Our Washington press corps is even more dysfunctional than the rest of the political establishment, but if you kiss their asses, they'll kiss back. No matter who's doing the kissing nor who's getting kissed, it's gross, and self-respecting adults wouldn't need to have their butts smooched.
At best, our White House press corps deserves a D+. I'd flunk them.
Harry Reid's canvassing for more Republican votes for the stimulus. Great, though it's not great that it's in the news. It's clearly not a deal that the Republicans have stopped fighting, and it's good the Democrats are still engaged in defending it against betrayal.
The real story is what the Republicans are doing. Just because Tom Delay is gone doesn't mean they're not twisting arms and hammering their three turncoats (believe me, that's how they see them).
The GOP got to Judd Gregg, after all. What he said two days ago about continuing to serve in the Senate makes no sense set next to what he said yesterday - his probable retirement in 2010. What he's saying now makes no sense in light of his pursuit of the job of Commerce Secretary.
What did the Republican enforcers tell him to make him end his political career?Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell welcomed Gregg's withdrawal.
"Sen. Gregg made a principled decision to return and we're glad to have him," McConnell, R-Kentucky, announced. "He is among the smartest, most effective legislators to serve in the Senate -- Democrat or Republican -- and a key adviser to me and to the Republican conference. It's great to have him back."
Ed Henry loves the bullshit story out of 2001 that Clinton staffers vandalized their keyboards. He loves it so much that even though it has been debunked as a Bushist slander, he just can't help but repeat it in a way that flatters Duhbya.
... doesn't necessarily require affection.
If Obama can smile while Maureen Dowd gossips fripperies in that awful voice of hers, if he can be anywhere in the vicinity of William Kristol and David Brooks without crinkling his nose from the stench, he can deal with the bluffs and confidentialities of politics, foreign and domestic.
Rachel Maddow, on the other hand, would be worth talking to.
Here's the media's standard:
And her solid performance on "Saturday Night Live" suggests that regardless of what happens on Election Day, Palin could be a winner.To imply that today's standard attains the mediocre, as my title does, is an insult to mediocrity.
Ed Henry blithers about the now disappointed expectation that McCain would lie low during the DNC. If he read me, he'd have a better idea that this might happen.
Seriously, why is it that professional political journalists have so little insight into the subject they cover? What are they doing all those hours I'm doing my real job, when they could be learning interesting facts? Are they just sitting in the hotel bar exchanging conventional wisdom with their colleagues?
Ed, by the way, if you'll deign to read here, you might notice in your own report that McCain is no longer the face of his own attacks. This is an important fact for your future analyses. Just a hint.
Ed Henry outsources his so-called news analysis (again with the mythical McCain VP hunt) this way:
While I was in Lima, Ohio, last week, I asked Republican voters waiting in line for a McCain town hall meeting what they thought.These Ohio Republicans oblige with a series of guesses that have already been well-washed through the pundits. No one Henry quotes has anything interesting to say, but they provide quotes to fit into his narrative.
With Ari Fleischer and Dan Bartlett starting up their campaign to shoot the messenger (Scotty McClellan), does anyone know what ever happened to John DiIulio and Paul O'Neill? Have their wounds healed?
Joe Biden obviously should be a reader of mine. Bullshit is the perfect word to describe Duhbya's tired old appeasement crap.
Still, while it's normal to be outraged, it's much better to mock him and to remind voters why they already hate his guts. I'd go with something like:
"George Duhbya Bush's tired, ugly, dishonest comments yesterday remind all Americans how much better off we will be when his Republican Presidency is over. Then we Americans can once again get past his habitual juvenile name-calling to the real business of solving problems."
Harry Reid actually sounds pretty good. Now if we can just get the rest of the caucus on the same message.
Not one of these three men is in a position to make a peace deal for Israel and Palestine.
Duhbya is about as popular as a bullshit sandwich and has less political capital. Olmert feels the hot breath of the law on his neck. Abbas is even worse off - he feels the hot breath of Hamas on his neck.
But Ed Henry of CNN is happy to lend them an air of breathless urgency.
Duhbya is looking for his legacy, but half of it got married a few days ago. Politically, there's nothing he can do.
This is hopeless window dressing.
CNN is still pimping this Ed Henry story that should embarrass them. I bitched about it the day it first ran, April 21, but the so-called editors still think it deserves more page views, when it really didn't deserve to see the light of day.
Update: May 13 and this POS is still up on the front politics page. Twenty-three days!
Update: June 1, and this turd has floated to the top again!
A reporter whose job bores him needs a new job.
I don't know about you, but when I'm bored, I start eating. That's why I'm worried about ruining my diet while covering the 2008 North American Leaders' Summit with President Bush and his counterparts from Canada and Mexico.One that's not catered.
...
So this is what it's like to cover the president. Some days it's all popes and presidents. Other days it's just beignets and, yes, bread pudding.
