Reason Morning Links

Radley Balko | June 24, 2009

• Obama condemns Iranian government's crackdown on protesters, while Ayatollah Khamenei vows not to yield "at any cost."

• The LA Times reports that the latest California budget is filled with accounting gimmickry that understates the severity of the state's financial crisis. Thank goodness the state isn't a private company, or all of this would be greedy and dishonest.

• White House plants Huffington Post reporter at Obama press conference yesterday, arms him with scripted question*, Obama calls on him. Related: Huffington Post's coverage of Jeff Gannon.

• Obama promises to "absolutely reform health care" by the end of 2009.

• British philanthropist pays $165,000 for a CD of love songs sung by Mikhail Gorbachev.

(*Correction: The question was sent in by an Iranian citizen. So while it was pre-arranged, it was inaccurate to say it was scripted.)

Comments

|6.24.09 @ 9:11AM|#

You guys have got a typo...

Obama promises threatens to "absolutely reform health care" by the end of 2009.

Kyle Jordan|6.24.09 @ 9:13AM|#

Word Nutra.

Mad Max|6.24.09 @ 9:14AM|#

From the Gorbachev story:

'the only one who gets $165,000 (per CD!) -- is Mikhail Gorbachev, former leader of the Soviet Union. . . .

'The CD was bought by an "anonymous British philanthropist," who paid that enormous sum for the only copy that is said to exist.'

If we weren't living in a post-modern universe, I would have assumed that this was simply a bizarre scheme to launder some payoff money, like former House Speaker Jim Wright's bulk sale of his memoirs to a wealthy supporter.

But in today's post-modern environment, this may well be exactly what it's advertised to be: A charitable fundraiser.

Kyle Jordan|6.24.09 @ 9:17AM|#

Does the guy get to rub the CD on Gorby's head/birthmark for enhanced fidelity?

|6.24.09 @ 9:17AM|#

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090624/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_nuclear_91

Has anyone else noticed, you know between important stuff like what color of ice cream the Obama likes and what color of a shit the waterdog took this morning, that North Korea really may have this time gone completely batshit insane? If those crazy bastards fire a missile at Hawaii what the hell are we going to do? Take it and give the entire world an invitation to kick our ass or retaliate and start a war that would kill a couple of million Koreans and a hundred thousand or so Americans?

Kyle Jordan|6.24.09 @ 9:23AM|#

Hundred Thousand or so Americans? Shit. Triple it since we would honestly have to worry about Chine and Russia with this one.

Kyle Jordan|6.24.09 @ 9:27AM|#

And is anyone else starting to catch the odd vibes after Mark Sanford's hush hush Argentina trip? Not saying anything goor or bad. Just that it's a bit weird.

|6.24.09 @ 9:28AM|#

Kim Jong has taken the measure of Obama and found him to be a dickless wonder. I said this all last fall; Obama though his percieved weakness is more likly to get us into a big war than the belicose McCain. The problem with weakness is that it encourages people to miscalculate and try things that no President, not even Obama, can allow to happen.

|6.24.09 @ 9:29AM|#

On planting reporters. It was bad enough that Bush just ignored questions he didn't want to answer, at least it was obvious to the public that was willing to see it, but this is down right deceitful.

On Obama's smoking: No one is 95% cured. You are either quit or you're not. True addicts that have quit know he's lying.

|6.24.09 @ 9:30AM|#

"And is anyone else starting to catch the odd vibes after Mark Sanford's hush hush Argentina trip? Not saying anything goor or bad. Just that it's a bit weird."

Good for him. It just means he doesn't take himself or his job so seriously. Perhaps he understands that gee maybe the fate of the entire state doesn't rest on his wisdom. That is pretty rare in a politician.

Kyle Jordan|6.24.09 @ 9:32AM|#

I hope you're right about that John. And I really hope nothing comes of it because the MSM will lynch him if they find even the smallest thing. They've already tried.

|6.24.09 @ 9:36AM|#

sure the WaPo published a testy oped about planting questions - however, I remember when bush tried this once - it was the END OF THE FREE WORLD! remember the outrage?! Nothing like that coming from the bootlickers in the press room. They will happily roll over for him. What a disgrace.

Jimbo|6.24.09 @ 9:41AM|#

Another fine example of the MSM missing the real story.

Years ago, the Weekly Word News ran a hard hitting expose that proved Gorbachev and Roy Orbison were the same person.

