Posted on 07/28/2009 4:55:29 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
JERUSALEM – Although the reporter involved denies she coordinated with the White House, speculation abounds over the genesis of the press conference inquiry last week by Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times, whose question about Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. prompted a national race scandal involving President Obama.
Several blogs have picked up on unanswered questions surrounding the event and have speculated that the White House may have coordinated the question.
"Sweet was prepped, planted and performed on cue," was the title of a piece on The Real Barack Obama blog.
"Lynn Sweet has earned her bones as a reliable member of 'Chicago on the Potomac,'" concluded the blog. "Congratulations, Lynn, you've finally arrived! You're playing with the big dogs now."
Radio host John Batchelor wrote about the event on his blog:
"Questions abound," writes Batchelor. "This was [Sweet's] first ever question at any of the now five POTUS pressers at White House."
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
So did this distraction work as planned or did it back fire?
I wouldn’t be surprised if the question was planted. But it backfired—big time.
U-turn Torpedo.
Of course they did, that was too obvious.
And yes it backfired, on both Zero and Gates. Gates was already in trouble with an investigation and the spot light has been shining on it since and he's having to cough up the bucks now. It shone a spot light on Zero's bigotry also and more people are noticing, but it didn't deflect attention from what Congress is trying to do.
If Obama planted the question, why was he so unprepared to answer it?
The reporter in question btw, says that she was notified that she might be called on. She said that if she was called on while the topic was still on health care she would have asked about that topic. But since all of the obvious health care questions were already asked, she moved on to something else.
Vindicated!! Gibbs Admits POTUS Prepped for Gates Question (Updated)
Alas, if only RBO had more time to watch the talking heads and spinsters on Sunday morning tv, we would have found out sooner that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs admitted yesterday morning, on Fox News Sunday, that POTUS “had been prepared to answer questions about the Henry Louis Gates arrest” at the July 22 Presidential Press Conference.
Jack Dunphy wrote at NRO:
Bret Baier, filling in for regular host Chris Wallace, asked Gibbs, “Before Wednesday’s news conference, did you prepare [the president] for a question about Henry Gates’s arrest in Cambridge?”
“Well, look,” said Gibbs, “Let’s just say it’s safe to say we went over a whole lot of topics that we thought might come up, and certainly this was a topic that was, has been in the news . . .” He then went on to try to un-ring the bell by repeating the line that the president “hadn’t calibrated his words well,” and blah, blah, blah, beer at the White House, blah, blah, blah.
So now we know that President Obama didn’t properly “calculate” his words about the Cambridge police “acting stupidly” even after being prepared for such a question in advance. Thus is revealed the president’s tone deafness in failing to anticipate the backlash such an answer might provoke.
And now we are told, in a further attempt at damage control, that the Gates arrest can serve to educate all those mouth-breathing cops out there who may yet stumble into an unpleasant encounter with some other Ivy Leaguer. It’s our hope, said Gibbs, invoking that insufferable locution that one hopes will soon fade from common usage, that the Gates arrest can be “part of a teachable moment.”
Update 7/26 12:00 noon: Something We Missed: The Chicago Tribune’s Steve Chapman wrote July 26:
We can all agree with Obama on one thing — he wasn’t there and didn’t know all the facts. The White House press office tells me the president didn’t talk to Gates or read the police report before commenting.
This is an important addition to the known facts. Just because POTUS didn’t talk to Gates prior to the prime time presser — and had not read the police report — does not discount the strong possibility that others from the West Wing had. To restate this, the White House press office, headed by Gibbs, is only assuring us that POTUS had not done these things — not that no one else from that office had. Secondhand knowledge in this case — surely, like all presidents before him, POTUS has people to handle these minor details and report the substance to him — is just about the equivalent of POTUS having called Gates or read the police report himself.
They plant all their questions.
So, she is denying it. She's a liar!
"Oh, yeah, I never spoke to the 'White House'. Just David Axelrod, but you didn't ask me that. I never spoke to the building."
“If Obama planted the question, why was he so unprepared to answer it?”
A plausible explanation is that he thought his answer would help restore support from black population, which is likely slipping because he’s done absolutely nothing for them (or for anyone else).
Remember, Obama is friends with Professor Gates.
In his limited, leftist oriented thinking, Obama didn’t realize the huge potential for backfire.
Backfired hugely. Told y’all that when his pressers go badly race is interjected.
“Don’t criticize me. If you do you are a racist.”
Hugh, series blowup.
In related news it was discovered that Water is Wet.
Pray for America
Obama prepped for this question, but Dick Morris said it’s obviously he didn’t test poll his answer, because he blew it.
It’s interesting that even though Obama has “mended the fences”, there is still a lot of coverage of this issue both in print and on air media.
I don’t think he was unprepared at all. I think he chose his words carefully, and I think he intended all along to use the word “stupidly.” He can’t help himself. He’s a community organizer - an agitator - and he knows which words to use. The problem is that he is ill-equipped for the Presidency and doesn’t understand the consequences of mixing the agitator and the leader of the free world together.
The White House plants virtually ALL questions. The White House press corps is no more than an extension of the White House propaganda operation.
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