I think Glenn and Digby say pretty much everything that has to be said about the embarrassing spectacle of the Biden Beach party for the press. And as was the case when McCain did this, I don’t blame Biden for hosting it- if it works, it works. I blame the stenographers who showed up.
I suppose the only thing that matters to me is what clever nickname will be added to our lexicon alongside tire-swinging? Towel-snapping? Water-sliding?
Dave C
I let Rahm spray me with his supersoaker, and all I got was this shitty, wet t-shirt.
Zach
Based on Ambinder’s report, supersoaking.
Midnight Marauder
Yeah, because having a water gun fight in the first place with the President of The United States’ chief of staff certainly isn’t the way to butter him up.
Geeno
Rahm Squirting?
too obvious?
RAHM BUKKAKE!
LA Confidential Pantload
Well, the wingnuts already own “luggage-lifting.”
MTmofo
Whatever you call it, it was attended by Water Weasels.
Just Some Fuckhead
Biden Time?
Dave
getting supersoaked.
asiangrrlMN
I would let Rahm supersoak me, any time. Yes, supersoaking works in that context. Good lord they sound like a bunch of squealing fanboys who just got to meet Storm in a thong or some such. I am not up on all the fanboy traditions.
Martin
When does the ‘Naked Rahm super-soaked me at the beach and all I got was this shitty blog’ go up?
robertdsc
@Geeno:
God damn, that’s brilliant!
Geeno
@robertdsc: I’m quite proud of it myself. I figure it captured both this event and the Rahm
touchedapproached me in the shower.John PM
In keeping with the entry of teabagging into the political lexicon, I propose … Waterworks.
Geeno
@John PM: I’m loving it.
The Grand Panjandrum
Oohh ,,,,, Rahmalicious!
Bill E Pilgrim
Wow. I just came from reading that at Glennzilla’s.
Sycophantic supersoakers.
He’s a supersoak, supersoak, he’s supersoaky…
PeakVT
Rahmkake? (A condensed version of geeno’s suggestion.)
Dave
Rather than bukkake: water facials.
AhabTRuler
Um, how about “rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic?”
What, it’s already been taken? Awww, nertz!
Midnight Marauder
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Co.Sign.
fucen tarmal
i wonder how much of glenn greenwald’s column is motivated by not having been invited…
but, if the pen is mightier than the sword, and the squirt gun is mightier than the pen, never bring a knife to a waterfight?
never pick a wet t-shirt contest with someone who buys supersoakers by the government purchasing order?
middlewest
Whoops, my suggestion triggers the filter. The word water plus sports.
Bill E Pilgrim
@fucen tarmal: Oh bullshit.
Accuse Greenwald of being a mean Obama hater if you want but claiming that he’s in this for the DC social rewards is just idiotic.
Brandon
Well at least they are equal opportunity whores. Since “the Maverick’s” fall from grace, they haven’t had the opportunity to embarass themselves so often. The fact that they are so easy to take bait is a bit ridiculous though. I do anxiously await the Evans column where he reveals that Jack Germond wrestled Howard Baker shirtless in Kennebunkport and how Washington was a better place back then because the administration and the press could have could be cozy and no one would report on it, because everyone could be trusted. Oh what has happened to Washington and our culture over the years?
AhabTRuler
Very little, I’d warrant, but it’s good to get a little Glenzilla-hate where you can.
Mark S.
I’m not always sure that Glenn has a sense of humor, but he had me laughing out loud at some of this:
and
Yes, I’m actually 12 years old.
ethnic mismatch comedy #644
I’d have to call this water sports.
middlewest
Godammit, Wonkette needs to be on this, like, now. Too bad Jim’s not around to catch this.
fucen tarmal
@Bill E Pilgrim:
sorry but some of that read like he would have loved to have been asked. the upside of it is, the cons on the tweet machine are taking the angle that having a party at all is an affront to the serious issues going on in this country….so if it pisses them off, i can’t hate it as much as gg
WereBear
I see it as an experiment.
