Theos-Talk Archives (February 2005 Message tt00469)

The quote was from Robert Novack and was not disputed by any of the panel members present. Most of the panel members had at least 20 years experience on the hill. All that you say is equally true. It only goes to the point that partisanship on both sides of the hill has escalated. Seeing only one side of the issue gives a distorted view.

David B.

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> 
> 
> --- 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 
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> Yahoo! Groups Links 
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