Maureen Callahan
The New York Post
3/3/2013
As coverage of last week’s flare-up between Bob Woodward and the White House devolved into the granular parsing of words and implications and extrapolations and possible intent, the larger point was roundly missed: the increasing pressure that White House correspondents feel when dealing with the Obama administration — to follow their narrative, to be properly deferential (!), to react to push-back by politely sitting down and shutting up.
“The whole Woodward thing doesn’t surprise me at all,” says David Brody, chief political correspondent for CBN News. “I can tell you categorically that there’s always been, right from the get-go of this administration, an overzealous sensitivity to any push-back from any media outlet.”…
…“I had a young reporter asking tough, important questions of an Obama Cabinet secretary,” says one DC veteran. “She was doing her job, and they were trying to bully her. In an e-mail, they called her the vilest names — bitch, c–t, a–hole.” He complained and was told the matter would be investigated: “They were hemming and hawing, saying, ‘We’ll look into it.’ Nothing happened.”
Read the entire article at The NY Post.
Stay classy!
H/T Weasel Zippers and Blazing Cat Fur (At least he didn’t threaten to put her in a binder) Corrected
Related: From October 2008: The Coming Obama Thugocracy
…Today’s liberals seem to be taking their marching orders from other quarters. Specifically, from the college and university campuses where administrators, armed with speech codes, have for years been disciplining and subjecting to sensitivity training any students who dare to utter thoughts that liberals find offensive. The campuses that used to pride themselves as zones of free expression are now the least free part of our society.
Obama supporters who found the campuses congenial and Obama himself, who has chosen to live all his adult life in university communities, seem to find it entirely natural to suppress speech that they don’t like and seem utterly oblivious to claims that this violates the letter and spirit of the First Amendment. In this campaign, we have seen the coming of the Obama thugocracy, suppressing free speech, and we may see its flourishing in the four or eight years ahead.
Read the whole thing.
Perino: Media Rallied Behind Woodward When Bush Admin Criticized Him
In an appearance on Fox News, former Bush White House Press Secretary Dana Perino noted that when the Bush team tried to push back against Bob Woodward’s reporting, it “failed miserably” because the media rallied behind the iconic journalist.
Yet now, after harsh words about Obama, Woodward is being treated like a pariah by that same media…
NBC’s Lauer Dismisses Woodward: ‘I’m A Little Surprised You’ve Gone Public With This’
Journalists unthreatened by Obama aides demand to be threatened too by Andrew Malcolm
Update: More Reporters: Oh Sure, the White House Abuses Us With Bullying, Profanity, and Actual Threats All the Time! But they’re very non-judgmental about it….
