On ABC, reporter Yunji de Nies marveled at her discovery that members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are not as impressed by President Obama as are those in the American press corps: “Even the prospect of meeting President Obama on Friday leaves some of them unfazed.” She then showed a clip of herself asking an unidentified man: “So, you're not impressed by the President?” The man, who per a scan of the IOC site's pictures most-resembles Japan's Chiharu Igaya, confirmed: “Never, never.”
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De Nies rationalized: “This is a crowd accustomed to being smooched by European royalty, and dream team royalty alike.” (The “dream team loyalty” citation is unclear as to whether she was echoing Couric or referring to past Olympic stars shown on screen at that moment.)
Of course, if it was Igaya, he represents Japan which has a competing bid in for Tokyo (Madrid and Rio de Janeiro round out the four cities in contention).
(NBC Nightly News abstained from touting a “dream team” and focused on Michelle Obama's “charm offensive.”)
From Monday night: “Nets Tout Olympics 'Super-Fan' Obama's 'Swifter, Higher, Stronger' Effort to Land 2016 Games.”
Couric set up the CBS Evening News story:
The “Dream Team” pushing Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympic summer games is nearly complete. First Lady Michelle Obama landed today in Denmark where Olympic officials are meeting. Tonight she got to meet one of her childhood heroes, gold medal gymnast Nadia Comaneci, one of the former Olympians helping to sell the windy city. The team captain, meanwhile, President Obama, arrives Friday ahead of the final vote.From the Wednesday, September 30 World News on ABC:
YUNJI de NIES: ...This contest is going down to the wire. Many of the IOC members are power players themselves. Even the prospect of meeting President Obama on Friday leaves some of them unfazed. So, you're not impressed by the President?De NIES TO UNIDENTIFIED MAN, (LIKELY CHIHARU IGAYA OF JAPAN): So you're not impressed by the President?
IGAYA: Never, never.
De NIES: This is a crowd accustomed to being smooched by European royalty, and dream team royalty alike. In the shadow of all this glitz, there's another lobbying effort -- albeit with a much lower profile.
TOM TRESSER: It feels quite intimidating.
De NIES: Tom Tresser runs “No Games Chicago.”
TOM TRESSER: We think the bills are going to go through the roof and the taxpayers will be soaked.
De NIES: But for Michelle Obama's “Team Chicago,” right now, it's not about money, it's about votes. They have less than 48 hours to bring home the gold. Yunji de Nies, ABC News, Copenhagen.
—Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center
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Comments Policy
This story straight from
September 30, 2009 - 20:29 ET by G. MayThis story straight from the "Leftist Bias Self-Evident" file.
And Michelle Obama's "charm offensive"??? That's a bit like Roseanne Barr publishing a book on etiquette.
Me thinks the Olympic fix is in
September 30, 2009 - 20:29 ET by jefflebowskiObama is taking a huge risk going over there to try and strong arm....err...sell Chicago for the Olympics. If he loses, it will show he holds no magic. I think the fix is in and he had word he could sway/buy a few votes to get the win for Chicago. If not, he is truly naive and if the bid goes to Rio he will look weaker than ever. Obama is a celebrity...not a President. If he loses the bid, he could be a B level celebrity.
Angry White Dude
www.angrywhitedude.c...
Couric is the Liberal Queen
September 30, 2009 - 20:40 ET by averageschmoe"The Dream Team" coming from the mouth of "The Liberal Queen".
Should read:
October 1, 2009 - 06:52 ET by Apodictic"Cream Team Names Dream Team."
Strong Arm? Why send Barry
September 30, 2009 - 21:54 ET by Dan DiegoStrong Arm? Why send Barry if Michelle was already scheduled?
Wow, and this helps prevent
September 30, 2009 - 20:46 ET by Radical1979Wow, and this helps prevent Iran from launching a nuke how?
By the way, Beck said the fuel wasted on this trip was something like $1,000,000 worth for Obama alone. How much was wasted because Michele went separately he didn't say. Whatever happened to being "Mommy in Cheif"? Guess grandma is pretty busy.
Your right, Obama is the
September 30, 2009 - 21:49 ET by 24enakYour right, Obama is the only person that has his eye on Iran, no one else in the administration or military is working or watching Iran right now.
Do you suggest they fly coach to Europe? If anyone could refresh my memory when Laura and George Bush went to Beijing for four days last summer was their any opposition? I don't think so. Again another ridiculous opposition from the right.
Liberal FAIL
September 30, 2009 - 21:52 ET by Free StinkerAttending the Olympics is far different from promoting your "hometown" for a future Olympics.
