How many off-the-record, on-the-QT, and very-hush-hush meetings have Obama or his lieutenants scheduled with favored members of the media lately? There was the one with the White House press corps on May 10 to talk about the IRS scandal that began as off-the-record but ended up as “deep background” after people started murmuring about it on Twitter. There was the instantly-infamous one on May 21 in which online Obama-water-carrying glitterati were called in for a consultation on Scandalmania. There was another one last Thursday with foreign-policy reporters after O’s big speech in which he tried to B.S. them about his drone policy having changed when, evidently, it really hadn’t. And now here’s Holder, willing to talk to the press about how sorry-ish he is for rifling through their phone records and e-mails in pursuit of leakers but not willing to do it in a forum where anyone outside the room will know what he said....
May 29, 2013
"Gut-check time for the press: If they’re truly offended by the DOJ’s secret snooping on James Rosen and the AP..."
"... they won’t agree to attend Holder’s gladhanding session unless/until he agrees to make it on the record, right?"
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Absolutely. No assumption of innocence or fairness should be made.
Most of these guys are hard-core Lefties.
Unless Mr "my people" has done something to their organization or someone they know, they'll drag their feet unless there's enough public outcry.
Or the money from all the coverage would be worth it - and that might be less than we might think.
After all, Newsweek's up for sale again.
New York Times is boycotting the bullshit.
NYT v. Obama
That's like Dog Whistle vs. Dog Whistle.
The liberal mind explodes!
I was about to go into a self-righteous rant about how the press has always given the clowns in the admin. a pass, etc, etc, rant, rant. But then I saw that the NYT has said it won't attend.
That's it. The idea of the off-the-record meeting is dead. If the NYT rejects it, that's a sure sign that the press isn't buying Holder's kiss & make up schtick.
Well, it is their country after all. We just live here and pay the bills. There is no real need for the rest of us to know the truth. What are we gonna do with it anyway? Besides there is nuance and stuff like that which is way over our heads.
Scene: DC cocktail party
Reporter: "When I was at the White House with the President last week . . ."
Everyone listens, but nobody learns a thing.
The media give a shit about celebrities. Political celebrities. They could not stand to lose their insider with the celeb status by actually reporting on them.
It was a White House effort to test the waters.
Too much inside baseball. This deep-background, unnamed source crap should be called the crap that it is.
The thing about Holder is that he appears to be a dolt. People are afraid to make that observation, I think. Obama's relationship with Holder seems like that of the cute cheerleader who hangs out with the fat, obnoxious girl. The contrast is great!
The only thing newsworthy is the NYT not showing up. I wonder if this is just a momentary act of pique or if it has a deeper significance.
I think. Obama's relationship with Holder seems like that of the cute cheerleader who hangs out with the fat, obnoxious girl.
In high school we saw those situations as a nascent lez thing going on, at least one way. Could it be...? nah.
I could not be more satisfied of Mr. Holder's innocence if he had invited the entire DC press cadre to his off the record event.
It's all theatre. No matter how absurd it is. No matter how much the MSM pretends to have the vapors. Nothing will change.
Worst case, fire Holder. Laughing. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Always liked that movie LA Confidential. Great casting, especially Spacey, Basinger, Guy ___, and not least, Russell Crowe.
Etymology of "on the QT" is Victorian Britain circa 1850 and means behaving with a respect for being quiet.
And Holder is Chief Duffy and doesn't like nosy people.
And Obama is Roland Tomassi.
The Obama Administration treats the press the way Bill Clinton treats women. And most of the press, like most of Bill's women, are willing victims of the abuse. It's date rape, not rape-rape. And they're too much in love to know they're being used.
The NYT is being haughty: 'We're extra-special. We're not just any cheap set of reporters.' They'll get their special treatment.
Astro, yes. The NYT wants you to know that they are call girls, not streetwalkers.
If the leak to Rosen was the 3rd or 4th worst leak in all of human history according to Eric why didn't Eric run to Barry with the news? Has our hound dog press even asked him that kindergarten question? How believable to our hound dog media is it that Barry don't know nuttin'?
When you are in the tank, you see nothing, you hear nothing. When storms loom, you dive deeper and are delirious in your luck keeping silent in the tank.
