Another Pre-Arranged Questioner At Obama Presser
Riehl World View — ... If you think the press is unhappy with Obama's pre-arranged question from Nico Pitney, you may be right. Dana Milbank claims it wasn't the only pre-arranged questioner at the presser and ends his piece on "The Obama Show" with this: ...

Obama's answer to the Huffington Post question
Betsy's Page — Some people are upset that President Obama had invited a question from the Huffington Post's Niko Pitney and compare this to left wing outrage at the thought that President Bush had planted questions at his press conferences. Here is Dana Milbank. But yesterday's daytime drama belonged primarily to Pitney, of the Huffington Post Web site. During the eight years of the Bush administration, liberal outlets such as the Huffington Post often accused the White House of planting questioners in news conferences to ask preplanned questions. But here was Obama fielding a preplanned ...

Obamateurism of the Day
Hot Air » Top Picks — ... borders. And what we’ve been seeing over the Internet and what we’ve been seeing in news reports violates those norms and violates those principles. I think it is not too late for the Iranian government to recognize that there is a peaceful path that will lead to stability and legitimacy and prosperity for the Iranian people. We hope they take it. Compare the question to the answer. Obama never answered either of them. Dana Milbank, not exactly a staunch defender of conservatism, blasts the White House for its dishonesty : After the obligatory first question from the ...

DANA MILBANK: Packaged Entertainment from the Obama Show: Pitney asked his arranged question. Re…
Instapundit — DANA MILBANK: Packaged Entertainment from the Obama Show: Pitney asked his arranged question. Reporters looked at one another in amazement at the stagecraft they were witnessing. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel grinned at the surprised TV correspondents in the first row. The use of planted questioners is a no-no at presidential news conferences, because it sends a message to the world — Iran included — that the American press isn’t as free as advertised. But yesterday wasn’t so much a news conference as it was a ...

Reason Morning Links
Hit & Run — ... • White House plants Huffington Post reporter at Obama press conference yesterday, arms him with scripted question, Obama calls on him. Related: ...

The Obama news conference - desperate to control coverage Obama plants questions
RedState: Conservative News and Community — ... Dana Milbank describes Obama’s plant in the clever, “Stay Tuned for More of ‘The Obama Show.’” You can read the details below. Most important is Milbank’s blowing the whistle on this latest Obama abuse: ...

Welcome to 'The Obama Show'
Hyscience — This is Barack Obama, and these are the Days of Our Lives.Dana Milbank roasts Obama at the WaPo, and does a good job of it. Is the mainstream media finally beginning to wake up to Obama's ways? ...

Quote Of The Day: Obama’s “Planted Question” And The Huffington Post
The Moderate Voice — ... Perhaps the most controversial moment at yesterday’s press conference occurred when Nico Pitney of the Huffington Post got the second question and asked the president a question he had received from an Iranian. Media reports accused that it was a planted question, and it does appear that the White House wanted Pitney to ask his question. The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank wrote, “The use of planted questioners is a no-no at presidential news conferences, because it sends a message to the world — Iran included — that the American press isn’t as free as ...

Entirely right, except for all of the relevant details
Political Animal — ENTIRELY RIGHT, EXCEPT FOR ALL OF THE RELEVANT DETAILS.... I don't mean to belabor the point, but the Washington Post 's Dana Milbank ran some criticism today of Nico Pitney's press conference question that deserves some follow-up. In his first daytime news conference yesterday, President Obama preempted "All My Children," "Days of Our Lives" and "The Young and the Restless." But the soap viewers shouldn't have been disappointed: The president had arranged some prepackaged entertainment for them. After the obligatory first question from the Associated Press, Obama treated ...

WaPo's Dana Milbank blasts "The Obama Show"
Wizbang — ... following Dick Cheney's 2006 hunting accident?) but he is merciless in his critique of yesterday's carefully scripted press conference by President Obama: In his first daytime news conference yesterday, President Obama preempted "All My Children," "Days of Our Lives" and "The Young and the Restless." But the soap viewers shouldn't have been disappointed: The president had arranged some prepackaged entertainment for them. After the obligatory first question from the Associated Press, Obama treated the overflowing White House briefing room to a surprise. "I know Nico Pitney ...

