https://hotair.com/allahpundit/2009/07/01/blue-on-blue-helen-thomas-hammers-gibbs-on-obamas-phony-town-hall/feed/HotAir is the leading conservative blog for breaking news and commentary covering the Biden administration, politics, media, culture, and current elections.en-usThu, 23 Apr 2026 16:14:17 -0400<![CDATA[Phony, that is, in the sense that the White House knows in advance the questions that&#8217;ll be asked, which makes the questioners de facto plants of the most transparent administration evah. I have no big problem with The One putting on a pageant &#8212; that&#8217;s standard presidential stagecraft in a television age &#8212; but I do have a problem with the NYT taking care to note the &#8220;orchestration&#8221; when Bush pulled this while neglecting to mention it this time. It&#8217;s in keeping with the media&#8217;s narratives about Dubya and Obama, though, the former shifty and stupid and therefore dependent on softballs, the latter &#8220;open&#8221; and ingenious and no longer required to prove his ability to handle tough questions. Also, and needless to say, while Thomas&#8217;s and Chip Reid&#8217;s effort is appreciated, O doesn&#8217;t need to shut out the press in order to &#8220;control&#8221; it. That&#8217;s what Rahm&#8217;s mad manipulation skillz are for, and what Rahm (and Axelrod) can&#8217;t control, old-fashioned liberal bias can be trusted to take care of. As lefty rag Vanity Fair admitted early last month:]]>Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:55:19 -0400<![CDATA[Allahpundit]]>https://hotair.com/allahpundit/2009/07/01/blue-on-blue-helen-thomas-hammers-gibbs-on-obamas-phony-town-hall-n162924