Posts Tagged ‘Jake Tapper’
Our Morning Roundup: The (9/11) Truth Hurts
Good morning, City Desk readers, and welcome to another addition of Freedom Friday. How about that Van Jones, huh? Obama's enviroczar yodeled down on himself an avalanche of hate after a video of him calling Republicans "assholes" was found on the internet and explicated by the savants at FOX News. Why this irritated Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter, who are both total assholes, is still being investigated.
Really, the good thing about the blowup was that it drew additional attention to Jones, providing further publicity to the allegation that he is a 9/11 Truther.
Our Morning Roundup: D.C. Gets Not Just Real Housewives, But Real Worlders
Good morning City Desk readers, and welcome to an especially vapid installment of Freedom Friday. A few weeks back, yours truly ran into a friend of a friend while picking up some necessities at the CVS on 14th St. in Columbia Heights. Said friend was printing out headshots for his Real World tryout. Yet at the time, there were no Real World employees in D.C. That's changing, according to the dashing reality TV reporter Andy Dehnart, who has discovered that "Bunim-Murray [the production company behind the real world] is searching for multiple production assistants who 'have a valid drivers license and insurance' and 'live in and know DC and surrounding areas.'" Twitter your feelings on the news and tag them (your feelings!) #realworlddc. Got more to say about the Real Housewives of D.C.? Tag that shit #realhousewivesdc.
Military politics, insular media rambling, and medical marijuana, after the jump.
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Jake Tapper Gets The Spotlight
This morning I did something I rarely do on Twitter. I wrote what was exactly on my mind (which I guess is the point of twitter). I typed out: "Jake Tapper had the best question at the Obama press conference." I sat there last night watching the Obama press conference like it was event television. I'm a sucker. Tapper was one of the few reporters who asked a question aimed at getting Obama off the talking points. He asked Obama what benchmarks or milestones or measurements his administration and the public could use to see if the stimulus plan was working. In other words, how would we know if the trillion bucks were gonna cough up is money well spent.
It was a great question.
I pretty much have forgotten Obama's answer. But I remembered the moment as a typical Tapper moment. He's not your average political correspondent/hack. Since he left CP years ago, I have read and watched Tapper with amazement at his ability to churn out good copy for Salon, and solid pieces for Nightline and his politics blog. So it was just odd to read today the anonymous carping from the press corps about Tapper.
A Note to Tapper & Kornheiser: If You Love Print So Much, Why Go On Tube?
Jake Tapper is an illustrious alum of Washington City Paper. He was a writing machine when he worked here. Now he works as White House correspondent for ABC News. He recently said in an interview, "I am at heart a print reporter, and I think that that's where [my blogging jones] comes from."
Tony Kornheiser is an illustrious alum of the Washington Post. Before taking the paper's buyout, he'd written thousands upon thousands of columns and stories. Now he's a highly paid
ESPN personality. He said on the occasion of taking the Post's early retirement offer: "All I ever wanted to be was a newspaper writer. This other stuff is great, but I don't care about it. In my mind that's what it says on the headstone, it says 'newspaper guy.' "
OK, so fellows: If you really are in your minds and hearts really print guys, get the hell off of TV. Go back to print, full-time--no makeup, no takes, no standups, no set, no big-time six-figure paydays. Just go back to the newspapers, fellows. 'Cause it's got to be killing you not to be doing what your hearts say you should be doing. C'mon now, quit these sweet gigs and get back to writing 10-inch stories.
Did Pepsi Steal Obama’s Message?
Thank you New York Times. The out-of-town paper has noticed something that's been irking me for weeks: Obama's slogans, campaign themes, image, and logo have been co-opted by corporations and plastered all around the District. Obama is on buses, Metro cards, the radio and TV. Ikea has a new slogan: "Change Begins At Home." There's also a hot sauce, a hope-and-change necklace, and trading cards. Plus Obama toilet paper, soap, and candy bars. Visit any of our local airports and you will find a kiosk or three selling anything and everything with Obama's face on it.
The biggest offender is Pepsi. Slate made a case over the summer that Obama was the Pepsi candidate. But Pepsi appears to have tweaked their red-white-and-blue yin-yang and has adopted words like "hope" and "optimism" for its bus and TV ads. Only Pepsi spells it "optimismmm." Or something like that. Cool.
I marvel at what Pepsi would have done with McCain's "America First" slogan. But anyway. You just know Sarah Palin will be appearing in a painful Superbowl ad. Probably something for Viagra or Crystal Meth or Crystal Light or GED classes or LensCrafters.