"Pitney asked his arranged question. Reporters looked at one another in amazement at the stagecraft they were witnessing."
Althouse — "White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel grinned at the surprised TV correspondents in the first row. The use of planted questioners is a no-no at presidential news conferences, because it sends a message to the world -- Iran included -- that the American press isn't as free as advertised. But yesterday wasn't so much a news conference as it was a taping of a new daytime drama, 'The Obama Show.'" ...

Tools of the trade
Lawyers, Guns and Money — ... is being a White House correspondent. You show up at press conferences, and ask questions like "Mr. President, are you still smoking?" and "Is the government doing enough about steroid use in baseball?" You write down the answers, which are then printed in a newspaper. All this makes you are a high-status journalist, which means you get paid six figures to do a job a chimp could be trained to perform. So naturally when somebody does some actual reporting it frightens and confuses you. And because years of being at the top of your ...

Howls of Outrage
Neptunus Lex — ... Reporters. Jeff Gannon became the target of all kinds of personal calumny (and a fair bit of humor)  from Actual Reporters (and the HuffPo crewe) for asking softball questions at Bush press conferences in 2005. So it is with some relish that I await the howls of outrage from Actual Reporters (and the HuffPo crewe) to the Potemkin Village that the White House Press Room has become. Courtesy, you know: Of HuffPo. The WaPo’s Dana Milbank gingerly tests the waters: After the obligatory first question from ...

Gypsies, Tramps, and Mark Sanford
Notes From a Grumpy Old Man — Dana Milbank Op-ed on Mark Sanford "I never understood where the satisfaction is when you're missing the pleasure of conquest." - Silvio Berlusconi ...

Wednesday's Links and Things
RIGHTWINGSPARKLE — ... Words like that have real consequences. We - we as in America and/or South Korea - may now resume the war and be perfectly legal and moral to do so, and that means we can board their ships with or without UN Resolutions. We are in a state of war with North Korea now, I say go ahead and board their ships and shoot down their ballistic missiles. The Minneapolis government is spending over 200k to promote... tap water. h/t Neals Nuze The Washington Post actually has an article about the fawning coverage of Obama by ...

Jillian Bandes: Planted Questions, Chummy Press...You've Got An Obama Show
Townhall.com Blog's TownHall Blog — Dana Milbank points out that Obama took a question from HuffPo blogger Nico Pitney yesterday during the press briefing on Iran. But the way Obama took the question indicates a level of cronyism nastily reminiscent of the corrupt Iranian regime. "I know Nico Pitney is here from the Huffington Post," Obama started. "I know that there may actually be questions from people in Iran who are communicating through the Internet. Do you have a question?" "That's right," said Pitney, taking the cue. "I wanted to use this opportunity to ask you a question directly from an Iranian." ...

HuffPo's Question at Obama News Conference Sparks a Media Flap
The Caucus — ... to CNN this afternoon, he has asserted that the administration had no clue what question he would ask. His ultimate employer, Arianna Huffington, posted a bit of a defensive defense about coverage of Mr. Pitney’s cameo at the news conference. Her headline kind of captures a bit of the angst and the back-and-forth: “Media Playground: Obama Calls on HuffPost, Michael Calderone Pouts, Ben Smith Calls Us Names, Dana Milbank Gets His Facts All Wrong.” Mr. Milbank offered a sendup in his sketch at The Washington Post: “The use of planted questioners is a no-no at presidential ...

Scripted President Co-opts Media
PoliGazette — ... The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank has penned what appears at first blush to be the beginning of the end for President Obama’s remarkable honeymoon with the press. But Milbank takes offense not at the President’s politics or policies, of course, but his apparent manipulation of a press conference to plant a question from a leftist web site, the Huffington Post. ...

links for 2009-06-24
FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog — ... (tags: Economy warren_buffet) Obama MSM Angst: Welcome to The Obama Show In his first daytime news conference yesterday, President Obama preempted "All My Children," "Days of Our Lives" and "The Young and ...

Links for 2009-06-24 [del.icio.us]
FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog — ... Thirty-nine percent (39%) of likely voters now expect their personal taxes to rise under the Obama administration, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. That's up three points over the past two weeks,up eight points since the inauguration, and the highest level of concern measured to date. Still, 40% don’t expect their taxes to change under the new administration. Only 10% now say they expect their personal taxes to decrease under Obama. Obama MSM Angst: Welcome to The Obama Show In his first daytime news conference ...

