Today’s Q for O’s WH — 2/13/2009

You go Jake!!

Watched this over lunch today. I don’t normally watch ABC but I have to give you kudo’s! You really pushed that – i could only wish you _had_ belabored the point, i sure got a kick out of listening to gibbs say “um.. um um..um”
Better get yourself some protection buddy their not going to like you much on the hill for a while :)

Caterpillar CEO, JIM Owens, also said the stimulus BILL was light on heavy construction.

President Obama lies to the American people regularly. Just as candidate Obama did.
And our glorious “free and fair press” let him.

As General Powell could recall: he now remembers how he had lobbied the World to go to war to solve the Iraqi terrorist problem.
Our Greatest Smartest Leader is doing the Powell lobbying for our economy.

Thank you, Jake, for being a watchdog rather than another lapdog.

Jake,
way to go!!!!! Finally, someone asking REAL QUESTIONS!!!!!! Maybe I should start watching ABC ?

While almost every other source in the media is asking Helen Thomas type “stupid” questions meant to make Obama look better it’s good to see someone stand up and do what the media should be doing…asking the tough questions. I heard Chris Matthews say he thought it was his job, now that Obama was elected, (something Matthews actively encouraged) to ensure he has a successful presidency. Which of course begs the question, why didn’t he feel the same way about Bush? Obviously my questions is rhetorical but gets to the heart of the problem regarding the media and Obama…most of them feel they can “help” Obama’s administration as they did during the election. This seems like erosion from journalism to activism, something I would think real journalists like Jake Tapper would detest. Keep up the good work!!

“Well, let me — let me — let me take a stab at that one.”
Yeah, take a shot at it.
The thing about this “save-r-create” jobs blabla is that as long as there ARE three or four million “jobs” LEFT, the Obama-stration can claim to have “saved” them.
Wonder how many NEW “jobs” will be for former-military riot police in California and wherever …

Jake -
Good job.
Please ask Gibbs if the Congress has exempted themselves from the healthcare guidelines they inserted into the stimulus bill.

Bravo, Jake Tapper. My dad setup the AP office in Reno in the early 1930′s and was a member of the White House Correspondents Assoc. in the 1930′s and 40′s when in D.C. At last there is newspaperman/journalist he would be proud of and of the “old” style.
Keep up the good work.
P.S. Bravo to Caterpillar.

Jake, you probably will not ever read this, but I wonder how you are feeling. Rush has given the green light for his followers to come to this site.
How do you feel about that? I mean, what does that say for you?
I mean if I was a journalist and Madow or Matthews told people to come to my site, I would be worrying that I am not doing my job correctly..
Oh well, hope it works out for you.
Tell Matt I said hi tomorrow.

THANK YOU, for trying to get to the truth.Keep asking tough questions from BOTH parties. Maybe I’ll start watching the evening news again.

The other interesting Gibbs comment, I thought, was about the mortgage plan Obama is about to put out not being judged by 1 day’s performance of the stock market.
That, of course, is a reference to Geithner’s much-criticized plan, and the criticism didn’t come merely because it made stocks drop.
I hope they are taking criticism of Geithner’s plan/performance seriously.
I also hope that wasn’t a signal the mortgage plan isn’t going to be well developed either. I guess we’ll see.

Nicely done, Jake.
Can I add a couple of other things from Obama’s website?
End the Practice of Writing Legislation Behind Closed Doors: As president, Barack Obama will restore the American people’s trust in their government by making government more open and transparent. Obama will work to reform congressional rules to require all legislative sessions, including committee mark-ups and conference committees, to be conducted in public. By making these practices public, the American people will be able to hold their leaders accountable for wasteful spending and lawmakers won’t be able to slip favors for lobbyists into bills at the last minute.
and
Sunlight Before Signing: Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.
These are rather pertinent.
Does Obama intend to honor ANY of his campaign pledges?

Jake Tapper – The last honest journalist in America
Keep up the good work!

