The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz has let the cat out of the bag in the Post's April 27 issue about a regularly scheduled secret media dinner attended by some of the top left-wing journalists in the country. But it isn't just the lefty scribblers that have attended these secret, off-the-record dinners for these gatherings have each featured a guest. Rahm Emanuel, Sec. of the Treasury Tim Geithner, and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke have all recently had their chance to schmooze the press and guide them with the spin desired by the White House.
So, not only does Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel have secret daily phone calls with which to program the media's coverage of the White House, now it is revealed that Emanuel and other Obama staffers have been attending secret dinners to help the press understand what the White House wants reported? As Kurtz says, it all sounds "rather cozy," doesn't it?
The secret dinners for Obama staffers and his boosters in the Old Media have been going on for "more than a year" and are sponsored by David Bradley, the owner of the Atlantic. In attendance have been some of the most well known lefty journalists in Washington. Not surprisingly, not a single name mentioned in the Kurtz report is conservative.
Among those in regular attendance are David Brooks and Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, Gene Robinson and Ruth Marcus of The Washington Post, NBC's David Gregory, ABC's George Stephanopoulos, PBS's Gwen Ifill, the New Yorker's Jane Mayer, Vanity Fair's Todd Purdum, former Time managing editor Walter Isaacson and staffers from Bradley's Atlantic and National Journal, including Ron Brownstein, Andrew Sullivan and Jonathan Rauch.
No Brit Hume, no George Will, not even a Charles Krauthammer? Shocking, eh? Or more like expected.
Kurtz tries to liken these secret media programing dinners to those long-held dinners put on by Godfrey Sperling until he retired from the Christian Science Monitor. But those dinners were not secret, were on the record, and were also not by invite only as are the Atlantic's dinners. Kurtz also mentions the famed 3-hour-long dinner that Obama had with conservative media types during the transition phase of his presidency, but this is also lacking as a direct comparison. That dinner was also not secret, nor is it a recurring meeting.
Kurtz also reports that a few Bush folks have been invited to the dinner. Carl Rove is mentioned, but one rather assumes he had long since left the Bush White Hose before that invite came. From Kurtz' reporting, it seems rather clear that this secret dinner has been rather more left-leaning than not. I suppose that isn't too surprising, however, seeing as how the dinner regulars are of such ideological similarity.
Anyway, what we see from this is more proof of the insular, even incestuous, world the Old Media inhabit. From Emanuel's secret daily phone calls, to the "journolist" -- a secret lefty website message board they all collude on -- now to secret dinners, it all seems "rather cozy," indeed. And all this secrecy also belies the Old Media's claims that "transparency" is as important as they keep claiming it is. They want the government to be open and transparent, they want Fox News to prove who it funds and supports, yet all the while as the Old Media tsks everyone else for not be transparent, they themselves have had secret phone calls, secret message boards and secret dinners.
Not only "cozy" but hypocritical, too.
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Thanks Warner
April 28, 2009 - 04:15 ET by The ButcherMore evidence of how the daily talking points are delivered. Totally incredible and increasingly 1984-ish.....
Well, look at it this way:
April 28, 2009 - 06:02 ET by motherbeltWell, look at it this way: at least one of his departments (the Ministry of Propaganda) is fully staffed!
They might say "Wow, that sucks!" But at least they'll say "Wow!" -Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes
That OTHER flu
April 28, 2009 - 08:34 ET by reelman46CLICK on my Blog link for a picture of the PRESS FLU...that other flu!
Doug Schexnayder, Ph.D. (theconservativecrawfish)
Totally incredible and
April 28, 2009 - 08:45 ET by Dan The Man 2Totally incredible and increasingly 1984-ish.
1984 was only 25 years too late.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
Transparency
April 28, 2009 - 16:21 ET by grumpyoldbYup. Totally transparent. You can see right through the rhetoric to tell they are a bunch of liars..
Can you imagine the collective scream if either Bush, or Reagan would have held secret meetings for the conservative press?????
One more bit of proof that in the future, the news is going to be what the whitehouse says it will be, and you better get used to it..
Heil, Heil, the gang's all here....
I don't believe it!
April 28, 2009 - 04:44 ET by Sergeant ROCK</sarcasm>
"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."
George Mason
Then again, Obama was the
April 28, 2009 - 05:12 ET by winston smithThen again, Obama was the left media's choice from the get-go. And they were instrumental in getting him elected. Should we really be shocked that they're being invited to meetings....er... dinners?