Larwyn's Linx: Help Stop the H.R. 2454 Madness!
Doug Ross @ Journal — ... a matter of time : Globe & Mail After Global Warming : AT (Anderson) The rush towards energy dependence : CSM Waxman-Markey bill would kill clean energy growth : WSJ Climate bill gives billions to foreign foliage : Times Holding Obama accountable on the Stimulus : Foundry World Massacre in Tehran : Provocateur Obama stays the course with wiener diplomacy : Honest Cairo speech inspired protesters? : TigerHawk Media Stay tuned for more of the Obama show : Milbank Did Sheryl Crow Post a ...

No More Mister Nice Blog — OVERTURNING ELECTION RESULTS WHILE BRUTALLY SUPPRESSING DISSENT ... TAKING A QUESTION FROM THE HUFFINGTON POST ... YEAH, THEY'RE MORE OR LESS THE SAME THING At least they are according to Carl Cannon of AOL's Politics Daily, who goes Dana Milbank one better: In Iran, the freedoms that have been stamped out by unelected, violence-prone clerics run the whole gamut: No freedom of worship, no freedom of speech, no freedom of assembly, no right to a fair trial, no freedom to field candidates of your choice, no right to have your votes actually ...

HuffPo writer confronts WaPo critic: 'That's pathetic'
News — ... Post reporter Nico Pitney blasted the Washington Post's Dana Milbank today for suggesting Pitney's question to President Obama at last week's press conference was planted. Milbank responded that Pitney was "in collusion" with the Obama White House. First, some background. When President Obama called on Pitney last week, establishment journalists wondered whether the question was staged. Obama seemed to know that Pitney was going to ask a question directly from an Iranian. In a column published just after press conference , Milbank suggested the questioned was planted, and ...

The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank calls Nico Pitney a ‘dick’ after heated debate on CNN.
Think Progress — ... at a press conference. One of the harshest pieces came from the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, who called Pitney a “planted questioner.” Today the two faced off on Howie Kurtz’s “Reliable Sources” segment on CNN. Pitney called some of ...

Milbank, Pitney spar over HuffPo-Obama exchange
Michael Calderone's Blog — ... reporting as “pathetic” for once asking Obama how he looked in a bathing suit, while the Post’s “Washington Sketch” columnist continued to take issue with recent coordination between HuffPo and the White House. Because the White House reached out to Pitney the night before about possibly asking a question submitted by an Iranian over the disputed election protests—a topic the HuffPo reporter has been doggedly covering—Milbank dismissed the exchange as “arranged,” “planted,” and an example of ...

Paint That Pig: The Nico Pitney-Dana Milbank Smackdown
Swampland — ... are simply becoming a greater force in our media landscape, addressing the concerns of select audiences, and usurping the power of the previous giants of general interest media, which historically has tried to cater to the broad swath of the American public. Alas, these complex and interesting questions were soon--sadly--lost to just another political spitting match. The Washington Post's Milbank, who has excelled for years at chronicling the narrative absurdity of federal politics, wrote a column calling the question "arranged" and "planted," while noted the surprise among ...

The Washington Post?s Dana Milbank calls Nico Pitney a ?dick? after heated debate on CNN.
The Hollywood Liberal — ... at a press conference. One of the harshest pieces came from the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, who called Pitney a “ planted questioner .” Today the two faced off on Howie Kurtz’s “Reliable Sources” segment on CNN. Pitney called some of ...

Just Make It Look Good
Weekly Standard Blog — ... I realize the dust has pretty much settled on the whole Pitney-Obama-Milbank brouhaha over whether the White House planted a question from a friendly HuffPo blogger, but I'm sort of amazed that in all the back and forth over this, no one to my knowledge has pointed out that this whole mess was precipitated by Obama's miscue. From ...

The Princess and The Pea
Daily Kos — ... The firestorm that erupted over the weekend flooded opinion pages and airwaves. Dana Milbank penned a snarky screed in the Washington Post, lashing out at the "stagecraft" of the "prearranged question” (nevermind that no question was every arranged). Riding a tsunami of hyperbole so large that it could only be the byproduct of an ego shaken to its core, Milbank cried foul at the “planted reporter.” ...