wanker of the day: Ari Shapiro

[phantom power]

So here's Shapiro (of NPR, no less) outright admitting that he expects the WH to cooperate with his desire to continue reporting the bullshit both-sides-should-negotiate-better narrative even as the radical GOP Reps burn the fucking country down around us. Fuck you, Ari, you wanker.

Yesterday I wrote about how there would be no need to come up with creative metaphors for Republican hostage-taking behavior if the press would simply call it out for what it is. Of particular interest was this amusing yet baffling incident from the White House press avail:

But it was "ransom" — a word Obama has used repeatedly to describe Republican negotiating tactics — that struck the last press corps nerve. The usual briefing room decorum, such as it is, broke down entirely when Carney said finally that Obama would sign a debt-ceiling extension but not if it meant "paying a ransom" to Republicans.

"The president will not pay ransom for ... " Carney began.

"You see it as a ransom, but it's a metaphor that doesn't serve our purposes ... " NPR correspondent Ari Shapiro shouted back with broad support from other confused reporters.

...

Shapiro thinks he's quite clever, cutting through Carney's supposed obfuscation to get an "honest" answer. But he isn't.

Shapiro insisted against all reason on framing the issue as a "negotiation." He wanted to know whether the White House would "negotiate" with Republicans over the debt ceiling. Carney did exactly what he ought to do, which is deny the premise of the question. The very use of the word "negotiate" in this context is leading the witness. As well might Shapiro have asked pointed questions of Keanu Reeves about whether he would or would not "negotiate" with Dennis Hopper in Speed. The premise is ridiculous. Even if they're talking and making deals under the table, the correct public answer to that question is "we can talk as soon as he disarms the bomb." Because you don't negotiate with terrorists, at least not publicly.

As much as Shapiro desperately wants the issue to be about a "negotiation", it isn't. He thinks he got to the "truth." In reality, he got bad journalism that only further serves to mislead the public about the radical nature of the GOP's gamesmanship.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/just-call-ransom-ransom-its-not.html

[phantom power]

1. Kick. Because he's still a wanker.