Letter: It depends on meaning of ‘could’

Kathleen Parker’s Obama derangement has yielded a particularly laughable op-ed piece wherein she claims a recent White House “threat” (quoting her quotes) signifies animosity towards the press and more generally, they’re just plain mean. She accurately accounts the White House exasperation towards Bob Wooward’s ill-informed reporting of the sequester fight and she recounts shouting and an ominous threat from White House aide Gene Sperling that WooDward would “regret” his reporting position.

Parker somehow infers that this “could” mean Woodward would never gain access to the White House. However, it “could” be inferred that Woodward would regret writing a piece that was demonstrably wrong, which is how I read the email (the email is posted online). Of course, if you’re indulging in “could,” “might” or just free-associating while lying on the floor, who knows what motivation you would infer?

But I suspect you aren’t writing for a major newspaper. Parker’s columns are usually Republican-leaning without being obnoxious (see Rich Lowry), this one though is laugh-out-loud funny. I’ll leave it to the reader to determine what her motivation “could” be.

James Hawkins

engineer

Mandeville

Comments

1) Comment by Whatnow - 15/03/2013

I said some of the MSM, but the Advocate still protects him by closing the comment section when the article is about Obama and today Landrieu.

2) Comment by InPVille - 14/03/2013

Mr. Hawkins does his best to redirect your attention from the fact that it has been established that The Current Administration did try to obscure it's own part in the sequester which originated from Jack Lew from his position on the White House Staff. As Ms. Parker states all administrations try to control the message. But is correct that The Current Administration is willing to go further than the norm? Here is a sampling from an internet search. -[**]- From Jonathan Alter: "In 2008, after Jonathan Alter had written a scathing article on Obama, the candidate's staff retaliated by sending him an "abusive email". Additionally, Alter was placed on a blacklist that prevented him from attending Obama's campaign events while in Berlin, Germany. (Alter left Newsweek and joined Bloomberg in April 2011.) In the NewsMax interview, Alter said: There is a kind of a threatening tone . . . from time to time . . . out of these guys [from the] White House . . . And, you know, they should not play that way, but they, they feel like they’re holding the cards in the relationship. They’ve got people’s access, you know, to hold over them. Though NewsMax is a conservative/right-leaning news site, Jonathan Alter is a left-leaning, progressive reporter which makes the revelation surprising. In 2012, Alter blasted right wing critics of Obama, such as John McCain and Sarah Palin, as "racist tropes". During Thursday's appearance, Alter added: I remember one time I reported something . . . and we were actually in Berlin. It was on Obama’s [campaign] in 2008. And they didn’t like something that I had reported and I was disinvited to a dinner that night that reporters were having with the candidate. I was told “Don’t come” . . . You know, fairly abusive email. Alter said that the "abusive email" came from Robert Gibbs. Last week, Gibbs and former Obama senior political adviser David Axelrod joined MSNBC as television analysts and political commentators. Alter bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Alter -[**]- From Lanny Davis: "Lanny Davis said that he has also received threats from the White House. The former special counsel to President Bill Clinton said that he and his editor "would lose . . . their White House credentials" if they continued bashing Barack Obama." Davis bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanny_Davis -[**]- Members of VP Biden's staff are even willing to intimidate students of journalism: http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/03/13/biden-press-office-apologizes-for-demanding-student-journalist-delete-photographs/ --- "“This was pure intimidation,” Dalglish told College Park Patch, adding that, “It’s clear from the circumstance that the journalist did nothing wrong.” Dalglish said Barkoff apologized to her and student journalist Barr in separate phone conversations." -[**]- Personally I think Mr. Hawkins served up another "load". Perhaps he is trying to engineer a career change to spin doctor.

3) Comment by Whatnow - 14/03/2013

jdk944, I agree. I guess "Fast and Furious" and "Benghazi" didn't happen in the world of the MSM. They throw anything negative about this administration under the rug and at least the right wing media gives us information that you would never hear in the MSM. A lot of the things we predicted is happening and Progressives are hoping that we don't notice or that we forget these screw-ups and lies amongst all the silly posturing coming from the White House. I have notice though in the past couple of weeks that some of the MSM is having doubts and questioning Obama's saying one thing and doing another.

4) Comment by postscript56 - 13/03/2013

jdk944 and rgeraldwallace - None of the things you are so afraid of are happening. Please ask someone who cares about you to get you some help.

5) Comment by jdk944 - 13/03/2013

@DMJ - amusing analysis, if you can call it that, from you. How about Fox is more popular because there are more individuals who define themselves as Convervative vs Liberal and Fox does a better job of providing that information?? How about because the mainstream media is nothing but a "propaganda" machine for the socialist agenda of this administration and you libs? Their definition of Journalism is pretty much, their "opinions". They being mainstream. Try again!!

6) Comment by DMJ - 13/03/2013

Her motivation is mouse-clicks. Unfortunately, in today's drama-obsessed society, you don't generate nearly as many site hits with simple quality reporting as you do by ginning up controversy and phony outrage. There's a reason Fox News is the most popular cable news outlet, and it's not the quality of their reporting. Parker is usually level-headed and quite moderate...which is why she has to throw a bomb every once in a while.

7) Comment by [e-mail] - 13/03/2013

Sheesh! If death panels, socialism, and the takeover of private lives by creeping big government doesn't bother a person I don't know what might.

8) Comment by postscript56 - 13/03/2013

I like reading Kathleeen Parker. As the letter writer said, she is less obnoxious than other right-leaning columnists. I am sure there are many who would disagree, but I try to keep an open mind. It's just that I can't be persuaded by fear of death panels, fear of socialism, fear of government, etc. So that eliminates Thomas, Sowell, Lowery, et. al. I am somewhat sympathetic to the Advocate in this, since it is next to impossible to find conservative opinion that does not engage in fear of some kind. And before some other poster slams my remarks let me remind you there is no such thing as death panels, but Thomas, Sowell and Lowery have all written multiple columns about the Affordable Care Act deliberately killing off citizens. Even columnist are accountable. Or should be, anyway.