White House interns forced to fill seats at Bush’s last press conference to make the room seem less empty.
White House interns forced to fill seats at Bush’s last press conference to make the room seem less empty.
When the White House announced President Bush’s final press conference yesterday, it sent a bulletin to reporters declaring “one correspondent per organization” and “standing room only for non-seat holders.” But as the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank points out, not enough reporters attended for the presser to make it “standing room only”:
Further complicating his last-minute legacy rehabilitation: Nobody seems to be paying attention. The White House had high expectations for yesterday’s final, historic news conference. “ONE CORRESPONDENT PER ORGANIZATION,” proclaimed the bulletin sent to reporters. “STANDING ROOM ONLY FOR NON-SEAT HOLDERS.” But when the appointed hour of 9:15 a.m. arrived, the last two rows in the seven-row briefing room were empty, and a press aide told White House interns to fill those seats.
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I wouldn’t have bothered. I don’t care so much, I don’t even care about this post.
… a press aide told White House interns to fill those seats.
That’s the Bush administration for you. All that counts is appearance.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:02 amI thought I noticed some inflatable dummies at the back of the room… NO… I’m not talking about WH staff members… ‘course, I understand why some might think so… heh.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:03 amhersey burada ac?kca anlat?lm?s
January 13th, 2009 at 11:03 amIf a buffoon calls a press conference and nobody shows up, do we still get twaddle in the media?
January 13th, 2009 at 11:03 amHeheheheh. Most hated, most incompetent, most corrupt, most venal president ever. I wish he would drop dead.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:04 amThe little prick never took a question from Helen Thomas did he? I hope she broke out with little giggles each time he attempted to answered a question.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:06 amIf Bush had any class at all, he would have called upon Helen Thomas yesterday.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:06 amEven with seat-fillers in the room, the buffoon found a way to ignore Helen Thomas.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:07 amCuriously, they were also all required to remove their shoes before entering the press room…
January 13th, 2009 at 11:08 amJoe is in Israel, I guess Jeff is still on the naughty list…
January 13th, 2009 at 11:09 amOur manly, tough President is scared of 80-something Helen Thomas?
Say it ain’t so, W!
January 13th, 2009 at 11:13 amYesterday was really sucky acting, Bushie. You only gave your 24% an extended boner, but the rest of us are never going to believe that you screwed up with good intentions. Full Bush form — the late night comics must have been hard pressed for material.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:13 amOh come on, they needed to fill the seats with interns to do the wave successfully.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:19 amBush boasted proudly about 52 months of job growth!?! Where exactly was this job growth? In government? Out sourced to India and China? What about record job losses you moron?
January 13th, 2009 at 11:19 amI’m believing Helen Thomas will receive her just reward in the first Barack Obama press conference.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:20 amObama will respect and offer the dignity she so richly deserves.
And he will answer her questions.
Personally, I would like to see her publicly recognized for her strength and endurance, and given a standing ovation.
Their mistake was the “one correspondent per organization” idea. They could have filled the back rows with Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, John Gibson, Carl Cameron, Brit Hume, Jaun Williams, Mort Kondrecke, Charles Krauthammer, Brian Kilmeade, Gretchen Carlson, and Steve Doocy.
But then, that gang might as well be White House staffers.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:22 amSounds like the staged toppling of the Sadam statue….
They don’t have any new tricks, that’s why they’re history.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:23 amraynman Says:
Even with seat-fillers in the room, the buffoon found a way to ignore Helen Thomas.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:23 am“““““““““““““““““““““““““““`
Rumor has it there was a ‘Check shoes at the door’ outside the door of the press room. ;)
Uncle Fester Lurks Says:
“Bush boasted proudly about 52 months of job growth!?! Where exactly was this job growth?”
Mostly at Black Water and Haliburton.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:27 amAnother blot on the young interns’ careers.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:30 amNo doubt if the interns had voluntarily attended the presser, Ken Starr would have been all over it.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:33 amWhat does Dubya have in his ears? Brain filler?
January 13th, 2009 at 11:36 amHere’s how his farewell speech could look:
My Fellow Americans,
January 13th, 2009 at 11:39 amThese are troubled times we live in. All Americans are reeling from the effects of the financial troubles affecting global markets around the world. We’re ingaged in a Global War on Terror fighting to spread democracy around the world and to keep all Americans safe from those that wish us harm. Throughout these times, it has always been my administrations intention to protect and serve all Americans. It’s been a long hard battle, one of which we must continue to fight for many years to come. Vigilence is the price of freedom, and my administration always understood this responsibility. We took steps to make sure all Americans were protected from the likes of Saddam Hussein and others that wish us harm. To that end, I firmly stand behind the steps we’ve taken to ensure our great country remain safe from the many threats against her today and in the future. My entire administration believes we’ve been successful in this endeavor as witnessed by no new attacks against America since 9/11. We’re proud of our service, and would do the same again if presented with the facats as we knew them to be true at that time. I, personally, want to thank America for giving me the opportunity to serve this great nation in such trying times. I’ll soon leave office, passing it to President-Elect Barack Obama. I wish him well in this awesome responsibility of protecting all Americans and serving his country. Good night, and God bless America.
