So a blurb on Politico caught my attention today. Every now and then they'll provide links to multiple stories, one being something the WH wants you to read, and one the WH does not want you to read.
Except, besides some sourceless snarking from Helene Cooper, there was no smoke and no fire.
Says "Politico Staff":
W.H. prefers you avoid... ... Helene Cooper’s profile of Gen. Jim Jones, who sounds like he’s still having a rough time adjusting to the Obama team.
OK, I thought, this is worth checking out. So as I'm reading the article, I can't seem to figure out what Politico is talking about. It's almost as if they received an advance copy of the Jones profile, without quotes from anyone, and ran with it.
National Security Adviser Tries Quieter Approach
In fact, Cooper's piece reads very Fox Newsish:
Inside the administration, the fact that the 6-foot-5 former Marine Corps commandant has left only the faintest of footprints has prompted some early sniping, including the argument that he is not using his position to wield influence or to bring policy debates to resolution.
Except Cooper never gets around to identifying any of those people "inside the administration," or goes on the record with anyone, even on condition of anonymity.
She quotes Jones directly:
He added, "I don’t think that in order to satisfy everybody’s view of the national security adviser to the president that I have to be hovering around him all the time."
Her own first sentence to the next paragraph?
That point remains open to debate.
Is Cooper a hot blonde anchorwoman, or a NY Time journalist?
Some of General Jones’s critics say..
But then she never gets around to quoting any of those critics.
Simply put, what could have been a pretty informative profile on Jones ended up being very Fox-like: short and sniping.