“As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.”
Unless He’s aiming at a showboat signing on “Presidents Day”, or otherwise doesn’t feel like it …

keep on sticking it to ‘em…and perhaps you can ask when the president and co. will quit using the election results to justify doing whatever they want to do and believing whatever they want to believe, even when it means breaking all those promises made on the trail….

“Your reporting certainly hasn’t helped us better understand the Bill. ”
Jake Tapper is not your personal army.
***************************************
Never said he was. Just pointing out facts as they appear to me.

jake if you dont quit asking him them questions a.b.c gonna get rid of you they want you to be like chris mathews

Gibbs is such a weazel!

Thinking, Tapper is a real journalist who asks questions that need to be asked. We don’t need to know what Tapper believes. He is supposed to look at issues without bias so he can ask questions and present them to the American people for their education. I for one saw the difference between the Presdent’s comments and the CAT CEO as an easy explain. Obama lied. Obama is a serial liar. He says he will be transparent and he hasn’t been. He said he wouldn’t have lobbyists in his administration. He kept that rule for 2 days before he had to sign a waiver of his own rule so he could have a former lobbyist in DOJ. I mean, why even have this rule if you can’t keep it. DUH! How many more lies will he tell before people will realize what a liar he is.

“The stimulus pkg. in and of itself.” Not being the sole solution says it all. A lot of other factors need to come into play here. That’s all. A jump start is better than giving the wealthy a tax break. Maybe we can try some more of the Republican “De-regualtion” techniques that helped to screw us over in regards to the Aero industry, power etc. Let’s complain about the real ideas–coming from the right wing that damaged our economy. Rather than playing catch 22 on what Obama said.

Lets see that on world news tonight, I bet OLD Charlie and conflict of interest George would run from that question and answer LMAO

I saw that presser and almost got whiplash on hearing Gibb’s answer. Does he think no one is watching? Are they all so immersed in the hopey changey Messiah stuff that they think no one will notice?
They may be right.

Posted by: Cory | Feb 13, 2009 3:24:09 PM
Gibbs is such a weazel!
—————————————
Remember,someone could have or will say the same about you one day.

BRAVO Mr. Tapper! My “hope” is that more journalists hold this administration accountable.
Thank you .

Jake:
I find it intriguing that you are (by some, not by all) taken to task for pointing out and asking about inconsistent statements made by the newly minted (reference to the “mint” can be taken many ways, all intended) POTUS and/or his spokespeople. As if these events and occasions are your creation. As if you are the problem, if there is a problem.
I have a suggestion but maybe it’s too simple to be right, too obvious to have any validity but, to me, it sure makes sense.
If you don’t like Jake Tapper digging into inconsistent statements, stop making inconsistent statements.
How hard is that?
I know, seems harder than it should be.

I’m curious as to why people don’t want this administration to answer hard questions. What is the rationale behind that?

Will everyone get back to work at catepillar with the stimulus pkg? Will they or won’t they? That’s what O said….Give us the truth! Ed said no okay Aarron, whatever…OOOOOh so heavy….

Jake – I’ve been impressed for some time with the quality and accuracy of your reporting. Thank you very much for doing your best to ask hard questions, research the issues, and hold the politicians accountable for what they say and promise. Your professionalism and integrity are commendable and very much appreciated!

It sounds like the majority of the posters here would rather go back to the Bush did things. I think I’ll give the new President a few months to dig out of the mess we are in. But really, if he is lying and taking our money–isn’t that what the last admin did?

So this is where the right wing hangs now that they lost, well there’s FOX News. Good thing there are alternate worlds for some. This one is stuck in perpetual BORINGNESS! Bye!

irma | Feb 13, 2009 3:30:05 PM
It was the democrats that presided over the “regulation” enacted under Clinton concerning CLA and the “easy” mortgage debacle…that Dodd, B. Frank et al got sweetheart kickbacks on and in the case of Frank failed to monitor!Maybe we would like to de-rgulate a little and make it so bank do not HAVE TO loan to people who are clearly unqualified.