Will the White House get the gushing coverage McCain got for the same effort? Or not.
Either way, we have more data.
Because if there aren’t rules about this, perhaps there should be.
Violet
I vote for supersoaking.
The big problem with this is the fact that there’s a “White House Press Corps” to begin with. The concept is ridiculous. There should be people who cover the White House, but having this inbred traveling circus that follows the President and gets invited to beach parties at the VP’s house is just stupid. These twits are so full of themselves, they have their own organization to decide on “protocol” and who’s in and who’s out.
A news release from them today gets to the real at hand after the Helen Thomas mess:
Ah, yes. The seating issue. There’s nothing more important than that. Good thing they issued a press release to let us know they’re scheduling a special meeting to decide what to do about it.
AxelFoley
@Dave C:
Show us your tits!
Libby
Pool party?
cleek
props to Greenwald for that one.
won’t change a thing, though.
the DC press corps is accountable to nobody. there is no higher level of reporter who can call them out. the Village isn’t just a village, it’s full of people who work for the news outlets where all the other reporters work. and reporters will never attack their fellow employees.
fucen tarmal
@Violet:
i see the problem, not with the faithful “establishment journalism”, but that steps 2 and 3 are missing, where their info, they transcribe or whatever, is taken by non-establishment, or anti-establishment journalists, and worked from the other end to see if the official story has holes…its not the people who document the original statement, but that few do anything with it after that….
bloggers will never have the budgets or the connections to really follow up….though they can crowd source, its still no substitute for seperate layers of skepticism.
Calouste
@Violet:
For a country that forbids official titles of nobility in its constitution, the USA has a remarkable number of unofficial titles of nobility.
Comrade Jake
I think that Greenwald column actually provides lots of perfect examples as to why I often can’t stand the guy. He has this tendency to insert these nasty slams on folks, like here:
The nasty personal aside-slams on Ambinder and Sanger really aren’t necessary to make his point. You’d be hard pressed to find a GG column that doesn’t contain something like this.
robertdsc
Jokes aside, I think this cuts into the President’s repeated laments about the media not being serious and/or covering things with an eye towards informing and not process/horse race stuff.
Martin Gifford
This material is ripe for spreading on the net, and must make it into the lexicon.
Starbursts Lowrie…
Squirtgun Henry…
What next?
It really shows what kind of world these media freaks live in. Totally divorced from reality. But people keep watching the news as if it’s reality.
Fcb
Circle-squirting.
Violet
@Fcb:
Win!
Keith
Please tell me that I’m not the only one who had an image of the Schmidt’s Gay Beer commercial when they read the description of Rahm (in white pants) spraying people with a Super Soaker.
Peter
Supersoaking was my first impulse, and it’s good. But how about just plain “squirting?” It works really well in place of “said” or “wrote” or “explained.” e.g.: “OMG!!! Rahm puts mustard on his Hebrew National!” he squirted, groping for his BlackBerry in his Vilebrequin board shorts, nearly spilling Domaines Ott on a supine Wolf Blitzer. “I need to
squirttweet this before Tapper scoops me!”cleek
Fcb wins
Midnight Marauder
@robertdsc:
Emma
Fcb: This. Also.
burnspbesq
Maybe I have a peculiar take on this because of having been a litigator, but I don’t see much here to get bent about.
If you can’t drink somebody’s beer tonight and go to war against them tomorrow, you’re not much of a professional.
demo woman
Does this mean Biden gets sprinkles on his donuts now?
Midnight Marauder
@burnspbesq:
And so you’re saying that the White House Press Corps has “gone to war” against…who exactly? And they’re going to come out asking what questions of substance and significance exaclty?
I would think this example would actually be central to your point. These people are not professionals.
