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Explain to me again why they are called “reporters”?

Explain to me again why they are called “reporters”?

When Neil Munro shouted out a question to Obama yesterday as Obama was reading a statement in the Rose Garden about his unilateral thumbing of Congress and the American people in the eye, a firestorm of condemnation erupted among media-types on both the left and right.

Forget for the moment that this is not exactly new, and the press treated Ronald Reagan with much more disrespect (h/t a reader).  That’s history, and the last thing we need right now in this country is a sense of historical perspective.

I agree that the President should be allowed to finish reading statements without being interrupted, even when thumbing us in the eye.  After all, it’s not like he works for us.

We must respect the Office of the Thumber in the Eye in Chief.

What I don’t understand is why reporters show up at statement readings where they can’t ask questions.

Exactly why were the reporters there?

Certainly not to take video — television gave us a better recording.

And certainly not to ask questions.  That’s why the President stands there, reads a statement, and walks away.  It’s not a press conference.

And certainly not to report.  What exactly would these reporters be reporting?

That the President read a statement, the text of which was released by the White House Press Office? Duh, even bloggers munching Cheetos in the basement could figure that out.

At least at the State of the Union address part of the story is the crowd reaction.  Here, the point of the criticism of Munro is that there should have been no crowd reaction.

It ain’t rocket science to report the following:

President Obama, in a statement he read out loud today in the Rose Garden, stated that he was ….

That’s not reporting, it’s transcribing.  No, actually, it’s not even transcribing.

I don’t know what it is, but I do know you don’t need a Masters Degree in Journalism, or two years of an unpaid internship, whichever comes first, to do it.

Did the Washington press corps ever hear the phrase, “I’m not a potted plant”?

Neil Munro apparently did.  Which means he has no business being a reporter in the age of Obama.

Update:  Almost forgot this post, “I’m not a potted plant. I’m here as the blogger. That’s my job.”

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Comments

One is left to wonder if Obaby were the British Prime Minister that he wouldn’t be reduced to sucking his thumb and cuddling with his blankie during Question Time.

Petulant fool…

Samuel Keck | June 16, 2012 at 9:34 pm

Your tone comes across as a bit miffed tonight, Professor. 🙂

    1. Your tone comes across as a bit miffed tonight, Professor.

    Petulant, I would say.

    Obama’s announcement is unexpected and unwelcome. This is the first time in weeks that the Obama campaign looks like it may seize the initiative. It’s understandable that our host does not take it well. Neither do I.

    With respect, I offer a bit of tough love to Professor Jacobson: Stop kvetching, and post countermeasures.

    2. As for conservatives who are trying to make excuses for Munro’s unprofessional interruptions of the President of the United States: Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt. An excursion there is a luxury we can ill afford.

      BannedbytheGuardian in reply to gs. | June 16, 2012 at 10:33 pm

      What is the problem GS. It was after all just one Irishman to another.

      They are famous for their X banter .

        Good point.

        So far the Munro incident doesn’t seem to be causing a media chain reaction. I tentatively conjecture that it’s not the ground that either side wants to fight over.

        Therefore, conservatives should focus on making Obama’s action boomerang on him.

        And on restraining the presumptive nominee from charging to the left of Mike Bloomberg on the issue.

      Doug Wright in reply to gs. | June 16, 2012 at 11:36 pm

      As a fellow Conservative, I disagree with both points 1. and 2. but it’s your right to say that.

      Still, those two points are what Blue Blood RINOs typically say. After all, their view is “Can’t we all just get along?”

      To which I say: Heck no, they’re wrong and Munro was right to do what he did. Remember, this is not tennis nor is it golf. It’s a most deadly sport if that, it’s in fact life or death of our country, our Constitution, and our way of life, of not darkening our shining city on the hill.

        1. Still, those two points are what Blue Blood RINOs typically say.

        LOL! My ancestors were serfs. After emancipation the family, generation by generation, worked its way up to prosperity, only to have everything confiscated by Communists.

        2. Iirc I’ve previously cited Thucydides on partisanship. The Founders, some of them anyway, would have known the passage. Since you mention the Constitution, I’ll cite it again.

          gs in reply to gs. | June 17, 2012 at 12:45 am

          And Doug, I find your comment perfectly civil even though we disagree. My LOL is not at you, but at the thought that there is blue blood in my veins.

      Tamminator in reply to gs. | June 17, 2012 at 12:19 am

      gs: Did you work for McCain’s campaign?

