Let's say you're at a bar with a group of people. They've been working hard while everyone else is having fun, and they look pretty bored.
So you decide you'll be a mensch and buy 'em a round.
That'd be pretty decent of you, don't you think?
Ah, but this is our greatly esteemed national media we're talking about. And the great defenders of the Republic -- specifically, CNN -- have proclaimed it an unacceptable sin that our President-elect attempted to purchase their affections with a Bud.
Beergate began yesterday, with this rather innocuous pool report from Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times:
He chatted for a moment, telling the traveling press pool to have a beer and put it on his tab. No one took him up on the offer.
Now, I read this and thought, "Gee, that Obama sure is a decent guy. I'd want to strangle these guys if they'd been hounding me throughout my vacation, and here he's offering to buy them a round!"
CNN's Ed Henry, on the other hand, had a stroke.
HONOLULU (CNN) – Many Republicans already believe President-elect Barack Obama has gotten a free ride from the national media, so they may not be happy to learn the incoming Commander-in-Chief offered to buy a round of drinks for reporters covering his working vacation on the sands of Hawaii's beaches and the greens of its lush golf courses...
[T]he key here is reporters covering the President-elect are having more fun here in Hawaii than we had in Crawford, Texas — and 85 degrees in the middle of the afternoon here is way better than the cold winds blowing through Chicago too. But none of the journalists were corrupted by free beer — we pay our own tabs.
And just for the record: your faithful correspondent, while enjoying the wonders of Waikiki beach, never drinks — at least not on the job.
Ooooooo! Ed Henry buys his own drinks! He's not about to be corrupted by a Budweiser! Frickin' second coming of Woodward and Bernstein, you are.
Now, I thought I'd cut Ed some slack... maybe he was just joking around, right?
Then I looked at the transcript of an appearance Henry made yesterday on CNN's Newsroom (sorry, no link available):
HENRY: He at one point, sort of got slightly annoyed with the media for continuing to take so many pictures of him on the golf course. And said, why don't you guys go into the clubhouse and have a little beer. One of the reporters yesterday shouted to him, are you going to pick up the tab? The president-elect said that he would, although, I can tell you, just for the record, the reporters did not take him up on it. They did not drink any beer. At least that's what I'm told and he did not, of course, pick up the tab. Nobody wants to show any favoritism or anything like that, Betty.
So let's review:
-- One of the reporters asked the president-elect to pick up their bar tab.
-- Not wanting to seem like an ass, the president-elect obliged.
-- No one accepted, as this was a golden opportunity for the pool reporters to sprain their shoulders wildly patting themselves on the back.
Of course, a reporter buying stuff for political candidates -- like, say, doughnuts -- is still perfectly acceptable:
And non-alcoholic goodies -- like, say, barbecue -- is just fine, even at CNN:
SEDONA, Arizona (CNN) -- Instead of appealing for votes on the campaign trail, Sen. John McCain spent the weekend playing host at his rustic Arizona home -- and on Sunday members of the traveling press corps were his guests.
McCain greeted reporters as he tended to the grill -- tongs in hand -- on the deck of his ranch house. Clad in a green Maine Maritime Academy baseball hat, white sweat shirt with a photograph of his family on it, faded Levis jeans and New Balance sneakers, the presidential candidate stood over two large, sizzling barbecues, preparing baby back ribs and grilled chicken.
I guess baby back ribs and grilled chicken aren't too corrupting.
Then again, the byline came from Dana Bash -- not the stalwart defender of press ethics, Ed Henry. Ol' Ed would never, EVER take free ribs!
Memo to CNN:
This is why the country thinks the national media is one big, frickin' joke.
Obama was trying to be nice to you -- God knows why, really -- and he offered to buy you a beer. That's what nice people do.
If you can't accept it or don't want it -- and that's certainly understandable -- you politely turn it down.
What assholes do is not only turn down the offer, but use it as an opportunity to park yourself on a pedestal while denegrating the guy who was trying to be nice to you.
And you win special asshole points if your own media outlet sent reporters to frickin' Sedona, Arizona, to chow down on barbecue provided by a national candidate for president just nine months ago.
Memo to President-elect Obama:
I know you're a nice guy.
But next time, tell those cheap asses to go buy their own damn beer.
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UPDATE: From the comments, rhetorical tool gives a first-hand description of the spread provided to pool reporters covering Bush in Crawford.
Presumably Ed Henry has taken advantage of this kind of largesse at some point. And he's getting exercised about a beer?
Thanks for the recs, all!