I wonder what was on the
April 28, 2009 - 05:39 ET by Jack BauerI wonder what was on the menu?
Being that lefty hacks are such men and chicks of the people; and being in such an exonomic downturn, I'm thinking NO EXPENSE SPARED!
And was the food on the taxpayers dime. YOU BETCHA, proles!
Nothing is too good for the workers!
David Brooks?
April 28, 2009 - 05:39 ET by P.J. GladnickNot surprisingly, not a single name mentioned in the Kurtz report is conservative.
But...but isn't David Brooks conservative? Oh wait, I just remembered.David Brooks is "conservative." I stand corrected.
The Butcher
April 28, 2009 - 05:45 ET by adamsmithAs I pressed the reply button I was thinking, "this is awfully 1984ish". The Butcher beat me to the punch. The left was worried about Bush with the Patriot Act that the country was becoming 1984ish. Not one U.S. citizen was wrongly detained for the whole time after 9/11. Unfortunately they are too self deluded to see that President Zero is Big Brother personified. Actually he's just a puppet with Comrade Soros' hands manipulating the strings. America is dying............
They are
April 28, 2009 - 08:31 ET by kdizzydazeEverything they described the Bush Administration of being. It is truly unbelievable yet it is right in front of our eyes.
What amazes me is that with all this backing and pushing, these people only managed to garner this guy 53% of the vote - a victory, but a landslide?? Not even close, and given his current numbers, he has issues. Personally, that may be the point right there. They know they need every drop of support from the lib left media to keep their charade going and Obambi's support numbers from dwindling to below 50%, and then 40%.
As for the Swine flu - it is possible that this is a canard to get Sebelius in as HHS director but more likely it is to point some finger of blame at Bush somehow - lack of funding, blah, blah, blah. Remember, when all else failes, blame Bush - of course that ship will be setting sail by the voters very soon.
God made man, but he used a monkey to do it -- DEVO
It's one of those things....
April 28, 2009 - 06:14 ET by superconThat you always suspected but never really knew how bad it was.Major "media" organizations taking their instructions directly from the White House who then fan out and spread their propaganda to the masses.
Alot of people are seeing right through them however as their ratings are tanking and some newspaper are on the verge of bankruptcy. Their shell of lies can't hold up forever.
Hey Janet Napolitano...I'm proud to be a Right-winger.
Government-media complex
April 28, 2009 - 07:03 ET by nadadhimmiThe propaganda operation is well under way. This flu scare is orchestrated to enable the one to declare a state of emergency and get Sebelius confirmed. Most Americans are trusting of the gov't but this will change by the 2012 election.
And the media, like any good
April 28, 2009 - 07:19 ET by nadadhimmiAnd the media, like any good whore, will perform____ when they are paid to. The whole damn industry should be called: Prostitutes Are Us. Anyone else feel like puking?
If this were the heads of sectors of industry...
April 28, 2009 - 07:25 ET by JWFYou know, all the CEO's of Steel companys...
Wouldn't we be looking a RICO & antitrust & antimonopoly investigations?
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars
Transparency?
April 28, 2009 - 07:42 ET by GeneralAlThe left has a one way street when any rules are applied or interpreted: Conservatives must be transparent but Liberals have to be clandestine!
What would the stupid American people think if they kept their meetings out in the open? Why, they might suspect something! The only way to shove Socialism aka Communism down our throats is to keep it under cover and emphasize a crisis!
Could anyone imagine the outrage there would have been if Karl Rove had met with Fox, Newsmax, Washington Times, etc.? There were many charges of such meetings taking place but never any proof. Now we know why! When you point the finger at your opposition, you have three pointing back at yourself!
Gwen Ifill has some questions to answer
April 28, 2009 - 08:16 ET by increditonyThe story says that these dinners have been going on for a year, and Ms. Ifill is on the guest list. Yet she was the moderator of the V.P. debate. Was she going to these secret dinners before she moderated the debate? If so, did she not have a duty to divulge the nature of her contact with the Obama campaign? That is not just "rather cozy" that could be cause for termination.
Coming of age
April 28, 2009 - 08:36 ET by 10ksnookerOf PRAVDA. The Soviets were a master of the media. Look what that got them.
What ya going to do when you run out of other people's money to give away.
Wait! They are all friends....
April 28, 2009 - 08:38 ET by jondelwicheJust like the TV show.
