Sunday, March 29, 2009

Obama Brings In Ringers For The Hard Questions

Obama Town Hall Questioners Were Campaign Backers
But while the online question portion of the White House town hall was open to any member of the public with an Internet connection, the five fully identified questioners called on randomly by the president in the East Room were anything but a diverse lot. They included: a member of the pro-Obama Service Employees International Union, a member of the Democratic National Committee who campaigned for Obama among Hispanics during the primary; a former Democratic candidate for Virginia state delegate who endorsed Obama last fall in an op-ed in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star; and a Virginia businessman who was a donor to Obama's campaign in 2008.
...

President Obama has promised to change the way the government does business, but in at least one respect he is taking a page from the Bush playbook, stocking his town hall Thursday with supporters whose soft -- though far from planted -- questions provided openings to discuss his preferred message of the day.

The last paragraph above was actually the first in the story as printed. Shocking how the writer slips in phrases such as, "but in at least one respect he is taking a page from the Bush playbook", and "-- though far from planted --" to make the story slant just a certain way.

Even more shocking is this yellow journalism came from such a "respected" source such as The Washington Post. At least I'm shocked. Shocked that this rag is still wasting paper and ink.