No Respect

If anyone wonders why the Mainstream Media is suffering from a loss of respect, one only has to look at the actions of the White House typists during a recent meeting with George Bush on Air Force One.

Among the questions posed by the press in the 47 minute interview, which revolved heavily around the recent funeral for Pope John Paul II, were: What are your plans this weekend? Had you ever been to a Latin mass before; I imagine you've been to an English mass? Did he (Pope) speak English? What has it been like spending time with the former Presidents for three days?

To be fair, among the seven invited to ask questions was Bill Sammon from the Washington Times, best known for his hatchet job reporting on Al Gore's 2000 Presidential campaign. However the rest of the group included representatives of the Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg, Newsweek, NBC and ABC.

While the interview got a lot of positive spin and there were a few semi-tough questions, at least one press observer, Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post, figured out the typists missed the boat.

Entirely missing, by contrast, were any questions about whether he thinks it's okay to eject dissenters from his public events, or what his exit strategy is for Iraq, or what effect the latest reports on flawed intelligence have on his doctrine of preemptive war -- or even why, at the pope's funeral, he wouldn't shake hands with his adversaries.

There are some signs that Bush may chat with the press more in his second term. But why not? Apparently he doesn't have to worry about the White House lap dogs asking tough questions.