A Civics Lesson with Your Waffle

There's something that's really been bugging me.

(Would you like to talk about it?
Yes I would)

It's that incident in Scranton, Pa, where Barack Obama was photo-opping his breakfast when news person had the GALL to ask a question. Obama was NOT amused: "Why is it that, like, I can't just eat my waffle?"

Senator if you don't want questions, then like eat your damned waffle, or croissant, or whatever, in like private. No self-respecting reporters should ever allow you to stage your campaign events without challenging you with questions. We're not here to promote your candidacy, but to cover it. At all times, we must retain the audacity of hoping we might actually discover something important about you beyond your ability to contrive. Got it?

You too Hillary Clinton. It's shouldn't be up to you to dismiss a journalist's inquiry as irrelevant. It's his or her job to decide what to ask, it's yours to answer. For that matter, if you"re going to send your adult daughter out on the trail, she should damned well have answers for the media too.

John McCain, you can get testy with anyone you want, because you don't like a particular topic. Too bad. Again: We ask, you answer. Got it?

Why my little tirade? There is this growing belief that journalistic skepticism should be replaced with sycophancy. While it is true that all sides have traditionally tried to intimidate reporters who challenge any party line, we seem to have regressed to the point that equally-applied adversarial coverage is considered an intrusion.

Part of that, frankly, is because various news organizations have decided that marketing strategies dictate that they take sides, growing ratings or circulation by favoring one political group or the other. Another part is the power of the bloggers who can and do brutalize anyone who strays from their particular agenda.

I've always been most comfortable if I've antagonized those involved in an issue. We should leave rooting for one side or the other to the sportscasters. So, Senator, if you find that harder to swallow than your waffle: Too bad. Chew your food and then answer the question.

Comments

[argeec]

Wow Bob - if you are going to complain about press coverage, this is not the area you should be concentrating on.
How about discussing the absence of coverage on the real issues.

[WASanford]

What a nice little dream you were having, it must have been painful to wake up.

It"s not just the candidates. We can no longer trust in anyone or anything because it has all been bought, paid for and is being used against us. Just like all of the other "businesses," the media has respect for neither its customers (readers) nor its workers (reporters). We are left to our selves to figure out what the truth is, what is actually happening in our world and to discover the agenda that"s now incorporated in all reporting.

Is it any wonder then that newspaper subscriptions are declining? That news programming has to turn to Anna Nicole Smith or Brittany Spears to even gain our attention? Of course, we are the ones to blame, it couldn"t be the obviously slanted news they"re offering us, or the news that they refused to report.

But back to the candidates, they want to be whose president? If they don"t feel they owe us a truthful answer even if they"re eating breakfast, maybe we shouldn"t vote for them.

[Thorn]

I really wish you'd fix that headline, but it's probably just the OCD talking.

[WASanford]

I love that headline! Waffle, get it?

[Thorn]

I do, thanks. But "Leson" is such a glaring typo in a headline.

[LeeinJax]

I thoroughly agree that Obama was testy before breakfast one day. He gave off that "I don't suffer fools gladly" vibe.

Hillary on the other hand, laughs like a maniac or shames the media when she doesn't want to answer a question.

And God knows, she not only suffers fools gladly, her entire campaign is built around courting them.

And by the way, I will happily hear criticism from an honest journalist any day; Bob, I believe you are that rare journalist. A point to consider; with all of the blatant media Obama-bashing going on elsewhere, it may have been more balanced to make your point with a less Obama-focused title, opening and closing.

[LeeScho]

Franken, get over yourself as a person and as a journalist.

You have a right to ask a question. You do not have a right to receive an answer.

Certainly, how the target of the question responds is open to analysis. But to attack that target because of a non-response is an exercise in egocentricity.

Let us not forget that you are partisan. You support Hillary Clinton. And although you cite examples of Hillary and Chelsea Clinton in your piece, you begin and end with an attack on Senator Obama. With that, your credentials as a journalist are questioned. Candidates who are questioned by faux journalists supporting their opposition not only have a right to not respond, they have an obligation to their campaigns not to do so.

How self-serving of you to use your HuffPo access in this way.

[Thorn]

So true. Everyone knows that only pro-Obama bias is permitted on the Huffington Post.

[LeeScho]

No, the HuffPo permits Mayhill Fowler, Taylor Marsh, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, etc to post their pro-Hillary bias as well. They should certainly be allowed to do so.

So I meant that Franken's self-serving use of his HuffPo access was promotion of himself. Self - meaning the person. He is not Hillary. Self. Not his bias or his views. Self. He appears to believe that he has a right to have candidates respond to him. Self.

Get it? No? Okay, remember when I used the word egocentricity in my comment? Well that was my point. It was . . . . wait. Let me get my ten year old granddaughter to explain it to you.

[Mickeleh]

So, Bob Franken, do you wear a flag lapel pin? How often? Why or Why not?

[CharlottesvilleVA]

Franken's article implies that the media actually asks McCain probing questions. Can he cite any? Can he cite ONE? I've never seen a candidate get such a free ride. McCain has been involved in the Keating scandal, is being endorsed by radical clerics that make Wright seem tame by comparison, has flip-flopped on, well, everything, and has a wealthy wife yet has endured none of the grief that Kerry endured because of his wealthy wife. When does the press plan on raising these issues in a serious light? Until that happen, please let's put aside complaints about the press being cozy with Obama or Clinton.