Bush family hosts White House reporters (private off-the-record dinner)

[sabra]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1151&slug=Bush%20Press%20Dinner

Bush family hosts White House reporters

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CRAWFORD, Texas -- President Bush played host to the White House press corps Thursday night for a private off-the-record dinner at his ranch.

The casual affair of fried catfish, potato salad, coleslaw, homemade cheese and chocolate-chip cookies followed a tradition in which Bush and his wife, Laura, have the press covering his annual August vacation out to the their ranch in central Texas as a sort of thank-you.

The event was not held last year because of the busy campaign season. The invitations to the reporters were issued on the condition that they not discuss conversations at the event

[Mabus]

1. They forgot to mention the new batch of Kool-aid

I wonder if JimmyJeff ever went to one of these?

[sabra]

2. I hear he likes sleep overs...

[longship]

3. Hmmm. The Menu.

The casual affair of fried catfish, potato salad, coleslaw, sodium pentathol, homemade cheese and chocolate-chip cookies followed a tradition in which Bush and his wife, Laura, have the press covering his annual August vacation out to the their ranch in central Texas as a sort of thank-you.

Interesting menu.

[stillcool]

8. Was that for the Bushes or the press?

[longship]

9. You pick.

It would make for an interesting mealtime conversation.

[Jackpine Radical]

14. Here, George. Take a couple of hits on this Pentothal bong.

[LittleWoman]

32. Looks like a recipe for diarrhea. NT

[thecrow]

68. Do you mean.... WHERE"S THE BEEF!!!?!?!?

Cattleman rancher afraid of horses... pfft!

[anotherdrew]

4. I'd be very afraid to eat the meat

lord only knows who it was

[msongs]

5. real reporters would not attend such a prostituting event nt

[NYC]

Doesn't seem right, does it?

[Mabus]

22. I'd like to know who the reporters were

and what the criteria was for an invite. Inquiring minds want to know.

[Cha]

59. Someone could surely

Sleuth that out. And see how they write about the bushwa.

[stanwyck]

60. me, too.

The Bushies have been very careful with the press. Was Helen Thomas invited? Paul Krugman? Jay Bookman? Eric Alterman? Arianna Huffington?
Or just the lapdogs.
Bush works for us. He's an elected official.
We have a right to know.
Afterall, we're paying for all that catfish and coleslaw.

[LiberalFighter]

70. Bet Bob Novak was there or his protégé

[kodi]

73. absolutely right. its shameful. any objectivity they allege is bullshit

real reporters remain apart from the stories they report upon, but in this case this should itself be a story.

fucking media whores is all they are.

[brentspeak]

6. "...as a kind of thank-you."

Says it all.

[MO_Dem]

16. That's what I was thinking.....

"kind of a thank-you" FOR WHAT?? For being good stenographers? Talk about CHEAP!

[xxqqqzme]

26. that and for being good little

whorporate pimps in the 98 degree, 97% humidity in fucking AUGUST in the central texass armpit.

[Pirate Smile]

7. How lovely. I guess we should pay attention to the spin tomorrow.

It may be especially hard right.

I wonder if "off the record" he still likes to make jokes about "searching" for the WMD in Iraq with the press. Are they in the brush? hee hee hee. :eyes:

I'm sure Karl will be in attendance.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

10. How appropriate that they served catfish to the WH press corps

I wonder if any of them felt cannibalistic dining on a bottom feeder. :eyes:

[Spinzonner]

11. Trust there to be something fishy even with a Bush party

[LastDemocratInSC]

12. That's a conflict of interest

I grew up in a small town in the South and the father of one of my best friends was the editor of the local morning newspaper. He had a rule - no reporters socializing with politicians, ever. No dinners with politicians, no wine and cheese receptions with politicians, no socializing with politicians, period.

The reason for the rule was simple: It's difficult for a reporter to skewer a person with whom he has recently broken bread, and every reporter must be ready to skewer at any time. Socializing with politicians was a barrier to the truth, and my friends's father wouldn't stand for it.

I suppose those days are gone.

[antonialee839]

19. With this gang no bread was needed

a simple nickname bestowed by the killer frat boy has been enough
to have this bunch slobbering all over his shoes.

[tblue37]

31. In most traditional cultures you must be careful not to accept or

extend hospitality to someone who might become an enemy, because the rules of hospitality forbid acting against someone whom you have broken bread with. Sure, people break such rules all the time, and did so in the past, too, but even today most people sense that there is soemthing wrong with violating the rules of hospitality.

[Robb]

40. My, er, friend who writes for a newspaper...

:eyes:

Anyhow. Bread is broken often. But the understanding is clear from the get-go: nothing, nothing is "off the record." "Off the record" is only a way to get background to make you interview with someone else go better.

The public seems to think if someone says "By the way, what I just said is off the record" they've got some kind of get-out-of-being-an-asshole-free card. Start from the beginning with an understanding and go from there.