When I see Obama and hear him speak, I just feel like I want to vomit and have been vomited on…

    Goonions in reply to WarEagle82. | June 17, 2012 at 12:40 am

    I won’t even take the time to hear him speak. I move on when I see him period. It is sickening to think that we might have four more years of this guy.

    Captain Hate in reply to WarEagle82. | June 17, 2012 at 9:52 am

    The only way I can listen to El JEFe is if somebody like Tammy Bruce does a mocking simultaneous voice over. Otherwise it’s an irritating content-free waste of time.

Doug Wright | June 16, 2012 at 9:48 pm

Ah, Gee, is our Supreme Leader irked at the lack of timidity of a member of the Adoring Journolist Corpse? Thus, hereafter, and perhaps even for much longer, only certified members of Journolists will be allowed in the Rose Garden Sanctuary. PBUH Our Dear Leader who makes our legs tingle.

Is this a racist comment or not? It’s becoming so very difficult to tell now.

Please excuse me while I go and vomit my guts out! Thank you very much.

Conservative Beaner | June 16, 2012 at 9:54 pm

If the reporters were able to ask questions they would have thrown him some softballs or allowed Obozo to dance around the question.

This is really just another variation on the race card diversion. Munro’s question became the story rather than the Naked Emperor’s latest decree.

Should Romney replace the King at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, I am keeping track of the number of media types who rush to the fainting couch every time he is shown the slightest sign of disrespect. I put the over/under at 5 – anyone wanna take the over?

    All this “respect” nonsense will be over in half the time it takes to swear Romney in.

      Goonions in reply to RightKlik. | June 17, 2012 at 7:55 am

      It will indeed be hilarious to see how quickly the mask comes off. The abruptness of change will be quite clear and the viciousness of them after their dear leader is dethroned will be fun to watch.

    ALman in reply to Mary Sue. | June 16, 2012 at 10:55 pm

    Yes. If Romney is elected, the White House Press will tell the staff that the five (5) dozen fainting couches they have (there are so many because BO is treated so poorly) can be removed.

[…] Michelle Malkin's feelings about Orrin are congruent with mine, and Professor Jacobson's views about the Munro incident are, […]

“Exactly why were the reporters there?”

To bask in the divine presence. Duh.

Midwest Rhino | June 16, 2012 at 10:02 pm

I think the professor should hold his question till after the presidente has been re-elected. Obama sternly addressed the breach of protocol … protocol apparently being … “don’t EVER question me. I will be done speaking when I am dead … till then, STFU.”

“Reporters” will be required to show up for the photo op … much like the doctors that were handed white gown doctor garb for the Obamacare photo op. The plan is in place … don’t dare interrupt with your silly concerns about the constitution. That constitution is an ancient relic … the Chicago mob is in charge.

You have to pass the bill to find out what is in it .. and if you don’t pass it, executive fiat will make it so. Most submissives learn to enjoy it … just relax and take the fascist blue pill. All is well.

http://www.creators.com/opinion/thomas-sowell.html

Its all designed to give all of us the perception that Pharoah is saying something important therefore the media is invited basically to serve about the same function as styrofoam columns.
How dare a furnishing actually speak at these events. Talk about audacity.

But the media was able to create a big event anyway. The “talking column” issue and the Executive Order that doesnt appear anywhere. Not nowhere.
All I find is a lenghty DHS policy change that indicates in no uncertain terms that the new policy does not take the place of The Dream Act. Scroll down.

http://www.dhs.gov/files/enforcement/deferred-action-process-for-young-people-who-are-low-enforcement-priorities.shtm

So my irritation now is with our Senators who gave the issue to Obama on a silver platter because they didnt think it was important enough to pass before November.

    Styrofoam Columns , the fashonably late arrival of The Grande Dame of the Theatre. lt was a Performance of “The News Conferance” the purpose of which was to highlite the Excellance of the aformentioned Grande Dame. The reporters were there as “bit players , props” if you will , to sell the effect of reality of the Performance. You just are too plebeian to catch the nuances of High Art.

    sablegsd in reply to jimzinsocal. | June 17, 2012 at 10:52 pm

    I don’t want it passed, EVER. Give mo one good reason ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS

      sablegsd in reply to sablegsd. | June 17, 2012 at 10:55 pm

      oops.

      Give me one good reason to pander to ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS.

      Boot them all out, no more anchor babies, 2 zone border. Get caught in the red zone, get your head blown off. They WILL quit invading.

Really? This Collectivist Thug in an expensive suit(tm) is shredding our Constitution…running back on his own words…and all of us are supposed to show him obeisance?

