Michelle Malkin » Obama hand-holds Huffington Post blogger, snaps at dissident reporters

Obama hand-holds Huffington Post blogger, snaps at dissident reporters

By Michelle Malkin • June 23, 2009 01:28 PM

I noted on Twitter and in my live-blog of Obama’s press conference that the president called on/coached HuffPo’s Nico Pitney in an obvious, pre-planned question on Iranians communicating through social media and the Internet.

The question itself was unobjectionable and Obama’s response was so bland and rambling I don’t remember it.

But what was noteworthy was Obama’s embarrassingly obvious and patronizing coordination of the question. I have no love for the HuffPo people (and vice versa), but really, was such schoolmarm-ish hand-holding by the White House necessary?

Via the Politico:

In a clearly coordinated exchange, President Obama called on the Huffington Post’s Nico Pitney near the start of his press conference and requested a question directly from Iran.

“Nico, I know you and all across the Internet, we’ve been seeing a lot of reports coming out of Iran,” Obama said, addressing Pitney. “I know there may actually be questions from people in Iran who are communicating through the Internet. Do you have a question?”

Pitney, as if ignoring what Obama had just said, said: “I wanted to use this opportunity to ask you a question directly from an Iranian.”

He then noted that the site had solicited questions from people in the country “who were still courageous enough to be communicating online.”

“Under which conditions would you accept the election of Ahmadinejad, and if you do accept it without any significant changes in the conditions there, isn’t that a betrayal of the — of what the demonstrators there are working towards?”

Reporters typically don’t coordinate their questions for the president before press conferences.

Snort. Just wait until the ABC News health care infomercial tomorrow tonight…

***

Meanwhile, Obama snapped at a McClatchy reporter who had the audacity to ask him about his cigarette addiction in light of the recently passed FDA tobacco regs.

Obama sarcastically chastised the reporter for asking a “cute” question, then argued that the new regulations don’t apply to him, but to “future generations.”

In other words: Do as he says, not as he smokes.

Also targeted for Obama snappishness: Fox News reporter Major Garrett (for asking “What took you so long” on Iran) and Jake Tapper (for a non-respectful question on health care reform).

Posted in: Huffpo, Iran

Printer Friendly

comments (101)

trackbacks (24)

See what others have said

Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.

Trackbacks

Trackback URL

Comments

« Older Comments

#727059

On June 23rd, 2009 at 6:45 pm, Jet Jaguar said:

On June 23rd, 2009 at 5:51 pm, lgm said:

Salt said (#75):

Is your argument that since he did not coordinate his question with Fox it was perfectly acceptable to do so with the Huffington Post?

Yes, sort of (insert waffling snark here). It’s OK because he explicitly and deliberately made it clear exactly how the question had been coordinated. He wasn’t trying to fool anyone. And it’s OK because it was the only coordinated question — as the question from Fox helps to show (snark about logic here).

lgm,
You are doing better. I can tell that you are trying to engage and that’s good. Remember, though, that you’ve conditioned us to react badly to your posts. So you need to consider everyone’s questions and comments regarding your posts a bit more thoughtfully. Don’t assume such a defensive pose when someone responds to you. Again, this will be hard for a few weeks, but things will get better. Think of this blog as a constructive dialog where all of us can exchange ideas and learn something new.

You need to be a bit more clear in your posts – not so obtuse. Many times, we can’t make the leap between your words and what is going on in your mind. This is meant as constructive criticism. I believe it is a left brain / right brain issue. One side of our brain intuitively knows things while the other side is more logical. Many times people have difficulty expressing themselves in speech or writing. Their “intuitive” side is surging with certain belief, but it is lost in the translation by the “logical” side as written words. We write something down to show others. To us, it is compelling evidence of what we know, deep down, as the “truth”, but to others, it may appear as nonsensical gibberish. This causes frustration with other posters. You can see evidence of this frustration in some responders to you. Don’t be so ambitious to get everything in your mind on an issue out in a single post. Pick one facet that you feel is a worthwhile point and stick with that. Keep it simple. Before I post anything here, I try to think of exactly what it is that I am trying to say, what point I am trying to make, and to be prepared with evidence in defense of my position. I am not always successful at this as I want to be. I also must be willing to concede a point when I realize that I haven’t thought things through well enough. It’s hard and it is sometimes embarrassing, but we’ve all been there. It’s part of the game. Plus, we must all put the truth above everything else.
#727060

On June 23rd, 2009 at 6:45 pm, Big Hammer and Anvil said:

It was doubted by Ole Swoop and Poop that the Narcissist in Chief would ever stoop to this tactic, well per politico:

UPDATE 2: Knoller, again via Twitter: “Huffington Post’s Nico Pitney says the WH called him this morning and invited him to ask his Iran questions at the news conference.”

