Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Our Pathetic White House 'Press Corps'
Townhall.com ^ | October 23, 2021 | Tom Tradup

Posted on 10/23/2021 3:40:37 AM PDT by Kaslin

Washington, D.C. has more leaks than a Viking River Cruise with a hull fashioned out of Swiss cheese. To his chagrin, our 45th President Donald J. Trump discovered that…starkly and early-on. But every U.S. President in the past century came to realize—some sooner, some later—that weasels within the Executive Branch or within our permanent Washington “establishment” exist for little more than to leak secrets to favorable media.

The Bay of Pigs failure under JFK..the Pentagon Papers in the Vietnam era…leaks within the Nixon White House during Watergate…the Benghazi tragedy presided over by Hillary “What difference at this point does it make” Clinton.. and many others all came to light to one degree or another because of leaks from those inside—or peripherally engaged with—the U.S. government.

But through it all, the best-kept and longest-running secret (until now) is the irrefutable fact that a vibrant, independent news media no longer exists in Washington, D.C.

Seeing this in print will astonish some Americans, and certainly will offend self-described “journalists” at propaganda mills like CBS, NPR, the comically named “Voice of America” and of course the venerable White House Correspondents Association.

The WHCA professes to exist “to ensure robust news coverage of the president and the presidency” (cue raucous laughter) and pompously claims to share the belief “that an independent news media is vital to the health of the republic.”

When it comes to delivering “robust news coverage” of Joe Biden, the White House Correspondents Association is about as mushy as a Pecan Cluster Blizzard from Dairy Queen if you left it on the dashboard of your car for an hour in the middle of August. Not that WHCA doesn’t have some rock-solid objective journalists at the helm: the President is Steven Portnoy, White House correspondent for CBS News Radio (Uh-oh. Listen to any CBS Radio newscast and you’ll assume Jen Psaki is editing their copy. ) The organization’s Vice President is Tamara Keith, White House correspondent for National Public Radio. (Full disclosure: my first job in broadcasting was as News Director for an NPR affiliate in Syracuse, N.Y.; I quickly learned that NPR is great at distributing tote bags to donors who become members, but unless you’re interested in 8-part documentaries on insects from the darkest corners of your own backyard..the rest will be anti-conservative, pro-choice claptrap occasionally punctuated with poetry from violent criminals behind bars.) Rounding out the top officers at the WHCA, Fin Gomez currently serves as Secretary; he’s a White House producer for—wait for it—CBS News.

I do not know any of these folks personally, nor am I impugning their ability to crank our memos or blog posts extolling the WHCA.  But so far in the Biden administration—unlike the WHCA’s constant criticism and pushback on Donald Trump—we haven’t seen much evidence of the “robust news coverage” they tout so proudly on their website.

Quite the opposite: most members of the White House Press Corps resemble Winston, my Goldendoodle…who rolls over on his back and wags his tail when any family member enters the room, hoping we’ll toss him a treat or scratch his belly.  But unlike Winston, White House correspondents are content to sit politely in their cramped little posts waiting to be lied to…verbally kicked…and, increasingly, mocked by the worst Press Secretary since the post was created.

Just this past week, we were supplied with two prima facie cases of what total wusses White House “Press Corps” members have become:

  1. On Tuesday, while deflecting questions about AWOL Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg being on “paternity leave” while the nation’s supply chain got snarled worse than any time in U.S. history, Psaki in her typical way first lied (“he’s back at work”) then lied again when asked if that means he's in the office, (he isn’t) and finally she interrupted a legitimate question about folks being concerned about not getting Christmas presents or receiving furniture or treadmills they’ve ordered with an incredibly snotty “Ooh, the tragedy of the undelivered treadmill.” More like the tragedy of the unanswered question…but crickets from the WHCA.