Cain
I wish I could get each of these people to drink from the firehose
cain
Litlebritdifrnt
OT – but can’t remember if I had shared this with you guys. Birth of a Dragonfly.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v641/MsNick40/Dragonfly%20birth/
go to the link and hit slideshow. I am trying to get this out there right now, it is dragonfly hatching time. And every time you use a damn stupid pesticide you are harming these creatures. (I was waiting for an open thread but oh well)
JG
@Comrade Jake:
I’m just curious – you hate nasty personal slams but are a regular at this site? Aren’t snarky personal body slams kind of the specialty around here?
If not, maybe I’m just confused as to why I keep coming back.
Jennifer
…tire-swinging? Towel-snapping? Water-sliding?
Sausage-gobbling.
maya
I haven’t seen such madcap frivolity since Randy Hearst sent TR’s ball into the koi pond at Willy McKinley’s croquet soiree.
Joseph Nobles
We were young once, and supersoakers.
jeffreyw
Cooking hot dogs with napalm? Not recommended.
Recommended. (sammich pr0n)
Objective Observer
Glenn Greenwald who, of course, shilled for Jake Fucking Tapper.
LikeableInMyOwnWay
Wow. I’m shocked to learn that powerful people in Washington hold parties, and that people in the media attend them.
I am further shocked to find out that the powerful might think that seducing the press with food and booze might gain them more favorable treatment. But if that weren’t bad enough, there is the shock of learning that the press thinks that they will gain better access to the powerful by attending these parties.
It takes the breath away.
When did this start happening? 1800? I will have to look it up.
ljdramone
Frankie and Annette were laying on the sand
When Frankie got a letter from his Uncle Rahm
Said “Get Moondog and all your friends,
You’re all invited to a…”
Maude
@Violet:
@31
The WH press corps is an exclusive club. I don’t think it should exist. They play celebrity sweepstakes and get all huffy if ignored.
It would be better to have reporters who knew about say, MMS to ask questions.
The Allen Q and A is an example.
Gibbs had to explain to Chip what Allen said about the spill. Chip kept trying to do a political fandango.
I get offended when one of these prima donnas gets on radio and spouts opinions as if they were experts on a subject.
Dr. Squid
Hey Frankie, weren’t you gonna give me your class ring?
I’m afraid I can’t do that Annette.
Why not?
Because I don’t have any arms.
Larv
Annette, she wants Frankie’s ring, Frankie wants Annette’s…thing
arguingwithsignposts
@burnspbesq:
This assumes that journalism is a “profession.” It’s a craft that’s been trying to create the image of a “profession” for the last century. There is no accreditation, and it’s definitely not the adversarial system like the legal profession (although it claims to “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.” I don’t see a lot of that in the WHPC.
And I say this as someone who teaches the stuff.
celticdragonchick
@Dave C:
You beat me to it. I was going to suggest a tag of :
Raum shot me with a water gun…
Dr. Omed
I suppose that if Rahm or Biden started throwing frisbees these people would chase after them and try to catch the frisbees in their mouths. Particularly if special bandannas were handed out first.
Spaniels have more integrity.
Corner Stone
@burnspbesq:
You’re an attorney? Never would’ve guessed.
Bill H
@burnspbesq:
And a) they do not “go to war against them tomorrow” and b) they are not professionals, so I agree with you entirely.
tim
@Objective Observer:
Would you expand on that unsupported assertion, please? thank you.
tim
@JG:
My thoughts exactly.
J.W. Hamner
While many of the jokes above at the expense of political reporters are amusing, I really have trouble being outraged at this. Do we really think that making our reporters never have any social contact with people in politics would improve the quality of their coverage?
arguingwithsignposts
Somewhat on-topic, apparently President Obama used the “off-color” term “ass” in an interview with Matt Lauer. The horror!
arguingwithsignposts
@J.W. Hamner:
Possibly, but it would definitely improve their credibility outside the village itself.
