WH Correspondents Association awards Fox News front-row seat
posted at 5:35 pm on August 1, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
No, this is not Helen Thomas’ old seat seat. The Associated Press will get that seat in the middle. However, despite some rumors that the White House Correspondents Association may have been reluctant to put Fox News in the front row, the vote was unanimous:
The White House Correspondents Association voted unanimously Sunday afternoon to move Fox News to the front row of the White House briefing room.
The seating change was prompted by the resignation of veteran UPI reporter Helen Thomas.
According to Ed Henry, the senior White House correspondent for CNN and member of the WHCA board, the Associated Press will move to the front-row middle seat formerly occupied by Thomas.
Fox News will replace the AP in its former seat, also in the front row, and NPR, which lobbied for Thomas’ seat along with Fox and Bloomberg News, will take Fox’s former seat in the second row.
That puts Liz Sidoti in Thomas’ old seat. The AP gets the first question at press conferences, so one tradition will actually eclipse the other. Meanwhile, Fox gets recognized for its reach and its audience, and that’s probably due to the respect Major Garrett has earned from his colleagues in the White House briefing room.
Congratulations to Garrett and Fox News.
Blowback
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Take your spanking like a man. /
CWforFreedom on August 1, 2010 at 6:47 PM
According to the WHCA’s own website, he’s not the chair.
Del Dolemonte on August 1, 2010 at 6:47 PM
And across the fruited plain one can hear the tea kettle-like whistle of hot steam shooting out of the ears of beet red-faced liberals…
illustro on August 1, 2010 at 6:47 PM
How about first come, first serve? You get what seat’s available, and that’s-that?
Virus-X on August 1, 2010 at 6:48 PM
Congratulations to Major Garrett!
MayBee on August 1, 2010 at 6:53 PM
Wow man have a heart. YYZ already feels like such a loser and you keep pounding away pounding away. Ah forget it . Keep it up.
CWforFreedom on August 1, 2010 at 6:53 PM
Congats to Fox News..Major deserves it! Has anyone told Anita Mao and the Daily Kooks.
Dire Straits on August 1, 2010 at 6:59 PM
pwnage?
MeatHeadinCA on August 1, 2010 at 7:00 PM
Congrats Major, and Fox!
capejasmine on August 1, 2010 at 7:02 PM
Your suggestion of Holy Water for Helens chair was good..But I agree that it should be burned. :)
Dire Straits on August 1, 2010 at 7:03 PM
Burned in a Holy Fire ;-)
MeatHeadinCA on August 1, 2010 at 7:04 PM
I hope she has a series of fumigations set up.
James on August 1, 2010 at 7:07 PM
Congrats Major. This has got to irk a few people in the West Wing – heh
gophergirl on August 1, 2010 at 7:08 PM
just a tad/
CWforFreedom on August 1, 2010 at 7:08 PM
..and the burned remains of that chair should be dropped
into the mouth of an active volcano…that chair might be infested with cooties too
macncheez on August 1, 2010 at 7:10 PM
NEWS Alert: The Moonbats at Credo Action and NPR think they won. This is Hillarious!
Dire Straits on August 1, 2010 at 7:11 PM
Put the ashes in Nancy’s plane and crash the plane into the volcano. Then Rosie could come out with Lava don’t melt steel or something.
MeatHeadinCA on August 1, 2010 at 7:12 PM
I saw this… and posted it on FB. It’s hilarious!
MeatHeadinCA on August 1, 2010 at 7:13 PM
Maybe they can let Bibi Netanyahu lite the match. :)
Dire Straits on August 1, 2010 at 7:14 PM
Something smells here. The MSM doesn’t do something like this without a more sinister plan.
THE CHOSEN ONE on August 1, 2010 at 7:15 PM
What are they going to do come November..riot!
Dire Straits on August 1, 2010 at 7:15 PM
Okay, I misspoke – slightly. He’ll be the next President, and as such, I’m sure his opinions probably carry weight:
YYZ on August 1, 2010 at 7:16 PM
If anyone but Fox had got the front row, it would have made the Correspondents Association look like Obama’s lap dogs…again.
The CA really had no choice, or Fox would have looked like the only independent news organization left at the national level.
doufree on August 1, 2010 at 7:17 PM
I believe the Purple Van is fired up and ready to go!
MeatHeadinCA on August 1, 2010 at 7:18 PM
Especially after Journolism.
MeatHeadinCA on August 1, 2010 at 7:18 PM
I think we should bestow our Chip Diller Award to Credo Action.
Dire Straits on August 1, 2010 at 7:21 PM
Don’t you mean a new Chevy Volt. :)
Dire Straits on August 1, 2010 at 7:22 PM
Oh, yeah… SEIU should get all over that!