There was a time when what to publish was all about "will this serve the reader?" That's actually how we got to not publishing names of sex crime victims, by recognizing the name will mean nothing to 99.999% percent of readers, for whom the newspaper is written, and will harm one person badly. That's called understanding why the newspaper is created, and being human.

If you're an asshole in private, and it actually wouldn't serve the readers to know this, a good paper wouldn't go with your asshole-ness.

But guess what: if it would serve the readers, you're in print. Nothing should be "off the record." To my experience it's a cheap way to not have to remember how to spell someone's name.

[dutchdemocrat]

44. Hmm.. do we really need rolling eyes?

I found in the past that it's a chess game... as a reporter you are constantly running into politicians at all kinds of events and they are an important source. However, good reporters will leverage information against politicians in order to squeeze info or a response out of them... whether they like it or not.

Nothing worse than a politicial saying, "no comment" when it comes down to it. They know it and we know it. However, I was never ran into controlled conditions such as Bushco has put into place in terms of press conferences.

Perhaps the smear machine is all too powerful in the US now. I don't know. But I agree with the ethics of the poster's father whom you 'roll your eyes at' and have never arranged any 'off the record' gigs with any politicians over the years I covered the Caribbean for local, regional and international papers. Objectivity was the root.

[Robb]

49. Sorry if I was unclear

I was not disagreeing with the "nothing is off the record" ethic. Merely trying to disguise the reporter's identity. ;)

[Pithy Cherub]

13. Access to bush & Catfish et al, is what the media sells its soul for?

To be able to say "they"/media got an invite and keep the corporation they represent in good * standing is why they sell out. Their producers and management reward this type of behavior as well. More access, more time to sell or hide as need be necessary news. But hey, let a blonde go missing at this bush fish fry and all hell will break lose.

Is it worth it, to a whore, yes.:shrug:

[LiberalFighter]

71. Only gw*dipshit is off the record but not the Catfish...

They could say they heard the catfish make the remarks

[KittyWampus]

15. will they be giving out $ envelopes to the reporters as party favors?

[NVMojo]

17. America, get ready for the lastest Rove spin on who we are, what we

are going to do ...he hasn't been just sitting on his ass on vacation! He's been meeting with this base. The haves and the have mores....

[Carolab]

18. I heard it on Ed Shultz today that the RW is saying * has a "PR problem"!

Ed was on some RW radio show with some idiot named "Jack" who insisted this was so...Ed said, "NO, Jack, it isn't a PR problem; it's a POLICY problem".

So I guess they are trying to get the "press" to help them with their PR problem.

[Straight Shooter]

20. Wait a minute. Didn't the White House say it ISN'T a vacation?

Did they not issue a statement earlier today that the reason bush is in Crawford is not for a vacation but because of renovation in the White House?

Anyway, whatever. Whores getting fed catfish and chocolate by their pimp. BFD.

[catzies]

21. Ok. Fine. But if I can't know what was said, I want to know who was there.

Am I allowed to ask that?!

[Mabus]

23. and was there an empty chair for Judith?

Did they pour some moonshine off the back porch for their homey in prison? LOL

Seriously though, I'm with you. Who was there?

[slay]

25. No kidding - did they have the decency to wear paper bags on their heads

to hide their shame? :mad:

[demgrrrll]

24. Has anyone read Digby today? He nails the press to the wall

Atrios linked the post tonight. Very sobering article about how the press chooses or does not choose to report certain things.

[Lindacooks]

27. Homeade CHEESE?

Bleh, there's no way I would EVER accept homemade cheese from chimpy. You never know where that came from; after all, he thinks he can milk male horses.

[Ilsa]

63. What, like homaemade mozzarella?

Or is the cheese in the choc chip cookies? You never know. In Texas, people put cheese on everything. I have to request that they leave the cheese off.

[pacalo]

28. "A sort of thank-you" = $brown evelopes$ as party favors?

[Lilith Velkor]

54. That and off-the-record death threats to their families

[WCGreen]

29. sycophantic courtiers.... at your service

[In_The_Wind]

30. Just GREAT ! Bush family hosts White House reporters! Party on Bush.

never mind that people are dieing ...

I wouldn't even trust President Bush to make the decisions about dinner.

[bitchkitty]

33. Who made the cheese? Made in whose home?

For some reason that really sticks out, and is slightly sickening.

[fasttense]

34. He'll meet with reporters but under no circumstances will he meet

with grieving mothers of dead soldiers. Got to keep the lines clear. Reporters will provide good spin in exchange for a few hours of idle chatter, grieving mothers who don't support his political cause are useless.

[Mad_Dem_X]

36. Hey, he has to get on with his life!

And that includes throwing a little thank-you party for his obediant lapdogs in the press!:argh:

[Vinca]

35. I'd be curious to know whether this is a ritual during every vacation

or if Shrub is overtly trying to gain favor.