I know it has been stated to death on these pages, but imagine the
coverage if a Republican had been in charge and :
surges a war, takes over companies, shuts down Pontiac, runs a 2 trillion dollar deficit, loses 2 mil jobs on his watch in the first three months, buzzes New York....yada yada
Do ya think the coverage would be different? :o)
Secret Dinner
April 28, 2009 - 08:43 ET by VinncyGRom E;
Thank you ladies and gentleman for coming to the latest secret dinner part. In front of you are the talking points of the week. It's pretty self explanatory, any questions?
H Kurtz - You know Obama keeps making stupid teleprompter mistakes and it is becoming harder to cover for him and his staff.
R E - Look if you get a question about that again remember, ignore the question and always say "Bush did it". Anything else?
Then enjoy your meal, keep this private, and remember we will have more of these weekly. (Wink)
Predictably, Kurtz
April 28, 2009 - 09:24 ET by TEPredictably, Kurtz completely fails to give even the slightest hint as to the political ideology of any of these leftists (i.e., Maureen Dowd, Gene Robinson, Ruth Marcus, David Gregory, George Stephanopoulos, Gwen Ifill, Jane Mayer (hahahahahahaha!), Todd Purdum, Walter Isaacson and the staffers from Bradley's Atlantic and National Journal, including Ron Brownstein, Andrew Sullivan and Jonathan Rauch). However, Kurtz predictably did label the political ideology of some who have met with Obama: "Obama attended a three-hour dinner with conservative columnists at George Will's Chevy Chase home." Also, I love the fact that in addition to the above named leftists who regularly meet for dinner with their fellow leftists in the Obama adminstration, David "Gergen" Brooks and fundamentalist homosexualist Andrew Sullivan are predictably included in that group. Years ago, I often read Kurtz's daily column online, and on dozens and dozens occassions, Kurtz would orgasmically quote Brooks and Sullivan's latest bits of leftist idiocy, and without fail, Kurtz would label Brooks and Sullivan as "conservative". I would then send an e-mail to Kurtz asking him to provide any evidence that Brooks or Sullivan were "conservatives". Kurtz never responded to my requests ....
No investigation?
April 28, 2009 - 09:25 ET by slickwillie2001If this was a Republican President's staff meeting with conservative writers, it would be cause for a Congressional investigation. Under the Bamster, it barely makes the news. There's your bias right there.
Are you kidding?
April 28, 2009 - 12:09 ET by justmeThis is the transparency they were talking about. What is the need for investigation? ;)
media bias
April 28, 2009 - 10:00 ET by jessieHJessie R. Hamby Give them enough rope & they will hang themselves. They will be a "bailout" for the media- unless WE stop the madness.
Bernard Goldberg
April 28, 2009 - 12:44 ET by usinkoreaI wonder if Bernard Goldberg is rethinking his idea about no vast left-wing conspiracy to slant the news?
I thought it sounded very reasonable when he says in his books that the problem is group think rather than a planned course of action.
I thought that until I read about the journolist...
That made me think back to Palin's being named to the ticket: I started to think, "You know, I don't know if you can get that viscious and across the board attack against Palin so immediately after she'd been named -- without something like a journolist? I can't picture all those media outlets knowing enough about Palin to explain the instant avalanch of hate they poured forth on her --- trying as one media outlet confessed - to pressure McCain into removing her from the ticket before it ever got rolling..."
Then we learned about the morning calls between Stephonopolous and democrat operatives.
Now this.
I'm not so sure these aren't signs that a "conspiracy" hasn't been going on the past couple of years.
In his latest book, Goldberg points out what we all know, that the media was so bias in the last election, they didn't even care enough to hide it.
Maybe they also decided they don't care about possible problems if they do coordinate their message with the Democrat party...
A coup de ta
April 28, 2009 - 13:26 ET by ScottyDogMore proof that the MSM is in involved in a coup de ta to take over America by providing non stop propaganda for the Democrats.
After watching the MSM during the election this is no surprise that the MSM media pundits were all getting their marching orders from the Barry Soetoro Campaign. Rush Limbaugh has pointed this out on numerous occasions on his show with his media montages’ showing how the media all read from the same script.
We cannot survive as a Constitutional Republic with the media spreading propaganda 24/7. Zieglers movie Media Malpractice shows just how effective the MSM was in destroying the McCain campaign.
I wonder.......
April 28, 2009 - 21:49 ET by fastfoodhow much the taxpayers are paying for these three hour dinners.
Oh heck ff...what's it
April 28, 2009 - 21:52 ET by bigtimerOh heck ff...what's it matter...just put it on the tab.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart