Yesterday’s White House presser was consumed with questions about the Nobel Committee’s decision to award the Peace Prize to Pres. Obama. Absolutely nothing unexpected or untoward about that, of course. But one reporter’s line of questioning was, shall we say, a bit over the top? Bizarre might be a better word. If you’ve watched these briefings before, you will not be surprised that the reporter was CBS News’ Chip Reid:
Yesterday’s White House press briefing was pretty lively, with, as one might imagine, plenty of questions about the Nobel Peace Prize. CBS News’ Chip Reid’s interests stood out, but not in a good way.
Reid said, “I mean, most Democrats have praised it, and most Republicans have said, ‘You have got to be kidding me — Ronald Reagan didn’t get one, but Barack Obama, nominated 12 days after he was sworn in, gets a Nobel Peace Prize.’ And the fear among some, even some Democrats, is that this is going to widen the partisan divide and make things even more difficult to accomplish on every front.”
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs tried to move on, responding, “I’ll leave the pundicizing to the pundits.” But Reid wasn’t through, complaining that the award itself may be “a partisan thing,” because previous winners include Al Gore and Jimmy Carter. Gibbs noted that Teddy Roosevelt also won, and again tried to move on.
Reid kept pushing. “But Ronald Reagan, could I just ask you to respond to that?” the corresponded added. “The man who helped bring the Cold War to an end….”
Shouldn’t national White House correspondents have a more nuanced understanding of 20th century history?
Ron Chusid longs for the days when broadcast journalists actually focused their questions on substantive issues rather than ridiculous right-wing memes.
Or, as BarbinMD puts it:
Seriously, Chip? The President’s opponents compare him to Hitler, accuse him of setting up “death panels,” of being the anti-Christ, or whatever other batshit crazy thing the lunatic of the day comes up with, while the Republican Party has been obstructing anything and everything he wants to do, but now that Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize things might get ugly? Compared to what?
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