MeatHeadinCA on August 1, 2010 at 7:23 PM
Let’s get the facts straight.
From the source itself:
http://www.whca.net/blogs.htm
Other people have mentioned that Fox didn’t actually get Helen Thomas seat, which is true. AP got it. Fox got AP’s front row seat.
So the liberals are making themselves look foolish. They are acting like they won because we didn’t get HT’s seat, but Fox still got a front row seat.
But let’s not mangle the truth like libs and keep screaming that we got HT’s seat because we didn’t and if we do, we’ll look just as stupid as them.
swamp_yankee on August 1, 2010 at 7:30 PM
not to be a nudge, but what is bill and hillary doing on the top of the page?
cmsinaz on August 1, 2010 at 7:32 PM
Well, our unofficial “first black president” has some issues about W being so popular in Africa and with Africans. So I assume Bubba needed his ego assuaged.
swamp_yankee on August 1, 2010 at 7:36 PM
Liz Sidoti on Palin’s Tea Party keynote speech in Feb:
faraway on August 1, 2010 at 7:36 PM
is=are
cmsinaz on August 1, 2010 at 7:36 PM
makes sense :)
cmsinaz on August 1, 2010 at 7:37 PM
Who was spearheading the NPR-for-Front-Seat petition drive anyway? I didn’t know there was any such effort going on, and I watch FOX News all the time.
Fishoutofwater on August 1, 2010 at 7:39 PM
Duplicitous? Of course. Smart? Oh yeah.
They know that Fox will ask the questions they would never dream to ask. Or get permission to ask.
Jim708 on August 1, 2010 at 7:52 PM
Thanks, Major. Job well done for country and for Fox viewers too.
petefrt on August 1, 2010 at 8:06 PM
I can’t think of any living, breathing Human Being that would want “Helen Thomas’ Seat” LOL!
Key West Reader on August 1, 2010 at 8:06 PM
This is what I want, though they usually use anchors and I don’t think Barry will be submitting to Bret’s crosshairs anytime soon. They like to use the elder statesmen of whichever network, I would be thrilled with Brit Hume. The ’12 nominee needs to push for this.
Congrats to Major and Wendall Goaler as well.
lizzie beth on August 1, 2010 at 8:06 PM
Jim708 on August 1, 2010 at 7:52 PM
1st question for Garrett to ask:
Why was oil dispersant approved for use 74 times over 54 days? Wasn’t there a restriction on it’s use in place?
(washington post story)
journeyintothewhirlwind on August 1, 2010 at 8:10 PM
That’s gotta hurt, Barry.
Ronnie on August 1, 2010 at 8:14 PM
But the President of the United States of America said that Fox News is not a “real” news organization. Are they calling the President of the United States of America a liar?
stonemeister on August 1, 2010 at 8:14 PM
Thomas leaves her seat
AP already had a front row seat while Fox did not
AP still has a front seat
Fox now does too
Fox got her “seat”
CWforFreedom on August 1, 2010 at 8:15 PM
Was this just a typographical error, or was it intentional?
Kralizec on August 1, 2010 at 8:15 PM
What branch of the services is he a Major in?
leftnomore on August 1, 2010 at 8:15 PM
This is truly monumental. Congrats to Garret and FNC.
jediwebdude on August 1, 2010 at 8:20 PM
Their logic : since that seat was filled by a racist for so long, it is only fitting the the racist news organization keeps the seat warm. Seriously, congrats Major – well done and long overdue.
Fuquay Steve on August 1, 2010 at 8:25 PM
Not before making a soup…
… Let your mind wander on the possibilities of juices and flavors that one could ooze out of that cushion.
Pure ambrosia…!
Seven Percent Solution on August 1, 2010 at 8:26 PM
Congrats Major. Class act.
gary4205 on August 1, 2010 at 8:36 PM
Ugh. Liz Sidoti is a leftist, elitist jerk. Can’t wait to watch her sucking up to Gibbels every day. Every time during the 2004 qnd 2008 campaigns when I would see a biased, snarky AP story, it had Sidoti’s byline.
rockmom on August 1, 2010 at 8:38 PM
The new Kool Aid for Journolists. I’d make every one of those lilly white bastiges line up and drink from the cup of the stench of the Helen Thomas.
Wow, I’m unusually evil tonight. Forgive me.
Key West Reader on August 1, 2010 at 8:38 PM
Kudos to Major Garrett and Fox News.
OT: Cee En En’s “Political Ticker” has a story up that the RNC has cancelled Breitbart in a fundraiser. The link wouldn’t post because of the news source, I guess.
onlineanalyst on August 1, 2010 at 8:41 PM
exactly. they know their ratings are dying, and looking for ways to generate more interest in their news without losing the access they covet. Fox in the front row helps get tougher questions out there (and takes some load of off Tapper) that the pool can report on, without incurring as much wrath from teh won.
