Posted on 03/19/2012 5:59:15 PM PDT by lward99
Have you heard that Malia Obama, the president’s daughter, is reportedly spending her spring break in Oaxaca, Mexico?
Allegedly, she’s jetting off with some of her classmates and 25 Secret Service agents to a country that the State Department has said all Americans should avoid. But something is different about the latest “Obama vacation controversy:” references to it are disappearing from the Internet — and fast.
(Excerpt) Read more at times247.com ...
Because she has twenty-five taxpayer paid bodyguards and, probably, taxpayer funded transportation?
No. Editors are not suicidal. Welcome to 1933.
Even FR buckled. (Of course we did it for the children!)
When the discussion should be:
Q. What kind of parent would arm a country's criminals and then send their daughter to that country to vacay?
A. The kind that wants to confiscate the lunch you packed, and give your daughter free condoms...
I’m sure it’s out there. Maybe Breit decided to pull it. Not a bad idea, really. I think wearing a peace sign in a foreign country is kind of provocative for the First Daughter, and this is the second time. You can tell it’s the second time because she’s older, taller, and looking a lot like her mother now, with that prominent lantern jaw and underbite. Not a flattering pic. Wish Daddy Long Legs would keep his daughters out of his election.
It’s news because they have put a travel alert for everyone else who planned to go to Mexico.
Free Republic's admin moderator, to his credit, gave a reason: “Leave the kids alone.”
Let's change the situation a little. About a half-decade ago, I wrote an article that neither I nor my Army Public Affairs media escorts realized while I was doing the interview could have compromised the safety of the troops. The article was printed and then posted online. Shortly afterward I received a call from PAO requesting that some key parts of the article be removed from the internet as a security risk.
I had no problem with that request and quickly did what I was asked to do. Requests are requests. As long as I don't have to comply, that's fine — and the fact is that PAO was fully aware I would never knowingly have written something to put troops at risk, and their own people standing next to me didn't realize the problem themselves.
Government steps over the line when requests become something other than requests, or if the request is made merely to avoid making a public official or public figure look bad.
I think Vice President Joe Biden or President George Bush (both Bush I and Bush II) can advise President Obama on what happens when kids are no longer kids, and when college-age or adult sons and daughters of presidents do things they shouldn't be doing.
102 posted on Monday, March 19, 2012 10:34:39 PM by lward99: “That being said - It is still a violation of the first amendment for this administration to abuse its power to ask politely or forcefully for many news organizations to pull a story that he found objectionable. We are dealing with a dictator, it’s time people recognized that. BTW - There were plenty of stories about the Bush twins about where they partied and drank....none of them were as flattering as this story about MAO.”
143 posted on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 9:49:32 AM by null and void: “No. Editors are not suicidal. Welcome to 1933. Even FR buckled. (Of course we did it for the children!)”
I'm going to defend the anonymous Free Republic Admin Moderator cited on The Blaze, here:
Maybe I **AM** suicidal, but last night I basically did to a local official what montag813 suggested, and did the same thing this morning to another one. I was politer in both cases and didn't hang up, but did use the F-word to make my point very clear. Let's just say I'm not known for gutter language, and when I do things like use the F-word, it's to make crystal clear I'm not backing down when the law is on my side.
Details on my situation are irrelevant here other than that the law is crystal clear on the points involved, the officials have a short period of time time to fix the issue quietly, and if they don't, it's not my fault that they chose to violate the law shortly before municipal and school district elections which are coming up in the first week of April. One official already did the right thing. The other, after talking to lawyers, will probably call a special meeting to fix the problem.
Picking your First Amendment battles is important. Publicizing the vacation plans of teen and pre-teen children is perfectly legal, but it is incredibly unwise. Free Republic needs to be fighting battles that count, not battles that will antagonize people for no good reason.
Whatever we think of Barack Obama, a large number of fathers and mothers will have great sympathy for not wanting to put his kids at risk of attack, and instead of blaming him for sending them to Mexico will blame the media (and Free Republic) for printing details of where they're staying. That's the wrong fight.
A local official is qualitatively different from the full power of The White House.
What was your risk? The zoning commission wouldn’t approve your plans to put in a hot tub?
That being said, you did well, both telling them to FOAD and giving them time to fix the underlying problem.
Oh yes, I sure would! Especially on #2.
Mods gone wild! :P The story went viral, ridiculous to censor and pull them on FR. That is not what FR stand for. Have you ever tried to put the cat back in the bag ????????????? Once the story was out, there was no getting rid of it.
He probably is, so was I. Since when did FR decide to join the obammy owned MSM and do what dear leader says.
I really do understand your point about the power of the White House compared to local officials, although local officials can cause a lot more problems for local media than the president can realistically cause to Free Republic, or for that matter, any other national-level media outlet.
For example, there is close to zero chance that a serious and sustained assault by President Obama on Free Republic would do anything to harm Free Republic's donor base, and actually would probably help Free Republic a great deal. Plus, Free Republic would get lots of support from top-level lawyers and politicians defending it. Look what happened with Rush Limbaugh; he seems to have won the boycott battle with no significant consequences. In two different newspapers I've had to face threats of advertiser boycotts. Each case was won by me or my bosses with no serious damage, but if I did something like going after the 13-year-old daughter of the mayor, I would expect financial consequences.
This is the wrong battle to fight. I'll totally defend stories on DWIs or drunkenness by presidential teenage kids, but this Mexican vacation isn't in that category — let's question the president's wisdom in sending his daughter to a dangerous country, but do it when she's home and no longer at risk without publicizing the details of her location. Going after the 13-year-old daughter of the president will gain Barack Obama sympathy, not the other way around.
As long as we're talking hot tubs, I have a sewer board meeting in half an hour. Things got so bad there a few years ago (allegations of insider financial deals, plus multiple spills of tens of thousands of gallons of raw sewage onto people's front yards and other private property, more than a hundred angry people showing up at meetings to scream at the board) that the state had to come in and do a special audit. Eventually all but one board member was replaced by the county commission. Things are better now, but as the old saying goes, “All politics is local.”
The message to remember is that in most cases, local elected and appointed officials can do tremendously more damage to ordinary people's lives than the federal government. If we want to get good elected officials at the national level, it's not a bad idea to seek state legislative candidates with experience in local government and congressional and senatorial candidates with experience in state government. You can find out a lot about elected officials from seeing how they conduct themselves on the local level.
Whoopsie: Down The Rabbit Hole Alice – Media Scrubs News Of Malia Obama Mexican Vacation. Why? Perhaps Because “Non-Essential Personnel Travel by government personnel and their families are prohibited” ???
Update @10:40am Politico is reporting the News Sites were scrubbed at the request of the White House: Kristina Schake, Communications Director to the First Lady, emails to confirm this was a White House effort:
It's not being scrubbed for protection. It's being scrubbed because it's the worst yet example of the Obama family acting like royalty on the national treasury.
It was outrageous when Michelle Obama went to Spain with the entourage that she had.
This is worse because it's at the command of the 13-year-old princess daughter.
The Obamas don't want the public to be reminded of their largesse during the run-up to the election.
-PJ
>> The problem is that people think free speech is a mandate, but there are times when we all have the right to choose not to speak.
Agreed.
Then why don’t they shut up and quit posting articles about the Obama girl in Mexico if they don’t want us posting comments? - or else just immediately delete ANY article about the Obama girl in Mexico. - That’s easy enough.
The news was already made prior to the post for discussion.
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.