  1. On Friday, FOX News White House correspondent Peter Doocy—he is a rare exception among the pack of lapdogs—pressed Psaki on President Biden’s bizarre comment during CNN’s Town Hall the previous evening that “I’ve been to the border.” (Huh?) When Doocy asked for clarification, these are the actual, condescending words that came out of her mouth: "As you may have seen, there has been reporting that he did drive through the border when he was on the campaign trail in 2008 and he is certainly familiar with the fact, and it stuck with him, the fact that in El Paso, the border goes right through the center of town."

Biden’s “been to the border” because he drove past it going through El Paso in 2008!!  The fact that the “White House Press Corps” upon hearing that stupid explanation to not rise from their seats…walk out the door…and refuse to return until this lying numbskull Psaki is fired(and removed by White House security guards along with her poorly-concealed Talking Points binder she sneakily flips through to find her next weasel-worded response) is all the proof needed that the adults have left the room in Washington journalism.

Even the preening popinjays of the past like CNN’s Jim Acosta or the humorless troll Jonathan Lemire of the Associated Press have morphed into “anchors” at—respectively—CNN and MSNBC, where they can now ply their anti-Trump sarcasm and slanted perspectives from nice air-conditioned studios rather than sweating in the tiny (think Alice in Wonderland after swallowing that bottle that read “Drink Me”) White House briefing room.

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart—asked in 1964 to define pornography—famously replied:  “I know it when I see it.”

That’s how I feel about the alleged “Press Corps” at the White House. Pathetic, lame, and not holding anyone’s feet to the fire. What will a real Press Corps ever look like?  We’ll know it when we see it.



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: fakenews; pressbriefing; presscorps

1 posted on 10/23/2021 3:40:37 AM PDT by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Do they mean “Press Corpse”?


2 posted on 10/23/2021 3:41:49 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Covid Is All About Mail In Balloting)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

what kind of ice cream did joe get today?


3 posted on 10/23/2021 3:46:18 AM PDT by ronnie raygun
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

We have Pravda that follows the dictates of the Politburo.

The Politburo sets the narrative and Pravda repeats it.

Pravda also attacks anything that counters the Politburo’s narrative using their laughable fact-checks or labels (unsubstantiated, wild, radical)

We are living under communism today, folks. Most cannot see it and it will only get worse.


4 posted on 10/23/2021 3:48:54 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (We are being played by forces most do not understand)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Docile, obedient lapdogs and clapping seals. Marxists all.


5 posted on 10/23/2021 4:23:31 AM PDT by Ancient Man
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: Kaslin
...a vibrant, independent news media no longer exists in Washington, D.C.

It hasn't existed for some time.

During the reign of His Slickness, we used to refer to the WHCA as the White House Pimp Corps.

7 posted on 10/23/2021 5:11:09 AM PDT by sauropod
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Press? Propagandists.


8 posted on 10/23/2021 5:11:47 AM PDT by OpusatFR (TimetoRexissoon)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

to find her next weasel-worded response....
.
.

/-)
.
.
.
.
.

Press Corps = Weasel Ward

.


9 posted on 10/23/2021 6:23:53 AM PDT by cuz1961 (USCGR Veteran )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

There’s no reason to watch the wh briefings. Complete waste of time.


10 posted on 10/23/2021 6:52:30 AM PDT by NWFree (Somebody has to say it)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NWFree

No reason to watch Big Media at all. Do your sanity a favor and turn off the TV.


11 posted on 10/23/2021 7:09:13 AM PDT by TTFlyer (Vote harder, sucker. Yeah, that's the ticket. ..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

White House Press Corps rolls over on his back and wags his tail.

Sorry but I couldn’t help but steal that line it fits so well.


12 posted on 10/23/2021 8:28:58 AM PDT by Vaduz (women and children to be impacIQ of chimpsted the most.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The Communists were up front with us when there plans for the U.S. were read into the Congresstional Record in 1963, we did nothing.


13 posted on 10/23/2021 9:12:28 AM PDT by Rappini (Compromise has its place. It's called second.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Even Peter Doucey asks Pstupid questions to Psaki. DRILL DOWN, PETER! GROW UP!


14 posted on 10/23/2021 4:54:05 PM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson