Donovan Slack
Politico
12/4/2012
President Obama met with a litany of liberal media personalities on Tuesday to push his tax cut message.
Spotted filing into the West Wing were Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, Ed Schultz and Al Sharpton.
The meeting was not on the president’s public schedule and White House officials initially declined to comment on the meeting. They later issued a statement to POLITICO:
“This afternoon at the White House, the President met with influential progressives to talk about the importance of preventing a tax increase on middle class families, strengthening our economy and adopting a balanced approach to deficit reduction,” spokesman Josh Earnest said.
The Obama administration conducts regular briefings of reporters from different media markets, but this did not immediately appear like such a briefing. According to White House visitor records, O’Donnell, for example, has not attended such briefings before.
Update: Videos from Freedom’s Lighthouse”
- David Gergen on “Fiscal Cliff” Negotiations: “I think the Democrats are the Ones who are Really trying to Rub it In and almost Humiliate the Republicans”
- Jake Tapper to Jay Carney: “You are Aware that when He was a Senator, President Obama voted Against Raising the Debt-Ceiling?”
More at Twitchy: MSNBC’s primetime lineup, other ‘progressive journalists’ summoned to White House love fest
Also, Fiscal cliff negotiations the opportunity of a generation to stop further tax hikes. The GOP negotiates like clueless little girls.
Update 2: Twitter: White House Feed “Similar” To Andrew Sullivan, Paul Krugman, WaPo, NBC…
Whoever programed Twitter’s algorithm deserves a raise. Via Weekly Standard: According to Twitter, the official White House Twitter feed is similar to those belonging to The Washington Post, blogger Andrew Sullivan, liberal New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, NBC, and Chris Cuomo (the brother of New York Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo). Keep reading…