२६ एप्रिल, २०१४

"U.S. Reporters Grill Obama in Asia: Did You Like Your Green-Tea Ice Cream?"

The state of journalism today.

The President later burbled about it to the Empress.

ADDED: The "it" in "burbled about it" is ambiguous. Here's the reported colloquy with the Empress Michiko:
“The press was asking if I enjoyed the green tea ice cream,” Obama said.

“Did you enjoy it?” the empress asked.

“Yes, absolutely,” he replied.
I've made a multiple choice question in the style of the new SAT approach to understanding words in context.

What does "it" mean in the phrase "burbled about it"?
  
pollcode.com free polls 

२४ टिप्पण्या:

traditionalguy म्हणाले...

The so called journalists treat King Obama like a member of the British Royal Family out visiting his Empire.

There are no political questions allowed. It is all about the Royal Family Life of our beloved King.

Diogenes of Sinope म्हणाले...

The prejudice of low expectations.

pm317 म्हणाले...

I like to think they are intimidated and cowed down and fear recrimination if they did their job. It is too depressing to think they are doing this voluntarily -- a whole institution appropriated to malpractice in the golden age of Obama.

But then again, if they did ask the tough questions, what would be the result? They would be embarrassing him and the country for electing him.

Bob Boyd म्हणाले...

If you are a reporter you have to ask yourself, what good could possibly come from asking Obama a hard question? No one is going to thank you for it. Not your boss. Not your readers. Not your colleagues. Not your friends. In fact, just the opposite. All these people will find ways to punish you. All you would be doing is creating problems for yourself. And for what? To provide ammunition to the evil right wing extremists? Does that really serve the public? To confuse them like that?
No. Green tea ice cream is indeed a newsworthy subject when you look at the big picture.

Humperdink म्हणाले...

The White House press corpse certainly takes a slightly softer approach to Obama than say David Gregory waiving a 30 round mag at the NRA's Wayne LaPierre. It's so slight the difference in approach is hardly noticeable.

And then there is CNN doing are hard hitting *cough* documentary on Rhambo and his Chicagoland. (Note: 44 killed or wounded last week in the second city.)

CWJ म्हणाले...

This is the sort of question you dotingly ask a pre-schooler after lunch.

They'd pat him on the head, but that would involve touching his hair.

Michael K म्हणाले...

Yes, don't touch his hair. Softball questions, like virtual fellatio, are OK.

alan markus म्हणाले...

So when Obama said "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it" maybe "it" did not mean health care?

Wince म्हणाले...

The gift to the Democrats that is the fallen folk hero Cliven Bundy.

Are people really so shocked that Cliven Bundy would have a world view similar to Archie Bunker?

Billy Hollis म्हणाले...

"I like to think they are intimidated and cowed down and fear recrimination if they did their job. "

Of course they are. If they're not, their own bosses will pull a Sharyl Attkisson on them.

Humperdink म्हणाले...

Better headline: "Reporters grill Obama about lunch".

Robert Cook म्हणाले...

@pm317:

Of course they're doing this voluntarily...and don't think this is to do with just Obama. The White House press corps are there to aggrandize their careers by obtaining and maintaining "access" to the President and to those in his administration. They do this by acting as friendly peers, or obedient vassals, not by posing challenging questions or pressing on matters of great moment.

They were as bad during the Bush Administration, which was, of course, the whole point of Stephen Colbert's savage attack on the press in his comedic address at the White House Press Correspondents' Dinner in 2006. (Though Bush admirers perceived Colbert's address as aimed at Bush, the real objects of his ridicule were the self-important toadies to power, the White House press.)

Robert Cook म्हणाले...

"Are people really so shocked that Cliven Bundy would have a world view similar to Archie Bunker?"

Apparently, the only people who were are the Fox News talking heads who championed him.

Humperdink म्हणाले...

Have any of the crackerjack cub reporters on the White House beat ever ask The One what he meant by:

"This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility," when speaking to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev?

It's been 2 years. I don't think the statute of limitations has run out.

West Town म्हणाले...

I do not know enough about the Empress' social disposition or character to vote on her motives; the other party, however...

CWJ म्हणाले...

Althouse,

Great memory. I had forgotten about that. It gave me a good laugh in more than one way.

Let's see. First, it has Obama stiffly bowing from the waist. Where have we seen that before? And then, instead of reporters lovingly patting him on the head like a 5 year old, we have an actual 5 year old to do the job. Brilliant.

Tim म्हणाले...

Regarding how Bundy is a gift to liberals, do you remember when every liberal commentor argued that you shouldn't judge the Occupy Movement by all the rapists, drug dealers, communists, and terrorists that were members?

Robert Cook म्हणाले...

"Regarding how Bundy is a gift to liberals, do you remember when every liberal commentor argued that you shouldn't judge the Occupy Movement by all the rapists, drug dealers, communists, and terrorists that were members?"

Hmmm...what "all...rapists, drug dealers, communists and terrorists...?" While there were some undesirables drawn like moths to flame, the OWS membership was primarily composed of people aware of and exercised about the rape of our country by the oligarchs who run things for their benefit and at our expense.

Also, how is Bundy a "gift to liberals?" He's simply another entitled rich asshole who is profiting off the public while pontificating about his freedom being intruded upon. He's one of a huge cohort of rich cry-baby parasites and he is unremarkable in every way, even in his retrograde beliefs. He'll be out of the news cycle soon enough, with nothing changed. The "liberals," whomever they may be, will not gain anything from his brief play upon the public stage.

Michael K म्हणाले...

"Are people really so shocked that Cliven Bundy would have a world view similar to Archie Bunker?"

Apparently, the only people who were are the Fox News talking heads who championed him."

Actually, the malicious editing by Media Matters and the NY Times will become widely known and this will be another Trayvon Martin case where the left listens to itself and everybody else hears something else.

Millie_Woods म्हणाले...

Everyone's just pissed because he got the the ice cream question right on the first try. There was no need to ask him to spell 'potato'.

cubanbob म्हणाले...

Democrats with bylines aren't going to ask serious questions of a Democrat president. When the presidency is next occupied by a Republican then the Democrat's with bylines will ask semi-serious questions. Besides even if the Democrats with bylines were in a fit of momentarily believing they were actually reporters and were to ask a serious question as Bob Boyd commented that would be a good way to find themselves unemployed and even hacks have kids to feed and mortgages to pay.

gk1 म्हणाले...

Maybe the question we need to be asking is what flavor Obama's ass is since the press following him take such great delight in licking it at every opportunity. What flavor is that?

Moneyrunner म्हणाले...

The MSM lie, but they lie in a certain way. They don't misquote you, they just edit out part of what you say. Thanks to DRUDGE and the Truth Revolt, here's what Cliven Bundy really said.
The 67-year-old Bundy, said far more than what appeared in the New York Times and most other news accounts. While his grammar is pretty bad -- and his use of "negro" and "colored" considered politically incorrect (although they were both once preferred terms chosen by blacks) -- he actually was making a larger point, not simply deriding blacks.
In a YouTube video, he is filmed already in mid-sentence. [quote]
"... and so what I've testified to you -- I was in the Watts riot, I seen the beginning fire and I seen that last fire. What I seen is civil disturbance. People are not happy, people are thinking they don't have their freedoms, they didn't have these things, and they didn't have them.
We've progressed quite a bit from that day until now, and we sure don't want to go back. We sure don't want the colored people to go back to that point. We sure don't want these Mexican people to go back to that point. And we can make a difference right now by taking care of some of these bureaucracies, and do it in a peaceful way."
One clear point the rancher made: America has progressed since the 1965 race riots and "we sure don't want to go back."
But Bundy went on after saying that -- and again, his comments were edited out of most reports.
"Now, let me talk about the Spanish people. You know, I understand that they come over here against our Constitution and cross our borders. But they’re here and they’re people -- and I’ve worked side by side a lot of them.

Don’t tell me they don’t work, and don’t tell me they don’t pay taxes. And don’t tell me they don’t have better family structures than most of us white people. When you see those Mexican families, they’re together, they picnic together, they’re spending their time together, and I’ll tell you in my way of thinking they’re awful nice people. And we need to have those people join us and be with us not, not come to our party."
So, Bundy thinks Hispanics are hard-working family people, and laments the current plight of American blacks under the federal welfare system while saying there has been much progress and that "we sure don't want to go back." As always, there's more to the story than what the New York Times says.
And there's this from Real Clear Politics: Black Bundy Bodyguard: He's Not A Racist; "I'd Take A Bullet For That Man"
Must be one of those self-hating blacks, right Ann? Professors in Madison know better.

Unknown म्हणाले...

Green tea ice cream, no problem.
But how about Wasabi ice cream? and there are more: link