Yet another ridiculous attempt at moral equivilence from the left.
→ 24enak
September 30, 2009 - 21:54 ET by Cool ArrowSo it's your claim that George and Laura Bush took two entourages, in two different planes, for the same trip? That's what Barack (Air Force I) and Michelle (Air Force II) did here.
Please provide a link to that trip taken by President and Mrs. Bush, and we'll take it from there.
I don't know if you know
September 30, 2009 - 22:20 ET by 24enakI don't know if you know this but whenever the president travels in Air Force One they take two planes, helicopters, limos in case one breaks down or is attacked there is a back up for the escape.
Hear is my link, sort of, because you will have to watch the show which documents George Bush's trip it Iraq. http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/on-board-air-force-one-3652/Overview
→ Your link
September 30, 2009 - 22:30 ET by Cool ArrowYour link, sort of, is a picture of a plane.
OK, so GWB went to Iraq to promote the Olympics for Crawford, Texas. I'm glad he failed.
I'm glad Obama is going to fail in this trip to bring the Olympics to his murder capital cesspool of Chicago.
All we need is for a bunch of Chicago goons to create another Munich. Don't put it past them. Munich garnered a whole bunch of sympathy over that massacre.
No, you will have to watch
September 30, 2009 - 22:46 ET by 24enakNo, you will have to watch the show on Sunday and it said that whenever a President travels in Air Force One there is a backup plane, along with other backup vehicles. So using common sense George Bush took two planes to Beijing as it is protocol for a president traveling in Air Force One.
→ 24enak
September 30, 2009 - 23:10 ET by Cool ArrowIf what you say is true, then we're talking about AFI with a backup, and AFII (with or without a backup).
That's at least three large planes, isn't it? Michelle is staying longer than the President, so AFII doesn't qualify as the backup because Michelle is already there, and Mr. President isn't showing up until Friday.
I'm not as much against Presidential travel as you might assume. I don't care that he travels. What I do care about is that he's trying to land the Olympics for his cronies in Chicago, a city which has shown nothing but corruption and crime for years.
Cool, O and his Klingon wife
September 30, 2009 - 23:34 ET by NL207Cool, O and his Klingon wife wouldn't be in Copenhagen unless the Olympics are already in the bag. Chicago 2016!
Great name..
October 1, 2009 - 07:43 ET by ScottyKUtahCool, O and his Klingon wife
Great name to call this couple, thanks for the early morning laugh!
Yea but...
October 1, 2009 - 04:29 ET by BronxBomber... if President Jesus and his wife really believed the planet is in imminent peril from global warming why didnt they fly to Copenhagen in the same jumbo jet...hypocrites...
We gotta find a new planet...
Are you out to embarrass yourself?
October 1, 2009 - 11:36 ET by UnsaneThe more you type here, the more I become convinced that you are here strictly to embarrass yourself.
No, I did not object to Bush going to the Opening Ceremony in Beijing, just as I will not if His Majesty The Shahinshah goes to London for the same purpose in 2012. Nor did I object when Mr. Greatthings opened the Atlanta Games in 1996, just as Reagan opened the 1984 Games. I can't remember it, but I am positive Carter did the same at Lake Placid in 1980.
Now, let's get something straight here: attending the Olympics is completely different that lobbying to get them. Again, another nonsensical counterargument from a Statist/Socialist who thinks the government's number one job is to baby, baby, and baby people some more.
I can't remember reading about Eisenhower lobbying the IOC for the Squaw Valley Winter Games of 1960.
I likewise do not recall reading about how Nixon lobbied the IOC for the Denver Games of 1976 (later moved to Innsbruck due to CO opposition) or the Lake Placid Winter Games of 1980.
Carter made no such move on behalf of Los Angeles. But then, in 1978, the Olympics were seen as a BIG liability - especially after what Montreal went through in 1976 (they only paid off the Games 3 years ago) - and thus, Los Angeles got the 1984 Olympics because no one else wanted them.
Bush the Elder did not lobby the IOC to get the Atlanta Olympics. Mr. Greatthings did not lobby the IOC to get the Salt Lake City Winter Games.
You get the point yet?
And since you worship Him like Christ, I would bear in mind that He has put the IOC in a very bad spot. If Chicago gets the Games, the IOC is in for much bitching from three other countries. But, if Chicago does not get the Games, your God will have much political egg on His face. And for what? Politically speaking, it would be better for Him to stay home and congratulate Mayor Daley if Chicago gets the Games - an event roughly half the population there doesn't want in any event.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
The Dream
September 30, 2009 - 20:49 ET by Roger the ShrubberThe Dream Team:
Chewbacca, Jabba the Hut, and Luke Teleprompter...
