Obama Freezes Local Reporters Out of S.F. event

[robdogbucky]

Obama freezes local reporters out of S.F. event

Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

President Obama is scheduled to appear before hundreds of donors at a $7,500-a-plate noontime fundraiser today at San Francisco's W Hotel - but not a single local reporter will be allowed inside to cover his only stop in the area, the White House said Monday.

Coverage instead is being restricted to a small pool of Washington-based reporters - a move that is a sharp departure from the practices of past administrations, political observers said.

Three former top White House press aides called the move insular and politically short-sighted. And some press watchers said it is hypocritical for an administration that Obama promised would be "the most transparent in history."

The White House declined Monday to say why no local reporters would be allowed to attend today's event, nor whether the ban on local media was part of a new national policy...


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/24/MNIE1LLMJJ.DTL#ixzz1bp5ApMlp



Obama, why do you hate democracy?

Shame, shame, shame on you, Prez Obama.

I guess he used us to get elected, now he acts just like his predecessor. Some hope and some change.

If you think losing homes, jobs, healthcare is just folks wanting another pony, well, your fascist thug police state tactics won't help you at the ballot box or in the realm of public opinion. Better take that Wall St. money now and run, you have earned it by your actions.



Hands off my Social Security!
Hands off Latin America!

rdb

[AngkorWot]

1. lolwut?

:crazy:

[Number23]

41. I can't think of anything that sums this hot mess up any better than the single word that you wrote

[Change has come]

43. Do you have any posts that are remotely friendly?

Or is hate and ridicule all you got?

[Number23]

44. The subject matter, tone and tenor of the OP determine the tone of my posts

Thank you so much for your concern

[FiveGoodMen]

2. This administration IS "the most transparent in history"

By now, their motives are entirely transparent.

[XemaSab]

5. Word

n/t

[truebrit71]

15. Indeed...

n/t

[woo me with science]

40. Undeniable at this point.

Obama seeks permission to lie about Freedom of Information requests, even to the courts:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2185303

Seventy percent increase in censorship requests to Google by US government or police
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/25/google-transparency-report-released

Wartime Contracting Panel Seals Records for Next 20 Years
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x5037085

ACLU issues report on Obama and core liberties
http://politics.salon.com/2011/09/07/liberties_3/singleton

[SammyWinstonJack]

45. Oh yes!

:thumbsup:

[RKP5637]

3. President of the people, for the people, and change. Yep, right. Next talking

point please.

[bainz]

4. Well, at least he invited them to Roscoe's

Well, at least he invited them to the "unscheduled" stop at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles.

[robdogbucky]

6. More transparencies...

"...Nicolle Wallace, a former press secretary to Republican President George W. Bush, called the ban "idiotic ... inexplicable on the politics side, let alone the press side."

"For a Democrat to go to San Francisco and not invite the local press is like George W. Bush going to Crawford, Texas" and doing the same, she said. "This is a place where people want to be reminded about what they love about the guy."

...Chris Lehane, a former spokesman for Democratic President Bill Clinton, was also baffled by the move, saying they always had local pools.

"It's not only the right thing to do in terms of respecting the Fourth Estate, but it typically translates into better press coverage," he said. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that access results in the occupying of more real estate in the newspaper and on television..."

...Afterward, First Amendment advocates and new-media experts thought the administration's concerns about a print reporter shooting video were absurd in an age when anybody with a smart phone can record video.

"It seems the Obama campaign has calculated that taking a small hit from political reporters being denied access is a safer course of action than opening the event to reporters and cameras and risking an embarrassing YouTube moment," said former longtime KTVU-TV political editor Randy Shandobil.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/25/MNIE1LLMJJ.DTL&tsp=1

[piratefish08]

7. Transpar-a-licious!

[Arctic Dave]

8. Take your "Soma" and go back to being passive.

Face it, Obama has been a total letdown to anything resembling Democratic Principles.

[msongs]

9. Bay area media should REFUSE to promote or cover this event in any way. Let the big O

blow thru town total ignored and unmentioned lol

[bainz]

13. I think that is what he wants.

To blow through town, get money from the rich and go back to looking like he is on the side of those that are hurting in this economy. I would prefer that the media report as much as they can.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JuniperLea]

10. Well, the hypocrisy is spelled out nicely in your OP...

All the whining and hair on fire when Obama does it... Bush and many others have limited media access, just like it says in your OP... "now he acts just like his predecessor."

Proving once more and again... all y'all, including the RW, got nuthin' so you have to make shit up.

[robdogbucky]

12. You did read the comments by the press reporters didn't you?

I just cut and pasted this piece of reality.

I am sorry you chose to seize on the chance to yet again make noise and mindlessly try to insult and equate this with some RW opinion.

That makes no sense in light of reality and the facts and the opinions of both sides of the political spectrum about this move.

You go, girl.

A long, long way away from me.

Your double-standard is ludicrous.

Have fun in your little bubble.

I think you will need it to hide from reality down the road, no?

[inna]

42. would be hilarious if it wasn't so damn sad

[Fuddnik]

11. Can't have any witnesses.

[monmouth]

16. They need to get over themselves..n/t

[Hell Hath No Fury]

17. We have two Occupy protests here --

in SF and Oakland, both that have been raided by PD. I suspect they didn't want any local reporters asking about this and the huge protest going on outside his event. :eyes:

Chickenshit.

[mulsh]

18. Joe Garofoli is a gop shill & among the lames of our local stenographers

I can't find any other local political reporters reporting any of this. Any political stuff at SF Gate/Chron is suspect to this life long bay area resident.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

23. The White House itself is the source for the story --

I don't know how you can spin it, either local reporters are allowed or they're not, and the WH said they are not. :shrug:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. "..of, by, and for the people.." If you can cough up $7500 for a meal.

[robdogbucky]

20. SF Chronicle Editorial: Obama acting like Nixon

Obama White House on press access: a Nixonian quality

Tuesday, October 25, 2011


The Obama White House's restrictions on media access to its fundraising events makes a mockery of its claim to be the most transparent administration in history.

If anything, there is almost a Nixonian quality to the level of control, paranoia - and lack of credibility - this White House has demonstrated on the issue of media access to President Obama's fundraisers.

Bay Area reporters will not be allowed inside the W Hotel today when the president meets with hundreds of contributors paying $7,500 or more to attend. Only Washington-based journalists were allowed in the pool - continuing a disturbing trend by this White House to severely limit access to fundraisers. Even former President George W. Bush, hardly a champion of transparency, allowed local reporters to cover his fundraising events.

Fundraisers are not private events in this post-Watergate era. Contributions are a matter of public record, and the public has a right to know what is being said to and by the president. Local journalists are better positioned than their Beltway brethren to recognize who is there - and why. The White House press office seems to have missed the transparency memo...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/25/ED9E1LLJHG.DTL

[robdogbucky]

30. Some here can't read apparently

"...Even former President George W. Bush, hardly a champion of transparency, allowed local reporters to cover his fundraising events."


Get it?


These, so-called private events, are campaign stops and the local press has always been allowed to cover them.


Until now.

Until Obama.

What a proud distinction this must be for his current supporters.


By the way, I voted for this bullshit and now regret it.




Hands off my Social Security!
Hands off Latin America!

rdb

[robdogbucky]

21. More

...Earlier this spring, it threatened to blacklist The Chronicle's Carla Marinucci from future pools after she broke what the White House claimed was an unwritten rule against print reporters shooting video. It threatened further retaliation if the paper reported on the threat - which it did. Incredibly, the White House press office denied making the threats. Now it has cut all local reporters out of the pool.

Most transparent administration in history? We'll see. Right now, we'd settle for straight answers and the opportunity to do our jobs.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/24/ED9E1LLJHG.DTL#ixzz1bpKz1XCy

[uponit7771]

22. ****OP ONLY TELLS HALF THE STORY (surpised?!)************

"...The White House said Marinucci had violated a rule forbidding print reporters from recording video. But there is no such rule. The White House denied making the threat.

Afterward, First Amendment advocates and new-media experts thought the administration's concerns about a print reporter shooting video were absurd in an age when anybody with a smart phone can record video.

"It seems the Obama campaign has calculated that taking a small hit from political reporters being denied access is a safer course of action than opening the event to reporters and cameras and risking an embarrassing YouTube moment," said former longtime KTVU-TV political editor Randy Shandobil...."

[Hell Hath No Fury]

24. The Marinucci incident happened back in April --

So are you saying that is the reason they are refusing all local media? Even if that's the case, it's still prety chickeshit on their part. :shrug:

[AngkorWot]

25. Maybe they barred local media because it's a private fundraising event?

:shrug:

[Hell Hath No Fury]

27. I don't believe in "private" political events free of scrutiny.

I like sunshine.

[AngkorWot]

29. See, now this is where Melissa Harris Perry's article really comes into play

Every president who has ever ran has had private fund raising dinners, and always will.

This has nothing to do with government transparency, because it has nothing to do with the office of the president. It's a campaign stop.

This is totally a non-issue. And what's transparent about it is how transparent the bullshit of the critics is.

[Occulus]

32. It's not an issue that the President can speak privately to a large group of high-ticket donors?

It's not news that a President would want to bar reporters?

The phrase "what's he going to say that the rest of us would not like at all" comes to mind.

"it has nothing to do with the office of the president"

:rofl:

Except that he's doing it to try to retain that same office!

[AngkorWot]

35. Nope.

At least it's never been an issue before with white presidents.

[EFerrari]

38. You mean like this white resident?

George W Bush - The Elite My Base

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn4daYJzyls

Nice race baiting though. Could use some work.

[AngkorWot]

39. Is that your problem with that video?

That he's holding a private fundraiser?

Because when I look at that video I have an actual valid complaint about it, and it's not because he's holding a fundraiser.

[robdogbucky]

31. What part of this don't you understand?

"...Even former President George W. Bush, hardly a champion of transparency, allowed local reporters to cover his fundraising events."

[demmiblue]

33. ****WHAT IF EVERYONE ON DU RESPONDED LIKE THIS?!****

[Ignis]

46. ***S***T***A***R***S***

[XemaSab]

26. Ironic that it's at the W hotel

:P

[Tarheel_Dem]

28. >>>>

:rofl:

[trof]

34. "San Francisco's W Hotel"??? The 'W' hotel???

I think I'd have found someplace else.
Lots of fine hotels in SF.
The W?
jeez
:eyes:

[AsahinaKimi]

36. I had never heard of the "W" Hotel ..

I wonder why he didn't stay at the Mark Hopkins or the St. Francis? The Hyatt? I don't get it.

[coalition_unwilling]

37. Won't get fooled again. - n/t