Wonkette
Hey does anyone know what the hell is going on with the media? Did all professional journalistic reporters catch idiot cancer overnight? Here we have the Washington Post’s Lois Romano, a fine reporter usually (we guess?), landing an interview with Robert Gibbs. A GOOD JOURNALISTIC OPPORTUNITY. And the two questions she asks immediately… well you know what those are going to be, don’t you?
First this Washington Post reporter asks why Obama did not call on any “major newspapers” during his press conference, GAHHH! Wait. No! She says, “President Obama turned the longstanding press conference tradition on its head last night by, uh, bypassing the major newspapers. What do you think about the reaction to that?”
Just no self-awareness at all, no idea how this looks, no idea that no one, except the political reporters for four newspapers in the United States, in any way cares about this. And this is just going to get so, so much more grating over the next few years as more people stop reading 24-hour-old news physically printed on oversized sheets of tree pulp.
(Although ha ha isn’t it funny that the Washington Times was actually cursed by getting to ask a question, because now everyone just says that “no major newspapers” or “no newspapers” were called on? The Reverend must be FURIOUS! His reputation COMPROMISED!)
Anyway, Gibbs more or less tells her that no one cares, fine.
Then, Romano’s second question, actual quote: “The teleprompter changed last night. What was that about? It’s a big Jumbotron now.”
WELL LOIS THERE USED TO BE TWO SMALLER SCREENS ON EITHER OF HIS SIDES, AND THEN ON TUESDAY THERE WAS JUST ONE BIG ONE STRAIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. HE WANTED TO LOOK STRAIGHT AHEAD INSTEAD OF SIDE-TO-SIDE. WE KNOW IT’S HARD TO UNDERSTAND BUT THAT IS WHY.
Robert Gibbs also yells at her, for asking stupid questions. This teleprompter stuff, and the fact that every level of reporter is talking about it… really, just how does that happen? There is no more controversy in the use of a teleprompter than there is in the use of a microphone. “Did you hear that Obama uses a microphone, because his supposedly ‘great speaking voice’ isn’t LOUD enough, like an IDIOT?” That’s going to be a New York Times front-pager in a few months at this rate, just you watch. Even believing the chain e-mail Muslim conspiracy rumors is more valid than finding controversy in a teleprompter. Really!
Voices of Power [WP]
I cannot wait until the NYT, WaPo, ABC, CBS, and NBC go into well-deserved bankruptcy. I never thought I’d see the day when the finest journalistic institutions in the US America are a non-profit hippie Communist thing (NPR) or owned by Rupert Murdoch (WSJ).
Yeah, well, can a teleprompter bring together all the gullible retards in the world for a coming together of all the meaningful inspirations in the cosmosphere and bring about a fully integral lifestyle available for you at an introductory rate of Several Thousand Dollars? Hengh?
http://integrallife.com/group/state-world-forum/event?utm_source=IL&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SOWF
Asshat.
Th-that’s not oratory we c-can believe in, my friends.
This is bullshit. If they were real journalists, they would be asking about what Sasha and Malia are REALLY up to. LIES. ALL OF THEM LIES.
Oh and why isn’t anyone asking about the use of a teleprompter?
jagorev: Excepting, of course, the WSJ editorial page, which is even more hopeless with wingnuttery than before Murdoch took ownership.
I am beginning to understand why these people were offended by the Special Olympics joke.
Sorry I have to repeat this, but let me just get this straight:
“President Obama turned the longstanding press conference tradition on its head last night by, uh, bypassing the major newspapers. What do you think about the reaction to that?
So, the question isn’t what do you think of the president calling on the not-NYT, WashPost, etc….but what do you think of the reaction to his not calling on them. That reaction being primarily from the major media outlets themselves. I’ve got Robert Gibbs on the line, but enough about you. Let’s talk about me!
OK, I’m finished.
I just want to slap her once.
Just slap her real good.
Also Acorn, such as.
Nobody asked about the bulge in Obama’s jacket being a hidden mic so Joe Biden could feed him question responses? Ah, no, my bad.
I don’t think I should implicate the many people that live in Washington
I lol’ed. No, dumbshit, it’s not Washington’s fault. It’s just you brain dead fucktards in the press who wouldn’t know an important, relevant question if it dressed up in high heels and garters and bit you in the ass.
He’s so awesome in that video– the only way he could be more awesome is if after the teleprompter question he went, “You see? This is why the President has stopped calling on you. Step it up, losers.” Then walked out. And then Ed Henry could write them an Op-Ed about “What REALLY happened.”
