by emptywheel
Did you ever have the experience--in your wild days of college, perhaps--when you had such a bad experience at a party that you swore you'd never go back to that particular party again? Often as not, the bad experience had everything to do with the boy you were foolishly spending your time with at the party. Sure, the party itself stunk; it was too crowded, and served shitty beer. But add in the monumentally bad experience with one particular guy, and you swear off the party for life?
Well, I think that's what happened to the gray lady last weekend. Amid all the reports of Rove shying away from Sheryl Crow at the White House Correspondant's Dinner, there was the detail that Rove was sitting--nay, had been invited, and had accepted the invitiation to sit--at the NYT's table.
Just a few feet from the podium, Rove was found at The New York Times table, in discussions with the likes of D.C. Bureau Chief Dean Baquet and columnist Maureen Dowd. When asked why the paper, which often battles the White House, chose to invite Rove, Dowd said, “I don’t do the inviting anymore.”
Well, apparently the gray lady felt pretty darn violated by the experience, because she has sworn off the party for good.
Tucked inside Frank Rich's Sunday column in the New York Times is indication that the newspaper will no longer play ball with the annual White House Correspondents Association dinners in Washington, which he calls "a crystallization of the press's failures in the post-9/11 era." He writes that the event "illustrates how easily a propaganda-driven White House can enlist the Washington news media in its shows....
"After last weekend's correspondents' dinner, The Times decided to end its participation in such events," wrote Rich.
I guess the gray lady's friends weren't friend enough to warn her off of Karl Rove. No doubt that's because they all still think he's one of the cool kids. But the gray lady, at least, says she has learned her lesson.
You wrote what I was thinking. If Dowd doesn't do the inviting anymore it would be interesting to know who did. I can't make up my mind about the NYTimes, they seem to conflicted.
Posted by: Robin | April 30, 2007 at 15:48
Yeah, until the next good-looking guy comes a-callin, with flowers in his hand, a promise of access, and sweet scoops from unattributed white house sources in his whisper...
Posted by: marksb | April 30, 2007 at 15:50
They are just realigning the ship so they can start blasting at the next Democratic administration right out of the gate. See, they were always on the side of the People against the Powerful and the Special Interests!
Posted by: kvenlander | April 30, 2007 at 16:03
Off subject - In office today, got TV on while working. Former senior CIA man Ray McGovern was on idiot Tucker Carlson's show. McGovern just flat out stated that the so called "Italian" forgeries behind the Niger/Wilson/Plame saga had their genesis in the Vice-Presidents's Office-Dick Cheney. Something I think we have all suspected, but never heard anyone who might be in the know say so directly.
Posted by: bmaz | April 30, 2007 at 16:13
Speaking of media, have you seen Sean Hannity's piece about Jane Hamsher? It's posted at Firedoglake...
Posted by: Mickey | April 30, 2007 at 16:32
Well, Gray Lady, that's just wonderful!
Now, go inside, take off that frock and get into some work clothes. Help me finish covering over these graves, and we'll talk about it.
Posted by: Kagro X | April 30, 2007 at 17:00
EW to the red Murray Waas telephone, if you please...
Posted by: pseudonymous in nc | April 30, 2007 at 17:39
I'll believe it when the NYT passes up their invite next year, not a promise to do so a year ahead of time.
The Dinner has morphed from being a gentle roast of the President by the public that should know his foibles more than most into an event that makes him a Golden Calf worshiped by celebrities newshounds. Time for it to revert to its roots.
Posted by: earlofhuntingdon | April 30, 2007 at 17:58
"Where are the weapons of mass destruction? he he. Are they over here? He he. Are they over there? He he."
Big Joke, right?
The NYT owes the public a bit more than this symbolic act. If Cheney led the effort to fabricate WMD evidence for Congress' to assess the pre-war threat of Saddam and Iraq, then the least the NYT can do is the investigative work that puts Cheney on trial in the Senate.
Posted by: Neil | April 30, 2007 at 18:06
I wondered what it would take to offend the NY Times
anybody else think this is a deliberate pose that was premeditated ???
maybe it's just time to change the old tin foil beanie
here's an off topic quote from the Guardian, via truthout, that will warm those cockles
Iraq ain't gonna get any better, and the Democrats intend to keep talking about it
Posted by: xxx | April 30, 2007 at 18:16
Rove---
I've got a whale of a tale to tell you lass,
a whale of a tale or two.
.
... just sit right upon my knee,
and I'll show you my tatoo.
Posted by: Jodi | April 30, 2007 at 19:53
I suspect that Bush calls him Turdblossom because of his hemorrhoids. Pity that they wouldn't work his nickname into the song & dance!
And, no, this isn't more offensive than hunting for WMDs in the White House.
Inviting Rove to sit at table with them, to share bread and salt, just shows how familiar the liars are with each other.
The NYTimes is not The Gray Lady. Prostitutes are not ladies. Whether or not the paper attends any dinner is of no importance. Whether or not the editors apologize for pimping the President's war, and profiting from the increased sales, is of no matter. Whether or not they ever come clean from burying real news and trumpeting fallacies and lies is of no consequence. The NYTimes has sold its reputation.
Posted by: hauksdottir | May 01, 2007 at 01:27