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Hype, Hops, and a Hangover
CNN, it has to be said, owned this story—but not always in a good way. In its pre-game coverage, Wolf Blitzer presided earnestly in front of a multi-screen display showing live shots of various locations on the White House grounds—including a bunch of photographers doing nothing in the “Briefing Room,” an inert structure labeled “Fence,” and an otherwise unidentifiable wall labeled “West Wing. “ The reductio ad absurdum of CNN’s coverage was Tom Foreman’s pointlessly detailed demonstration, complete with high-tech video pullouts, of how White House officials changed the venue of the beerfest from the picnic table by the playground equipment on the South Lawn to the smaller table in the Rose Garden.
On Fox, Neil Cavuto encouraged domestic beer brewer Dick Yuengling to complain that the president, in choosing Bud Light as his brew, was actually celebrating a Belgian-owned company. On The Ed Show, MSNBC’s vehicle for radio jock Ed Schultz, guest Stephanie Miller speculated that Biden would be praising Gates as “clean and articulate.”
The never-restrained Chris Matthews—who devoted much of his 5 p.m. Hardball show on MSNBC to the impending meeting—did a live opening segment for the usual 7 p.m. repeat, replete with assessments of body language and facial expressions, and found it impossible not to compare the meeting to Bill Clinton’s historic White House ceremony between Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin.
Shortly after 7:30 p.m. Matthews broke in for Sgt. Crowley’s televised news conference at AFL-CIO headquarters, which was also carried live on Fox and CNN. The shock of the night: This supposedly media-innocent cop was thoughtful, relaxed, and even humorous before the cameras as he announced that he and the professor were planning to meet again.
“Do you know where you’re meeting?” a reporter asked.
“I do,” Crowley answered with a tiny grin.
“Can you tell us?” the reporter pressed.
“No!” Crowley shot back—getting rewarded with a roar of laughter.
Afterward on CNN, Lou Dobbs marveled: “He sounded at points like a politician.”
On Hardball, Politico columnist Roger Simon agreed: “He was like a head of state. He was very glib.” NBC Washington bureau chief Mark Whitaker chimed in: “A star is born.”
But it was Matthews who came up with a metaphor befitting the strange excess of the night: “We’ve got another Susan Boyle here.”
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
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As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
nkadzi
I tell you, a white working class cop trumps all of them!!
butterflymcqueen
a white working class cop who is damn lucky he will not be sued for lying on a police report
marleyh
how do you figure that? He lied about speaking to Lucia Whalen... and if not for the fact that the professor has calmed down, he would be facing charges - remember those 4 Hollywood, Florida cops that are facing charges for falsifying reports against a motorist? He could be in the same boat, along with his colleague who also claimed to have interviewed Whalen.
larry278
We now know that Pres Obama can promote & hold a televised non-event. As they said in the 1950's, "Fried Shoes.".
annepeter
Don't put this on Obama - this was the media, overblown as usual. They make mountains out of molehills to fill their nonsense filled talkshow hypes.
jbdc20012
Ya Prissy another angry black person. Get over it and move on.
OffenbachStutz
Now I have a convincing explanation for why I refuse to watch television.
annepeter
Amen to that
roncraw
I tivo Hardball & Keith for years,but I'm losing faith with both,when interviewing about Gates,Both only had 2 blacks with no apposing point of view. The black cop who was with Crowley gave a interview and a letter to the media stating Gates had a lot of explaining to do and Crowley was just doing his job,I guess they don't bvelieve this is newworthy.
dahniuru
Far too much hatred! Makes a 'teachable moment' a waste of time. Teaching should result in learning; which by definition means a 'change in behavior'. How could this have been a 'learning' experience? Set Prof. Gates up to ride patrol for 5 straight nights in Boston with Officer Crowley and/or another officer. Then to write a report about his experience. Set Officer Crowley up to attend a class taught by Prof. Gates for a term. Then he can write a report about his experience. Set President Obama up to watch 20 episodes of the TV show 'COPS' and then write a report about his experience.
I think these experiences are more likely to result in a 'change in behavior' than what has been done thus far.
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