Sorry. NOT this old grey duck. And thank GOD for Monroe, who showed the blood of the rude but free Scot.

Free men and women are known in history for their ill manners to their “betters”.

    BannedbytheGuardian in reply to Ragspierre. | June 16, 2012 at 11:45 pm

    Neil Munro was born in Ireland.

      Ragspierre in reply to BannedbytheGuardian. | June 17, 2012 at 8:22 am

      And that is a Scots name, idiot.

        creeper in reply to Ragspierre. | June 18, 2012 at 1:58 pm

        Interesting comeback, Rags.

        So what does that make Munro…Scotch or Irish? Does it really matter enough to call someone names over?

        The truth is, his ethnicity has no bearing on this at all and anyone who cites it is buying in to the separation of people into various malleable classes that our grifter-in-chief is so desperately working on.

        You know what Neil Munro is? He’s a brave man.

        Endit.

Midwest Rhino | June 16, 2012 at 10:32 pm

Obama dictated the answer … “screw the checks and balances, my decision is what is best for the American people … there will be no further questions. Congress did not agree, therefore I will mandate a solution (that will help me in the polls).”

Of course Obama is only campaigning … Rubio was going to offer a solution, El Presidente had to preempt Rubio. Obama assumes the media will cover for his anti-constitutional “heroics”.

For the idiots out there who find this offensive, I have four words, “Hold on Mr President!”

That was the phrase Sam Donaldson used on President Reagan for years and I don’t recall any of the usual suspects calling him out about not showing the President due respect.

Or Dan Rather’s blatant disrespect of President Nixon

Viva Munro!
Started ‘following’ him today.

Why?

I’m reminded of all the “People in Labcoats” sycophants in the rose garden stunt a couple of years ago.

Potted Plants?? more like ch-ch-ch-Chia Pets

Look at the bright side. He wasn’t shouting, “What about the semen on the dress?” “What’s this we hear about phone sex?” at a press conference with foreign leaders… all of which played right out on the morning news in front of my ten year old.

Ahh, for the good old days, a President who was bent on destroying himself, and not the nation.

Journ-O-listers – it’s time to take wake up. It’s morning in America, once again.

Ah, the good old days. When left-wing lunatics ruled with an iron fist. When civil rights were merely a glimmer in the classical liberal’s eye, as he hoped that positive progress would soon be his.

Obama rules by decree. It is not the place of a peasant to ask why his master would unilaterally order the immediate displacement of hundreds of thousands of his subjects. The rule of law is selective according to his whims.

Admonishments of bearing prejudice or bigotry is a modern concoction by which a minority rules over the majority without force of arms.

Besides, reporters should be seen and not heard. While the “Cheetos eater” is not an organ of the state. Quite the contrary. The state serves the “Cheetos eater.”

This is utterly ridiculous. I wonder just how cowed American have become. I suppose we will learn that answer with the next election.

Give me submission with benefits or give me death!

That said, submission with benefits will only work with an equally applied rule of law, universal participation by all citizens, and individuals capable of self-moderating behavior. Otherwise, a society deteriorates as it suffers under progressive corruption.

BannedbytheGuardian | June 17, 2012 at 12:01 am

I have been over at the left sites eg democratic underground.

They have missed the era of Statehood where nations have domain over its land
& sea. Approximately 1900 – 2012.

I do not know one nation that allows people to just Walk Right In Sit Right Down.

Try strollin into one of their dream countries eg anywhere in Africa Asia or eastern Europe !

Mark Michael | June 17, 2012 at 12:22 am

You might call it stenography. They sit there with their steno pads busily taking notes, legs primly crossed. At the end, they could ask if would be okay to read back their notes to make sure they got them exactly right. Jay Carney could verify that for them ask the President had left.

Of course, there were those Obama remarks in Sept. 2011 in which he told an Hispanic audience that he couldn’t unilaterally change the U.S.’s immigration policy. There was the matter of some laws on the books that Congress passed and the previous president had signed which he, Barack Obama, was duly sworn by Chief Justice John Roberts to uphold.

It would go beyond the duty of a stenographer to ask about that apparent contradiction in his interpretation of “upholding the duly-constituted land of the land.”

To paraphrase an earlier commenter on LI, whose sentiments are very much in agreement with mine: “Voldermont delenda est;” In the political sense only.

That delightful outcome would remove any and all objections to another episode of a Munro-like cry of freedom but not forever since that “O” type, Socialist to his or her core, live on even in the harsh light of reality’s bright sun; Greece as but one such current example.