Going after the press will prove Obama's undoing. He could have gotten away with EVERYTHING else. But this puts a whole new light on Mr.NeedsSealedDivorceRecordsToWin. Suddenly, they realize that THEIR sealed records, and more, are probably in OFAs files. It is chilling. A word that might be lightly tossed around, but isn't.
I guess Holder is not Obama.. on the other hand, if Obama had called this tete e tete..
OMG, you won't believe this.. I wanted to google tete e tete to make sure I was using it right, what do you think the first entry was?!
tête-à-tête - Wiktionary
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tête-à-tête
In particular his tête-à-tête luncheons were described, to which, as it now turned out, practically every journalist listening had at one time or another been invited
Who really thinks the AP, FOX and NYT is all there is? That's just what they've done that's semi-above board. Do you really think they aren't capable of going completely around the law?
What's to stop them? Who's going to investigate them? the spin-doctors will come up with some clever dodge, and they skate.
Did Petraeus get caught in the loop? Who else? How is the information they garnered being used? I think you can see the signs, and it's not good.
Obama is dirty. he might have been using Holder as a glove to keep his fingerprints off this, like Axelrod before him, but he is dirty.
I bet WaPo goes. They need their Chocolate City subscribers, and DC residents are all in for Obama & Holder.
Rose said...
Did Petraeus get caught in the loop?
Petraeus was never part of the Choom Gang. If anybody should have been Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, it should have been him and not that god-awful Dempsey.
Petraeus was for show and always had a place under the bus. When he turned out to have some scruples, particularly in the wake of Benghazi, he became expendable. Paula Broadinthebeam made it just that much easier.
Let him talk to the press "off the record" or on "deep background" or "not for attribution."
Then let Congress drag the reporters in and put them under oath and demand that they tell what Holder said.
And let them claim "reporter's privilege" then.
By investigating reporters and seeking to find out what confidential sources told them, Holder has indicated that there is no such thing as "off the record."
By Holder rules, then, the reporters ought to agree to whatever Holder asks and then after he talks, report it anyway.
It's kinda cute how the press pretends it's "free", rather than the Ministry of Propaganda.
What's cute is that they think some people still believe it.
Aaawwww. (/teenage girl-sees-puppy)
Zach Galfrikinnfrini shaved his beard.
Now that's the kind of news the pro-democrat hack media has time for.
How does it make sense for the NYTs to boycott?
Is there some CYA thing going on here, like "If only the proles REALLY knew what was going on."
I can't imagine a principled reason.
That would be selfgutcheck time for the press. We're unfortunately familiar with the state and the content of their guts by their poop.
[For it is written, by their poop you shall know them.]
A quarterback needs to be able to huddle with the team away from intrusive microphones and cameras.
Same thing here.
The greatest damage King Obama is intentionally doing to the USA is ending the delicate bond of skeptical trust built up for over 200 years that allowed an American to believe what credentialed Scientists, or renowned Academics, or most government servants told them about reality.
The slimy Kenyan Marxist has trashed it forever!
Dante said...
How does it make sense for the NYTs to boycott?
Is there some CYA thing going on here, like "If only the proles REALLY knew what was going on."
That's been going on for a couple of years.
Remember Joseph Curl and his 4th (or 5th) shoe.
no guts---no check
How many times must people be told. The MSM is Urkel's shield and lap dog. You think for a moment that they care what he did? Oh they are a little butthurt that he lifted up their skirts to see what's underneath, but eventually they will titter and snicker and giggle at it all, like a little lover sneaking a peek and coping a feel here and there. They are his whores and they love him for it.
Chips 'poop' reading is dead on.
It occurs to me that the aggressive pursuit of the leaks was a calculated strategery to provide fodder for the press to cover while the real scandals, the IRS and Benghazi moved along with less perturbation, less saturation, less coverage. Genius.
Ask yourselves, When have these people really cared about national security leaks? They leaked the hell out of the Bin Laden operation.
Holder laid this turd at the doorstep of the peoples who's job it is to sniff shit out. Its so fucking convenient it reeks.
And its brilliant too. If you want to distract, you pretend to pick a fight with somebody that it is expected that you would pick a fight with... Fox... something about 'the art of war', it would take too long to look up right now, and take me away from trotting out my crazy idea before you all go to sleep.
Holder smirks because he cant believe how smoothly everything is falling into place.
This theory is very easy to check. It presupposes that Holder was in on the IRS abuses and that Benghazi (one of those things that can happen when you have a presidency in auto pilot) made the press spy caper all the more necessary.
So Holder appears to commit perjury and raises a stink that's working.
It's all a Kabuki dance, and the NYT knows the choreography same as everybody else.
Many people, not just journalists, experience diarrhea (which you can remember how to spell by associating rhea keeping a diary and pooping all over the place), gas and cramping that is caused by antibiotics which as you know kill beneficial bacteria along with bad bacteria. The decrease in beneficial bacteria can be restored with probiotics available locally or sitting right there on your no-exercise-having lazy lard ass.
Did I offend you? I'm sorry.
Speaking of exercises I just now invented one that I think can appeal to a couch potato type because it employs furniture. Goes like this: You sit on the edge like you're praying to Allah, as you do, and reach down to the floor with your hands. Then stretch out straight so the sofa or comfy chair is elevating your feet. Then walk around on your hands back and forth like a windshield wiper.
DO IT ! I said.
But that seems too easy so do a push-up, but don't do 10 push-ups because that will take the fun out of it, no counting allowed. If there is somebody else there who is willing to be goofy then play wheelbarrow and be ready to have your face plowed into the floor because partners are reckless with wheelbarrow.
Back on the sofa or comfy chair being a windshield wiper, tuck back into praying position but linger at the edge tipping out your full weight onto your hands. Keep doing that and feeling what it does to your arms and shoulders, how it feels when you place more weight onto your palms. As if with yoga, attempt to tip out the full weight, and if not possible then back off and call it a session.
This is in preparation training for walking on your hands.
Does garage come around any more? I've been on a bit of a walkabout myself, though I'm sure nobody has missed me.
Any gate, I've returned at this timely time to remind garage of a little wager he made with me a while back about who would be turned out of office first, Holder or Scott Walker. The stakes were twenty bucks to be paid to the winner's favorite charity (I'm going with the NRA). So if you hear from him, remind him not to spend all his money on lattes, because I'm about to win the bet.
The control's the thing, the Play's the thing be damned.
Chip, I doubt you do requests, but tangential to a discussion with a professor of paleontology who is aghast that Animal Planet produced a documentary about mermaids, I suddenly felt the need to see a photoshop of an Eric Beholder. Could you?
Mark said...
Chip, I doubt you do requests, but tangential to a discussion with a professor of paleontology who is aghast that Animal Planet produced a documentary about mermaids, I suddenly felt the need to see a photoshop of an Eric Beholder. Could you?
You've inspired me to do a photoshop of Eric the Beholder. He will look like having Coolio's hair and I make Holder a cyclops. It will work.
There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.
Donald Rumsfeld
Known knowns - Holder and company knew about the IRS audit as early as 2011, I believe, and all they need it to do, at that stage, was suppress it until after the election.
Mission accomplished.
That left in the 'to do list', how do you deal with the aftermath?
What kind of reaction is there going to be? - Known unknowns.
Holder knows the press is on their side but, are they going to buy the drama he is going to lay out before them?
Unknown unknowns - Holder creates a perturbation, a distraction... Picks a fight with a known enemy and exposes himself to make it look real.
That's were we are at now... The fight doesn't look real and doesn't feel real to this spectator.
Holder looks more like a WWF wrestler daring the press to come in to the ring and put on a show with him. That's what 'background, off the record, I'll show mine if you show me yours charade is all about. The scenarios pretty much draw themselves.
A pillow fight that could lead to sex... whatever.
Its cartoonish what they are putting on.
Methradras, Holder's eyes are buggy enough that making a really good cyclops from them should be easy. It's the auxiliary eyes and concomitant eyestalks that will be the problem.
I believe the weakest part of my theory... you know the poop, dudu, caca part, is that the Obama administration was using the IRS to stifle political enemies.
Once you get over that stretch... a blind man with a trekking pole... never mind.
Hey everybody, its Palladian's birthday today.
