West Wing Reportage

TIPS FROM THE POOL, INTO THE DEEP END

TWT White House Pool Reporter David Boyer wrote about a journalist’s disruptive cell phone this weekend at a NATO Summit in Chicago. While listening to remarks from NATO Sec. General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and President Obama, a journalist’s cell phone rang and rang and rang. Boyer told FishbowlDC that he asked around after the spray but no one knew who the offending journo was.

“In early afternoon, Mr. Obama and NATO Secretary General gave welcoming remarks at the top of their bilateral meeting at the convention center. They stood in a small room, the same one where Mr. Obama met with Hamid Karzai. The White House has already sent out the transcript of this three-minute spray, so your pooler won’t try to reinvent the wheel. But during Mr. Rasmussen’s comments, a journo’s cell phone began ringing for such a long time that Mr. Obama gave a sideways glance as if trying to locate the source.”

 

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As news of the passing of disco legend Donna Summer made the rounds yesterday, we were surprised to receive the following email from the White House Press Office.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 17, 2012

Statement by the President on the Passing of Donna Summer

Michelle and I were saddened to hear about the passing of Donna Summer. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Donna truly was the “Queen of Disco.” Her voice was unforgettable, and the music industry has lost a legend far too soon. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Donna’s family and her dedicated fans.

While it’s not unusual for POTUS to remember celebrities that had an impact on society, he seems to be picking and choosing these days. As we reported earlier, TWT’s Joe Curl famously took Obama to task for not issuing a statement on the passing of Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys. While some might cry racism, I think it might just be that POTUS’s taste in music isn’t as “cool” as everyone makes out. When The Band’s Levon Helm passed away, POTUS was silent. Most recently, when Chuck Brown, the patron saint of go-go music and a God to citizens of Chocolate City, died, POTUS went mute. It’s not that he doesn’t care. It’s just that he’s just being selective about whose death is worth commemorating. When Whitney Houston died of a cocaine overdose, POTUS issued a statement and a prayer for her family. Is there anyone in their right mind who thinks that Donna Summer’s musical achievements rival those of Levon Helm or Adam Yauch? Is POTUS THIS out of touch?

When POTUS makes a lunch run, Washington pays attention. We got word yesterday that he grabbed grub at a local chain, Taylor Gourmet, for meetings at the White House. We first learned of this “news” from Politico‘s Donovan Slack, who was giving us pool reports throughout the day. We perked up when her dispatch came through at 12:05 p.m. ET with the subject line: “yes, they’re having hoagies.” This immediately began the conversation around Fishbowl Headquarters over whether they’re called “hoagies”, “grinders”, or “subs.” (The issue still isn’t resolved.)

POTUS picked up an “an assortment of sandwiches”, but we were not given the crucial details of what he ordered.  Some 20 minutes later, Slack picked up where she left off by sending her next report with a subject line that made us choke with laughter: “Sandwich Facts.” It’s your one stop shop for all things between two slices of bread. As it turns out, POTUS ordered a sandwich with “roast turkey, prosciutto, roasted red peppers and sharp provolone.”

You’d think that if the leader of the free world made a lunch run, he’d come back with something a LITTLE more impressive than a turkey sub. POTUS paid for the pack of sandwiches at a cost of $62.79.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney drew the ire of reporters this week with his methodology for how reporters get called on to ask a question. The tradition is to let reporters sitting in the enviable front row ask their questions before moving around the room. On Tuesday, however, after Carney spent an extensive amount of time on those superstars that sit closest to him, he announced that he would “move around a little bit.” Before the words even come out of his mouth, Norah O’Donnell, Chief White House Correspondent for CBS, interrupted Carney and said, “That’s not fair. That’s SO unfair. Call on the boys and then when it comes to Norah, you go to the back.” This brought on a round of “OOOOHHHHS” from the White House Press Corps. NBC’s Chuck Todd leaped to O’Donnell’s defense by saying, “If you’re going to move around, move around from the beginning.” It’s worth pointing out that Carney had already gone to Laura MacInnis from Reuters very early in the briefing, so Norah’s accusation of sexism doesn’t hold water.

Let’s face it, O’Donnell wasn’t standing up for women everywhere. She was throwing a hissy fit because she didn’t get what she wanted. Not to mention, did she really refer to herself in the third person? Nevertheless, Carney caved to the demands of Queen Norah and let her ask her question. A defeated Carney then waited 44 minutes into the briefing before he left the front row, when he finally took a question from NPR’s Mara Liasson, who sits in the second row. A White House reporter who spoke on condition of anonymity, told FBDC, “”While Jay Carney has sometimes made excellent attempts to circulate [around] the room, Tuesday was one of the worst examples of the President’s spokesman being bullied by TV reporters in the front row to pay attention just to them.”

We have previously reported on Carney’s method, which is to jump around the briefing room before finishing with the front. This has ruffled the feathers of some of the cool kids that sit in the front row.

Is it really that easy to push Carney around? Just accuse him of phony sexism just to get a question in? We’ve requested comment from Carney and will report back if he responds.

The White House Soup of the Day, as reported by MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown” is…

French Onion.

After an extremely long, pregnant pause, host Chuck Todd said, “Hollande is now president of France, so in honor apparently, it’s French Onion Soup Day.”

 

TIPS FROM THE POOL…INTO THE DEEP END

NYT White House Correspondent Jackie Calmes, who has been covering President Obama’s fundraiser at actor George Clooney‘s home for the past 24 hours, issued an early morning Pool Report after calling a photo-travel lid at 2:32 a.m. Calmes wrote the new report (#11) to correct what was supposed to be an amusing anecdote the President told at last night’s soirée regarding his Hope poster and Clooney being photoshopped out of a picture. In her report she quote’s the AP’s Jim Kuhnhenn, who clears up the error.

“According to the AP and its White House reporter, fellow pooler Jim Kuhnhenn, Potus erred on Thursday night in telling donors at George Clooney’s house his anecdote about the iconic ‘Hope’ poster of the 2008 presidential campaign. Potus said artist Shepard Fairey had based his design on a photo in which then-Sen. Obama appeared alongside Clooney at an event on the humanitarian crisis in Darfur (leading Potus to quip that it was the first and last time that Clooney had ever been ‘photo-shopped’ from a photo).

Here’s how Jim describes the reality:
‘In fact, the artist who created the poster, Shepard Fairey, used another photograph of Obama but said he relied on the Obama-Clooney picture to avoid a copyright infringement case with The Associated Press. He pleaded guilty in February to criminal contempt for fabricating and destroying evidence.’”

From the Dept. of Bad Timing…this was The Hill‘s White House Correspondent Amie Parnes‘s story two days before President Obama broke the earth-shattering news that he supports gay marriage. So it turns out she’s not the Nostradamus of Washington politics?

Headline: “Obama not comfortable on gay marriage.”

While Parnes likely isn’t responsible for the headline, it doesn’t look good. It also shows that repeated ass kissing of first lady Michelle Obama may not pay off after all.

Read the story here.

Washington journalists fixated on Newt Gingrich‘s speech marking the end of his presidential campaign Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what caught our eye.

The Daily Beast‘s Robin Givhan: “Newt Gingrich: the long goodbye as pompous lecture.”

Politico’s Glenn Thrush: “This reminds me of that scene in Airplane where this guys keeps talking and all his seat mates start committing suicide.”

Politico‘s Reid Epstein: “Just fyi, the Gettysburg Address was 271 words.”

CNN’s Mark Preston: “Newt Gingrich just suspended his presidential campaign and now he is talking about his moon colony proposal.”

Reuters‘ Sam Youngman: “Somewhere Romney is saying, ok, that’s enough, Newt.”

Politico‘s Darren Goode: “I’m now officially drunk. #drinkinggame #Newt”

WaPo‘s Chris Cillizza: “Newt is, gulp, likable in this press conference. No?”

From L to R: Christi Parsons, Donovan Slack and Margaret Talev.

Now the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner is blissfully receding from most people’s memory and the hangovers have subsided, that can only mean one thing: the campaign is on for three seats on the association’s board. This year’s races could be especially contentious: Christi Parsons (Chicago Tribune/LAT) v. Donovan Slack (Politico) for President. Also, Bloomberg is trying (for the third straight year!) for a seat on the board with their candidate, Margaret Talev.

Balloting is by mail, over many weeks. First, a signup sheet gets posted in the White House briefing room. Candidates sign up and declare their candidacies. Then they send statements to membership. Trust us, the campaigning is already well under way!

Let the contentiousness begin.

A note of explanation to readers: It’s a crazy system: FNC’s Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry becomes president and will honcho the 2013 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. So if you want good tables or many tables, he’s the guy whose ass you want to kiss for the next year. It takes TWO YEARS upon one’s election as WHCA president before he/she actually takes office. So after these elections are decided, you could have a full two years head start to suck up and as we know, the turtle tends gets ahead by going slow. Longest transition in the western world.

In further annoyingly technical explanation: There are nine seats total on the board. Typically, there are three open seats per annual election. The three elected in the coming weeks/months all take office shortly after election. To be elected president, one has to win both election to a specific seat AND the race for president.

Washington reporter Cynthia Gordy has been in the thick of covering the Trayvon Martin story extensively for The Root, including last week’s presser with Trayvon’s parents in D.C. She is the publication’s “Blogging the Beltway” blogger. Just in the past week she was promoted to senior political correspondent. Her first foray into journalism was as an editorial assistant at Essence Magazine in New York. Later she became the publication’s first Washington correspondent. We caught up with her for the inside scoop.

1. What have been the most satisfying aspects of covering the Trayvon Martin story? The frustrating parts? Although The Root, as a publication, has reported hour-to-hour updates on the case over the past month, my personal contributions have been a bit different. Since my beat is national politics and policy, I’ve focused on the places where the story intersects with Washington. That has included the parents’ testimony on Capitol Hill, a look at the American Legislative Exchange Council’s role in pushing “Stand Your Ground” laws across the country, as well as the corporations that have since pulled financial support from the organization, and President Obama‘s and Attorney General Eric Holder‘s comments on the situation.

I don’t know if “satisfying” is the word I would use, but it has been fascinating to watch the community-based mobilization around the case. Between millions of signatures on the change.org petition calling for an investigation, protest rallies, and phone calls to companies like Coca-Cola asking them to stop supporting ALEC, it showed that Americans of all backgrounds saw a problem. I think their pressure is part of what convinced Florida to take another look at the facts and evidence, eventually leading to an arrest.

2. How close have you gotten to the family in terms of reaching out to them and interviewing them? Are they amenable to interviews aside from those they are giving to Al Sharpton? I haven’t reached out to the family, but I’ve seen them speak at public appearances. Especially when the story became about whether or not their son was a “good kid” or a “bad kid,” it has been important for them to be a constant presence in the media to push back. They’ve given interviews to a range of outlets and journalists for that purpose, in addition to challenging misconceptions about their goals. As they said on Wednesday at the National Action Network convention, they aren’t out for revenge or trying to convict George Zimmerman without a trial. Their goal all along has been to get an arrest.

3. Most memorable White House moment? Read more