Here’s the fool who interrupted Reagan constantly. It was the beginning of the media using Alinsky tactics.
Aw, Mr. Donaldson. You are now an old lefty who believes your own lies.
http://youtu.be/h5oA8PpgEbc

fulldroolcup | June 17, 2012 at 12:40 am

Does anyone remember how gleeful this same press corps was when some idiot Iraqi threw shoes at W?

What a bunch of …eunuchs. Including the wymyn.

The Reporters were there to be lectured to by Obama, whom they voted for — and will vote for again. As Glenn Reynolds says, if you want the Press to hold the President accountable, he has to be a Republican.

Come on. Remember Sam Donaldson? Also, I would bet that if some reporter did this to President Bush, he would be hailed for his courage, speaking truth to power. Liberals are crybaby hypocrites with principles that bend at a moments notice.

[…] Jacobson at Legal Insurrection asks that very question. When Neil Munro shouted out a question to Obama yesterday as Obama was reading a statement in the […]

BannedbytheGuardian | June 17, 2012 at 2:29 am

In Obama you have a perfect blend of Royalty & Civil Executor.

I don’t think ANY American president has ever had this demeanor There has been some selfcentric policies & actions eg Andrew Jackson but they could never be accused of lbeing Royalty.

I think a certain King George is rolling over & having a good laugh.

LukeHandCool | June 17, 2012 at 4:55 am

Oh, for the days when reporters had courage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw4xV0BMiRg

“Obama was reading a statement in the Rose Garden about his unilateral thumbing of Congress and the American people in the eye, a firestorm of condemnation erupted among media-types on both the left and right.”

Failure to seal the borders, Obama’s feckless job creation policies and rejection of Neil Munro’s valid (regardless if disrespectfully timed) question about American jobs and along with all stated above… leading into a presidential election and Obama forcing his personal (community organizer) agenda as a distraction.

-A Rosebud moment

I weep for the future of America.

Obama, if you can’t stand the light go back to your dark corner of the world.

(I wrote this with my day-glo orange tinged fingers.)

The reporters are supposed to ask questions only of Jay Carney. That way if there is anything newsworthy, Jay Carney can retract it the next day. This is known as plausible deniability. Also known as a complete waste of time.

The Washington press corps is lead around by nose rings.

theAmericanist | June 17, 2012 at 7:13 am

Professor, I don’t think you know what a reporter does.

The reporter’s job is to state the story as it happens, without interjecting himself INTO the story, much less taking it over — as Munro did, deliberately.

I’ve been a reporter (written obituaries, covered a fire, even municipal elections), and I remember well how the Sam Donaldsons and Dan Rathers of the world covered previous Presidents. Shame on you (and your commenters) for missing basic, obvious differences.

Munro heckled the President while he was making a policy announcement, having indicated that when he was done, there would be a time for questions. When Munro realized what a BIG mistake he’d made, he tried to lie about it: he thought the President was done speaking, etc.

But watching it live, it’s clear that Munro deliberately heckled the President. He interrupted the President DURING a sentence — and kept at it, when Obama tried to go on. It was clear that Munro was trying — and succeeding — to knock the President off-balance, rather than let him finish his statement and then ask his question.

Donaldson never did that. Not once. He was famous for shouting questions at Reagan while he was walking to Marine One — NOT for interrupting Reagan while he was reading a policy announcement.

Rather never did it. It’s NEVER happened before — certainly not by a “reporter”.

Professor: real reporters know, the first obligation is to get it right. You didn’t.

[…] Jacobson pointed out that a simple statement that had no questions to follow doesn’t need a press corps just a video camera and/or a […]

Please! let’s give the president the respect he deserves. Any president issuing a directive as important as this must have an audience!…..so who is dumb enough to stand in the hot sun for an hour and think they are important and that this president deserves respect…….Reporters!

Methinks that Mr. Munro came to the realization that civility in response to intellectual dishonesty, is counterproductive in the defense of liberty.

There comes a time when you can no longer stand by, with the power to change the future (even slightly) in your hands, and watch as imperious idiots fold/spindle/mutilate the truth to further their own agendas.

The shame does not fall on Mr. Munro … it falls on the President that has so arrogantly abused the public trust and yet remains unchallenged by those supposedly paid to get to the truth, that he now thinks he has the power of a king to over-ride the Legislative and Judicial Branches of our government in this way.

As of late, I’ve been doing my level best to catch one 3 broadcast network’s nightly news.