Look at the facts:
* Their name sort of sound alike
* Roy Orbison always wore those dark glasses and wig to cover the birthmark.
* Gorbachev had to kill off his Roy Orbison persona once his USSR career took off because he couldn't keep a lid on the story much longer

So I am not surprised that he could cut a CD for a ton of money. I bet on off the tracks was Pretty Woman.

Fascitis Necrotizante|6.24.09 @ 9:49AM|#

Damn. It does look like a disguise, actually.

|6.24.09 @ 10:02AM|#

Pitney asked his arranged question. Reporters looked at one another in amazement at the stagecraft they were witnessing. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel grinned at the surprised TV correspondents in the first row.

Amazed by the stagecraft? Give me a break.

|6.24.09 @ 10:02AM|#

That's Don Adams.

|6.24.09 @ 10:12AM|#

"Amazed by the stagecraft? Give me a break."

The media are truly scum. Only and if it becomes apparent that BO will not be re-elected, like say October of 2012 with him down big in the polls, the media will turn on him with a vegenence and unload on him in a desparate attempt to regain their credibility. They will then re-write history and pretend that they were never in the bag for him.

|6.24.09 @ 10:17AM|#

There is no 'addiction' that compels one to smoke and prevents one from quitting. It's all about that thing called free will. So are you strong enough or disciplined enough to quit? Apparently bho is neither.

Art-P.O.G.|6.24.09 @ 10:28AM|#

Mikhail Gorbachev invented the death-metal growl and cookie monster vocals.

|6.24.09 @ 10:30AM|#

Mikhail Gorbachev invented the death-metal growl and cookie monster vocals.

True. Very few people remember he was the original lead singer for Laibach.

QSL|6.24.09 @ 10:31AM|#

> "Hundred Thousand or so Americans? Shit. Triple it since we would honestly have to worry about Chine and Russia with this one."

I would say there's less chance of Chinese involvement if there's a new Korean War than back in the 1950s. While they are an "ally" of North Korea, I can't see Beijing willingly getting involved in such a massive mess to support the insane Kim dynasty.

Rimfax|6.24.09 @ 10:37AM|#

Over at Freakonomics and the Washington Post, the note that analysis of the least significant digits for provincial vote totals almost definitively suggests that the numbers are made up.

|6.24.09 @ 10:39AM|#

"Years ago, the Weekly Word News ran a hard hitting expose that proved Gorbachev and Roy Orbison were the same person."

"Running Scared" was about the Cuban Missile Crisis.

No Smokes for Obama|6.24.09 @ 10:50AM|#

500 Lose Jobs with new Tax on Cigars; Tampa plant closes:

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jun/23/231900/hav--tampa-cigars-closing-tampa-plant/news-metro/

About Them Media Folks|6.24.09 @ 10:51AM|#

NY TIMES Poll Showing 72% Support for Obama's Health Care Plan -- Was Stacked With Obama Supporters.


http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=49999

Nekkid as a Jay Bird|6.24.09 @ 10:55AM|#

PAPER: 'Living more hours naked each day' has 'positive effect' on global warming:

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/is-nudism-a-green-vacation/

|6.24.09 @ 11:00AM|#

No Smokes for Obama,

That's Hav-A-Tampa, which has been around for over 100 years. They were acquired a while back, but it's still a milestone. I used to be involved with the Cuban Club in Ybor City, which was a mutual aid society formed by Cuban immigrant cigar-rollers.

More jobs The One Couldn\'t \"|6.24.09 @ 11:16AM|#

Harvard cuts 275 jobs, cites drop in endowment:

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE55M66320090623

Fascitis Necrotizante|6.24.09 @ 11:20AM|#

DONDEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

He got an instapundit link for that.

|6.24.09 @ 11:23AM|#

PAPER: 'Living more hours naked each day' has 'positive effect' on global warming:

By positive effect, do they mean it increases global warming, or reduces it?

Not that I really care.

|6.24.09 @ 11:24AM|#

And don't forget the townhall meetings where the "average Americans" turn out to be connected to the Obama campaign.

Invisible Finger|6.24.09 @ 11:30AM|#

American Idol - Presidential Edition.

|6.24.09 @ 11:38AM|#

• White House plants Huffington Post reporter at Obama press conference yesterday, arms him with scripted question*, Obama calls on him.

When the Bush administration did similar chicken shit stuff (paying off an op-ed columnist, fake news conferences with employees posing as questioners) I sided with all of the blue teamers in condemning the duplicity. I will be happy to side with them again as they publicly deplore this dishonest behavior by the White House.

