New York Times reporter Rachel Swarns, former Johannesburg bureau chief for the Times, is now working hard on the Glorify Michelle Obama beat, pumping out four flattering pieces in the last month.
Her latest entry is a brief in Thursday's edition, "A White House Effort to Aid Women and Girls," celebrating an executive order from President Obama creating a White House Council on Women and Girls. Swarns didn't challenge the liberal myth about women being paid 78 cents for every dollar men make (in that case, why don't companies only hire women and reap the savings?).
Swarns "reporting" could have come straight off a press release:
The White House celebrated women on Wednesday.
President Obama signed an executive order creating a White House Council on Women and Girls, to help eliminate the challenges faced by women and girls and to ensure that cabinet level agencies coordinate their policies and programs that affect women and families...Mr. Obama described how his grandmother hit a glass ceiling at the bank where she worked and how his wife, Michelle, struggled to balance family and career. He said that women still earn just 78 cents for every dollar men make and that one in four experience domestic violence in their lifetimes. And while women make up 49 percent of the workforce, they account for only 3 percent of the Fortune 500 chief executives, he said.
A shortened version appeared in Thursday's print edition.
Yesterday, Swarns praised the first lady in the Dining section for fighting the "obesity epidemic" in "Michelle Obama's Agenda Includes Healthful Eating." (Didn't know obesity was contagious.)
The television cameras were rolling, the journalists were scribbling and the first lady, Michelle Obama, was standing in a soup kitchen rhapsodizing about steamed broccoli. And homemade mushroom risotto. And freshly baked apple-carrot muffins.
Mrs. Obama was praising the menu last week at Miriam's Kitchen, a nonprofit drop-in center serving this city's homeless. And she seized the moment to urge Americans to provide fresh, unprocessed and locally grown foods to their families and to the neediest in their communities.
....
White House officials say the focus on healthy living will be a significant item on Mrs. Obama's agenda, which already includes supporting working families and military spouses. As the nation battles an obesity epidemic and a hard-to-break taste for oversweetened and oversalted dishes, her message is clear: Fresh, nutritious foods are not delicacies to be savored by the wealthy, but critical components of the diets of ordinary and struggling families.
On March 9, Swarns gave Ms. Obama indirect praise by profiling her policy director Jocelyn Frye for "Friendship Born at Harvard Goes on to White House."
And she and Mrs. Obama share a passion for policies that affect women and families, and an easy camaraderie born of many late-night, heart-to-heart talks at Harvard.
A February 11 story by Swarns, "Michelle Obama Extends Vogue Tradition," set the theme of Michelle Obama, Superwoman. The intro:
Michelle Obama, who has juggled news conferences and parent-teacher conferences, will appear on the March cover of Vogue, a spokesman for the magazine said Tuesday.
Mrs. Obama, who was photographed wearing a sleek and sleeveless magenta silk dress designed by Jason Wu, is the second first lady to appear on the cover. Hillary Rodham Clinton was on the cover in December 1998.
Swarns' glorification began Inauguration Day, in a profile that skimmed over Michelle Obama's notorious comment on the campaign trail in Wisconsin, "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country." Swarns didn't even spell out the phrase, merely calling it one of her "rhetorical stumbles."
—Clay Waters is the director of Times Watch, an MRC project tracking the New York Times.
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George W. Bush
March 12, 2009 - 16:04 ET by TexndocW did more to liberate women worldwide than any other previous modern President, said a female mid-Eastern reporter I heard on Bill Bennet's show. But the newspaper who's stock price is less than what their newspaper costs will never acknowledge this fact.
~Please, please, please, please
March 12, 2009 - 16:28 ET by choselife3xPlease stop talking about this woman!
Hope and Change= Despair and Socialism
Swarns "rhetorical blunders"
March 12, 2009 - 16:34 ET by bigtimerSwarns "rhetorical blunders" reminds me of Clinton and his "just a little snafu."
So?
March 12, 2009 - 20:24 ET by SayAnythingBig deal. Michelle Obama is acting like a First Lady and actually doing things besides smoking and admiring. The level of Michelle Obama Derangement Syndrome in this website is pathetic.
It's the Bias
March 12, 2009 - 22:18 ET by slickwillie2001This website is about bias, and the liberal media treating M'chell like she is some kind of cover-girl material is outrageous bias. These appearances are simply a continuation of Obammy's never-ending campaign. It's the only thing he does well so he is reluctant to turn off the campaign. These appearances are all discussed with Axelrod and Plouffe for what political advantage they might provide to the Liar-in-Chief.
Here she is again before the campaign spinmeisters remade her image: http://www.mofopolit...
First Ladies
March 13, 2009 - 00:51 ET by Sabre16Why is it that when Democrats get elected to The Office of the President, their spouses feel like they have some sort of mandate as well? Didn't Hillary say something like "They can't do that to us WE are the President" (could be an internet rumor, I'm not sure) And now we have Michelle.
