ah . . . umm . . . exceptions ...... doesn't apply . . . . . . Squirrel!
I guess "Nighty night, don't let the bedbugs bite!" takes on a special meaning in Charlotte, NC this week.
“He’s a human being and he likes to laugh,” Jarrett disclosed.
Allen asked if it’s true that “they’re incredible parents.”
"Are all of the wonderful things we believe about them true?" the watchdog press interrogated.
"Yes," confided the large rodent.
Ah yes. The first-world concerns/values of our first-world press. No wonder they view buying your own contraceptive, much less foaming pore cleanser, as denying you access to same. Imagine a real middle class working person reading that embedded quote, and thinking THESE are the people evaluating what is reasonable for the rest of us to provide.
Like the NYT, the Post does not make it's ethics policies easy to find, if they can be found at all. A quick internet search produced nothing. There is no apparent link to their policies of ethics on their home page.
From a PBS story in 1999, I found what purported to be the Post's ethics policies then. They said "We accept no gifts from news sources. We accept no free trips. We neither seek nor accept preferential treatment that might be rendered because of the positions we hold. Exceptions to the no-gift rule are few and obvious – invitations to meals, for example. Free admissions to any event that is not free to the public are prohibited. The only exception is for seats not sold to the public, as in a press box. Whenever possible, arrangements will be made to pay for such seats.
Got it?
He can't say "cluster fuck" in the paper.
If the crowd at Moochelle's speech was any indication, they're not enjoying it.
Can't remember seeing so many bored looks, not to mention people actually asleep, during what was supposed to be a major convention speech.
I have a feeling some of that applause was canned.
15,000 journalists + 5000 delegates = capacity of the new hall for Obama's speect.
Weather Channel forecast for Charlotte? "Isolated thunderstorms."
More elaborately they say "Partly cloudy with a slight chance of thunderstorms overnight. Humid. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%."
Just enough to provide cover for the move.
Hummmmmm?
@David,
In Milbank's defense, the goodies he's enjoying do not come from those he's covering, they come from other media outlets in one massive circle jerk.
Now, the question becomes where do those media outlets, who are losing money, get that money from? Ahh, that's the rub (pun intended)!
Probably from those same nasty-ass corporate interests that the Democrats have (kinda,sorta) resolutely banned from their convention.
23 million out of work.
16 trillion in debt.
Democrats live large.
Good to know.
"Doesn't the WaPo have limits on the dollar value of the gratuities its employees receive?"
They all belong to the same Government so it doesn't really count.
"edutcher said...
If the crowd at Moochelle's speech was any indication, they're not enjoying it."
Not according to today's news, which says the crowd (indeed the entire nation) loved it.
Well, why not. If you are the First Lady and you say noting of substance, how can anyone criticize?
Which is the whole point. Actually I don't fault her for that. If she gets into any substance, lots of downside. Little upside.
Either way there's always the backside. This is Michelle Obama.
A Cootiefest.
Eww.
YH--actually Milbank's goodies come from the corporations that the Democrats love to milk and then chop up for hamburger. They pay. A lot. I credit Milbank for being clear about that (though he was kind of short in the outrage department.)
“He’s a human being and he likes to laugh,” Jarrett disclosed.
That quote is really quite sad, isn't it? But in my head, she's saying it in a robot voice, which turns it into hilarious.
You didn't read the article did you YH?
The courts of obscenely decadent rulers teem with such pampered sycophants, after all.
Is this 3:1 ratio typical for political conventions?
I would have expected 1000 journalists tops for 5000 delegates.
What are all these people doing? Whatever little sympathy I had for the hard times of the media just vanished.
Elizabeth Warren is going to do a rain dance to make sure the move will be warranted.
From Charlotte's local CBS affiliate:
A top Charlotte meteorologist says there is virtually no threat of severe weather Thursday night as Democratic officials move President Barack Obama’s convention speech indoors.
Brad Panovich, chief meteorologist at WCNC in Charlotte, indicated that storms would not have been an issue the time the president was supposed to speak at Bank of America stadium.
“Severe threat is almost zero Thursday night & chance of rain is 20%,” Panovich said on Twitter.
There is another risk here.
35,000 people with "credentials" show up to get into the 20,000 person hall.
That could be fun to watch.
You're a home girl, you're always happy in your Madison enclave.
“He’s a human being and he likes to laugh,” Jarrett disclosed.
If that was written about a North Korean Leader, the State Department would consider it a "peace offensive".
@YoungHegelian,
Point taken and noted. But my point was not from where the goodies come, but rather if you enjoy a lifestyle of goodies received, it may warp your ability to evaluate what is and is not a necessity, what should and should not be paid for by others.
The real suffering imposed by Obama and his merry band of marxists on middle-Americans, be they in flyover country or on the coasts, simply doesn't register on the gluten-free likes of metrosexual Milbank and his fellow chattering class apologists.
I think I first commented around the time of the 2000 GOP convention that the idea of a physcal convention was just about done. Everyone knows that the folks who attend are either campaign and party functionaries who are getting a small perk for their faitrhful service, or as this article points out a gaggle of press.