I'll probably have to side with the evil Republicans who likely will be outraged this time.

As Pro Libertate wrote in a different thread today -

Our increasing tolerance for open hypocrisy and doublespeak is messing us the hell up.

|6.24.09 @ 11:51AM|#

I will be happy to side with them again as they publicly deplore this dishonest behavior by the White House.

I would too, if it actually happened.

What really happened, is that, this blogger, who has been scooping the print media on things Iran, was asked to present a question from one of his Iranian correspondants, and he did.

There's no indication the White House new what the question was in advance, and it was a kind of tough questio

Obama said to Pitney, "Nico, I know that you, and all across the Internet, we've been seeing a lot of reports coming directly out of Iran. I know that there may actually be questions from people in Iran who are communicating through the Internet. ... Do you have a question?" Pitney replied:

Yeah, I did, but I wanted to use this opportunity to ask you a question directly from an Iranian. We solicited questions last night from people who are still courageous enough to be communicating online, and one of them wanted to ask you this: Under which conditions would you accept the election of [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad? And if you do accept it without any significant changes in the conditions there, isn't that a betrayal of the -- of what the demonstrators there are working towards?

Here is the question he asked

Hardly what I would call planted. It's not like having gay escort Jeff Gannon asking "why do the democrats want to spoil your agenda" type bullshit.

Did the WH ask someone who has been doing a spectacular job covering Iran to submit a question. Absolutely. Does that somehow mean the question was a softball and the guy was a plant? Hardly.

The White House seemed to be rewarding this guy for his good work.

|6.24.09 @ 12:00PM|#

J sub D,

It's a big problem. A little more general skepticism and distrust of government by people of all political colors, creeds, and religions would improve things markedly, I think.

I'd love to see an America where even partisans acknowledged that something their side did was wrong, misguided, inappropriate, etc. When a party's or cause's adherents will concede no error or wrongdoing (or attempt to spin it away when they privately concede the error), correction is very unlikely.

Fascitis Necrotizante|6.24.09 @ 12:01PM|#

As a reward, Obama then completely dodged the question.

|6.24.09 @ 12:35PM|#

@ChicagoTom:

Thank you for making the distinction that was lost on everyone else. A further clarification: while the White House arranged for Nico to ask a question that had come directly from Iranians, they did NOT know the question beforehand and had certainly not planted it. In fact, I'd say Obama's lame answer pretty much PROVES it was not stagecraft.

|6.24.09 @ 12:45PM|#

"There's no indication the White House new what the question was in advance, and it was a kind of tough question...Hardly what I would call planted"

I'm inclined to agree, given that The One never answered the question. If it had been known in advance, He'd have had an answer on the prompter.

PC|6.24.09 @ 1:34PM|#

Didn't he say he was informed by a staffer? Maybe one that reads Huffingtonpost and saw that they were requesting questions for the president? That's how I took the exchange. Anybody been at Huffpost the past few days to confirm or deny?

|6.24.09 @ 1:40PM|#

Anybody been at Huffpost the past few days to confirm or deny?

Left my hip waders at the house, so no.

|6.24.09 @ 4:29PM|#

"""If those crazy bastards fire a missile at Hawaii what the hell are we going to do?"""

I think the word is intercept

|6.24.09 @ 4:33PM|#

"""I'd love to see an America where even partisans acknowledged that something their side did was wrong, misguided, inappropriate, etc."""

Only in your dreams. ;-) Well, mine too.

The problem is two fold. The belief that being wrong strengthens your enemy, and the belief that other Americans are your enemy.

|6.24.09 @ 4:38PM|#

""" Under which conditions would you accept the election of [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad? And if you do accept it without any significant changes in the conditions there, isn't that a betrayal of the -- of what the demonstrators there are working towards?"""

The fallacy is that the US has a say in Iranian politics. This is why Ron Paul didn't even come close to winning the election. He would have said it's not our buisness.

|6.24.09 @ 6:29PM|#

I despise Obama, but the so-called "staged question" is a pretty minor beef. He specifically said what he was doing, it's not like he was trying to hide anything, like Bush was doing when he paid off opinion writers.

|6.24.09 @ 7:37PM|#

Tulpa,

The issue may or may not be worth anything, but the one thing I don't give credit to any president for is openly spitting in my face. Bush did that on occasion, too.