Although it goes without saying that Time magazine is one of the nation's leading Obama-loving media outlets, national political correspondent Karen Tumulty published an article Wednesday which surprisingly addressed how the junior senator from Illinois' campaign is doing everything in its power to hide the gaffe-prone Joe Biden from reporters.
In fact, Tumulty's candor concerning the Democrat vice presidential candidate being even "less accessible than even Sarah Palin" was rather startling.
But, there it was for all to see (emphasis added):
[T]raveling with Biden during this campaign has sometimes been like reporting on a politician packaged in shrink-wrap. While his windy, off-point pontification was the stuff of legend among his Senate colleagues, Biden is now leashed to a teleprompter even when he is talking in a high school gym that is three-quarters empty. The exposure hound who in recent years appeared more often than any other guest on the Sunday talk shows is a virtual stranger to the small band of reporters on his plane - less accessible than even Sarah Palin is to her traveling pack of bloodhounds. And Biden keeps to a schedule that provides a minimum of off-the-cuff encounters with voters, except across a rope line. [...]
The campaign's caution is understandable. With Obama leading in all the national polls, only a few things would seem to have the potential to throw him off course. One of those things is his running mate. [...]
In the two days that I was aboard his Boeing 737 campaign plane, Biden ventured only a few steps outside his cabin at the front of the plane, which kept him safely away from the reporters at the back. When Biden suddenly appeared at the door to the main cabin, Dallas Morning News reporter Todd Gillman attempted to take a snapshot — a not-uncommon occurrence aboard a campaign plane — and was told by a campaign staffer, "We prefer that you not take photos." According to a blog post by Ryan Corsaro, the CBS News embed on the Biden plane, the candidate has not taken questions from the journalists aboard his plane since Sept. 7.
Kudos to Tumulty for bringing this to our attention.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if more of her colleagues felt obliged to tell the truth now again...if only for appearance's sake.
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.
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poor choice
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 14:22 ET by goldboughIt sure seems Biden was a poor choice for a running mate if he has to be kept hidden. I noticed a few weeks ago that he was nowhere to be seen on TV, yet Palin is with McCain everywhere and had many soundbites played on TV.
IMO there is only one reason
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 14:57 ET by motherbeltIMO there is only one reason Joe Biden was chosen and it's called Pennsylvania. Hillary beat Obama pretty handily in PA, so old "Scranton Joe" was brought in. That's why he talks more about "growing up in Scranton" than his time in Delaware (when he is allowed to talk) even though his family left there by the time he was 10.
How auspicious!
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 22:12 ET by needleAs Obama’s first major executive decision, he picks Joe Biden as his Vice Presidential candidate.
The sheer brilliance of the Messiah is simply breathtaking! How inspired! How auspicious!
Impunitas semper ad deteriora invitat.
There may be no "grand
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 14:41 ET by Chris NormanThere may be no "grand conspiracy" but the MSM's activities this week suggest that small minds think alike. Anything negative about Obama/Biden, no matter how little the trickle, was saved for the very last minute, so they can say "Yes, we were critical before the election".
McNotObama '08
Old Reliable
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 14:43 ET by dbo...campaign is doing everything in its power to hide the gaffe-prone Joe Biden from reporters
The campaign is going to have to redouble their efforts if they don't want Biden to make anymore gaffes. So far Biden has made more gaffes than Nancy Pelosi has book sales.
Now, be fair. Biden's made
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 15:31 ET by HockeyKidNow, be fair. Biden's made more gaffes than James Patterson's made book sales!
obama to campaign advisors,
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 15:21 ET by bschoomobama to campaign advisors, "keep this guy under wraps until the election is over, then we can blame him for everything the country has a problem with. They know how brainless he is".
You have to be kidding yourself to think the media will spotlight Biden's lack of appearances.
Biden can do what he
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 14:54 ET by MikeknaJBiden can do what he wants.
I'm more interested in the media spin. When Palin was out of sight it was a sign of campaign weakness and her supposed ineptitude. Uh huh. Will they say the same thing about Biden, and just as loudly as they did with Palin?
I doubt it.
"Look, when Keith anchors, he plays it straight down the line.”
-MSNBC President Phil Griffin
http://www.xanga.com/mikeknaj
I will not read the TIME
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 15:00 ET by gopsteveI will not read the TIME article, I will just surf and watch it on the evening news networks tonight...ha ha ha ha ha ha!
People
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 15:21 ET by BigSpoon65BigSpoon65
It's all about that 3 letter word that Joe and Barack keep talking about J~O~B~S! ROTFLMAO What a moron!
Thomas Jefferson~ "The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not!"
Sadly, Biden's gaffes have
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 15:34 ET by HockeyKidSadly, Biden's gaffes have become somewhat like exterminations in Stalin's Soviet Union. One's a tragedy--a million are a statistic. Ol' Joe has shoved his foot in his mouth so many times everybody in the press expects him to be hopping around one-legged. "That's just Joe." Yeesh.
That was the thinking from
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 15:45 ET by motherbeltThat was the thinking from the beginning; just old Joe putting his foot in his mouth again. They said because of that he was "gaffe-proof."
A real dog-bites-man thing.
Noel, what a perfect match
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 16:04 ET by Chris NormanNoel, what a perfect match between headline and picture. You can almost hear the senator in the front (Leahy?) thinking, "Ohhh Joe, don't say it! - Oh, geez, he is..."
McNotObama '08
You beat me to it...Kudos, Noel!
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 16:45 ET byChris,
Great picture!
Übercon
...astutely keeping a Schadenfreude. Your reaction is Übercon's Schadenfreude!
"The voice of dissent must be heard."-Henry Ford
Scranton Joe
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 17:53 ET by Redrowan2000The only time this plagiarist opens his mouth is to change feet. If he was a Republican they (well, let's just thank God he isn't) would have him as the lead story every night on CNN and MSNBC oh and CBS, NBC and ABC. Someone has to write a book about his gaffes some of them are truly hilarious, 3 letter word...JOBS , "Stand up for Obama, Oh my God I forgot your in a wheelchair."
Well if they win, the conservatives will unfortunately have 4 years of hilarity, on the other side of the coin we'll be crying about "The freedom of Information Act", higher taxes on those who earn $150,000 per year, possible reparations, and after we are attacked Hussein will sit down with those who have done it and ask them why. After all Joe said paraphrasing here, when Barack is tested we need you to stand with us because you may not like the immediate response . Not to mention the tighter gun laws for lawful citizens. Well the American people will be the deciders of their own fate. (maybe not with ACORN)
"Don't let the bastards grind you down."
Red
oh well
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 20:18 ET by candanceIt's not like the media would bother reporting it anything.
WaPo Dana Milbank had this same message today;
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 20:23 ET by jondelwicheIt is truly scary to see every media source bury
its head in the proverbial sand on Biden.
This is a guy with a major stroke in his past
who exhibits major mental errors on a regular
basis.
Society has more rules governing driver's license
privileges for stroke victims, then the media has re: questioning
this guy who could be second in line for the nuclear trigger.