Jesus fuckbeans I want all these fuckers to suicide by ham immediately. This is the worst, dumbest shit in the history of existence. I want all the teleprompters to become self-aware and rape the entire press corps, starting with Ed Henry, then Chip Reid, and so on down the line.
Also, perhaps the profit margins of the various news organization should be posted on signs above their seats, using black or RED, RED-LIKE-BLOOD, ink.
This teleprompter shit is really infuriating, but seriously, if this is their most damning criticism of Barry, we liberals can rest easy. I’m surprised Cantor hasn’t made a federal issue out of Brit Brit lip-synching yet. That is waaaaay worse than using a teleprompter.
Barrett808: It does make great birdcage-liner, if you want your birds to get a contact high from Peggy Noonan’s words.
roberts gibbs exhibited far greater restraint than i would have. that woman might as well have been wearing as sign that read “i’m an idiot, punch me in the face,” and he didn’t, i’m truly amazed. lovely dig though about not lumping all of the poor people that are forced to live in DC with the villagers, into the supreme idiot category. someone needs to just flat out tell these asshats once and for all, that the rest of america doesn’t cry when their feelings are hurt, everyone’s life is really not fucking about you.
I’d hit it.
I note that The Stars & Stripes is a newspaper, too; albeit a dippy little tabloid that makes the NY Daily News look like the International Herald Tribune.
Why does the WaPo’s Lois Romano hate our troops?
Mr. Press Secretary, what do you say to those who charge that the President is thinking about issues before he is asked questions about them? Isn’t it unusual for a president to rely on prior thinking, or what some might call “preparation”, or even “research”, when speaking to the American people? I’m just playing devil’s advocate here.
Also, he responded directly to citizens’ questions online, instead of giving the answers to WaPo first, the horror.
Concentrate on what the man says, not the manner in which he says it.
This is my new favorite tag btw.
OMG. Teleprompter!!! This is news, SHEEPLE! We need a president who speaks well from the heart, like Dubya.
Stupid fucktards.
Michelle Bachmann doesn’t need no stinking Prompterzzz. She’s a REAL ‘Merican!
Or as Jesus’ General opines:
“I’ve suspected all along that he uses teleprompters for a different reason: to assist the Global Amish Conspiracy in achieving total domination of international political and economic systems. Now, I have the scientific evidence to prove it (well, not exactly scientific–I’m not possessed by demons–it’s more scientificesque…you know…like creation science).”
And he has photographic proof:
http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2009/03/investigative-report-obamas.html
What is Obama gonna do when he goes from grey to bald because of stress?
USE A SAVALASPROMPTER!!!!
Try the tuna, I’ll be here all week.
I’d say that’s the last one on one for the WashPo for a long time. Her fellow reporters must LOVE her.
Kev-O-Tron: Is Barry planning to make Teleprompters the new currency? Like a dime bag now costs you two teleprompters and half of Ed Henry’s balls? ‘Cause I’m down with that.
I think this might be the next freeper/wingnut focus for tomorrow. Barry’s dear old Aunt who’s been living in Boston public housing is still fighting her deportation.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/24/back_in_boston_obamas_aunt_fighting_deportation/
Michelle Malkin and the freeper forums have their heads exploding over this ILLEGAL ALIEN!!!
You people inspired me to just start being nasty and egging on the morons who post on the Boston Globe. Because they make me angry. And I really can’t post things like “Go eat a bag of dicks!” because they report me.
I have to watch the clip again. I couldn’t focus on anything but the monster zit in the middle of Gibbs’ forehead.
I hope after 8 years of Obama, this us the worst they come up with. Our evil muslin TelePrompTer preznit.
Teleprompter. For fuck’s sake, this faux-hysterical, pee-wee league culture war idiocy is beyond “bottom of the barrel,” it’s “using a high powered microscope to find a single atom embedded in the bottom of the barrel.”
You fucking mongoloids. It’s not that you can’t figure out Rove’s schtick, it’s that it doesn’t work anymore beyond a small group of toothless meth heads and paranoid cretins masturbating to your fat drug-addicted slothlord…
Teee3LePrOO00oo∞∞ººººººººººººººººº∞∞oo00OOmPtErZZZZZzzzzZZZZZzzzz!!!!!11!!!!!!1!!!!1!!!!!?
I’m almost feeling pity right now, for the cavemen who let the word pass their drool-slicked lips. Almost.
Violenza: I like to hear him weigh in on her fake boobs as well, but I’m sure he did not notice.
comradepaulson: Win.
Q: “You’re saying this is all Washington beltway stuff?”
A: “I don’t think I should implicate the many people who live in Washington.”
pwn3d.
With journalist this lazy, is it any wonder Politico owns the news?
