MyDD :: Not A D!#%

Not A D!#%

by Josh Orton, Mon Jun 29, 2009 at 11:10:41 AM EST

You've probably seen yesterday's kerfuffle from Reliable Sources - Dana Milbank and Nico Pitney sparred over Nico's Iran question at last week's presidential press conference:

Nico says Milbank called him a "dick" after the segment ended.

Hilarious for two reasons.

First, Nico's not a "dick." Of all the bloggers to insult, Nico should be close to last. His work is solid and he's a really good guy. Milbank comes off as a fool.

But more hilarious is that Milbank doesn't realize the difference between the process of a press conference and the content. Remember, Nico asked one of the toughest questions of the day (one that Obama didn't know beforehand and then ducked). Yet to Milbank, it's not about the content of the question or the information gleaned by asking it. Instead it's about the order reporters get called on or where they stand - about the precious fragility of the press core's ego.

The White House called on Nico because they saw the quality and utility of his work on Iran. If Milbank put down the smoking jacket and did interesting work, maybe he'd get called on.

Tags: Dana Milbank, Nico Pitney (all tags)

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Not surprising (none / 0)

Dana Milbank decided that he was the only person whose opinion counted eleven months ago when he deliberately reported Obama's Berlin speech out-of-context so he could label the then-candidate "presumptuous."

Between his booting from Countdown then and this now, Dana really ought to think about what being a journalist means to him. Nico has been doing a yeoman's service to both Iran and the world with his blogging and deserves the credit. Dana thinks he's a media personality. "Personality" is a little strong word to use, though.

You can't stop the signal.

President "That One"

by Dracomicron on Mon Jun 29, 2009 at 11:52:01 AM EST

Re: Not A D!#% (2.00 / 1)

I'm so old I remember Bush press conferences. One in particular stood out - you know, the one where Bush assigned seats to the press corp & there was a designated order in which members of the press would get to ask their questions. It was great fun seeing the press treated like little children & nary a peep of protest out of them.

by carter1 on Mon Jun 29, 2009 at 12:06:29 PM EST

Sour Grapes from the old media (2.00 / 1)

Dana is old school, he's not happy about these new web hotshots.

Obama is simply understanding how the tail (the blogs etc) are wagging the dog (old media) at this point.

Support the separation of Church and State: Vote YES on WA R-71!

by WashStateBlue on Mon Jun 29, 2009 at 01:03:35 PM EST

Re: Not A D!#% (2.00 / 1)

I must say, although Milbank came off as an idiot, Nico didn't come off looking as good as he could have. Two observations:

Nico throwing his head back and laughing several times looked childish;
he never effectively rebutted the claim that the topic of the question was agreed ahead of time. Milbank made that ridiculous claim several times, but Nico let himself get sidetracked by bringing up blasts from the past against Milbank that viewers wouldn't know about.

Thus, although I totally side with Nico and against Milbank on this issue, Nico didn't do as good a job as he should have been able to.

by dc6723 on Mon Jun 29, 2009 at 01:04:05 PM EST

Great sum up Josh (none / 0)

This is much different from Bush planting a question because he had knowledge ahead of time. Obama clearly did not and also was a hard hitting question. This was placed on a tee unlike Milbank's swimsuit question.

by optimusprime on Mon Jun 29, 2009 at 01:08:15 PM EST

Re: Not A D!#% (none / 0)

The WaPo chicky really summarized it.

It's not fair!!

/Whine

by MNPundit on Mon Jun 29, 2009 at 05:08:50 PM EST

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