UPDATE 3: Pitney says the White House reached out about his Iran coverage, but only said it was possible he’d get a question.

From Update 2, one must ask, in particulair, whose question?

From Update 3, possible he’d get a question? Yeah right. What are those odds?

Something the little girly mathematician can understand:

The Narcisisst in Chief is as rational as Pi and as read as i!
#727061

On June 23rd, 2009 at 6:46 pm, Big Hammer and Anvil said:

read = real
#727097

On June 23rd, 2009 at 7:54 pm, blues said:

Ahhh’ shoot. I thought it might be Perez Hilton
#727124

On June 23rd, 2009 at 8:49 pm, rightisright said:

have the three dissident reporters been seen at their local reeducation camp yet?
#727206

On June 24th, 2009 at 12:39 am, lgm said:

Salt said (#85):

So, what’s the point of asking the Huffington Post to ask the question? Why not just make the statement?

Obama knew that the Huffington Post reporter would have a question from Iran. Obama did not know the question itself. He wanted it to be asked and answered in the normal way.

(Maybe this isn’t true, but we don’t have any evidence that it isn’t. I don’t think Obama is a saint or above lying.)

Lastly, and more out of morbid curiosity, what part of my previous post to you was snarky?

Your post isn’t snarky. I write “(insert snark here)” to discourage people (not necessarily you) from putting in obvious snark and focus on the content of the post.
#727210

On June 24th, 2009 at 1:05 am, Member-VRWC said:

On June 24th, 2009 at 12:39 am, lgm said:
I write “(insert snark here)” to discourage people (not necessarily you) from putting in obvious snark and focus on the content of the post.

Anytime I focus on the content of your comments, the only possible response is snark.
#727225

On June 24th, 2009 at 2:50 am, RetFireman said:

What I found just hilarious is that the HuffPoo guy and Der Fuhrer couldn’t even get their lines right.

Der Fuhrer sets the guy up, then the idiot drops the ball, and rather than ad-lib to match what Der Fuhrer said in his set up, instead he rattles off the lines he had been given by the White House to say.

Then, once the investigation began to expose these two outrageously blatant frauds, they STILL could not get their stories correct and, at last reading, there were three updates with three different explanations/excuses from either HuffPoo or The White House.

Another thing: The media is making a big deal about how “Obama comes down hard on Iran and rebukes them” or similar garbage and nonsense.

Sorry, but Der Fuhrer still said a good deal of words without actually saying a damn thing. Stating that it is bad to shoot and beat your own people is not exactly the same as rebuking them and making them realize that the whole world watched them murder innocent people for the crime of demanding that they be heard and that their vote be counted.

It is impossible to make the claim that he “came down hard” on the Iranian Government while still saying any and al members of their government are invited and still welcome to attend any Embassy 4th of July party they happen to be near.

The brainwashing of the Obamabots and the whitewashing of his Administration continues in ways that even the Mullahs in Iran are jealous of, and Kruschev would be green with envy of.

There is no investigative journalism anymore. The people who were claiming thadmin. iress were all cheerleaders for the Bush Admin. in the lead up to the Iraq War now find nothing what-so-ever the matter with the way the press treats Der Fuhrer, and in fact encourage them to continue down this propaganda path that the MSM has been on since Der Fuhrer announced he was running.

When this buffoon finaly is exposed and is brought crashing down, where will these alleged journalists be? What side will they be on? Or will they, in fact, continue to stay behind the wheel long after this disaster has jumped the freeway?
#727377

On June 24th, 2009 at 11:01 am, tiredofit08 said:

On June 23rd, 2009 at 2:14 pm, maine yankee said:

Tonight will be my last evening to watch ABC. (if there’s anything to watch)

I will tape the ‘infomercial” just as I do the Superbowl–just to see the sponsor’s ads.

Those who buy ads on the show will have seen my last purchase.

It’s not a boycot. It’s a vote. (with my wallet)

I may even consider doing it to anybody who advertises on any ABC show.

I won’t even dvr it…how about posting the adverts for us so we can all take our $$ elsewhere and let them know exactly why we are walking away from them….thanks!!!
#728267

On June 25th, 2009 at 1:17 am, PKAmmoTroop said:

Obama has ABC in the Blue Room and HuffPo in the master bedroom. How many more ~~brown nosing suck ups~~ reporters can he fit in that building?