Julio the Frycook for White House Press Secretary!

Irma, Prchmn2 is correct and not making it up.

NICE WORK JAKE! IS ANYONE ELSE WISHING THAT AMERICAN’S COULD HAVE SEEN THIS GROSSLY UNDER-QUALIFIED, FALSELY MARKETED OBAMA DURING THE PRIMARIES?
I DREAM OF HILLARY!

I’m not really sure what answers you were fishing for with those “questions.” They seemed more like the monolouges Congresscritters trot out when showboating on a blue ribbon panel.
What are you expecting Gibbs to say when a Republican House member makes an entirely unverifiable claim that Obama’s efforts to win support in a conservative town failed? Were you hoping to start some “partisan Republican” blame games, or giving him a chance to point Obama is willing to go out and speak to hostile crowds?

“It sounds like the majority of the posters here would rather go back to the Bush did things.”
This is EXACTLY bow Bush did things — right down to the smirk, and the tiresome televised “thanks” to local pols when on junkets away.

Eagle Eye:”Prchmn2 is correct and not making it up.”
Not according to every reputable review of the situation. Claims that the government forced banks to loan money to people who could not afford it simply have no basis in fact and are absurd on their face. The government cannot even dictate a pay cap on CEOs, yet they have spent the last 10 years making the most fundamental decision – how to distribute loan capital – for banks?
Banning redlining and other proven discriminatory practices has nothing at all to do with loans made without due diligence towards asset and income verification. Nothing.

Chad:”Nobody with even a rudimentary understanding of economics supports this bill. ”
And the winner of last year’s Nobel Prize for economics, that “Julio of the world who work(s) at McDonald’s” I guess. (The winner of the 2001 Nobel for Economics thinks the stimulus is too heavily weighted towards the rich, but is better than nothing.)

Tough questions my foot this is a simple case of he said she said, passed on as journalism fit for the High School year book

What Obama said about Caterpillar was not oversimplified, but was not that far from the truth.
As for the “question” about the Republican congressman, what was Gibbs supposed to say? How should he know what it indicates? Maybe Schock was lying.
His story is hard to swallow. Despite the media spin that support for the bill has eroded, support has actually increased to 59% in the Feb. 11 poll, up 7% after Obama started his tour of cities hit hard by the Bush quasi-depression.

Irma and Think sound like they believe only reporters and media outlets that gush over Obama and his policies are worth listening too. Actually Fox News
is very inpartial. They actually report NEWS and current events. Granted some of their personalities are not very pro-left but for the most part their “news anchors” are pretty fair. I guess if you don’t agree with Obama and his policies 100% of the time and you voice your disagreement you’re bias. What about all the msm that do nothing but gush over Obama? I guess that makes them true reporters.

What an idiot, I am almost embarrassed for Trapper at reading this. Talk about been owned !!!

Jake – you always ask tough questions for both sides of the aisle. It’s a shame the wackos on either side don’t see that. They should go back to your posts during the election when you held everyone’s feet to the fire. What some don’t realize is that now that the Dems are in control of both houses of Congress and the Executive branch and are in the leadership positions, they are the one’s that will be given the most questions since they have the power.
No need to comment on Gibbs’ questions or the situation, the questions and answers speak for themselves. Thanks for trying to keep everyone honest.

“Matthews “So you were using these commentators as your spokespeople.”
McClellan “well, certainly”
and who excalty does Matthews work for? Also, whats the rest of McClellan’s comment? I guess anyone can put their own spin on something. Once again you prove my point, if it doesn’t come from an Obama loving sheep its not true. Seems to me obama uses the msm for his spokespeople.

It must stink to be the White House press secretary. It’s not your fault that the president and the Caterpillar CEO screwed up, but you’re the one who has to pretend that they didn’t, even though nobody, not even you, believes it. How these people can go through this kind of charade every day is beyond me.