What about the BIRTH CERTIFICATE. MSM CONSPIRIACY!!!!!!!11!!
teebob2000: The only thing I miss about the Bush years is Dana Perino’s dominatrix presence at the press conferences. This dude’s not cutting it for me: I want our presidential flacks to be lady-folks, lithe and terrifying.
Hey, you think he got a hummer from Lois out of this deal? Looks like she’s ready to go!
Gibbs, next time you meet Romano, stare her down with your third eye.
teebob2000: This is what happens when newzpapers try to do TV… they forget the
makeup and soft lights.
The only thing the press will take away from Hideous Hairdo’s interview with Gibbs is:
“Um, I GUESS America’s a great country.”
You wait and see….
I’m going to kickbox Lois Romano too, after K-Lo, also.
Me? I was up all night after the press conference worrying about the TelePrompTer. Thank God at least one representative of the Fourth Estate still has the common weal at heart.
Hey — leave the bottle! A**hole bartenders….
What does Obama call Michelle when she speaks dirty to him in bed?
A TALLYWACKERPROMPTER!!!!
O dear, I’m beyond help.
hockeymom: Yeah, after this and the steroid debacle from the first presser, the WaPo is officially persona non grata at WH press conferences.
Expect them to run a Pulitzer-winning “expose” about the nefarious White House plot to ignore dumb journalists, sometime in June.
I can only assume that somewhere in the course of eight years of being George Bush’s bitch the WH press corps caught a fatal dose of The Stupid.
Good god.
The idiot cancer! It’s spreading!!!1!!
Christ. They’ve been eating retard sandwiches again.
WadISay: If only it were fatal. But no one in The Village has ever lost a job on account of being infected with “The Stupid.” In fact, they like to spread the exposure around, so that people who previously seemed smart now become infected and irreversibly stupid. (See: Todd, Chuck).
Apparently, we’re all Ed Henrys today.
The media’s barely pent-up stupidity exploded the week that Stewart was on break. That man should be on call for events like these.
So when do we get to read Lois Lame’s self-conratulatory behind-the-scenes expose on how incredibly daring she was to ask such tough questions - not to mention how thick the sexual tension was between she, Gibbs, and his third eye?
Was her third question about Michelle’s arms?
Prommie: oh how I had missed the “such as”. Also.
comradepaulson: I also like the part where Gibbs says, in effect, that is one stupid question, and you are a massively ignorant tool, and she smiles like a dope and bobs her head in agreement.
And the MSM, particularly, WaPo and NYT wonder why people don’t take them serious anymore. They had 8 years to do some serious reporting and let the chance go. Yet, it good to see that they still not interested to doing their jobs.
She never got the Special Ed memo.
Custerwolf: I agree, Lois had a come-hither smirk on her face. She’s definitely a Cougar, preying on young interns in the WaPo.com web design team.
I see Robert Gibbs’s alter-ego as the Masked Avenger Wrestler. HAHAHA! SMACKDOWN! *SLAM*
Gibbs was only slightly less incredulous at the stupidity of her Qs, than Geithner was at being grilled by batshit crazy Bachmann about changing the US currency. Kudos to them both for not laughing outright in their faces, shaking their heads & walking off.
I like this guy Gibbs. He is so much easier to listen to than Dana Perino, Tony Snow, Scottie Mclellan or Ari Fleischer. Then again, he has a lot more to work with.
Who cares. If my name is not in it I won’t pay a dime or twelve dollars for it.It’s over when olds won’t buy it.
Teleprompter, schmeleprompter!
I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to hit someone with a bat, but when Lois Romano asked IMPORTANT QUESTIONS in that smug, nonchalant voice about teleprompters and “major newspapers” I really really came close. God bless Robert Gibbs. He manages to tell morons to SHUT THE FUCK UP without raising his voice or going full Biden. However, I think I would like to see someone slap the shit out of these idiot reporters. The teleprompter meme really is crazy. Truly. And that’s saying a lot because the mouth breathers have already been irate over Birth Certificates, Acorns, Flag Pins, the Pledge of Allegiance, and Ameros.
Lisa, please, get with the times! Everyone knows that NOOBAMA uses a teleprompter, but WHY didn’t you ask about the communist Manchurian candidate sleeper cell Muslim terrorist encrypted Islamic messages Chinese-made teleprompters are sending to the microchip the Russians installed in NOOBAMA’S brain in 1984?! The American people NEED TO KNOW THE TRUTH!1!
Well, Lois, the President needs the teleprompters and the Jumbotrons because without them he becomes as inarticulate as Bush was.
Duh!
Someone on this board said this is what happens when newspapers try to be like television.