Hey, if I can’t throw my size 10 shoes at President Bush I ain’t coming.
That’s the only thing this shadow of a man is good for.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:41 amThis President has always been quick with the photo-op. The ones that come to mind are too numerous to mention, but include: Standing atop the rubble of the crumbled World Trade Center Towers, Delivering a fake plastic turkey to the troops in Iraq, “Mission Accomplished” Banner on the Aircraft Carrier, Looking “Pensively” at the wreckage of Katrina as he flew over, rehearsed “Chats” with the troops, Clearing brush on his fake ranch in Crawford, TX and endless speeches before hand-picked and screened crowds in front of a backdrop of military personnel.
But those images are only illusions. The true picture that developed like an Old-time Polaroid is a Presidency beset by lies and has had disastrous consequences for much of the world. Other images show the true picture of this man: Joking about searching for the missing weapons of mass destruction under cushions in the Oval office, cherry-picked intelligence that presented a false impression that Iraq was involved in 9/11, refusing to meet with Cindy Sheehan to discuss “what noble cause” in Iraq, his inability to take followup questions from a complicit press core, policy choices that ALWAYS favored corporate cronies over working men and women or the American People, 18 straight months of job losses, relaxed regulations for protection of air, water, soil, national parks, safe working conditions and just about anything else that might have an impact on the lives of all Americans.
So many people have been able to see through the false image that this administration presented that his rhetoric no longer works. I’m sure that Bush sees himself still as a “compassionate conservative.” Most people that I know do not consider him as either.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:44 amIn the Navy, when we were ordered to attend functions, we called it the Hertz rent-a-crowd program.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:44 amAmondale Says:
“Here’s how his farewell speech could look:”
It would be alright with the sound turned off.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:48 amThanks!
Amondale Says:@ 11:39
Bush could never be that articulate.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:49 amLooks like Amondale is one of the 23% who didn’t learn any lessons from the past eight years.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:49 amlegacy
January 13th, 2009 at 11:51 amAnd Clinton only needed ONE intern to meet his needs.
/snark off
January 13th, 2009 at 11:51 amthe lamestream press covered it like they have always covered the sociopathic boy wonder, i.e. it was front page news in the Minneapolis Star Tribune etc. etc.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:52 amAmondale Says:
Here’s how his farewell speech could look:
If only he had done anything to make a speech like that possible.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:54 amsigh
From what I saw and heard, it’s a wonder that those who were there from the actual media didn’t laugh at this moron, then walk out in disgust.
But that was too much to ask from this herd of mindless cattle that pose as journalists.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:58 amThe White House Press Corps has become a laughingstock, even within MSM journalism. Once upon a time, it was possible to break important news from that room. Now they just hang out and listen to the Press Secretary give them nothing but blatant opinion and spin. The entire Press Secretary / Press Corps “thing” has become this weird useless appendage attached to modern information media. They don’t do anything useful, but sometimes the rest of us watch them do nothing anyways, at least when it gets especially revolting. The Bush administration has purposely set it up so that it is now impossible to get a journalistic scoop of any kind, consisting of actual news, from that room.
That’s not only because the once-respectable job of Press Secretary has been replaced with “spinning hack,” but it’s just the format. The Press Corps only gets the opinion of the White House on news that was discovered elsewhere. If something important is going to be done, the White House announces it elsewhere – by the Prez personally, through back channel “leaks” or through some other format.
In the end, this is what we get – the final press conference held by a two-term President isn’t even worth showing up at. Why? Because there’s nothing to see there any more. They’ve long ago stripped all the possibility that news could happen there.
I don’t know if Obama can restore the credibility of that whole institution, but I think it would pretty much involve reinventing the whole position of Press Secretary and rethinking what the Press Corps would be good for.
.
Amondale Says:
Here’s how his farewell speech could look:
Yep, that sounds like what he’ll say. That’s why there’s no point in watching it.
.
Uncle Ho Says:
In the Navy, when we were ordered to attend functions, we called it the Hertz rent-a-crowd program.
I was wondering why he has given so many speeches to military audiences. Thanks for the info.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:05 pmAnd the last, heavily-hyped Bush Press Conference turned out to be a Potemkin Press Conference? And this clueless SOB needs another broadcast slot on Thursday evening? The man still astonishes me. . .
January 13th, 2009 at 12:07 pmWell, I for one am grateful for President Bush’s service to our country. And not because he has lowered the bar for Obama, either.
I mean, afterall, if Junior hadn’t proven himself to be the dumbest, most idiotic failure ever as a president, we might have been looking at President Huckleberry or worse, and at least 4 to 8 more years of Rethuglican rule.
