There's a diary on the rec list now that quotes Rep. Conyers about a phone conversation he had with President Obama (why he's discussing a private phone call is another matter). The diary quotes from an article which hears the conversation only from Conyers' side.
The diary is very cleverly written to make it sound as is Obama just can't take hearing criticism and had to call a critic to tell him that criticism is the equal of being demeaning. The diary suggests our President is so sensitive that he ran off crying and told a Congressperson "don't be mean to me by giving me criticism!"
And yet the diarist failed (after repeated requests) to ACTUALLY include examples of the Conyers' criticism. Which I have included some choice quotes below:
"I'm getting tired of saving Obama's can in the White House," said Conyers.
Asked if the president had shown enough leadership in the health care debate, Conyers facetiously wondered why Press would ask the question.
"Of course not, of course not," he said. "You know, holding hands out and beer on Friday nights in the White House and bowing down to every nutty right-wing proposal about health care"
When it comes to health care reform, President Barack Obama has succumbed to the "Rahm Emanuel factor"
Link to sources and more.
Now - is it entirely possible that Obama called Conyers to take issue with the tone he is using to address the President of the country and of his party? It's certainly feasible.
After all, there have been countless other criticisms from Democrats on plenty of issues. But did Obama call them and tell them to stop "demeaning him?"
No. That diary, which uses only half the story to paint our President as a thin-skinned WATB, has helped further push this community into the realm of "high-school gossip smack-talkism." One article somewhere quoting one person's side of the story becomes a venue for those who already have a perspective on our President to let the poop fly.
Listen - you can agree with Conyers' criticism, that's fine (though I disagree with his position). You can create diaries that are excuses to vent all day long about Obama, after all, that's what 90% of this site has become.
But when a rec list diary attacks Obama for calling a Congressperson's comments demeaning and then FAILS to include any of the actual quotes (despite repeated calls to do so), then that's pure intellectual dishonesty on par with Fox News taking something out of a context to get its point across.