Actually, this interview just proved that newspaper reporters can be even DUMBER than teevee people.
Jes sayin.
I noticed Lincoln went from placing each page of his speech at the bottom of the stack once he was finished reading with turning the finshed page over and starting a second reverse stack…
What’s up with that?
Really? Seriously? What the FUCK goes on inside our so-called corporate media centers these days? What are the marching orders? I imagine a meeting room with editorial managers saying shit like, “All questions about Iraq, the economy, and health care are now off the table. We have GOT to get to the bottom of this teleprompter controversy.” And then every brain cell left over from the Ethics in Journalism undergrad classes taken long-ago by the anchors and reporters quietly lower ropes down from the ears of same, climb down, and escape with little tiny backpacks for parts unknown.
Hmm, you ask stupid questions, people don’t call on you or your type. Simple.
The bit about not wanting to accuse DC of having that level of retardation by proximity was brilliant.
I wish Nixon would come back from the dead. He would have loved kicking these twits to the curb one by one.
Lois Romano, pack up your shit and report to the Lifestyles desk, please; I don’t care if “Ask about teh teleprompterz!” were your marching orders or not; if you don’t have better sense than to know when to override your programming, you deserve to write about whether one’s hobo barrel should hit above the knee or at mid-calf and which flavor of Fancy Feast goes best with Sterno.
Lois’ favorite song: I am a retard, hear me roar
OBAMA USES A TELEPROMPTER
TELEPROMPTERZZZZ
You know what - if this is teleprompter thing is the biggest controversy going on with Obama’s administration - that is not a bad place to be. Let the journalists and wingnuts obsess over it while real work gets done.
Can I just say that I LOVE Gibbs. He is always finding a way to tell a reporter that they are being a ridiculous asshat and he does it with that wonderful southern accent and a smile.
And can I just say, that by paying attention to the news and politics this year, I mean REALLY paying attention, has made me realize that most “journalist” don’t give two shits about doing their actual job. I mean, I can literally make a list of asinine stories, rumors, and innuendo that mainstream press covered this past year, without shame. And now, within the past two days, CNN’s Ed “I got bitch slapped by the Prez” Henry readily admitted, in a poorly written article about himself no less, that he went into the news conference thinking of ways to “create” news instead of thinking of ways to…i don’t know..educate the public!!!!! And now, we have this goober from WashPo putting the paper’s sour grapes on blast for everyone to see. p.s. Lady, I don’t give a rat’s ass if the Prez didn’t call on your stupid paper!!!! And the teleprompter? Really? This Lady is lucky that Gibbs didn’t tell her to go suck a fat one and come back when she acts like she has a few brain cells.
Moses smell the roses.
Perhaps if these alleged journalists had not spent the past eight years acting like Bush’s little bitches they’d be called on in class a bit more by the new headmaster. They seem unable to grasp that they have no credibility with anyone anymore. Also.
I’m sorry. These two can talk as much as they want. All I see is a red mountain on his forehead.
youknew: “I just want to slap her once.
Just slap her real good.”
…and so he did, in his own adorable way!
Gibbs is turning out to be a really good Press Secretary, even though I am still wondering what the hell the deal with the hatchet job on Howard Dean was back in 2004.
All the news that’s fit to print:
http://news.google.com/news?pz=1&ned=us&hl=en&q=teleprompter
So the MSM weiners who didn’t get called on are going to pick up the wingnut meme of teh evil Telepromterz from Outerz Space and beat the Preznit over the head with it because he ignored them.
Bunch o’sillyass school girls.
Has MS journalism not realized yet that the Revolution is coming after them too as well as Wall Street, Big Oil, ConAgra, Gitmo, etc. etc. etc.?
Too bad this woman isn’t doing the Live Politics Chat on WaPo tomorrow. We could flood her with questions about TruckNutz and the new “One World” currency.
Looks like the Robot is taking over too!!1!!1!
http://baracksteleprompter.blogspot.com/
WAKE UP PPEEPLE THERE IS MORE TO THIS NOOBAMA THAN WE KNOW THAT IS WHY HE UZES TELEPROMPTRZ AND CANT SO MUCH AS ORDER CHICKN AND WATERMELON WITHOUT HE ASKS THE TOTUS FOR THE PHRAZES IS HE EVN AMERIKKKAN WHAT DO WE REALLY KNOW ABOUT HIM
johnnypantalones: Jesus fuckbeans
Thank you for the funny! I’m going to add that to my arsenal, if you don’t mind.
Pat Pending: Ethics in Journalism undergrad classes
The what? Not at my school where I majored in communication (concentration on magazine writing, of which I have done zero.) There was an elective on journalism law but ethics? Ha ha ha, yeah, as soon as the business & law schools make ethics mandatory there.
