And then they came for the free press …
And when I came to the room with shoes, nothing but empty shoes, I broke down," wrote Jeff Jarvis of his epipany at the Holocaust Museum in DC a few years back. We blogged about it in "The city upon a hill shines through" and "The timeless hysteria of the history-challenged
multitudes."
By guest blogger Sissy Willis of sisu
"Good job! Being deleted is a sure sign that you've hit someone in the twelve ring," Michael Hasenstab twittered Ruth Anne Adams this morning in response to Ruth Anne's shocking tweet about ABC Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper. Michael and Ruth Anne, regular purveyors of wise and witty twitter banter, had stopped laughing. The
precipitating event was Helen Thomas's "coming out party." Here's Ruth Anne re "Tappy":
He's another hack. Not worth my time. His true colors came out with that exchange and his deletion of his @ reply to my Q.
We were shocked because Tapper has seemed that rare thing, a member
of the "legacy media" whose work is "fair, balanced and unafraid," his newsy, breezy tweets a follower's delight. Only this morning we'd
retweeted in approval:
JAKE "FEET-TO-FIRE" TAPPER SCORES! RT @jaketapper: Allen Has Ordered 'Uninhibited Access' to Oil Spill Operations http://tinyurl.com/2agqkh
But Tapper's apparent failure to sanction fellow White House Correspondent
Thomas had exposed his left flank, and Adams wasn't holding her fire. A few snippets from their earlier thrust and parry:
Jake Tapper: For those asking, it's not my role to "condemn" comments, whether by pols or reporters. and if i do it for one person, it opens a door. Thx
Ruth Anne Adams: Is there a journo equivalent of a locker room whereby people are ostracized?
Tapper: i could start…but i would never stop! That isn't my job. My job is to bring you the news fairly and impartially.
Adams: If I had an anti-Semitic co-worker,you can bet I'd complain to HR. Certainly, I'd distance myself. Don't feign neutrality, Jake … Sometimes, silence is seen as approval. Feel free to disagree … Helen Thomas is the news. You also serve in an editorial position. You're skirting this cowardly … You know what, Taptap? You don't owe me an explanaton. My esteem-o-meter for you registers zero now.
In his defense, responding to twitterer srbryson, Tapper asks rhetorically:
and my job as a WH correspondent means I'm supposed to condemn every reporter who says something i find offensive?
Not EVERY reporter who says something you find offensive, sir, but we would sincerely ask you to consider Jeanette Pryor's sobering words in "Helen Thomas and the Definitive Answer to Why the First Holocaust Happened" at David Horowitz's NewsRealBlog:
Helen Thomas is a perpetrator. Perpetrator, because the most important aspect of the War Against Israel is the War to erode American support for Israel, the War for public opinion …
Certainly, the White House Press Corps is full of those who have thus reacted to the Nazi Holocaust. And yet, they will sit down to dinner with Helen Thomas. They will continue to say, “Good Morning,” to her, and will treat her like an icon worthy of respect. She will stoop in her throne in the Press Corps galley. She will not be shunned in the halls of the White House, and senators and representatives will still curry her favor or, at the very worst, attribute her rant to notorious spunk.
This is why the Holocaust happened.
And then they came for the free press …
Cross-posted at sisu and Liberty Pundits.
Absolutely the best thread I have ever read on Riehl World View. Sissy, you are courageous and I tip my bonnet to you.
Please keep calling these State Run Media hacks on the carpet, and please, please, hold THEIR FEET TO THE FIRE.
Remember how quick Tapper was in condemning the use of the word “ObamaCare”? He certainly didn’t mind “opening that door” probably because it makes him look “fair” or “impartial”. But condemn ignorance and hatred of the Jews? Meh… not his job, apparently.
Do African-Americans hold Africa dear to their heart? Or are they somewhat embarrased by Africa? Or perhaps they simply do not care or cannot relate to the plight of Africans? When voting Africa and its concerns are the last thing on their minds.
Perhaps the same is true for Jewish Americans. Perhaps that explains why they continue to vote for a party that is so hostile towards Israel.
But then perhaps it is comparing apples and oranges.
And perhaps it is simply that Liberals are Liberals first.
I have to go with Jacobsen at Legal Insurrection (h/t rags http://hindenblog1.blogspot.com/). Leave Hezbolah Hellen right where she is. She is an outstanding caricature of liberal media with a blatant agenda masquerading as impartial journalism. Her honored position as the Grande Dame of the WH press corps, coupled with her nonsensical questions/anti-semitic rants bring the absurdity of MSM pseudo-journalism into focus. Keep up the good work Hellen.
You go girl! And go to he!!.
I wonder what Tapper would have to say about a fellow reporter making racist remarks by calling someone the n word? Would he ostracize that reporter?
Tapper won’t take a stand because the primary requirement to being a “journalist” is amorality.
Denny, he’s already answered that in a tweet yesterday evening. Essentially he said it’s not his place to condemn everything offensive that a reporter says. He beats you coming and going: If you accuse him instead of condoning it through silence, then he whips out the “well, Sarah Palin hasn’t condemned everything offensive that the Right has done!” So, how about we just stop trusting Jake Tapper and realize that (against some misguided hope) he’s the same liberal media tool like the rest of them?