"Members of the Fourth Estate:

[Bertha Venation]

I called you here today to tell you your reign is over."

Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, joking with reporters today during a FleetCenter microphone check.

[Cerridwen]

1. Yessss!

That hit my funny bone just right.

Thanks.

[Fenris]

2. Brilliant.

[el_gato]

3. The first order of business

throw michael powell out of the FCC

[bryant69]

4. Well, first I think they are going to have to work out how the phones work

But that would be a good early move. Aren't all agency heads required to submit resignations?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[WVRevy]

5. That's ok...

....'cause judging by the "quality" of most US press, very few of them are well read enough to have gotten the joke anyway.

[newyawker99]

9. Hi WVRevy!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[jean]

6. Whoa! A soft shot across the bow!

[Kolesar]

7. Deanics say that when Howard attacked the press, they skewered him

I don't think we were all in agreement on this one, and I did not observe it myself. However, those that were glued to the coverage saw a moment there when Howard attacked the press and they started attacking back mercilessly.

[BillZBubb]

13. Of course when the Chimperor attacks the press,

they shower more praise on his "decisive leadership".

[Joanne98]

8. First three estates

In one sense, the composition and powers of the States-General always remained the same. They always included representatives of the First Estate(clergy), Second Estate (lay nobility) and Third Estate (commoners), and monarchs always summoned them either to grant subsidies or to advise the Crown, to give aid and counsel. Their composition, however, as well as their effective powers, varied greatly at different times.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_States-General

The Fourth Estate


Primary meaning of the term
In Carlyle's On Heroes and Hero Worship (1841), he writes, "... does not... the parliamentary debate go on... in a far more comprehensive way, out of Parliament altogether? Burke said that there were three Estates in Parliament, but in the Reporters Gallery yonder, there sat a fourth Estate more important far than they all." <1> (http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/carlyle/hero5.html)

This was not Carlyle's first use of the term. If, indeed, Burke did make the statement Carlyle attributes to him, Burke's remark may have been in the back of Carlyle's mind when he wrote in his French Revolution (1837) "A Fourth Estate, of Able Editors, springs up." <2> (http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/european/TheFrenchRevolution/chap39.html) In this context, the other three "Estates" are those of the French States-General (Burke, as author of Reflections on the Revolution in France, could have had in mind precisely these three Estates, or the three referred to by Henry Fielding in the quotation below.)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_estate

[Walt Starr]

10. Teh fellating mediawhores

will lose access to the White House.

count on it.

Faux News wil be shut out.

No interviews for Candy Crowley, Blitzer, etc.

New people who are real journalists will have to be hired.

[LunaC]

11. Christiane Amanpour and Helen Thomas

Please report for duty and go directly to the head of the line.

Oh, to have REAL journalists again.....<sigh>

[in_cog_ni_to]

12. Man, I hope you're right.

The media needs a good ass kicking and Kerry is the guy who can do it.

I figure, around October, if it looks like Kerry will win, the media will start kissing his feet....like THAT would make a difference. I hope Kerry remembers what these people have done for the last 4 years. Make them pay!!