Theos-Talk Archives (February 2005 Message tt00422)

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, david-blankenship@c... wrote:
> The presence of a ringer at a White House press conference is 
nothing new according to Robert Novak on Capitol Gang on CNN. He 
remembered John F. Kennedy doing the same at his press conferences 
and every president since then have following. Times change and 
things in the past that were overlooked are no longer off limits. 
Most of the older viewers remember when the politics of personal 
destruction was unsavory and no one mentioned JFK philandering or 
senators alcoholic addictions. One should not look on this as 
something new.
> 
> David B.

Hi David,

The source you name is about the least reliable commentator on 
journalistic ethics in the entire media world, and may well end up 
in prison eventually. But granting his claim some grain of truth, 
there's nothing new in presidents having sympathetic reporters they 
can count on for soft questions. Nancy Dickerson was in that role 
with Kennedy if I recall.

What IS new, absolutely new, is 1) having a literal not figurative 
prostitute working 2) under a pseudonym, 3) with no journalistic 
credentials or training, allowed into the White House Press Room on 
a daily basis, regularly chosen by the Press Secretary to ask 
questions. 4) Someone whose "publication" is a politically-funded 
website created just *days* before he was allowed press passes in 
the White House. 5) Someone who had been rejected repeatedly when 
he applied for a press pass in Congress-- the normal route to the 
White House pass-- and 6) someone who didn't even ask *sympathetic* 
questions, just attacked the opposition party in the form of 
*rhetorical* questions. That's six unprecedented elements in this 
scandal. If Novak can come up with anyone who ever met even one of 
those criteria, I'd break a longstanding vow and watch his program 
to learn about it.

Paul