Fighton03 on August 1, 2010 at 8:41 PM
I just don’t know if I could handle the stench from the front row… you know, the stench of the con.
royzer on August 1, 2010 at 8:44 PM
That just took care of dinner tonight.
Dire Straits on August 1, 2010 at 8:50 PM
Boris Nemtsov Arrested
Herr Hussein Obama apparently can not be bothered to speak out for this brave man and for liberty and against tyranny, reminiscent of when he was so slow to speak out and then only very tepid in his forced support for those opposing the dictatorship in Iran.
The parallels to what Herr Hussein Obama is and has been doing, and is trying to do, and what Vladimir Putin is and has been doing are stark, which is probably why he is so silent now as he was with Iran and for the same reasons.
If you want to get a look-see of where he and his fellow corrupt statists in Washington D.C. are taking us read Boris Nemtsov’s story and you can see why Herr Hussein Obama ignores what is going on in Russia. The mental sickness of a passion for oppression fills his pathetic soul, assuming he even has one.
Tav on August 1, 2010 at 8:55 PM
It’s the poor folks that had to sit left and right of Helen that are the lucky ones. I understand they had to use that white stuff under their nose like in Silence of the Lambs.
slickwillie2001 on August 1, 2010 at 8:55 PM
Since Obama was in charge of the Gulf Oil Rescue Plan, Major’s question would have to be why Obama approved the plan and the waivers during that time period and why does Obama hate the Gulf wildlife so much that he allowed them to be poisoned for more than two months with chemical dispersants?
As for Fox’s new position in the front row, this is great news and kudos to Fox and Major Garrett. The fact that the same media that belittles Fox on a minute by minute basis had to unanimously vote for Fox to take AP’s place must be living hell for those correspondents (DNC propagandists) which makes it all the sweeter. Of course it would have caused aneurysms to these agitpropers to have awarded Thomas’ seat to Fox News, instead of the commie AP outfit. But one step at a time. Again, congrats to Fox.
eaglewingz08 on August 1, 2010 at 9:01 PM
http://dailyradar.com/beltwayblips/video/david-axelrod-fox-news-not-really-a-news-station/
katy on August 1, 2010 at 9:04 PM
Is Helen’s stench gone, yet?
Schadenfreude on August 1, 2010 at 9:06 PM
What you mean the only independent news organization?
There’s WAJurnolistPO, HuffJurnolistPO, NYJurnolistT, NewsJurnolistweek, MSJurnolistNBC, ABJurnolistC, CBJurnolistS, NBJurnolistC, CNJurnolistN, the list can go on and on!
DSchoen on August 1, 2010 at 9:07 PM
Is RNC really THAT freaking stupid ?
Are repubs so comfortable being useless idiots that they are now nervous they might actually get to control things in DC and can’t mentally cope with it ?
macncheez on August 1, 2010 at 9:08 PM
Did Garrett’s parent coming up with the name after reading Joseph Heller?
bayview on August 1, 2010 at 9:09 PM
Bill Clinton taught you well.
He’s still only 1 vote. What is also so funny is that the NPR member also voted for Faux.
Del Dolemonte on August 1, 2010 at 9:20 PM
moveon.org among others.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2010/07/30/moveon-org-adores-npr-conducts-e-mail-campaign-against-fox-getting-helen
Del Dolemonte on August 1, 2010 at 9:24 PM
I think the WHCA didn’t want the heat under the current circumstances of stiffing FOX. Stiffing FOX with their high ratings over others would just reek of liberalism in the press room and they just don’t need another credibility shot. This wasn’t a brave or noble decision. This was CYA.
Conan on August 1, 2010 at 9:24 PM
He is an Major pain in the arse to the administration…
right2bright on August 1, 2010 at 9:45 PM
I hope objectivity is not hampered by social acceptance.
Seriously, Fox does a good job for the most part, especially Garrett, but he is sometimes overly deferential to Obama. And now he has a social standing to maintain.
I do not automatically trust anyone in the Washington press, and that includes Fox News. Power corrupts, anyone can succumb.
petunia on August 1, 2010 at 10:03 PM
I think you’re right on the money, except that they’re not afraid of being in control. What’s really scaring the snot out of the Refumblicans is the thought of winning big and then having to work like crazy to roll back the Demoncrats’ previous disasters.
They’re acting like a proudy-pants little kid who brags about how smart he is…and then gets handed a page of big brother’s algebra homework to do. All sizzle, no steak.