Speaking of sycophants, MSNBC took a brutal dive in ratings over the last year - down 20%, and they were already in the basement - solidly last place, averaging 539,000 viewers. That's nationwide (all 57 states). By comparison, we have local AM talk radio hosts in L.A. that do better than that in one city. I watch MSNBC pretty often, just to compare things, and get another view. Fox has it's bias too, but MSNBC has the most embarrassingly dishonest and stupid hosts: Chris-everyone who disagrees with me is a racist=Mathews, Rachael Maddow, Shultz, O'Donnell, and Al-should be in jail-Sharpton. Nobody deserves more to be at the bottom than that crew. Maybe you guys should cover the most scandalous regime in American history, before it's too late. It might be newsworthy.
Holder knows the press is on their side but, are they going to buy the drama he is going to lay out before them?
Holder had to make the fight with the press about something that they are very likely to want to fight about. Press Freedom. It cant get more personal or so Holder hopes.
The Real challenge before us is whether the press can pretend to care more about press freedoms than the protection of Obama.
Its a real catch 42 for them.
The worst that can happen, for Holder, is exactly what Holder would want to happen. That is that the press will accomplish both objectives (protecting Obama and standing up for press freedom) by sounding the alarm about Holder and saying how it is Holder that is leading Obama down to destruction... Holder resigns... Holder becomes the sacrificial... what's-the-name-of-that-animal? at the altar of the holy press freedom. Obama protected - press freedom protected... And let that be a lesson to future DOJ Att Generals not to... mess with the press.
The danger (for Holder) is that the press wont play the script he has so carefully laid out for them.
Its very risky... are they capable of picking up the signs? have they ever laid down a bunt?
Baseball meta, I know, but it goes so well with what I'm desperately failing to say.
I mean, I'm the last guy with the preparation and the knowledge and the means to figure this stuff out.
I'm not even following the scandals all that closely... I know as much as Obama says he knows... maybe even less.
I just read what Althouse feeds me.
Which holds out the possibility that Holder is innocent and its all in my mind... you know the way Althouse says everything is just fine w/o saying it.
[Coolio's hair]
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha falls hahahahahahahahahahahah chokes hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha pees hahahahahahahahahahahaha slaps dog hahahahahahahahahahaha
Oh yea..
Holder wants the press to throw him under the bus.
It would give them a sense that they are doing their job. Make themselves look not so beholden to Obama. Going after Holder makes all the sense in the world but... like I was saying. don't expect press lap dogs to become utility players overnight.
Its been a long time since they were active... Holder is having to hold their hand. Most of them have been out of action so long they should be on rehab assignment in Tidewater or Columbus or the Pawtucket Red Sox.
And, also, this is all contingent on the possibility that there is an audience left to play, dramatize to.
Which, at this point, that is what makes all the difference.
Sad, I didn't get the Coolio's hair thing. Sheltered life. Please do it, please?
I still don't get the NYTs pullback. What are they hoping to achieve? Pretending to be "balanced"? They decided they don't like the Chicago style BS?
Or is it the whole house of cards is about to collapse, and they are looking for cover. I don't get it.
It can't be good.
If NYT isn't going and Politico is going what does that say about the journ-o-lists?
Cannot blame Obamabots trying to keep replicating success.
Lem said...
Hey everybody, its Palladian's birthday today.
Congrats, belated though they may be.
Happy b-day Palladien.
God bless her, our loving, loyal dog, is less faithful than the press is to Obama. So, Nothing will come of these scandals,
The media loves Obama, loves having a black as president (yes I am saying they are racist, but it's good racism), agrees with Obama's Left-wing agenda,wants Obama to succeed, wants Obama's agenda to succeed and would be devastated if anything they (the media) did was bad for Obama or his agenda.
Going after Rosen of Fox also works (for Holder) because from then on, should Fox be more aggressive pursuing the scandals, it could be said that Fox is doing so because they want revenge.
Holder takes Fox out by making Fox take themselves out.
I've always tried to figure out what "off the record" means when you are meeting with people and giving them information they'd otherwise not have? By definition, then, there is a record [why else would you convene the meet up?]...and it is merely a game to determine who blabs first ... or who you want to blab first.
In my time in military service and federal service I never saw any information not tagged in some way or another as *not-for-dissemination* even when plainly stamped **UNCLASSIFIED** [caps are used for that designation]...sort of a de rigueur way to say FOUO without actually doing so....yet leaving everyone liable for "unauthorized dissemination". That is the crap that is usually included in OTR briefings.
