“Closeup on Palin! Whoa! Not TOO close! Yowza!”

Sarah Palin Can’t Name Most Influential Journalist
But while most of the attendees had no problem coming up with answers (Eliot Spitzer said Brian Williams, as did Andrea Mitchell, while SNL’s Bill Hader went for The New Yorker’s David Grann), Palin fumbled when asked.

“Oh my goodness, that’s a great question,” she said, before turning to her husband Todd and asking for his input.

When Todd also balked, Palin came back and said, “Um, gosh, that’s a great question, I have to think about it, OK? Because there are many.”

As Palin walked away from the camera, she ran into her Fox News pal Greta Van Susteren, and then turned back to the NBC cameras to shout, “Greta Van Susteren is the most influential journalist!”

I have been trying to figure the Chris Mathews thing for some time. I’ve watched Chris for years. I remember him as being a pretty fair political analyst that didn’t have much of a an ax to grind. Since the advent of MSNBC he has slid predariously down the kool-aid “slip n’ slide”. As if he needed to compete with the wild eyed, gesticulating Kieth O. his crediblility has slipped and slipped. There was a time long ago he would sit in a studio and have meaningful debates with guys like Charles Krauthammer and George Will. The above comments made by Chris in the above article has made things clear to me. On a subliminal level he knows that he is consorting with the worst kind of partisans, and misses the intellect of the guys from the old days.

Rolling Stone writers Matt Taibbi and Michael Hastings. Theye has been doping some amazing reporting lately.

It actually made me subscribe to that magazine. (4 dollars a year!)

Also, Palin’s an idiot!

That’s a very difficult question. My instinct is to first put limitations on what the term means, which would eliminate pundits like those named by Matthews, along with talking heads like Limbaugh, comedians such as Stewart and aggregators like Drudge, but still because I’d count “flavored” journalists who come from a point of view, it wouldn’t make everyone happy.

Ten years ago, playing off of the word “influential”, I would’ve said Tim Russert, but now… maybe somebody from Politico or perhaps Anderson Cooper? It’s a very difficult question.
—

@BFD: Taibbi was one of the first that popped into my mind, but while they inform and are often referenced, I don’t believe his pieces have prompted a lot of action.

Journalists aren’t supposed to influence. Duh.

Palin is sly. :)

This was an ambush question. Thank God Todd was there who was actually good for nothing. Greta rocks!!

ETA: Before I get hit, Anderson Cooper and Rachel Maddow aren’t the most watched and Politico isn’t the most read — in fact, I don’t consume any of the three on a regular basis — but their influence and story choices spread across other journalists and the blogosphere which extends their reach.

Oh, and of course I’d welcome any other suggestions because it’s such a hard question.

Magister said:
ETA: Before I get hit, Anderson Cooper and Rachel Maddow aren’t the most watched and Politico isn’t the most read — in fact, I don’t consume any of the three on a regular basis — but their influence and story choices spread across other journalists and the blogosphere which extends their reach.

Oh, and of course I’d welcome any other suggestions because it’s such a hard question.

Rachel isn’t a journalist for starters.

@ Beck Finally… and Magister:
Word. Taibbi is the bomb. I thoroughly enjoy his pieces.

Gotta give props to Lara Logan, Christiane Ampanpour, Helen Thomas. Small example of tough as nails chicks.

Scott Horton, Jane Meyer, etc.

Oh, wait. Influential… Hmm… Now we’re back into the mouthpiece dregs. At least no one was asinine enough to say (Meet the) Gregory.

"Real" American said:
“Closeup on Palin! Whoa! Not TOO close! Yowza!”

You must be under thirty. At my age, they all look great.

Journaists are suppose to report the news…period. Nowadayz they influence what some folks eat, sleep and breath. Very un _ American not mention hazardous to ones health….physical & mental.

WCinWI said:
Journalists aren’t supposed to influence. Duh.

Good point and that’s why even if they’re bylined, most of the AP writers seem to toil anonymously.

Barack Must Go said:
Journaists are suppose to report the news…period. Nowadayz they influence what some folks eat, sleep and breath. Very un _ American not mention hazardous to ones health….physical & mental.

In the good old days journalist influenced folks, only more subtly. Now the media has jumped out of closet and rabidly attack anything center/right.

Magister said:
Good point and that’s why even if they’re bylined, most of the AP writers seem to toil anonymously.

The AP is a liberal operation.

Charles Krauthammer is probably one of the more effective journalists. Certainly one of the most honest.

I don’t know what answer Palin could possibly have given that would please the haters – none. So, she did the right thing.