Dream Team
September 30, 2009 - 21:38 ET by blazermaniacThere was once a "Dream Team". They played basketball in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. The team that is going to Copenhagen, isn't a dream team. They are just a bunch of pathetic left-wing liberal hacks.
Technically a nightmare is
September 30, 2009 - 21:44 ET by Free StinkerTechnically a nightmare is also a "dream", albeit a bad one.
"President Obama is learning on the job and it shows." --Boris Epshteyn
Breathe...deep
September 30, 2009 - 21:04 ET by RR GOPBreathe...deep breaths...going to the quiet place...the eternal oooooohmmmm...deep breaths....
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 86% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.
Were they expecting these
September 30, 2009 - 21:08 ET by fitzfongWere they expecting these people to simply clear a path and bow down before All Hail King Alinsky? People throughout the world are already bored of this guy...when hype fails to deliver, it gets mocked.
"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered." -George Best
LOL. I remember the words
September 30, 2009 - 21:18 ET by samhermanmdLOL. I remember the words of Merlin from the early 80s version of "Excalibur".
"...a dream to some (party insiders and other hacks)...and a nightmare to others (taxpayers, the general public)..."
She then showed a clip of
September 30, 2009 - 21:37 ET by krendlerShe then showed a clip of herself asking an unidentified man: “So,
you're not impressed by the President?” The man, who per a scan of the IOC site's pictures most-resembles Japan's Chiharu Igaya, confirmed: “Never, never.”
How could he possibly be unimpressed by Obama?
Clearly a racist.
Which one is playing
September 30, 2009 - 22:28 ET by Jack HermanPeter Boyle, Christopher Lloyd, and Michael Keaton?
Either way the Dems are
September 30, 2009 - 23:10 ET by CooltomEither way the Dems are screwed. If Chicago doesn't get the bid Obama is humiliated.
If they win there will be an ungodly amount of graft, cost overruns, boondoogles, and indictments -- and in an election year.
I'm shocked that Katie
October 1, 2009 - 00:24 ET by rockyracoonI'm shocked that Katie Communist is cheerleading this junket. That's what she does best...cheerlead!!!
International awareness
October 1, 2009 - 01:54 ET by LindamaeI wonder if she learned that the UK calls Obama President Pantywaist? The Indian government considers him "a neophyte" and echoes the French in accusing him of fantasy rather than reality in his job as president. Both complain that the world cannot wait longer for him to learn to be president. Of course, our Lybian visitor was scary in wishing Obama to be the American president forever. Does he know something we don't? Has Obama made Chavez his mentor in redistributing the wealth in the USA?
Lib queenie couric seems
October 1, 2009 - 05:13 ET by beanervtLib queenie couric seems to have left out important info from Denmark:
First Lady Michelle Obama said her trip to Denmark, along
with the travel of her “dear friend” and “chit-chat buddy” Oprah Winfrey, as
well as tomorrow’s visit by President Obama, is a “sacrifice” on behalf of the
children of Chicago and the United States. “As much of a sacrifice as people
say this is for me or Oprah or the president to come for these few days,”
Maybe the wookie klingon first lady isn’t up on what sacrifice
really means. If hubby would talk to the General running the Afgan war I’m sure
he could inform the dizzy broad on the true meaning. For which children is this
so called sacrifice, the club wielding ones perhaps??
Chicago is a RACIST NIGHTMARE
October 1, 2009 - 06:17 ET by chuckkHave you been to Chicago lately? It's best if you speak and understand Bulgarian... the airport has no place to sit down and is a nightmare.
The city is full of thugs, beggars and lurkers....
Anyplace on earth would be better.... I am with everyone from Illinois who would be happy to skip the embarrassment and let "Rio have it!"
http://www.chicagoansforrio.com/
Hmmm
October 1, 2009 - 09:23 ET by theduck6and the Prez and his closest advisors are from where?
WHAT IS THE CARBON FOOTPRINT ON THIS JUNKET??? AAAAAHHHHH THE HUMANITY>>>THE PLANET!!!
What? it's Barack. Nevermind...ooooopppsie
Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm
Barack Hussein Obama
Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm
He'll pull the plug on yer granmamma.
New World Order
October 1, 2009 - 09:38 ET by srqvetDear Comrades,
Since Amerika is no longer better than any other country, are we not inviting international hate by stealing the Olymplics from our Latin American neighbors? Seems rather odd Duh One would favor one country over another given his recent speech to the UN.
Little known fact; Rio has more unicorns than Chicago. Unicorns rock!
Racists.