Kerry goes one month without a news conference despite criticism of Bush

[Kadie]

Kerry goes one month without a news conference despite criticism of Bush

NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, September 9, 2004


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(09-09) 11:03 PDT DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) --

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has gone one month without having a news conference in spite of his pledge to hold one every month as president and his criticism of President Bush for rarely taking questions from the media.

Kerry's availability to the press has decreased steadily as more media have begun following the presidential race. His campaign advisers have been trying to keep him focused on the planned daily message instead of issues that interest reporters.

Likewise, Bush campaign officials have made plain they do not intend to allow the president to do anything that would knock him off message at a time when they believe he is riding a post-convention wave. They were stung when his interview with NBC's "Today" mushroomed into a three-day story after Bush said the war on terrorism cannot be won.

On Thursday, as Bush's press secretary fielded questions from reporters on Air Force One, the president stood about 10 steps away chatting with aides and watching the scene.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/09/09/politics1403EDT0619.DTL

[Newsjock]

1. Nedra Pickler strikes again

Need we say more?

[LuminousX]

2. Nedra is a liar, August 9th was last press conference

and September isn't over. Kerry promised monthly press conferences, not a press conference every 30 days.

[JI7]

3. Kerry is not President, yet he is held to higher standards than the chimp

[RevCheesehead]

4. what's a Nedra, and why would anyone Pickle it?

[bluedeminredstate]

5. A month is 30 or 31 days

This nitpicking hag goes into spasms if Kerry goes 32 days without holding a press conference because he promised one a month. Her attitude is "That lying bastard!!"
Now I don't know if she's aware that the WH press corps has nothing to do because Bush gives a press conference about once a year, but they are the most underemployed people in the country because this administration anwers to no one.
I'd like to see a little more indignation about the fact that Bush doesn't speak to the AMERICAN PEOPLE who employ him!

This is like watching a repeat of the whipping Gore took in the press...

[frank frankly]

6. oh my god is she the WORST writer out there?

He isn't President, yet!

:puke:

[bigtree]

7. Bush's Distaste for News Conferences Keeps Them Rare

By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 7, 2003; Page A20

The extended questioning of the presidential news conference was a regular exercise for all presidents of the recent past. But President Bush has turned the tradition into a rarity, both because of his distaste for the format and his staff's determined message management.

At the same point in their presidencies, President Bill Clinton had held 30 solo news conferences (that is, without a foreign leader at a twin lectern) and Bush's father had held 58, according to research by Martha Joynt Kumar, a Towson University political science professor who specializes in presidential communication.

Communications director Dan Bartlett said this White House uses news conferences more sparingly than other types of presidential events, because "if you have a message you're trying to deliver, a news conference can go in a different direction."

"In this case, we know what the questions are going to be, and those are the ones we want to answer," Bartlett said. "We think the public will see the thought and care and attention he's given to a lot of the different questions that are being asked about the diplomatic side and the military side and the potential post-Iraq issue. These are all legitimate questions that he has answers for and wants to talk about."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A53542-2003Mar6?language=printer