IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray
# 127
October 15, 2012
“TV Land”
It might help if you are a fan of old movies and the TV Land cable channel or into a deeper history of crime in America; but neither serves a benchmark for this discussion.
Since the inception of 24-hour news channels, I have been a devotee´ of televised White House news conferences. Since the early days when CNN was the only choice for viewers, daily broadcasts have been a blend of both the historical and the hysterical. Helen Thomas provided color in spite of herself, while other reporters pressed the Press Secretaries throughout varied administrations for details of seminal happenings.
If the topic was hot, no reporter let up in the questioning; and, often, the presidential press secretary felt as if he or she was in the “hot seat” and not behind a stately podium.
That atmosphere changed with the current administration. These days I sit rapt with attention, and yet I feel as if I’m seeing an episode of “The Untouchables!” With rare exceptions, few pointed questions are posed and few really credible, sensible answers are given. Giving the White House a “bye” on hard situations is irresponsible and dangerous for all of us.
Since Benghazi and the terrorist attack of September 11th just a few weeks ago, the discussion has dissolved into an effort of futility for the White House. This is no Watergate, folks. Nobody died in Watergate. Furthermore, in the “anything goes” campaign waged by the DNC these days, a break-in of the Republican National Committee would position itself as a badge of honor and not the devastating, resignation-promoting presidential event of the Nixon administration of the 1970s.
How sad that our independent press has abrogated its duty in the face of a threat of terrorism. Where is the term “war on terror”, by the way?
Where is the Eliot Ness among the White House Press Corps? Why aren’t the reporters digging hard for why the White House is willing to throw the blame on the State Department for misleading the public into a belief that a 2-minute video trailer with barely 19 hits on the net over the summer is responsible for the death of an ambassador and three other Americans? In a land where village electricity is rare, just how many Jihadists are surfing the net for a little snippet of film? Think they all carry cell phones? Hardly!
Why did our tax dollars pay for a nearly immediate televised apology in the Muslim world for the aforementioned video? Why has the U.S. State Department remained silent when Libyan leadership knew immediately that terrorists were responsible and in the wake of congressional testimony this past week?
The administration dispatched its UN Ambassador to the Sunday television news shows to reinforce the implausible story. That Susan Rice was complicit in this speaks volumes as to the loyalty of the president’s staff to lie to the American people? How sad. Where is her honor? Or is she as much in the dark as the rest of us?
I’m ready for an onslaught of intense questioning for Jay Carney and a demand for the president to get up in front of reporters without a teleprompter and be forced to answer. Let him squirm at the depth of the queries. Let viewers see how nonsensical the whole situation truly is when it comes to common sense.
The role of the press is to hold every administration, regardless of political party, accountable for its actions. We haven’t seen much of this, have we?
Isn’t it time that we did? We need to appeal strongly to all news networks and print media. We need to urge them to vault into this chaos and deception with the zest once seen on a regular basis in the nation’s capital.
Let’s change my take on the press conferences from “The Untouchables” to
“Dragnet.” As the inimitable Jack Webb would say, “Just the facts, ma’am.” Remember, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, but not to his or her own facts. That goes for everybody from you to the president. It’s time for facts about Benghazi. Think about it.