The networks are not covering the majority of hours of speeches and presentations at either convention. At least the Republicans were able to do away with that "Idaho, the state that produces more potatoes than all the rest of the world combined, minus Uraguay and Afghanistan, proudly casts..." crapola.
I think you could easily do this as a hosted video conference and save all the money spent on travel, hotels and convention centers (which is substantally funded by the taxpayer anyway).
“He’s a human being and he likes to laugh,” Jarrett disclosed.
Allen asked if it’s true that “they’re incredible parents.”
“They’re absolutely amazing,” Jarrett confirmed.
Don't be too hard on her. Valerie has to talk this way or Obama will wish her into the cornfield.
It's Woodstock redux: all the grotesquery, none of the music.
@Wally K
Yours is the rational conclusion (I totally agree right up to the next convention that fails to produce a clear winner during the primaries), but not the reasonable conclusion. The convention IS important to all the delegates and is a reward for and spur to their further efforts.
Its like saying the fans should stay home when their teams have a bowl game because you can see it better on TV than in you seat.
For me the question is how much press conventions should receive. No one yet has come to the conclusion that they are only worthy of news coverage rather than major event coverage.
Here's a hot one: they put God and Jerusalem back in the platform, and the crowd did not like it at all. The Mare of Al-Lay looks scared.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/chaos-as-democrats-try-to-put-jerusalem-god-back
“He’s a human being and he likes to laugh,” Jarrett disclosed.
Barack Obama is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.
It is a Love Fest for the government propaganda arm, such as MSNBC. Those folks are full of joy and faith in the god Obama's glorious kingdom which they all belong to. Even Andrea Mithcell looks 30 years younger like a teenager in love.
They are beaming like they are newly converted born again Christians. They are in love with King Obama.
Once again , when people refuse to believe in the real God's truth, they will believe in anything else no matter how irrational and deceptive.
I do not listen to NPR much at all anymore. However, I listened to Mara Liasson today, and was still stunned at the lack of any effort to disguise what she was saying as spin. It boiled down to "Republicans perceive the case to be ____, but they are wrong."
I make room for the possibility that it's just me. I wonder if Garage or Allie heard the story, and whether they would agree that it was a near complete spin job, regardless of whether they agree with the spin.
Just wait for the denouement if their hero loses this November.
I don't think I ever heard such mournful voices as the ones I heard on NPR when they had to announce that Scott Walker had apparently beat the recall.
I can't imagine how dolorous the press will sound if the president loses the election.
Or will they just get angry-- perhaps accuse the electorate of being unworthy to be American? Or shout, "Democracy died today!"?
Milbank: "...so I missed Obama campaign manager Jim Messina telling the roomful of reporters that “the president is building an economy built to last.”
I think he must have meant "built to be last."
Peter wrote:
I can't imagine how dolorous the press will sound if the president loses the election.
Or will they just get angry-- perhaps accuse the electorate of being unworthy to be American? Or shout, "Democracy died
We have a model of how they'll act. Like how they acted when Bush won.
There's a NewAge tag (it's one word, BTW) which is good, but you got the quote wrong:
I’ve had my deltoids massaged in candlelight by a licensed therapist; had a foaming pore cleanser and mask applied to my face by an aesthetician; been instructed in the Warrior, Half-Sun Salute and Dancer poses by a yoga instructor; and crawled into a hanging cocoon for a “meditative snooze.” I worked up quite an appetite doing all this, so I ordered vegan corn chowder and gluten-free chicken chile verde washed down with Fiji water — all courtesy of the website run by a dyed-in-the-wool cultist.
Let's get the whole story right - Romney's a cultist, Arianna's a cultist, Oprah's a cultist,....
@David -- 3:48
Yeah, I did read the article, and I don't see what I got wrong about it. My previous comment makes clear that there are corporations buying access.
The article says that the pavilions are all sponsored by other media outlets. WITHIN those pavilions, they have clearly sold access to corporate sponsors, just like the media always sells advertising. Are you reading the article differently?
This, of course, becomes a welcome smoke screen for the press, who can now say that they are being feted by their own and not corporate interests. Nudge--nudge.
"We have a model of how they'll act. Like how they acted when Bush won."
No, it will be much worse. Much, much worse.
Sheriff's officer just said that Romney will cut cops, firemen and teachers! Wonder how the fact checkers did with last night's propaganda.
No, it will be much worse. Much, much worse.
Amen to that! Because this time the press will realize that it's not just a repudiation of Obama, it's a repudiation of them.
Times are not good for the press right now, and there aren't any lights at the end of the tunnel. A Republican victory will be seen by them as the start of the nails being driven into their coffins.
My take is that if the RNC had 15,000 media attendees, their time was spent preventing a polling bounce by Romney (except on Intrade).
We can expect a different media approach in Charlotte.
Here's a leaked excerpt from Clinton's speech:
“The most important question is, what kind of country do you want to live in? If you want a you’re-on-your-own, winner-take-all society, you should support the Republican ticket. If you want a country of shared prosperity and shared responsibility — a we’re-all-in-this-together society — you should vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.”
