Matthews just commented to Chuck Todd that Obama hates the press - notoriously.

[gateley]

Todd was nodding in the affirmative. I've never heard that nor gotten that impression -- have you?

And don't discount this just because Tweety said it, Todd agreed and it's fair to assume that's the general impression around the press.

[Joanne98]

1. Everybody hates the press.

[gateley]

7. Well you DO have a point! :-) nt

[Robb]

8. LOL

Nailed that. :D

[tinymontgomery]

15. Amen sister or brother

I can't stand them (unless it the wonderful people on DU)

[Demoiselle]

16. I certainly hate them. They've been dumbing down our discourse and blurring

the facts for a long time now. I think they resent Obama for the same reason they hated Clinton. Because he's clearly so very much smarter than they are.

[Jennicut]

2. Yeah, because he doesn't backslap them and call them cutesy nicknames.

Ever since 2000, when the press mercilessly picked on Al Gore, I have detested the mainstream DC press.

[TwilightGardener]

3. In Obama's defense, I remember a "journalist" asking him what he thought

about Palin's deep thoughts on nuclear weapons. I mean, :wtf:

[babylonsister]

4. He doesn't give press conferences often, ergo he hates them. That

sure doesn't explain the access lots of 'journalists' have been given, including Todd, to write their Obama books and fatten their wallets on his 'hatred'.

[JBoy]

5. I heard him say something like that the other day, too. I don't see it myself

but there may be a kernel of truth to it. Or perhaps Obama doesn't treat the media with the "respect" Tweety thinks they deserve.

[Cha]

17. The "press" has their narrative and their sticking to it. tweety's email..

Chris Matthews [e-mail]

[KonaKane]

6. That's nonsense.

Obama has already held more conferences than Bushie did in the same time period, is at ease and even good stride with the press, and isnt the one who did everything he could to avoid a press question like his predescessor.

I dont know what Tweetie is smoking, but I sure want some.

[spanone]

9. i'm tired of chuck todd's shit...report the news chuck...that's your fucking job.

[blogslut]

10. Translation

Obama refuses to play their reindeer games.

[EFerrari]

12. Or, he and his team have competing games.

In any case, doesn't this sound just like the middle school, "guess who broke up today at lunch time"?

[blogslut]

26. I agree, it's petty

But I grew up around journalists and many of them never got over their high school resentments.

I love the way Obama messes with them. It reminds me of those pilots that fly over flocks of penguins just to watch them fall backwards in unison.

I think it's good for the media to get yanked around. It wakes them up.

You know what really made the WH Press Corps turn on Bush? It wasn't the war. It wasn't the insolence. It wasn't the unchecked spending. It was the day there was some big threat (2005 maybe? the season of big threats) in DC. The Capitol was cleared. The VP was swept way to his secret bunker. Everybody was informed - except the White House Press Corps. I wish I had video of it but I remember the next day's presser vividly. David Gregory was mad. April Ryan was mad. They were all so very mad because all the legislators were taken to places of safety but those poor reporters were forced to hang out in the basement, clueless.

[gateley]

28. You may be right - their egos got bruised, feelings hurt. Taking it personally. nt

[AndyA]

11. And why wouldn't Obama hate the press? For that fact, why wouldn't

the majority of Americans who know what's going on?

Today's "press" doesn't just present the facts of the news. It feels it must interject opinion into everything, and very often what is opinion isn't labeled as such.

For instance, take the entire Faux News network. The whole thing is propaganda, backed by a psycho millionaire who just wants to put Republicans in office to feed his hatred of everything progressive.

Facts that would change the public opinion about a story are just left out. And not by one network, but by all of them. People on the right in public service are given break after break, but the second a Dem does the same thing, all hell breaks loose!

The media largely ignored the Bush lies about the wars. The media looked the other way when Dick Cheney kept repeating the story about how Saddam Hussein harbored terrorists in Iraq, and had WMDs. Time and time again, the Bush Administration broke the law, international treaties, and was given a pass by the media.

For 8 long years, those of us who paid attention wondered why the media was silent on the facts.

And now that there's a black man in the White House, and of course he's a Democrat, he must be investigated under a magnifying glass. 24/7 coverage of the Tea Bagger events, but when more people showed up to protest Bush's wars a few years back...crickets.

This is bullshit. You know it. I know it. Obama knows it. Is it any wonder Obama hates the press?

[The_Commonist]

13. I just think it's that Obama hates Chuck Todd...

But then who doesn't?

[EFerrari]

20. Ain't it the truth. Poor Chuck.n/t

[CTyankee]

22. Chuck just skates along the surface. No deep thinking need be done.

Just imagine putting him in the same room with Rachel Maddow and asking them about a current political issue. He'll give you "gossip" (whether real or not) and she'll give you a thoughtful response.

[Jennicut]

24. He was good with the numbers during the primaries. That did not make

him a good reporter. He should never have been promoted beyond what he did then.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

14. Has Obama called any journalist a "major league asshole" yet? -nt

[WeDidIt]

18. No, Tweety. He just hates Fox News and Chris Matthews. n/t

[BeeBee]

19. Obama can't win.

Last year they were saying he was having too many press conferences, this year they're saying he hasn't had enough.

[EFerrari]

21. So true. n/t

[devilgrrl]

29. +1

eom

[goclark]

23. Todd the Tool of the M$$M

[tsuki]

25. I hate the press. nt

[Still Sensible]

27. I expected Obama to handle the media in a manner

reminiscent of how JFK did, with frequent press conferences and a somewhat easy manner... but that is probably not possible in this day and age... adversarial for the sake of creating faux controversy to drive ratings, instantaneous opposition bile across the internet, and the like.

Don't get me wrong, I believe the media has to be adversarial and question leaders, but when Cronkite or Donaldson did it, it was with context and not a case where every morning they had to make up some shit to make a name for themselves.