Jake Tapper Hits The Buffet For Seconds!

Back in April, we couldn't resist the sight, of ABC's Jake Tapper, in his role as water carrier for the Bush Grindhouse, and NeoNitwits, standing up, proudly, for torture, when we wrote "Jake Tapper Liked His Shit Sandwich".

Apparently, that tasted so good, he's hitting the line for seconds, as fearless (or feckless) Jake is head-butting the Obama Whitehouse, proudly hauling the buckets for Faux News, in the newly launched war against that "Fair and Balanced" (or "Fairly Unbalanced) network.



From Eric Boehlert, on MediaMatters;

Jake Tapper can't figure out how Fox News is different from ABC News?

At Tuesday's White House briefing Tapper seemed completely baffled, and quite insulted, by the White House's claim that Fox News is not a real news organization. Tapper demanded WH spokesman Robert Gibbs back up the claim [emphasis added]:

Tapper: It’s escaped none of our notice that the White House has decided in the last few weeks to declare one of our sister organizations “not a news organization” and to tell the rest of us not to treat them like a news organization. Can you explain why it’s appropriate for the White House to decide that a news organization is not one –

(Crosstalk)

Gibbs: Jake, we render, we render an opinion based on some of their coverage and the fairness that, the fairness of that coverage.

Tapper: But that’s a pretty sweeping declaration that they are “not a news organization.” How are they any different from, say –

Gibbs: ABC -

Tapper: ABC. MSNBC. Univision. I mean how are they any different?

Gibbs: You and I should watch sometime around 9 o’clock tonight. Or 5 o’clock this afternoon.

Tapper: I’m not talking about their opinion programming or issues you have with certain reports. I’m talking about saying thousands of individuals who work for a media organization, do not work for a “news organization” -- why is that appropriate for the White House to say?

Gibbs: That’s our opinion.

Boehlert added "But Tapper is stumped. He can't figure out how Fox News is different from ABC News. (Psst Jake, I wouldn't say that too loudly around David Westin.)"

Holy Cow!

I'm surprised that Tapper wasn't wearing a diver's wet suit, to be carrying that much water for the dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds over that at Faux News.

Alex Pareene, over on Gawker;

But now, once again, Jake Tapper is a hero to the right-wing blogs. Because he knows that it is the objective reporters job to always object, to everything. If the President says the ocean is quite large, it is heroic reporting to demand that his spokesman acknowledge that outer space is even bigger.

Maybe we need to call in Denzel Washington, to explain, "like he was a four-year-old", to Tapper, the difference between ABC News and Faux News.

This video, from MediaMatters, might help.

Fox News: A 24/7 Political Operation



Bon Appetit there, Jake ...

Yeah, Why Not!

We should have run this yesterday, it would have fit nicely with the Jake Tapper riff.



The title of this post signals our taking an affirmative position on the question Ana Maire Cox asked this past Sunday;

Why We Should Get Rid of the White House Press Corps

Yet too often, the White House briefing room is where news goes to die.

Name a major political story broken by a White House correspondent. A thorough debunking of the Bush case for Iraqi WMD? McClatchy Newspapers' State Department and national security correspondents. Bush's abuse of signing statements? The Boston Globe's legal affairs correspondent. Even Watergate came off The Washington Post's Metro desk.

[Snip]

But putting a horde of reporters on the site where the big decisions about the country's future are made is no guarantee of enhanced coverage. Instead of heaping more telegenic reporters into a single White House beat, break up the work among the corps of plugged-in journalists. When the president speaks out on AIG, let financial and labor reporters truth-squad him; when North Korea launches a missile, let defense and Asia specialists assess the White House reaction. Let the beleaguered journalism business prove its worth by providing something you can't get by watching the White House's YouTube channel.

Now, I feel confident, that in just writing this piece, Ana Marie ruffled a whole flock of feathers.

But it is not far-fetched, that some Managing Editor looks at this proposal, says "Hmmmmm", that would certainly be one way, for a newspaper, or television network, to, how-should-we-say, stand above the crowd, a bit.

We know of, at least, one White House correspondent, that won't be sad to leave the post, as it is likely, he would have been replaced at the next Presidential News Conference, anyway.

I mean, even the guy who writes the obituaries could probably come up with better questions.

Ain't that so, Chuck Todd?


Bonus Riffs

Top Ten Cloves: Reasons President Bush Decided Not To Be Funny At WHCA Dinner

WHCA Dinner - Hey, Check That Guy For A Pulse! ...Rich Little ... Frank Dell ... Frank Dell ... Rich Little