Dark-Star on August 1, 2010 at 10:07 PM
Congrats to Major & Fox!
TN Mom on August 1, 2010 at 10:19 PM
Was old Lizzie a Journo-lista? If so, Fox News should run a news ticker everytime she asks a question of her emails.
Blake on August 1, 2010 at 10:26 PM
I have no doubt Obama is pleased with this recognition of FoxNews.
Birdseye on August 1, 2010 at 10:59 PM
It’s a pretty sorry state of affairs when the seating arrangement of reporters is considered a news story.
Proud Rino on August 1, 2010 at 11:02 PM
Maybe they’re just being practical and making sure to be friendly to Fox News in case their own organization starts trimming jobs?
tom on August 1, 2010 at 11:03 PM
Fair and Balanced, all the way…. Congratulations to Major and Fox…..
DL13 on August 1, 2010 at 11:03 PM
So much for Howard Dean’s meme that Fox News is a bunch of racists.
BuckeyeSam on August 1, 2010 at 11:16 PM
No, it’s a pretty sorry state of affairs when moveon.org and others actively lobby to get the seat handed to the biased NPR, and got bitch-slapped by a unanimous vote.
And then when they start spinning it as some sort of “victory” based on the faulty emotional “logic” that Faux News didn’t “win” anything-the seat she vacated went to al-AP.
Keep up the good fight, Bucko! Axelrod needs more output.
Del Dolemonte on August 1, 2010 at 11:20 PM
Here here. Congrats to Major Garrett & FOXNews… long overdue.
nationspatriotcom on August 2, 2010 at 2:11 AM
Obamacare doesn’t cover that.
Logboy on August 2, 2010 at 2:52 AM
Major Garrett is a pro. It’s long overdue …
gstrickler on August 2, 2010 at 3:00 AM
I am happy for Garrett but I am suspicious of the rest of the WHCA.
Trust and verify.
Sherman1864 on August 2, 2010 at 5:05 AM
from everyone.
BRAVO, Garrett.
Most remember Obama’s flight home from his campaign speech in Berlin, how he targeted and focused all attention on ridiculing Garrett/FOX.
maverick muse on August 2, 2010 at 7:11 AM
I can here Obama remarking on hearing this news, “What do I care? When was the last itme I had a Press Conference? And Gibbsy, scratch off any ideas of one between now and the middle of November 2010. One caveat: If the Republicans don’t do well in the November elections schedule a gloating, “Hows that Hope and Change 4 Ya” Press conference for the day after the elections.”
albill on August 2, 2010 at 7:59 AM
Oh my god. The irony there is just too delicious.
Vyce on August 2, 2010 at 9:09 AM
Good. Now give a press conference and be prepared for some tough questions some of the others won’t ask.
scalleywag on August 2, 2010 at 9:27 AM
Some of the nimrods at Democrat Underground are
thinkinghoping that maybe Gibbs will simply ignore Garrett and not allow him to ask any questions.Del Dolemonte on August 2, 2010 at 10:03 AM
I just sent this message to Credo Action:
Subject: The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room
“Fox News to move to front-row White House briefing room seat”
By Elise Viebeck – 08/01/10 04:50 PM ET
“…the vote was unanimous.”
Now, what’s all this “On Sunday, August 1, the board of the White House Correspondents Association met and decided not to give the seat to FOX” foolishness again?
I’m sure you want to join me in congratulating to Major Garrett and FOX News!
Hahahahahahahahaha…
Fuzzlenutter on August 2, 2010 at 10:04 AM
The liberal blogs are blaming the WH for this. LOL*
It’s rather amusing.
AnninCA on August 2, 2010 at 10:40 AM
This is exactly the kind of ridiculous comment I was talking about yesterday. All that’s changing is a seating arrangement. Fox News got to ask questions from the second row -as they have for years – and they’ll ask questions from the first row.
YYZ on August 2, 2010 at 11:42 AM
I’m sure Gibbs will not be able to resist some smartass comment about Fox News new location. It’s his nature.
slickwillie2001 on August 2, 2010 at 12:02 PM
Congratulations and it’s nice to know that the miserable Left will be even more miserable today and the rest of the week.
OxyCon on August 2, 2010 at 12:30 PM
Fox in the front row seat of Helen Thomas…sweet and delicious irony.
Wyznowski on August 2, 2010 at 12:31 PM
But this doesn’t mean that that loser Gibbs has to actually answer any question from Fox, does it?
BillCarson on August 2, 2010 at 1:58 PM
Not to take anything from Major Garrett who’s a great guy and great reporter, but this is positive fallout from the journalista scandal which proved most of the media are dem mouthpieces.
erp on August 2, 2010 at 2:29 PM
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