I had a whole lot more to say about this, but @ YoungHegelian, bagoh20, CWJ, Astro, ricpic, Rose, Bender, Dante, Lem, & Tyrone Slothrop [and some I likely missed] have all said it first and mo' betta.
Question for the NYT: Is there a new "Pentagon Papers" moldering in your kitchen?
Quick ... what exactly was/is Rosen suspected of doing? There are two parts to that answer. How many of us recall it exactly...I had to Google, did you?
I mean, there certainly has been enough lying and outright falsification by government and military leadership.
Is this @ Lem's NYT laying down a bunt? Or Chip's turd?
Palladian...better late than never, so Happy birthday and a hope that your circumstances improve soon for your own benefit and peace of mind.
You know... We were poking fun at Hillary (Rodan) the other day, but, is there any stranger Washington creature than Erick Holder?
Erick Holder is serving as the chief law enforcer of the land, only second to the president, while in contempt of congress.
Maybe is no big deal. Just like Benghazi and the IRS and Fast & Furious and who knows what else.
A prayer for Palladian; for guidance, work and home, for consolation until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the world is hushed.
Happy Birthday, Palladian, a day late. Good luck on your next move.
Hey come and meet with me so I can explain but you can't tell anyone about it..... Really?
Read Slate today.
Ezra Klein is such a tool.
I'm more interested in knowing the names of those who will attend.
I can only echo the birthday wishes for Palladian--he is a good man under harsh events--I can only wish him the best--we genuinely need more people like palladian. Best wishes, sir.
Id rather see the AP accept the invitation and then deliver one of the biggest smackdowns of all time by publishing the full transcript of this "off the record" meeting word for word.
Anyone with any knowledge of the press knows that there is no such thing as "off the record". The only tool the administration has is blackballing any press agency that doesn't fall in line. There is a point where the press will take that risk if the story is big enough.
"The Obama Administration treats the press the way Bill Clinton treats women." --Astro
I wish I had through of that.
P.S. Welcome back Tyrone.
Correction: ...thought of that.
Sorry, I am still on my first snort of crystal meth today.
What's even the point of anyone talking off the record to the entire press corps? What happens if a reporter reports on what was said 'off the record'? They'd lose the trust of the politicians?
via Drudge:
NYT WON'T ATTEND...
AP: NO THANKS...
CNN: NUH UH...
HUFFPO: NO GO...
DNC: SUCK IT UP...
POLITICO: WE'LL BE THERE...
Politico - lol
Checking my records, I see that these individuals from Politico belonged to JournOlist:
Ben Adler
Mile Allen
Lisa Lerer
Laura Rozen
Ben Smith
Avi Zenilman
The Left has always had irreconcilable differences, which were only ever ignored through common greed. I wonder what event(s) was sufficient to motivate a schism in their ranks, between the Obama and other factions. Perhaps they do not enjoy the democratic leverage an election would seem to confirm.
The question, "just how dumb do they think we are," should be crossing inside the melon of every mainstream journalist.
Frankly, it should have crossed their melons not long after the Cambridge incident and many times thereafter, but...better late than never, I suppose.
Nothing on IRS scandal from MSDNC.
Hard to imagine the joke network would take on something so racist.
AprilApple ...check out the first linked article on the tax blog link you provided, that of one ataxingmatter: The Real IRS Scandal, by Linda Beale (Wayne State University - Detgroit,MI)
MSNBC need not write a word, Prof Linda Beale could step in for Rachel Maddow or Chris Matthews and no one would notice. I quote:
... the right-wing bloviators are bloviating over this in Congress, calling for jail time for IRS employees, calling for a special prosecutor, insisting that this is a "scandall" along the lines of Watergate that goes to the heart of Obama's presidency. Hogwash, folks, pure and simple. This so-called "scandal" is just another instance of right-wing obstructionism that is willing to sacrifice good government for maintaining or increasing political power.
Hard to beat that for fog and comedy.
By Holder rules, then, the reporters ought to agree to whatever Holder asks and then after he talks, report it anyway.
This is exactly what the NYT, and all the other usual-suspect media agencies are hoping to avoid by 'boycotting' the non-event event.
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