I miss the gold old days of Nancy, Laura and even Barbara. Those are classy women. They didn't feel that their husbands election gave them some sort of authority. Sure they did good deeds. But well within the realm of non-elected officials.
What the heck is she
March 14, 2009 - 03:28 ET byWhat the heck is she supposed to say to or about a First LadY? "Hey, you suck ?" You people are bordering on the ridiculous with your constant harping about liberals lovin' Michele. You sound STUPID. Didn't O'Reilly and Hannity have Laura Bush orgasms? Did they ask Laura about," her husband lying us into war?" Which I'm sure a liberal viewer might have thought a fair question! And when asked why the soft treatment by e-mailers O'reilly, rightly in my opinion, stated that she's just the wife and has nothing to do with POLICY. Didn't GMA do puff pieces on Laura being a LIBRARIAN etc? OF course they did! Now, you people are whining like stuck pigs about every piece of puffery.
GET USED TO IT. You lost. They won. IT'S NOT GOING TO CHANGE. You can join the nutbags over at WND who are busy looking for Bambi's BIRTH CERTIFICATE, or you can grow up and have a life.
She's not "in the room" on policy. She's not Hillary redux. You only show yourselves small by whining about how the first lady is treated. Conservative outlets were far more gracious with Laura than say...Diane Sawyer, who asked pointed questions in her mildly stigmatic way. Big Friggin' Deal. Waaaa let's whine like little babies, shall we?
You better get used to it because it's going to be like this for the next EIGHT YEARS! If you think liberals are going to let him fail, you're drinkin' outta grandma's cup again'! Hasn't the GAFFE MOUNTAIN that Obama has become and the SILENCE with which it is all reported told you anything? Where's the report on the INSULT heard round the world, except here that is?! Where's the follow up showing that Obama's people LIED when they said they were unaware of the proper protocol for visiting dignitaries and chalked it up to a lack of rest? Isn't the gee danged former first lady on his friggin' team??? And still every rag in the country carried the story of "Bambi's lack of rest"!
Do you honestly believe that on something BIG like the ECONOMY or the WAR in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN, they are going to report his FAILURE? On issues where blaming Bush is not only EASY but largely APPROPRIATE? If the economy stays in the toilet gues what, "IT'LL BE BUSH'S FAULT", If the war drags on in perpetuity guess what? "Gee, folks it sure pains President Obama to go back on his word about leaving Iraq but BUSH LIED about the depth of the quagmire. And surely it wouldn't be RESPONSIBLE for President Obama, to just pick up and leave". THAT WILL BE HOW THEY SHAPE THAT!
Sure Bambi's driven the economy down since his inauguration but SO FRIGGIN' WHAT? Everyone knows that the economy was on the dungheap when he took office! Only you anal retentive "I dotters" and "T" crossers who whine ENDLESSLY about the exact point at which a "recession" becomes a "depression" know the difference! And NOOOBODY is going to report that any of this blows back on Obama! Not anywhere that the masses might see it, like CBS, NBC or ABC! EVERY mistake will be traced back to Bush, "Poor guy, look at the mess he inherited" that will be the meme!
And while you people SHOULD be out beating the bushes (no pun intended, although it is awful funny!), looking for a candidate who DOESN'T sound like a black comics "stupid white guy in the forest approaching a Bear", joke, sorry Bobby Jindal, noooo you're busy whining about how someone who has NOTHING to do with ANYTHING, a friggin' TEA PARTY THROWER, is treated.
So in a media driven age you people are ready to go off the cliff behind a guy who doesn't even sound real. A guy who looks and sounds like his belt is up around his freakin' NAVEL. Let's gas up the SUV folks 'cause I'm sure thar's another cliff we can drive off 'round here somewhere's"
Man, it's like you people don't even WANT to win. First you pick like a half dead loser who I wouldn't even trust with the REMOTE CONTROL as your Presidential candidate! Whatta loser! I know he was a war hero but that was like EONS ago! Now, he 's just a doddering old traitor to his own party who thinks that the fundamentals are sound! ROFLMAO! ( watch some numbnutz try to assert even now, that they are strong!) In five, four, three, two, one........
A pox on both your houses, I am a man without a party. One party is a bunch of BABY KILLING , SODOMITE LOVING, JESUS HATING satanically inspired douchebags. And the other party is a bunch of stale old fools imagining themselves relevant in a world that is quickly passing them by. A party that sold out it's concerns over the morality of this country for a good DOW. A party that watches abortion and homosexual filth be pushed on prime time every day and all they can talk about is deficit spending. The GEE DANGED President of the United States, is proposing to teach SECOND GRADERS the JOY of SEX and you freaking ACCOUNTANTS are whining about TAX CUTS!. Oh well, "Out of the treasures of the heart the mouth speaketh!"
A pox on both your houses.
Sincerely,
Fed Up With Losers.