Daisy monopolized Mark’s lap and I had my head on his shoulder as the President delivered his 6th State of the Union address last night.
After clicking through Gibson, Schieffer and Williams pontificating with other journalism talking heads….giving play-by-plays on Bush’s vespers with Congressmen and Senators, Mark settled on C-SPAN coverage. It’s always refreshing to watch and hear a live coverage without reporter/anchor interruption.
The first Madame Speaker of the House welcomed Bush into the joint session of Congress. Pelosi looked short next to the VP. She still made-off with a huge round of applause for making history.
It was fun watching the Dems watching Pelosi for their cues on when to stand and cheer and when to sit stoically. Also interesting to see where the party gets divided on Bush’s hot topic buttons….Kerry and Liberman joining GOP dudes for the troop increase….and other Republicans glaring at the idea of a temp. worker program.
I also liked watching a NY subway hero uniting both parties….
“The only ones not clapping, it appeared, were Mr. Autrey’s two young daughters, who napped beside him in their bubblegum-colored dresses.”
(from the nytimes.com)
Two years ago, I covered the reaction to Bush’s annual address. What a thrill to zip around Capitol Hill, tracking down an Illinois Congresswoman, logging the speech from our feed linked to Congress, covering a Social Security rally peppered with aides and yes-people and then racing to beat a Fed-ex deadline. Good times. I’m grateful for the amazing access we had to our state delegations - media passes letting us into their offices, chambers and the underground tunnels.
On my show this morning, we counted down to 6:00:30 for a D.C. liveshot via satellite. It’s all in the timing and forcing everyone to be on the same page. It looked seamless.
I’m still on the mailing list for several members of the Illinois delegation, including Senator Obama. Several e-mailed out responses to the President’s speech, before he finished talking.
This morning, Obama’s press people sent out a long and detailed e-mail memo over rumors about Obama being educated at a militant Islamic Madrassa. These rumors were treated as facts by Fox News and Insight Magazine.
Shoddy.
If Doocy or the staff at Fox and Friends had taken to check their facts, or simply made a call to his office, they would have learned that SenatorObama was not educated in a Madrassa, was not raised as a Muslim, and was not raised by his father – an atheist Obama met once in his life before he died.
Later in the day, Fox News host John Gibson again discussed the Insight Magazine story without any attempt to independently confirm the charges.
(from Obama’s press office)
As for one news organization practicing real journalism - CNN sent a frickin’ reporter to Obama’s school in Indonesia. You can find the video on Thinkprogress.org
Who knows how he will do in the primaries. He may be shooting himself in the foot for considering a presidential run before then end of his first term as a U.S. Senator. But people don’t have to resort to these dirty politics. It’s nauseating and insulting to the intelligence of the viewing audience.
Dirty politics suck.
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