White House Correspondents Raging Over Rosie!
/Buzzfeed's Zeke Miller reports on the absolute tizzy caused by Tim Rosaforte's GolfDigest.com, Golf World and Golf Channel coverage from The Floridian. The White House Correspondents Association wants to know why they were kept away from the vital-to-world-stability coverage of Barack Obama's golf weekend when "it is not clear how Rosaforte was allowed to report and broadcast from the secured private compound."
Hey, maybe he reserved a room at the resort a few days before because he had a hot tip and was a paid guest? Or maybe he's a member...it does have its privileges!
"Speaking on behalf of the White House Correspondents Association, I can say a broad cross section of our members from print, radio, online, and TV have today expressed extreme frustration to me about having absolutely no access to the President of the United States this entire weekend," said Fox News correspondent Ed Henry, the organization's president. "There is a very simple but important principle we will continue to fight for today and in the days ahead: transparency."
You go Rosie!
**Nate Silver Tweeted this lengthy Politico story by Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen on the unprecedented secrecy and control of the Obama Administration (don't we get this story with each President when the White House press corps doesn't get a story?).
Anyway, Silver followed up the link Tweet with this about the howling White House reporters: "However, not clear if complaint is if White House doesn't offer enough access -- or that it offers access to 'wrong' people."
**Bloomberg's Margaret Talev writes about the brouhaha over media and Presidents who golf, noting that Obama "paid for his own expenses, including greens fees, lodging and food," and sharing this from a former White House spokesman:
Tony Fratto, a former White House spokesman under President George W. Bush, said while Obama likely wouldn’t have taken a private golf vacation with Woods and donors while running for re-election, the second-term president and his advisers have concluded any political risk now can be managed.
Obama played golf during his first term even while “there were two overseas wars going and a financial crisis, and he got re-elected,” Fratto said. “So I think they have come to the reasonable conclusion that the American people don’t really care.”