“It must stink to be the White House press secretary.”
It has to be the worst job you can get in the administration.
From George S to Ari to Gibbs today, these guys just get crushed everyday.

Ryan C “The reading of the GOP Senate stimulus talking points thing complete with typo happened early this week.”
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And who’s asking “the tough questions” about that bit of collusion between Fox and the Republicans? Certainly not Tapper or anyone else at ABC. At least at ABC they do correct the typos before repeating Republican talking points.

Jake, I warned you about this yesterday. Stop reading into what people said and trying to make assumptions about what they meant. Take their word for what they said and dont try to read their mind anymore.
You seem to have convinced yourself that they said something they didn’t and no wonder you are flustered when Gibbs called you on it.

Jake,
You caught Obama in yet another bold faced out and out lie, and Gibbs trying in vain to cover for his boss. Too bad Gibbs couldn’t find his butt with both hands. It does make for some entertaining political theater. Keep up the good work Mr. Tapper. Your country needs you.

…a journalist doing ‘journalism’? Who knew! Keep it up and people might start paying for news again.

Jake, you’re one of the few MSM guys who are asking real questions. Thanks. Don’t be surprised if Gibbs yanks your WH credentials! Keep up the good work. God knows everyone else is in bed with the Messiah!

“Human intelligence, you wrote the following remarkable accusation, “Why do you suppose the news stations have taken to cutting off the White House press briefings as soon as Gibbs makes a fool of himself? This didn’t happen with Dana Perino, Tony Snow, Scott McClellan …”
Ummm, do you watch a lot of cable news? Have you done so over the years? If so, you should know that coverage of the briefings is not a constant. Some days they cover it in toto, some days they show a bit of it, most days they do not cover it live at all. In the early days of an administration, it makes sense that they are covering the briefings more regularly than they probably will later on. And they covered Snow a lot when he first came on board, because he was part of the story, or so they thought– former journalist/commentator, popular with his fellow journalists even if his views were not, very personable and witty, cancer warrior.
In short, don’t be paranoid. They show Gibbs for a while to capture the flavor of the day, but usually do not stick around to the bitter end. Press briefings can get long and pretty inside baseball. It is similar to the coverage that was accorded to the plane crash press briefings today (and other similar tragedy press briefings). The three cable networks show the first fifteen minutes or so but when the questions get repetitive, detail-oriented, or just less interesting, they cut away. No sinister deeper meaning here, I dont’ think.

Well done, Tapper.

Keep the Press Secretary honest Jake…you’re the only one out there other than Major Garrett) that can see through the fog that Obama and his associates are putting up…

Thank You!!! Mr. Tapper, for showing what a fraud that politician is! He can’t just pull numbers out of thin air and expect journalists to repeat them without question!
I am talking about Schock, of course.

and let me clue you in on the reason why no one approached Rep. Schock, they were afraid of losing their jobs! when you work at a union shop you don’t voice any opinion but the Union’s opinion, that’s why they went home and e-mailed or called or wrote, but card-check will put an end to that nonsense now won’t it?

I appreciate the questioning; but, I am more outraged at the fact that we are continually being told that “no one had a chance to read the stimulus bill”. Isn’t that more of a priority than the CEO and the Congressman? So, the next time you have a press conference with the President or even Mr. Gibbs ask him how is it “that you can sign a bill that you haven’t read thoroughly?” I would like to emphasize the word “thoroughly”.

Geez, Jake, you might just singlehandedly save journalism.
:-)

What are you doing, Jake? You are not allowed to question our betters! Just take what the Obama administration says as law and submit.
Gee, aren’t Barack and Michelle a gorgeous couple? They are so in love! I adore them.

Thank you!!!!!!!!please help save our republic…I have a new respect for ABC News. I wont forget your journalistic integrity!!

Nail his scuzzy but to the fence.