So on behalf of a few of your subjects, may I say, “Thank you, Mr. President.” You may be gone, but hopefully, not ever forgotten.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:11 pmPoor Helen Thomas, sitting right there in the front row wearing bright red so she can’t be missed and Bush misses her. To bad the first person that Bush did call on didn’t defer to Helen. That would have been a fitting tribute and an appropriate gotcha for Bush. Would he have declined to answer her question. Now we will never know.
How pathetic, too, to empty out the Whitehouse interns to fill the empty seats. It just shows that people want nothing more than for Bush to be gone.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:20 pmI don’t know why most any of them showed up there throughout the Criminals terms….
….they were just stenographers anyway, no real reporting, softball questions, no challenges to the lies.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:27 pmAnd still the “Chimp” Chump had the temerity to treat Helen Thomas with contempt. The rest of the ‘ball-less’ male media let this slob get away with treating one of their own this way. God bless Helen and kudos for her long years of service in defense of truth.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:29 pmJoe Sixpack; You just might consider thanking Chimpy personally, with your shoes.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:32 pmAnd this comes as a surprise to whom? The Chimp has done nothing but fill empty space for 8 excruciatingly long years. Can we expect any less from the little creep in his last presser?
One week from this very second we will have an adult back in charge of the white house. I wish it was today.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:32 pmThe Potemkin presidency.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:40 pmEverything about him is a facade, a false front, a lie.
A more fitting farewell from the press might have been a united standing salute with the middle finger.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:41 pmIn Dallas……teachers are forcing 1st grade students to write letters “welcoming” the Murderer home !
January 13th, 2009 at 2:00 pmHow PATHETIC can you get ????
“White House interns forced to fill seats at Bush’s last press conference to make the room seem less empty.”
lol Dubya was snubbed. Priceless. I saw his press conference yesterday. It was more like a therapy Dr. Phil session. After that press conference was over, I am sure that many of the journalists went in the mens room turned on the squeaky faucet and died laughing. I know I would have.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:12 pmCorrection: Bathroom.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:12 pmkrystalviews Says:
In Dallas……teachers are forcing 1st grade students to write letters “welcoming” the Murderer home !
How PATHETIC can you get ????
There’s a whole industry of forced labor that exists solely for the purpose of maintaining the fragile bubble surrounding his ego, and keeping him safely protected from reality. Nice to see that tradition will be preserved. Besides, children are a lot cheaper than military officers or bureaucrats.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:29 pmRE 23Amondale Says:
Here’s how his farewell speech could look:
Naah, too many big words there fella. Bush couldn’t give that speech without cheney’s hand up his ass.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:51 pmMaybe seats were empty simply because fewer news organizations have the resources to fill them anymore.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:04 pmSeatfillers, ROFLMAO . .
Who the hell ever wanted to hear what that fool had to say anyway . .
His library will be filled the same way. The books will be props with empty pages . .
What has this Bubble ever authored himself?? Articles?
Anyone know?
January 13th, 2009 at 3:14 pmIn Dallas……teachers are forcing 1st grade students to write letters “welcoming” the Murderer home !
How PATHETIC can you get ????
That’s because the schools are required to send something that will be at his own reading level!
January 13th, 2009 at 3:51 pmwhizard67 Says:
Maybe seats were empty simply because fewer news organizations have the resources to fill them anymore.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
More likely because Bush is irrelvant, always treated the press with contempt and never told the truth OR said anything relevant any his other press conferences anyway so why bother showing up at another one?
January 13th, 2009 at 3:57 pmI just read this: Maybe the seats were empty because news organizations have fewer resources.
Good try at being a legacy lapdog, but that ain’t likely. I’ll bet there will be quite a crowd for the press conference by the first real president this nation has had in eight years. SRO for that one.
God, this transition seems to be taking another eight years. Get him the hell out of my face.
January 13th, 2009 at 4:19 pmWell, at least Bush only requires his interns to sit and listed to his speaches.
The same could not be said about Bill “Blue Stained Dress” Clinton.
January 13th, 2009 at 7:16 pmGood riddance to America’s biggest thug.
January 13th, 2009 at 8:06 pmBush miscalculated the impact of 8 years of his FCC on media consolidation when he announced the “ONE CORRESPONDENT PER ORGANIZATION” policy. That’s the only reason he could not fill the room for what was certain to be the final clumsy unscripted moment of his “presidency”.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:58 amWow—the American people are very hungry for George W. Bush to leave; nobody is interested in Bush anymore.
Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
“GEORGE W. BUSH IS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY” BLOG OF ANDREW YU-JEN WANG
ONLINE ANTI-BUSH SCHOLASTIC RESEARCH: LISTING OF MAJOR ISSUES
http://andrewyu-jenwang.blogspot.com/2008/10/bush-is-worst-president-in-american.html
January 14th, 2009 at 2:08 amTim43 Says:
My GOD you are an ignorant troll Timmeh. Isnt look over there on page two of the troll handbook? You are too stupid to be believed.
January 14th, 2009 at 4:42 am