RUSH: Here’s Ann Compton. This was Sunday night on C-SPAN’s Q&A, Brian Lamb interviewing the former ABC News White House correspondent Ann Compton.
Brian Lamb said, “Now, how many other presidents were that aware of what they said to you, and how many just didn’t pay attention at all and you had no personal reaction from them?” I don’t know what that’s about. I don’t know if she’s got a book. He’s asking her something specific, but it’s gotta be other than, “Okay, you’re the White House correspondent. How aware were you that the president was listening?” It’s gotta be more than that. Doesn’t matter. Her answer (forget the context) stands alone.
COMPTON: I have seen, in the last year, Barack Obama really angry twice. Both were off-the-record times. One profanity laced where he thought the press was making too much of scandals that he didn’t think were scandals. Another where he took us to task for not understanding the limits he has with foreign policy and the way he’s dealing with the Middle East and, uh, Iraq and Afghanistan. And I don’t find him apologetic, but I find him willing to stand up to the press and look ’em in the eye — even though it was off the record — and just give us hell.
RUSH: The key was “off the record.” Hey, Ann, where was this when you were still working at ABC? Is this not remarkable? The president asks you to go off the record and then lambastes you people with obscenity after obscenity after obscenity? It says something about the guy. I’m not sure what. But I’m tell you what I don’t get. If I’m Barack Obama? Literally now, if I’m Barack Obama (snorts), I love the media.
My God, they’re the biggest idiots on earth. I can do no wrong. This guy must be must be one heck of a narcissist. If this guy thinks that he’s getting unfair media coverage, then that tells us a lot about him not the media. There has never in my lifetime… Well, I take it back. JFK, John Kennedy, the media? Pshew! That relationship? Whew! That was love at first sight and forever. But this is a close second other than JFK.
I was nine/10 years old with JFK, so I’m not really… My memories are not mature. (interruption) Do they push back on him? You’re wondering, when he goes off on them do they push back? (interruption) I don’t think so, because she points out he never apologizes. But no, they don’t push back. I’m sure they feel upbraided like by a parent. I’m sure they walk out worried that he’s mad at them. That’s the nature of the press relationship with Obama.
Oh, my God, is Dad mad?
Is the dictator mad at us?
If you’re in a media and a dictator gets mad at you, you don’t want that. But I just wonder: How many Republicans do you think would pay for the coverage Obama gets? How many Republicans would pay the press money for the kind of sycophantic, anal-poisoning, suck-up coverage that he gets? For him to run around mad at ’em? I’m sorry, that just doesn’t compute. When has the press done anything but his bidding in the Middle East?
It’s always Israel’s fault, no matter what, which is exactly what he wants. When it… (interruption) Oh, the being indecisive about Syria? Oh, yeah. Well, in that case, Obama kind of embarrassed them, because they wanted him to act tough and he did and then he backed off and he left ’em out to dry, the “red line” business. So, yeah, that might be one example. But I think back to our old buddy Nic Robertson of CNN.
My gosh, this is just so great. (chuckles) Remember Tahrir Square when the Regime decided that Mubarak had to go? We were gonna get rid of Mubarak and we were gonna install our buds at the Muslim Brotherhood, a “moderate” bunch of terrorists, in charge of Egypt. Obama’s announcing this or that and commenting on this or that. Obama over here is trying to credit his campaign for inspiring the protests of Egyptians in Tahrir Square.
So right on schedule, CNN sends old Nic Robertson over there to interview protesters in Tahrir Square, and he starts asking ’em, “Hey, Mohammed? What do you think of President Obama and his expressed desire that you have jobs and that you get what you want and that you have a gerat future?” All three people that Nic Robertson talked to essentially said, “Obama? We don’t know what Obama’s doing. Obama’s not doing it for us.
“Obama’s not speaking up for us. We can’t count on Obama. We don’t know what Obama’s gonna say from day to day. We don’t know what he means. It isn’t even about Obama.” And after each one of them said that, Nic Robertson looked to the camera at CNN and said, “There you have it! More overwhelming support for President Barack Obama right here in the Tahrir Square!” It was the most incredible thing. (chuckles) I just loved it.
They send him over there because everybody wanted to create the impression it was his once-in-a-lifetime campaign that was inspiring uprisings for freedom and decency and goodness all over the world. I mean, as long as I live I will never, ever get that kind of sycophantic, butt-kissing press coverage that Obama gets multiple times a day — and no Republican will, either. Yet he’s cussing them out.
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