What I found was kinda shocking-

The various “reports” from field reporters start out the same-

A video clip of the subject matter with reporter voice over/narration…

Then, the reporter tells the audience “what it means

“It means…”

“This means..”

It all means…”

“This may mean…”

I was clued in one evening by missing the intro into the telecast..

When I flipped the channel, all I heard was Brian Williams say:

“We’ll tell you what’s behind it, and what it all means

    jimzinsocal in reply to Browndog. | June 17, 2012 at 10:20 am

    ^^I was just going to add to my post from last nite because I may have given the impression I agreed with Obama’s “method”. Of coutae it was politically driven. The list of what he does that isnt politically driven is about as long as the list of things a Republican can say without being labled as a racist.
    As well as some irritation with Republican Senators for their lack of help on this immigration issue, I have some bones to pick with the reporting media on the issue:

    1. I want to see the mentioned and referenced Executive Order. When I see it here? Ill comment further.

    http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/executive-orders

    A DHS Policy Directive is not..not an Executive Order so why label it as such?
    Did the mention of Executive Order push buttons? You bet it did and was the basis for a pile of commentary.

    2. Where is the backup data that suggests 800,000 people are affected by this new policy. Show me. And explain why 800K was somehow accepted on its face.

    3. Why was some info from the DHS Policy Statement ommitted from reporting? Was it more a more interesting political fight when these paragraphs are not mentioned?

    Does this Administration remain committed to comprehensive immigration reform?
    Yes. The Administration has consistently pressed for passage of comprehensive immigration reform, including the DREAM Act, because the President believes these steps are critical to building a 21st century immigration system that meets our nation’s economic and security needs.
    Is passage of the DREAM Act still necessary in light of the new process?
    Yes. As the President has stated, individuals who would qualify for the DREAM Act deserve certainty about their status, and this new process does not provide that certainty. Only the Congress, acting through its legislative authority, can confer the certainty that comes with a pathway to permanent lawful status.

    Me to media (not including Daily Caller): Do your jobs.

[…] Legal Insurrection wonders why they are called “reporters” […]

IF you write for the NYT or TIMES Mag., you are a propaganda flack for the Obami…

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/06/17/fox-news-watch-white-house-leaked-immigration-announcement-nyt-and-ti

Both house organs had big pieces in the last few days, shaping the ground for a sympathetic response to Obama’s diktat.

theAmericanist | June 17, 2012 at 10:30 am

BTW, as long as somebody is bothering to school the Professor on the much of which he knows naught, it may be useful to explain the ACTUAL phrase “not a potted plant”.

In the Iran/Contra hearings, Lieutenant Colonel North (he wasn’t even a full colonel at the time) tried to thread the needle — claiming legal authority for what he’d done, without accepting responsibility for the fact that he didn’t HAVE that legal authority (being only a lieutenant colonel), or implicating his boss, the President of the United States, in an actual crime — quite literally the sort of “high crime” anticipated by the US Constitution in providing for impeachment.

To illuminate the nature of the problem: North was claiming that he, as a White House staffer who had neither a role in the chain of command nor any lawful control over the disposal of the taxpayers property, could arrange for the sale of weapons system, the proceeds of which would not only fund a military attack on Nicaragua that the Congress had explicitly refused to fund, but also improvements to North’s own property, e.g., a fence around it. As a number of folks pointed out at the time, from a Constitutional perspective (the sort of thing a law professor might be expected to know) this was as if a President Jesse Jackson had hocked an aircraft carrier to pay for a war against apartheid that Congress refused to fund.

Except, of course, North was NOT President Reagan — and had no authority that did not derive from his job in Reagan’s White House. So the primary focus of the hearings, particularly North’s testimony, was to establish whether he did or did not have Presidential authorization to violate the law as he did. That was why his lawyer, Brendan Sullivan, constantly prevented his client — a United States Marines Corps officer on active service — from speaking for himself.

Challenged on this by Congressional Medal of Honor winner, Senator Inouye (who asked North to respond himself, to an innocuous question), Sullivan said: “I’m not a potted plant.”

An extra bit of truth for you guys, running off on a delusional partisan tangent: an example of ACTUAL news reporting was the original Iran/Contra story, broken by Andres Oppenheimer in the Miami Herald. He didn’t interrupt Reagan making a policy statement (no one ever did — not Donaldson, nor Rather: NOBODY), he just searched for the truth and reported it honestly.

You might develop that technique.

    Browndog in reply to theAmericanist. | June 17, 2012 at 10:47 am

    As someone who actually watched the Iran/contra hearings, there is but one takeaway-

    It was Oliver North’s “speaking for himself” that turned the tone of the hearings.

