There is a bizarre story out of the New York Times where the newspaper printed an astonishing statement by President Obama that was immediately picked up by journalists and then removed by the newspapers under a claim that it was trimmed for space. The newspaper said that President Obama defended his criticized laid-back response to the Paris and San Bernardino massacred to not watching enough cable television. It was the most newsworthy part of the fairly generic article and yet it quickly disappeared as social media lit up with criticism of the President.
The President was responding to criticism that he seemed passive or disconnected in his early response to the massacres. Reporting on a private meeting with columnists, Obama was reportedly as recognizing the failure and added “In his meeting with the columnists, Mr. Obama indicated that he did not see enough cable television to fully appreciate the anxiety after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, and made clear that he plans to step up his public arguments.” That rationalization was immediately picked up by media, including a leading CNN reporter, as astonishing.
It then disappeared without a trace.
At first, I thought that the New York Times might have simply gotten it wrong or it was decided that the President was just joking in such a bizarre comment. However, the New York Times is not denying the statement was made or suggesting that it was a joke. Instead, D.C. bureau chief Elisabeth Bumiller wrote “There’s nothing unusual here. That paragraph, near the bottom of the story, was trimmed for space in the print paper by a copy editor in New York late last night. But it was in our story on the web all day and read by many thousands of readers. Web stories without length constraints are routinely edited for print.” That last part is certainly true, but that is well known. What does not track is cutting a graph that, while embarrassing to the White House, was the only real news in the piece. That is reflected in the fact that social media lit up immediately from journalists who cited only that part of the story.
Reporters flashed the information on social media while some like Ron Fournier of the National Journal columnist called it “breathtaking.”Likewise, the Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto compared the lack of response by some as a telling contrast to such a statement being made by a less favored politician like George W. Bush. CNN’s Brian Stelter declared it the “Quote of the Day” and immediately put it on his Twitter feed.
In fairness to the New York Times, it has hit Obama pretty hard on some stories. However, this removal of such a newsworthy element of the story is itself quite disturbing. A president should not need to watch cable to understand how to respond to massacres of this kind.
“Except ask where the new, gigantic, all-seeing arm of government of homeland security was…”
If only Stalin knew…
Obama made the Intelligence orgs stop looking at social media for Islamic immigrants. The wife was proudly ISIS on Facebook before her arrival in the US. Thanks, Obama!
“He was doing what he should have done while the other shooting crises developed,”
Like he did in Ferguson and Baltimore? BS.
“s. To chastise him and the news papers at this level ”
One must never ever criticize a democrat.
The NYTimes’ Walter Duranty won a Pulitzer in 1932 for his “reporting” about the Soviet Union which lied about widespread famine in the USSR, especially the state-forced mass starvation in the Ukraine, an ethnic genocide which killed 7 million.
The NYTimes hasn’t changed much since then.
All of its reports should have an asterisk afterwards.
Strange article. No Obama fan here. He was doing what he should have done while the other shooting crises developed, let law enforcement do their job and keep his opinion out of it. Except ask where the new, gigantic, all-seeing arm of government of homeland security was when they are supposed to keep us all very, very safe…
Turley, you are becoming more diluted and pathetic, pandering to the right wing nuts on this blog. At least come up with some substance. There are lots of valid criticisms of Obama and the rest of the political herds. To chastise him and the news papers at this level drops you down, not your subject matter. I thought you had more going for you than this.
With that golf swing he better not quit his day job. Oh wait…better yet, do quit his day job and work on that hideous swing.
Interesting post and some interesting comments
The science geek
http://www.thesciencegeek.org
Can’t Obama and family enjoy a tax payer paid holiday vacation in Hawaii?
Check out Obama’s golf swing in Honolulu, HI.
We need a Draft. All Americans, both sexes, all illegals too, under the age of 50 need to be drafted for military service. Send five hundred thousand troops (human beings with boots on) to the muddle east today. Impeach Obama. Appoint The Donald as Commander In Chief. Eliminate the New York Times and the all television except Fox News. Make JT the Secretary of Defense.
I think it’s am interesting aspect – how much should a President become emotionally involved when a terrorist massacre occurs?
I would say one the one hand he needs to appreciate how people are reacting, on the other hand an overdose of emotion could result in nad decision-making.
At any rate, Obama seems to be saying his response did not quite capture the public mood, which seems honest enough. What of it?
It isn’t as if the NYT is short of space in their newspaper. Their excuse is not credible.
Or is it that the chief executive emulates Plutarch’s Tigranes—behead the bearer of unpleasant news.
““All the news that is fit to print”, eh?”
Alfred E. Newman got it right decades ago: ‘all the news that fits, we print’.
The NYT has long been better at mushroom farming than journalism.
It’s an appalling confirmation of something that I have been wondering about for some time. Often when some disturbing fact about his administration blows up the President feigns surprise. When asked how he found out he often says: I read about it or heard it on the news as If no one briefs him on anything. I think Obama has been disconnected for a very long time. Based on the way in which his rhetoric and policies often contradict each other one wonders if he ever really reads his speeches.
“All the news that fits, we’ll print.”
Guess not.
The NYT left out the most telling part of the President’s quote, where Obama claims to have missed most of the cable news reports regarding these massacres because he was busy smoking a doobie in the Rose Garden when they aired. Funny, he didn’t seem to miss a beat on the news pertaining to the story about Ahmed-the-ticking-pencil-case-boy. No lag time there. He has his priorities.
You are quite right, Professor Turley. President Obama needs to quit leading from behind. He should have placed a hundred thousand troops on the ground immediately and re-instituted the draft. Obama is so inept. Or is it feckless? I forget which.
Not much new here. Anyone who reads the headlines of the NYT or gets its “daily brief” knows well that the NYT is clearly the official newspaper of the Democrat party and, when occupied by a Democrat, the White House.
This is like saying that Pravda deleted a quote by Putin. (Does Pravda still exist?)
“All the news that is fit to print”, eh?