Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The Game Of Gotcha Journalism Contiues

I am no fan of President Obama or his administration, but just as the GOP has become victims of gotcha journalism, so has Obama and his press secretary and it really is getting stupid.
From The Weekly Standard: White House press secretary Jay Carney said he was unaware about defense cuts that will close an Air Force base in Ohio--where President Obama will be landing tomorrow aboard Air Force One. Here's the video, from the White House press briefing:
 REPORTER: Can you talk a little bit about why the president is going back to the same area of Akron, Ohio tomorrow that he has visited before? And in Mansfield the local paper is reporting if President Obama has his way his Air Force One arrival would be one of the final flights into the Mansfield airport, because the president wants to do away with the mission for the 800 guardsmen at the Mansfield.JAY CARNEY: I’ll have to take the question, I’m not aware of that particular issue. In terms of why is he is going to Ohio and Akron--
REPORTER: No, to that area of Ohio, Mansfield and Akron, I mean he was just there on the bus tour.
CARNEY: There is not an inch of Ohio that the president does not love to visit. [laughter] It’s a great state, my wife’s home state.
REPORTER: In terms of Mansfield, can we get you to take that question?
CARNEY: Sure. I’m not aware of even the policy implications or what issue this is.
 http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/carney-unaware-air-force-one-landing-base-be-eliminated_649160.html
The issue was that Obama is flying into an airport where some Air National Guard may close because of Obama's cuts in the military.
The headline and article suggest that Jay Carney was stupid for not knowing the Air Guard was closing there.
I'm sorry, but a press secretary should be pretty smart, but there are things they just don't know  I am sure Carney is up late at night studying which bases are going to be closed down by Obama or the history of Mansfield, Ohio.
This game of gotcha journalism is getting old and boring but it is going to continue because that is what journalists are trained today to do.  Forget the main issues, let's see if we can trip Obama or Romney and their press people.
One hopes that the reporters will actually report on what is important but I doubt it, probably because they just are not smart enough to report the actual news.

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