    What started as a mere formality, a prelude to displaying Oli’s head on a silver platter for all the world to see, ended with Oli’s walking out of the hearing room an American Hero….in the eyes of many.

    Ragspierre in reply to theAmericanist. | June 17, 2012 at 11:22 am

    “…he just searched for the truth and reported it honestly.

    You might develop that technique.”

    After reading your amazing pile of bullshit revisionism…

    I’d say you need to follow your own counsel.

    SmokeVanThorn in reply to theAmericanist. | June 17, 2012 at 11:37 am

    Oh my God, he wasn’t even a full colonel!

[…] William Jacobson, under cover of a marinade of sarcasm, presents a tasty question — he is far more thought-provoking than the dinosaur Donaldson: I agree that the President […]

[…] William Jacobson, under cover of a marinade of sarcasm, presents a tasty question — he is far more thought-provoking than the dinosaur Donaldson: I agree that the President […]

[…] William Jacobson, under cover of a marinade of sarcasm, presents a tasty question — he is far more thought-provoking than the dinosaur Donaldson: I agree that the President […]

Maybe we should call them “repackagers.”

Apparently the current US President expects them to sit quietly, take notes, and fail to effectively challenge any of his statements: that is, repackage his words. A tape recorder would be more efficient. Better yet, why not just publish the press release on the White House website, and be done with it.

If he did not have a good answer to the reporter’s question, he shouldn’t have approved the policy.

And now, the San Francisco Chronicle has been caught reprinting one of its old stories, without even enough editing to hide it.

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/06/16/sf-chronicle-reprints-2006-article-as-breaking-news-—-because-it-contained-flattering-obama-tidbit/#comment-360370

Today’s Gem: Policy Change not politically motivated. Via Glenn Reynolds at his Instapundit

http://twitchy.com/2012/06/17/this-wasnt-a-political-move-david-plouffe-fails-miserably-at-spin-attempts-on-deportation-waivers-leaks/

Of course the changes werent politically motivated. The same way Aunt Pansey’s vodka bottles flew thru the space/time continium and into her kitchen on Fridays.

Forget Donaldson and Rather, or stated differently, I’d Rather forget Donaldson. I really want to know what Sandra Fluke has to say. I am certain that she will somehow twist into a need for contraception. I personally would want to insure that she has lots of contraception. The thought of more little crybaby Sandra Flukes whining is unconstitutional.

[…] Conservative No comments yetOn Friday during President Obama’s announcement that he was thumbing Congress and the American people in the eye, Neil Munro from The Daily Caller asked the president a question! Munro’s question was […]

theAmericanist | June 17, 2012 at 5:11 pm

LOL — you guys (including the professor) need to get out more. Let’s take ’em one at a time:

1) What reporters do. You guys obviously don’t know, and are unwilling to learn. A reporter REPORTS the news — he does not inject himself INTO the news, and certainly doesn’t take it over.

2) That’s what Munro did — he interrupted the President while he was making a policy speech. Twice.

3) As another example of what reporters do — you report the facts. The fact is, Munro heckled the President. It doesn’t help you guys understand the world to contradict yourselves that on the one hand, Munro didn’t heckle the President, he was just.,, yeah, it was a mistimed question, that’s it! and then say that Obama doesn’t deserve any respect, anyway. That marks you as delusional (and is the sorta thing that officers of the court used to be taught to avoid, professor).

4) I know a bit about the Iran-Contra hearings. It is true that North “speaking for himself” made an excellent image, standing there in his Marine uniform, shot only from below or as the one lone Marine staring back at his inquisitors. You guys obviously can’t tell image from issues.

5) The ISSUE in the Iran-Contra hearings was exactly as I stated it: North had no legal authority for hocking taxpayer property. So either he flat-out broke the law (as he did, in fact), OR he could claim that he was at least partially covered by Reagan’s authorization.

6) See, this is where real reporting comes into play — at least, if you know what it IS. One line of questioning that Sullivan kept throwing himself in front of, was whether Reagan authorized North to hock the taxpayer’s property to fix up his own house: which North did.

7) THAT was the origin of “not a potted plant”.

theAmericanist | June 17, 2012 at 7:55 pm

LOL — dog, you’d be better off knowing when you’ve been schooled.

Twice.

[…] Explain to me again why they are called “reporters”?  […]

“Why are they called ‘reporters’?”

Easy. Because like good little soldiers they report for duty every time Barry-O summons them.