White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

Kurtz Says Goodbye, Then Says Hello

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Yesterday marked the end of Howard Kurtz’ tenure at the Washington Post and his The Daily Beast debut.

At the end of his final Media Notes, Kurtz writes, “I confess that I enjoyed David Carr’s New York Times line about my job switch prompting the most gasps since Dylan went electric in 1965. But that ain’t me, babe. While I would not have made such a leap even two years ago, it is an evolutionary move, not a revolutionary one, as we all grasp for ways to sustain and reinvent journalism.”
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President Obama to Appear on Mythbusters

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It’s science fair day at the White House! President Obama will host winners from categories ranging from technology to engineering and math.  Discovery’s Mythbusters’ Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman will be in attendance as President Obama announces his participation in the December 8 episode, Archimedes Solar Ray where he will challenge the ancient myth: Did Greek scientist and polymath Archimedes set fire to an invading Roman fleet using only mirrors and the reflected rays of the sun?

Stay tuned to WHC Insider for the LIVE White House feed of the President’s remarks at 12 Noon ET.

Obama Stays on [Adjective] at Town Hall

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The ins and outs of President Obama’s televised town hall meeting are as confusing as the impatience in the crowd. Sponsored by Georgetown University and filmed at the BET Studios in Washington, DC, this Conversation with the President kept the same on-edge tone that his previous town hall last month on the economy.

The New York Times cites Obama as being on the “defensive” while essentially bullet pointing the major questions of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal, the economy and immigration. The town hall began on the nature of health care and leapt from point to point as the crowd gathered seemed almost giddy with demanding impossibly fast responses to issues spanning the last decade.

Politico runs the age card with their coverage citing poll numbers:

Just 44 percent of college students approve of the job Obama is doing, while 27 percent disapprove of his job performance, according to a new Associated Press-mtvU poll – down from a 60 percent approval rating in May 2009.
This is also days after the Times Magazine’s massive “The Education of President Obama” profile. The buried lede and overarching concept? “While proud of his record, Obama has already begun thinking about what went wrong — and what he needs to do to change course for the next two years.”
If there was a real tone to the town hall, it’d be this: during a mid-term election when news outlets compare the 2008 numbers of a presidential candidate to gubernatorial, congressional and senatorial candidates as a symbol of “declining popularity” and “proof that Obama is in trouble,” it becomes a question if there’s really anything going on at all?

Daily Show Rally Continues The Meta-Media

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The Rally To Restore Sanity/March To Keep Fear Alive has turned the 24 hour newscycle into its…well, special friend. The Wrap rounds up the latest details of the October 30th event that will take place on the Mall. Fox News has confirmed it’s coverage with a single camera crew after Jon Stewart announced earlier in the week that Comedy Central will broadcast the event live online and its channel.

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Scandal and Triage Define The Election

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The true theme of the 2010 mid-term elections is clear: panic? No, it’s anger! Wait, no. Oh, right. It’s all about confusing the message.

Whether it’s been increasingly bizarre defense and attack ads courtesy of Delaware’s Christine “I’m Not A Witch” O’Donnell (rightfully parodied by SNL here) or Chris Coons going the “No Comment” route as the New York Times reports. Ignoring the “Mama Grizzly” trope that Newsweek tried to explain, the message behind the Delaware Senate race is tough to understand.

For the Times, Frank Bruni breaks it down as “She: cheerleader pretty. He: science-club-president plain.” This can be applied to roughly 90 percent of politics with ten percent leftover for ads and scandal.

Politico runs the idea that both parties are hemorrhaging members and sacrificial lambs to the media slaughter:

All of it is part of Washington’s biennial exercise in cold-blooded, risk-reward analysis: Figuring out which candidates to fund in the homestretch and which ones to cut loose. It’s the Beltway equivalent of choosing which of your children to put in the lifeboat, as the party committees decide which candidates to throw overboard because they aren’t viable enough to warrant the investment.
Which is also highly accurate when most newscycles become dominated by the spectacular pony shows that an on-camera interview with Alvin Greene can generate. Even better?
Beware a Republican Congress or else Obama will be impeached–sez Jonathan Chait in The New Republic complete with ominous subhed “The coming impeachment of Barack Hussein Obama.” This isn’t actually happening now, but it could! And so could a complete Dem sweep on November 2nd and so could a cloudy day in June.
This election year has been rife with over-analyzation to the point that it’s even grating for regular policy wonks trying to juggle whether or not a “viral” ad will help or hinder a candidate’s message.

Arianna Huffington's Book Party Tonight

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W:WIE hosts Donna Karan, Sarah Brown, and Arianna Huffington

WHC Insider exclusive coverage of the Arianna Huffington book party to celebrate her new book Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning The Middle Class and Betraying The American Dream, co-presented by Greta Van Susteren and John Coale; Anita Dunn, Sally Susman, Alex Slater, Franco Nuschese, and Tammy Haddad. MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan will MC the program, which will include special guest Seth Reams, founder of WeveGotTimeToHelp.org.

Don’t wait for the C-SPAN book party coverage when you can watch it live with us tonight starting at 6:30 pm.

HuffPo Bus to Restore Sanity Details Announced

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The mystery behind the free Huffington Post bus from New York to DC for the Rally to Restore Sanity is a question no longer.

Announced yesterday on HuffPo and through an email blast for those that signed up, the round trip bus is first-come, first-served and the deadline is sign-up by Friday, October 8th. The bus will depart from the Huffington Post’s headquarters in Soho “early Saturday” and return to New York “later Saturday night.”

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Rahm: "Mr. President, Thank You."

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Not even 24 hours after NBC broke the news of Rahm Emanuel’s departure, President Barack Obama opened this morning’s announcement with, “Good morning and welcome to the least suspenseful announcement of all time.”

The President came to praise his former Chief of Staff through his efforts on health care reform and leading the White House’s staff through these turbulent times. “We’re also losing a comparable elader of our staff and one who we’re going to miss very much,” the President said. “When I first started assembling this administration I knew we were going to face some of the most difficult years our country has seen in years.”

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George Clooney Courts Ryan Gosling for Farragut North

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In the midst of a mid-term election, George Clooney may have Ryan Gosling go back to the ghost of 2004’s election. Gosling, whose garnered praise earlier this year at Sundance with Blue Valentine, is being courted to frontline Farragut North according to Deadline New York.

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