Of course, I say that, and Hunter Thompson rode to the airport with Richard Nixon and drank frequently with Pat “White Sheets” Buchanan, so …
asiangrrlMN
@J.W. Hamner: To me, it’s not so much the contact, but the starfucking quality in the reports of so many of the missives from said parties. Those tweets from Ed Henry sounds like a junior high school nerd who gets invited by the jocks to a party.
Morbo
These people would have asked Nero for an encore.
SiubhanDuinne
@arguingwithsignposts #71:
I’m sure The Lady Smudge has views on the President’s transgressions . . . .
El Cid
With today’s “journalists”, if you required them to avoid social contact with the powerful, and relaying their whispers, they wouldn’t be able to understand what it is they were supposed to do, since that pretty much is their understanding of what journalism is.
Brandon
@asiangrrlMN: They really do think that they are Molly Ringwald, when in fact they are Long Duck Dong.
Brandon
@El Cid: it’s not like Seymour Hirsch or IM Stone ever broke an important story. Oh wait….
Brandon
I think everyone forgets, this is Sally Quinn’s Washington. They made her proud today. They made her proud.
arguingwithsignposts
@SiubhanDuinne:
Lady Smudge wonders why she wasn’t invited.
(apologies for the blurry photo. She has begun to recognize the cameraphone when I pull it out to take her pic)
arguingwithsignposts
A pertinent quote from “Charlie Wilson’s War”:
“As long as the press sees sex and drugs behind the left hand, you can park a battle carrier behind the right hand, and no one’s gonna fuckin’ notice.” – Gust Aravosis
Pretty much sums up the village media attitude.
Corner Stone
@arguingwithsignposts:
I read this as “apologies for the burrito”.
Pretty sure that says more about me than anything else.
Corner Stone
Ok, WTF just happened? I refreshed the page and it said “Cooking Hot Dogs with Mark Halperin”.
I am seriously fucked up at this point.
SiubhanDuinne
@Corner Stone: in another thread, someone said something to the effect that, wrt Afghanistan, “the poppies will still be around” in ten or fifty or a thousand years.
Except I read it as “the *puppies* will still be around.”
@aws: I like her when she’s blurry, I like her when she’s furry, I like her when she’s purry.
Thanks for the photo. Never enough Smudge in this old world.
myiq2xu
Cops and crooks don’t go to the same picnics.
sherifffruitfly
There are 3 “Glenn”‘s, two of them awful.
Please use last names. :)
Corner Stone
@myiq2xu: Sure they do. In New Jersey.
burnspbesq
@Corner Stone:
In New Jersey, you can’t tell them apart, unless the cops are in uniform.
Anne Laurie
@Comrade Jake:
Dunno. I try to pay attention to politics, and I didn’t know that Blitzer had actually been paid directly by AIPAC at one time, nor connected the name Sanger with the NYTimes’ soaker-hose diffusion of pro-war-with-Iran propaganda. So if Greenwald’s passing along correct information, I can live with possibility that his attitude may hurt the feelings of people like Blitzer & Sanger… who, after all, have the great consolation of being publicly seen as worthy of attending Joe Biden’s beach parties.
fubardaddy
One word – ‘embedded‘. if it works for the military, it surely works for the politicians.
joeyess
Apple-Bobbing.
tavella
@Litlebritdifrnt: Lovely pics! Love the way the wings inflate.
brendancalling
“committing journalistic bukkake” sounds right to me, especially with all the squirting imagery.
atlliberal
To play devil’s advocate:
Does anyone really think that this party will prevent these reporters from using the new Republican talking points while questioning the White House?
It’s a problem when the reporters become so chummy with the white house that they are no longer critical or objective in their reporting. Judging from the right wing talking points I hear at every White House briefing, I don’t think that is a problem with this White House.
georg
Arriving after the party’s already over but did not want this thread to pass w/o someone complimenting you on your skillfully deployed Dead Milkmen reference.