2fer, TAPPER the tool-baiter. And past marital strain for the OBAMAs (Richard WOLFFE)

[UTUSN]

I'm not "getting" Gawker: The other day they were feuding/not-feuding with Keith over the radio waterboarding thing, gigging him while saying they agree with his stance on waterboarding. Today they stick it to TAPPER for "baiting" wingnuts, or they mock wingnuts for biting, AND they sum it all up with sticking it to tool-TAPPER. Seems like they're on the other side of *every* side?!1



**********QUOTE********
http://gawker.com/5276843/jake-tapper-baits-wingnuts-with-obamamuslim-story-wingnuts-bite-hard

Jake Tapper Baits Wingnuts With Obama/Muslim Story, Wingnuts Bite Hard

ABC News' Jake Tapper, seemingly bored silly on a flight to Riyadh, or maybe just experimenting to see how many links he could get from wingnut websites, published perhaps the most imbecilic article in the history of journalism on ABC.com.

With a title, "The Emergence of President Obama's Muslim Roots," that just pathetically screams "please link to me Matt Drudge," Tapper regurgitates a slew of widely-known facts about Obama's family's Muslim faith, slaps a provocative title on the piece, and repackages the whole thing as some sort of breaking news story in conjunction with Obama's trip to the Middle East. ... ....

Predictably, the right-wingers are hysterical over this. In addition to the feature link on Drudge, there are at least four Free Republic posts on it that we saw, not to mention postings in just about every other conservative gathering place online. Just Google "the emergence of Obama's Muslim roots" and see for yourself. Or better yet, go sample some of the comments on Tapper's post. They're amazing.

As for Jake Tapper, we can't put our feelings for him into words much better than Daily Intel's Jessica Pressler did back in March of this year.

"There are only a handful of people who live up to the sophomoric term 'tool' quite the way ABC reporter Jake Tapper does. For starters: His big break was selling out the story of a date he had with Monica Lewinsky. He dated a Miss America contestant, once called a college-age reporter a 'pussy' and, at the beginning of his career, reportedly handed a Salon reporter a wad of his chewed gum, telling her it would be 'worth something someday.' We're not trying to be mean or anything, or saying he's a bad person. It's just true: The man is a tool."

Yep, that about sums it all up rather nicely.




http://www.nypost.com/seven/06032009/gossip/pagesix/obama_marital_strain_172354.htm

OBAMA MARITAL STRAIN

LONG before he turned his attention to stimulating the economy, Barack Obama had to take care of a few issues at home in his marriage to Michelle. During a rough patch in 2000, "There was little conversation and even less romance," writes Richard Wolffe in his new book, "Renegade: The Making of a President." "She was angry at his selfishness and careerism; he thought she was cold and un grateful," writes Wolffe, who covered Obama's White House campaign for Newsweek. "She hated the failed race for Congress in 2000, and their marriage was strained by the time their youngest daughter, Sasha, was born. Politics seemed like a waste of time to Michelle," the book says. But the couple seem to have put any past issues behind them -- "Today things are much better," Wolffe noted on "Inside Edition" yesterday.

********UNQUOTE********






THE PROBLEM WITH A DISCLAIMER is its coming off as defensive, especially when it's preemptive. Trouble is, it's damned if do/don't: NOT including it first results in the predictable problems.

DISCLAIMER re: linking to the NY Post (for to head-off highly predictable, OT/hijacking posts):: Yes, it is a RAG. Yes, it is owned by NewsCorp/Faux's MURDOCH. No, he doesn't Dictaphone content to his gossip columnists. No, "gossip" does NOT equate to "UNtruth" (OR with "triviality" for that matter). These old time gossipers are more journalistically reliable than Tweety and such ilk. Frequently, political tidbits are here first, later to show up in more "respectable" venues. Keep friends close, enemies closer. Cherrypicking intel results in self-fulfilling FALSENESS. I got hooked on these gossipers when they were on the
E!1 network and, when they were cancelled, tracked them down and they happened to be at THE RAG (NY Post). ALL I read at THE RAG are the gossip and the horoscope. On Edit: If this disclaimer is NOT ENOUGH, if you don't like this o.p., PLEASE just click OUT without leaving your any-further-a(doo-doo)!1

[babylonsister]

1. Name me one person in a committed marriage who hasn't felt

any kind of strain at one point or another, for whatever reason.

This is 'molehill' politics, making mountains out of molehills.

Some people need to get their own lives.

[rurallib]

2. and they stayed together and worked it out unlike

"family values heroes" such as Newtie and Rushie. Or have an affair like Sarah.

[supernova]

3. If that's true about the Obamas

it makes their date nights more poignant.

And it all sounds very normal over a long marriage.

[Buzz Clik]

4. Please, DU -- give us a Tabloid Forum for whisper campaigns.

[UTUSN]

5. I don't know what more to do beyond the Disclaimer, but all the tabloid is doing

is quoting a journalist, the same one who was on Tweety last night smirking about a confrontation between Hillary and OBAMA.


Also, as for making a molehill, and naming any couple who *hasn't* had some kind of rough patch: Uh, actually, I would have named the OBAMAs from everything I have seen of them ever since I first saw them.


You know, many/most posts like mine are JUST for information about what's out there. It doesn't mean it's a big deal OR that I agree with what I've linked OR any number of other things it doesn't mean.


You COULD just let the thread sink like a rock and let it be done!1 (I don't feel THAT much snarked upon here!1) :hi: