Posted on 05/05/2021 6:40:09 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
Professional journalists have, at least in theory, devoted their lives to the noble art of speaking truth to power, of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, of saving democracy from certain death in darkness. In practice, however, this devotion tends to waver depending on which political party controls the White House.
When Democrats are in charge, for example, our noble journalists can't help but be consumed by "The Awkward Feeling of Rooting for the White House Press Secretary." So reads the headline of a Jen Psaki profile published in Washingtonian magazine. Members of the White House press corps, writes Jessica M. Goldstein, are "quite taken with how polite she is," while casual viewers are "wooed by what one could describe as little more than competence porn."
Perhaps the journos themselves are equally wooed by Psaki's "competence." Erik Wemple, media critic for the Washington Post, posted a link to the profile on Twitter, the popular social networking website. "Reporters blindsided by the return of competence and civility to White House briefing room," he remarked, pithily. Donald Trump is to blame, obviously.
The profile features a number of quotes—some on-the-record, some anonymous—from White House reporters at mainstream media outlets. Jonathan Karl of ABC News described Psaki as "one of the most well-qualified press secretaries we've ever had." She is a "competent, professional, pleasant, lovely press person" who knows how to "make people feel good," said another reporter, anonymously.
Psaki is praised for her ability to "brush off questions," "deflect queries," and withhold information from journalists. "She's never going to be super-helpful, and that's frustrating, but that's kind of her job," said the anonymous reporter. The profile notes that "indignation … seems to have abated" after Psaki was called out over her homophobic tweets about Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.). Imagine that! The T.J. Ducklo fiasco is briefly mentioned, but the reader is given no insight into Psaki's role in the controversy.
The piece also notes Psaki has managed to avoid being assailed as an example of "white privilege" after getting the White House press secretary gig, even though she did not work on Joe Biden's campaign. (She worked for a controversial consulting firm with ties to China instead.) Biden chose Psaki over Symone Sanders, a qualified black woman who served as a senior adviser on his campaign and whose lifelong dream is becoming White House press secretary.
Not all of the quoted remarks from journalists were positive. Some of them were unafraid to speak truth to power (anonymously) about Democrats who no longer serve in government. The profile includes a rather biting assessment of the so-called Obama Bros—Jon Favreau, Dan Pfeiffer, and Tommy Vietor, among others—who ran communications for the 44th president.
"A lot of those people in the Obama administration were assholes," said a White House reporter. "There's a myth that the press liked the Obama administration. Those Obama guys—just listen to Pod Save America. Imagine that smugness and smirking, on steroids, with people who are empowered to manage stories and are called upon to yell at you when they don't like a story. They were f—ing awful."
Peter Baker of the New York Times concurred that there were "people in the Obama White House who were aggressive and obnoxious and thought it was okay for them to berate and bully reporters" but insisted that Psaki—a former Obama spokeswoman and the person Baker relies on to do his job—is a lovable exception.
is there a vaccine for idiocy? i might circle back and check later...
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Circle%20back
There are college football fans who root for Vanderbilt, too. Vandy has a better chance of winning the SEC than Psaki has of being competent at her job.
In this upside down world, they speak lies to the weak and call it the opposite.
>>devoted their lives to the noble art of speaking truth to power
Which is why they suppressed the stories about Jeffrey Epstein at ABCNews, Hunter Biden’s laptop, Hillary’s emails, the DNC’s emails, and etc
The sane people who now aplaud blackmail attempts by the FBI (James Comey to Donald Trump) and disinformation campaigns by the CIA in the US press (CIA to the Washington Post about Donald Trump).
They are frauds and hacks and partisan wonks.
It's all you need to know.
These “journos” are all Democrat Party shills.
She always looks like she just had a gob of peanut butter when she talks
Also supressed news of abortionists harvesting organs for profit and even choosing to kill and dismember a baby in different ways to obtain said “parts”.
“Non-viable” but valueable to some for “research”. Human experiments no matter how you want to slice it.
OMG! PUHLEASE! DEMS are morons! Psucky intones with an up inflection at the end of every sentence at all of these commie dictate sessions as though she’s going to meander about her experience with a flute at band camp!
I just wonder how she dyes her roots black.
Ms. Psaki is FAKE!
FAKE hair!
FAKE words!
FAKE “accomplishments!”
FAKE! FAKE! FAKE!
Great meme!
Butt ugly people with butt ugly ideas!
I saw a really bizarre documentary about Stanley Kubrick the other day. 45 minutes. I am a big fan of his movies and know he was one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. But the documentary was not what I expected. A great deal of the documentary was speculating not so much on his "faking the lunar landing" conspiracy, but that several of his films have allusions and icons built into the sets and stories that may be considered references to sex cults and pedophilia. It was presented as an interpretation, not fact... but he was quoted as saying something to the effect of "never get too close to powerful people".
Went on to suggest that his death, 6 days after completing Eyes Wide Shut after showing it to heads of movie studios, may have not been by natural causes. That was a stretch but as presented, made it sound plausible (same unexpected type of death that took out Scalia, but of course at the same time deadly heart attacks do often just come out of nowhere). The version released by the studio had a few edits.
Also fwiw, Dr. Strangelove had a few scenes deleted and lines dubbed over because the film was scheduled to have its premier on the evening of November 22, 1963. We all know what happened that day. They had to pull the film and make some edits, but mostly because they thought in light of JFK's death some of the jokes and scenes would have just seemed too insensitive and cavalier. Would have been funny stuff otherwise. But back in Eyes Wide Shut, presumably he put some of the concepts back in e.g. the circumstances and death of the woman in the film can be parallelized to the death of Marilyn Monroe, who of course was connected to "powerful people".
Jen is in need of resume grade paper.
Fluffers, all of them.
Psaki is the blow-up doll of White House press secretaries.
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