[Mad_Dem_X]

37. I think the article said this is a "tradition"

for the Bushes. That says it all.

[tanyev]

38. I think it has been a yearly ritual at Crawford, but I wish

the "journalists" would say thanks for the invite, but it really would be improper for me to attend.

[0007]

39. These are the "Embedded" scum that pervert the wishes

of this crime cabal.

[matcom]

41. homemade cheese and chocolate-chip cookies???

never had cheese and chocolate-chip cookies :puke:

must be a Crawford thing :shrug:

[Dr Fate]

50. Probably cream cheese- like cheese cake. n/t

n/t

[Kool Kitty]

67. Homemade cheese?

Is this what the First Lady is doing these days? Gang outreach and homemade dairy products?

[GoBlue]

42. But he's not on vacation...

Scotty's vacation replacement said so. I guess the White House Reporters stenographers don't read their own BS.

"The casual affair of fried catfish, potato salad, coleslaw, homemade cheese and chocolate-chip cookies followed a tradition in which Bush and his wife, Laura, have the press covering his annual August vacation out to the their ranch in central Texas as a sort of thank-you."

[AlCzervik]

43. The press can be bought really cheaply these days. Shame on all of them.

[alkaline9]

45. I bet shrub acts all primadona-ish...

...just like the people on that show on MTV "Sweet Sixteen". And enters the room on a bed carried by half naked women, only to be applauded by his friends in the media. I wonder if they will get a DJ or a real band to enlighten them with some music while they dine and dance the night away?

Honestly, what would you give to be a fly on the wall? And to see what actually goes on at one of these "thank you" (aka: here's the money, keep them articles coming) events.

[sabra]

46. LOL. Welcome to DU!

[alkaline9]

47. thanks, happy to be here :-) nt

[54anickel]

48. It's what he does best - comes off as a likable guy. As much as we

all loathe the man, he can put on the charm with those who do not have such a visceral reaction to him. He needs the bump, the press has begun to get just a bit hostile lately - not enough in our opinion, but enough that he's hurting in the polls big time.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

51. WWHD?

What would Helen (Thomas) do?

Not nosh with Bush, I suspect.

[Puglover]

52. This craven irrelevant corrupt presscorps

should all be very proud of themselves. They have turned our country into a facist corporate state. I hope they enjoyed their catfish.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

53. I hear the same press has been hanging out a lot at Camp Casey.

Bet they were invited to partake of some truly delicious and imaginative meals that I hear the Camp's cooks are good at creating. I bet there were comparisons.

[troubleinwinter]

55. They sold their souls for catfish?!

[PurityOfEssence]

56. We'll give you anything you want if you keep going along with us...

...and if you don't, we'll destroy you.

[Supersedeas]

57. Fresh Kool-aid and not any semblance of impropriety...not at all

[Cha]

58. What did they drink?

KOOLAID?!

[stanwyck]

61. Did Jeff Gannon

provide the entertainment?
Or did "journalist" Dennis Miller do his anarchronistic stand-up? Maybe some Clinton blowjob jokes?
This little picnic reeks of flopsweat.
The Bushies are in full desperation mode.

[BrightKnight]

64. What happens in the Bush house stays in the Bush house.

I heard a rumor about a horse.

[Ilsa]

62. Catfish? Oh yeah, they're really pulling out all the stops, huh.

ALot of people get sick on catfish. I think it's the junk they feed on the bottom of the tank or lake or whatever that makes people sick. I haven't eaten it in fifteen years and i have no regrets.

[peacetalksforall]

65. No matter what the weather, not matter that is is Texas, no matter that it

takes place on a 'ranch' - we know that Bush put on his ermine trimmed robe long enough for Candy Crowley to kiss the bottom trim from her prostrate position.

Because I have no respect for her or CNN - I take nothing back.

[ourbluenation]

66. Who was at it? Who was at it? I want names! eom

[Corgigal]

72. That's what I want too

Names. Someone got to spill the beans and tell us who was there.
Of course I can just watch major network and cable news and probably guess it correctly.

[niallmac]

69. It's supposed to be OUR press not theirs.

Once upon a time a reporter was an average income joe who asked questions and reported from the working citizens point of view. Now they are media personalities with nice DC apartments and invites to all the in crowd soirees. Maybe that's good, maybe that's bad. All I know is I don't trust their independence and objectivity anymore. If they go to a cat fish dinner then I get to go and that means they report their to me their experience and impressions. I don't like this kind of playing private footsie under that table with my nemesis.

[sakabatou]

74. He has time for a press diner and still no time for Cindy

[cyr330]

75. Guess what the press wad doing?

They were sticking their tongues up *'s asshole with delight and fawned over him while he bitch slapped them repeatedly