SOURCE: Reporters were told in advance if president was going to call on them.

Drudge ^ | 3/24/09 | Drudge

[pissant]

SOURCE: Reporters were told in advance if president was going to call on them. Senior Administration Officials notified reporters from Stars & Stripes, Univision and other news outlets that they should have question ready. Several reporters moved up in assigned seats as result...

[Grunthor]

“SOURCE: Reporters were told in advance if president was going to call on them.”

I thought that is how it was always done?

[shoutingandpointing]

Directly from the text of the "speech":

"All right. With that, let me take some questions. And I've got a list here."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090325/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_text_6

That is not taking questions; that is theater.

[nina0113]

This was obvious. When he called on a reporter from the Mexican press, he asked if she was there - he was reading off a prepared list. The same happened when he called the Ebony guy. He picked NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, Politico (internet), plus an assortment of others. It was so prepared it sure sounded like he knew the questions in advance. Either way he had his prepared responses in advance. This act is wearing thin very quickly.

And yet there are people who think we ought to give a crap that the MSM are going out of business. I say they've already GONE.

[Recovering Hermit]

LOL! Haven't been there for awhile!

Attain the unattainable!

[tillacum]

His grammar is sometimes off tense.

[N. Theknow]

I'm just shocked that the dumbest man ever to pretend to be POTUS is this scripted.

And he is not even that well scripted.

He spouts nothing but platitudes and cliches.

Where's the beef?

There is nothing in his words.

This presser was an exercise in the delivery of hot air.

He didn't say a damn thing!

[earlJam]

Apparently, these were the only ones who submitted their questions in advance so the President’s handlers could prepare his answers.

[lilycicero]

They did have a guy ask about why his delayed reaction to the AIG bonus ‘scandal’. Icy stare and a stupid answer....

LOL...wasn't Zero's answer something like, 'I like to know what I am talking about before I responded'.... He did give a 'I'm gonna get you sucka' look to the Politico reporter...

[SueRae]

Of course they were, he even said he had a list of questions. Any surprise he always picks hack Jennifer Loven? Notice the Wall Street Journal was not called on? This guy can only ‘do’ scripted answers. And his acting coach, Emanuel, was signaling him from the sidelines.

[MinuteGal]

"I'm going to name my new little dog, "TOTUS", my pretties.

Leni

[tiredoflaundry]

He had the questions in advance and still had no clue what he was doing.

*O* failed an "open book" test"!

[maica]

Were the scripted reporters using a teleprompter too?

****

One of the things that REALLY irritated me about President Bush press conferences was that many of the same reporters who criticized his articulation mercilessly, READ their one question to him. And no one ever commented on this disparity.

[dead]

It's not so much that the questions are exactly scripted. The Administration is just making it known that if you ask simple, easily answerable, and friendly questions, you will be selected again, and your dreams of becoming a network news anchor will live another day.

If you ask a hostile or difficult question, your days of talking to the president on camera are over.

[maica]

The idiot from ABC acted surprised —

))))))

That is Ann Compton who is responsible for the “news” that gets aired on every radio station across the country that uses ABC radio news for their hourly or half-hourly reports.

Thus, she is a very powerful megaphone for the Obama perpetual campaign, just as she was very powerful in slamming GWB every hour for eight years — on many talk radio stations, ie stations that carry Rush, Sean, etc.

[popdonnelly]

Rigged.

[Mad Dawgg]

"Some think this has already occurred."

You can bet that background research was done on each reporter, checking to see what stories they had been working on, a history of questions they ask at pressers and such.

It would not be hard to then have a list of responses programmed into the big TV. The operator can then identify the question as it is asked and then Barry can stretch till the proper response is pulled from the prepared file and put on the screen.

It would not be that hard, to do as long as the background research was well done. If by chance a reporter asked a question they were not prepared for then they can go to a non sequitur response that was designed to seem responsive but actually has nothing to do with the specific question. I believe if you review the interview there are several moments where such non sequitur answers were given.

[birg]

I’d say thanks to the “evolution” effect, folks get all excited about a “clean” person of color ... as his VP sayeth

[envisio]

I agree in that I don’t believe he was reading his answers word for word. His tone and manner of speaking was completely different from his initial speech.

However, I do believe that he knew the context of the questions in advance and knew what he was going to say.

[pillut48]

SOURCE: Reporters were told in advance if president was going to call on them. Senior Administration Officials notified reporters from Stars & Stripes, Univision and other news outlets that they should have question ready. Several reporters moved up in assigned seats as result... This is all Drudge has up at the moment.