The real issue though is that there shouldn’t be journalism schools, classes or degrees. People who want to work in the media should actually learn something in college, like history or economics or something that gives one an ability to understand what’s going on in the world.
I learned more in a couple years working at my school’s paper than I did in all the stupid journalism classes I took, which were a total waste of time. We used manual typewriters & learned to edit using the old-fashioned editing symbols IN 1988 FOR FUCK’S SAKE. I walked from class where we used manual typewriters to the school paper offices where we used computers.
Journalism ain’t rocket surgery. Journalists are just reporters who wear ties (or skirts.) The idea they have of themselves today, at least in DC & the major networks, is ludicrous. Peter Jennings dropped out of high school, which is pretty much all you need to know about journalism education. It was pointless in his time & it still is now.
But why is Ms. Romano wearing a choke-chain like a Doberman Pinscher? And who is the Media-Whisperer?
She was working up to her killer Q about Andrew Cuomo’s hairpiece.
i just want to join the other 100+ comments here, along with the long ranting, shouting artice, to say that i, also, dont care bout the teleprompter issue. i was going to comment on the story on aids or darfur, but im much more interested in commenting on this story, and how stupid reporters are nyuk nyuk gsp gasp bgosh head smack lol funny funny.
however, i DO care that some other people care about it, and that some other people care about not caring about it, enough to make the biggest thread on wonkette of the entire year. almost.
what is this censorship? let me repost.
i was going to post a comment on a darfur or aids story, but this story seemed so much more important.
after all, if our journalists are asking questions about teleprompters, who is going to stop them? bloggers that is who. because bloggers care about what is REALLY important, namely, smacking down journalists.
if it werent for the 100+ comments on this blog post, who would know about the horrible situation going on in the white house briefing room, with all the reporters asking question about teleprompters? its incredibly important that we all focus on this, and write about it, so that ‘we never forget’, and that we can never allow this to happen again.
I miss Ari Fleischer. And that hot crazy girl Dana Perino.
http://democralypsenow.blogspot.com/
decora: yeah, whatevs, troll. it’s not even the bigget thread on wonkette today, let alone this year. now, if you excuse, i have to go solve darfur. brb!
decora: I would like you to know that I am personally offended by your post. Not once - and I mean NOT ONCE did you mention that glorious zit on Gibb’s forehead. Agent of change indeed.
I just fuckin’ love this interview. The questions are as follows:
1) Why didn’t Obama call on all us super-important newspaper reporters at the news conference?
2) Why does Obama’s fancy teleprompter hate America?
And if the fanciful reporter lady had thought about it, for basically two seconds, she might (probably not) have realized that the existence of the second question was the answer to the first. Of course, it’s a good thing she didn’t think about it too hard. Such introspection could only have led to the realization that she is a pointless trollop.
decora: You are so right! If Wonkette, the innernets’ most earnest and strident voice for social justice and basic human rights, is distracted by such a petty thing as the media’s inability to do their fucking jobs, then all is lost. Why, it’d be like Nate Silver talking about numbers or Gawker getting caught up in some gossipy bullshit instead of continuing its crusade against land-mine use.
Also, you’re a moron. And such.
Newell, you used my word in the subhead. Preach it, brother. Preach it.
foog: I of course meant to say “Also, you’re a moron. Such as.” but forgot to turn my fucking teleprompter on. Boy is my face red.
problemwithcaring: I guess Politico winning the morning is like winning the 100-yard dash at the Special Olympics. Everybody got points just for trying, but Politico at least managed to run 100 yards in the wrong direction.
I hate to be the one having to bring this up, but why is Gibbs not in better shape by now? I thought the Commander In Chief was also Coach-in-chief, as in “hit the gym fatty”?
Accordion-o-rama: That’s the most depressing thing I’ve seen all week…
hobospacejungle: True. I took Broadcast Law back around the same time you were doing your undergrad stuff. And no, never put any of this shit to use. Still, we did discuss ethics and other useless shit. And you’re right; who really needs a ‘Journalism’ degree? Pretty useless. I just had a very clear vision of The Last Brain Cell That Cared rappelling down from some Faux News talking head via the ear canal and leaving the building. Sheez…
Hooray For Anything: Cheer up, at least the second one was Bob Cesca being a vulgar asshole about the whole thing.
Hey guess what - the newspapers are actually being very caring to us. They know they’re dying, and want to spare us any feelings of loss or separation. So they are making us hate them, so we won’t be sad when they wander privately into the swamp and ditch themselves. It’s touching, really.
The teevee morons just don’t have the sense not to imitate them.