"If you want an economy that operates under the same principle as mine did when we actually had a semi decent economy vote for Romney....er, Obama Biden/ Yeah thats what I meant.
If you are form tax cuts to spur an economy vote for Romney, er... tax cuts? That's a terrible idea.
If you're for welfare reform vote for Romn...er, what am I saying, Obama undoing all my reforms is the way I would vote>
If you are for upholding the defense of marriage Act I Passed... er...
If you are for for supporting Israel...er...
If you are for supporting Don't Ask Don't....er...
If you are for bank deregulation taht lead to a robust economy...er...
Why am I speaking at this convention again?"
Crack (on his website) wrote:
Arianna Huffington became a disciple of the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, whose cult practiced open sexual intercourse among its members, and with its leader, as a central sacrament of their faith.
Now that's a good way to cure most people of their desire to be in a cult. Make them have sex with Arianna Huffington.
I’ve had my deltoids massaged in candlelight by a licensed therapist; had a foaming pore cleanser and mask applied to my face by an aesthetician; been instructed in the Warrior, Half-Sun Salute and Dancer poses by a yoga instructor; and crawled into a hanging cocoon for a “meditative snooze.” I worked up quite an appetite doing all this, so I ordered vegan corn chowder and gluten-free chicken chile verde washed down with Fiji water
Is that a description of a cultist, or a metrosexual? Tehy sound awfully delicate, but I don't really see all that much to villify them over here. They just sound like a bunch of pampered Little Lord Fontelroy's.
But what's wrong with gluten free chicken or Fiji Water or having your deltoids massaged by a licensed therapist?
Tim wrote:
Most of all, real men don't get "my deltoids massaged in candlelight by a licensed therapist; had a foaming pore cleanser and mask applied to my face by an aesthetician; been instructed in the Warrior, Half-Sun Salute and Dancer poses by a yoga instructor; and crawled into a hanging cocoon for a “meditative snooze.” I worked up quite an appetite doing all this, so I ordered vegan corn chowder and gluten-free chicken chile verde washed down with Fiji water..."
Damn. Some people don't have any self-respect.
ARe they getting happy endings with their massages?
And in other, "Hey, this convention isn't about what you think it's about, news!" ...
Joe Trippi, Democratic campaign consultant, told Greta Van Susteren last night that party platforms were for the activists of the parties. Presidents always end up doing what they think is best.
A shocked Van Susteren paraphrases,
"BUSYWORK for the activists?"
Ha ha
That outta piss off the party stalwarts. Right after they get down from their soapboxes.
jr565,
Is that a description of a cultist, or a metrosexual? Tehy sound awfully delicate, but I don't really see all that much to villify them over here. They just sound like a bunch of pampered Little Lord Fontelroy's.
But what's wrong with gluten free chicken or Fiji Water or having your deltoids massaged by a licensed therapist?
Yeah, leave it to you to miss EVERY IMPORTANT ISSUE involved in this:
1) It's all paid for by a cultist who has made it her business to shape the dialogue of a nation.
2) 1) It's all paid for by a cultist who the media hasn't exposed as such, while partaking of her goodies - a breach of journalistic ethics.
3) It's all paid for by a cultist who supposedly runs a supposedly-objective news outfit - to specifically support the Democrats - also a breach of journalistic ethics.
4) It's all paid for by a cultist whose news outfit has been involved in multiple gruesome murders (don't make me dig for the links).
5) It's all paid for by a cultist whose news outfit is a steady purveyor of misinformation and quackery - also mostly unreported.
But, of course, YOU (in all your enlightened brilliance) see nothing going on here:
You're a genius, jr, a fucking Einstein,...
Doesn't the WaPo have limits on the dollar value of the gratuities its employees receive?
About as strict a limit as Obama's banning of lobbyists from his administration.
If the crowd at Moochelle's speech was any indication, they're not enjoying it.
The speech wasn't for them. It was for the media to fawn over --- and damn did they ever fawn over it.
Wolf's desire to fact check speeches went away --- well, except to verify the fact that every speaker was really fucking awesome or something.
And after last night, I can see why Obama felt the media was so unfairly harsh to him. They RAPED him...hard.
And yet Prince Harry gets in trouble for his comparitively innocent leisure time activities.
Crack you make it sound as if I'm somehow a fan or defender of ariannah huffington or the huffington post. But to me her cultism is the least if the issues, and if she was part of no cult shed still be odious. So it's not like I'm disagreeing with her lack of integrity as someone who is supposed to be objective. I just dont see why the cult aspect is all that relevant.
Bedbugs no problem for these guys--professional courtesy. Like sharks and lawyers.
And who cares about massages by candlelight? High colonics are what they need. STAT!
The horror vacui of a stadium of empty seats on a rainless night.
I just wanted to say horror vacui.
The convention cut in on the NFL game. Now I hate Democrats.
Damn - I didn't think the country had that many journalists (unless you count bloggers).
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