Perhaps you might like this little story better – more meat to it::

http://theconservativetreehouse.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/petty-white-house-asks-small-california-paper-to-take-out-unflattering-remark-about-michelle-obama%E2%80%A6/

Upper Plateau said:
Charles Krauthammer is probably one of the more effective journalists. Certainly one of the most honest.

If you like cartoon characters.

meena140 said:
Most journalists laughed at the question and just named someone at their own network or no one at all.

Did you happen to read this part Meena? Probably didn’t fit into your “honest meter”:

“Most journalists laughed at the question and just named someone at their own network or no one at all.”

Catch the last part of the sentence? Mean anything to you? There was no story – they had to fake it to make it.
I’m sure it’s because Palin demanded they print another meaningless made-up crapola story to get readers interested.

Upper Plateau said:
Charles Krauthammer is probably one of the more effective journalists. Certainly one of the most honest.

The Hammer doesn’t do journalism these days. I’d be inclined to go with Jake Tapper.

Just curious, how many of you brain dead farts still support the half-term nit wit?

Pablo said:
The Hammer doesn’t do journalism these days. I’d be inclined to go with Jake Tapper.

Tapper’s my fave too.

Upper Plateau said:
In the good old days journalist influenced folks, only more subtly.

Though they don’t all fit into the narrow confines that I mentioned in my first comment, there wasn’t a lot of subtlety to people like Jack Anderson, Walter Winchell, Josephus Daniels or William Randolph Hearst, off the top of my head.

Some of Matt Taibbi’s stories appear to have had the most impact the last few years. He would get my vote.

She’s just as ugly up close as she is far away.

Prom Night Dumpster Baby said:
Some of Matt Taibbi’s stories appear to have had the most impact the last few years. He would get my vote.

Another vote for Taibbi.

And by the way Palin is just a little out of frame in your avatar.

Newsjunky said:
She’s just as ugly up close as she is far away.

I hope you don’t have kids.

Her problem was she doesn’t know what a journalist is.

How liberal journalists think-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zF3hbPtCttc

love the picture they used. The left wing bias at its best. Even up that close (just a stupid amateur trick btw) she doesn’t look bad.

Oh, it’s so stupid the tricks they pull, and you guys just buy it all like candy. Gullible. lol

Nacho said:
Her problem was she doesn’t know what a journalist is.

Have you met any lately?

Rarer than hen’s teeth.

Sarah, you really got me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jnri6WmaL0

Never lets us down – nearly always stumped for an answer. Guess you should have asked Queen Moron first of all if she knows what a Journalist is – that woudl have thrown her for a loop! How can anybody stand to listed to that screeching voice of hers . I would also love to know when it is that she is at home paying any attention to those kids she loves so much and especially her youngest boy! How long before the other daughter gets knocked up? What a loser.

WCinWI said:
I hope you don’t have kids.

I hope you don’t have a trailer, Teabagger.

Really Matt? I think I like the way the kos told this story.

“The MSNBC after party, however, is another matter.

Palin attended as a guest of her BFF from Fox, Greta Van Susteren, and was asked, as were many attendees, who she thinks is the most influential journalist today. And that’s where things got tricky.

But while most of the attendees had no problem coming up with answers (Eliot Spitzer said Brian Williams, as did Andrea Mitchell, while SNL’s Bill Hader went for The New Yorker’s David Grann), Palin fumbled when asked.
“Oh my goodness, that’s a great question,” she said, before turning to her husband Todd and asking for his input.

O.K., let’s pause right there. Sarah Palin, the mother of all the mama grizzlies and self-appointed pioneer of a new wave of feminism, needs to ask her husband to tell her what her opinion is?

And didn’t she study journalism at some of the five different colleges she attended? That’s why she’s so passionate about wanting to “help clean up the state that is so sorry today of journalism.” But she can’t name a single journalist, while she’s actually standing in a room full of, you know, journalists? Not even the name of the journalist who brought her to the party?

Nope, and neither could Todd. Which is why she finally said, “Um, gosh, that’s a great question, I have to think about it, OK? Because there are many.”

Yep, she’s gonna look up the name of a journalist—right after she finishes looking up the names of some newspapers and Supreme Court decisions.

But after some long hard thinking, she finally gave her answer:

As Palin walked away from the camera, she ran into her Fox News pal Greta Van Susteren, and then turned back to the NBC cameras to shout, “Greta Van Susteren is the most influential journalist!”
Idiot.”

Exactly!

azgrandma said:
Never lets us down – nearly always stumped for an answer. Guess you should have asked Queen Moron first of all if she knows what a Journalist is – that woudl have thrown her for a loop! How can anybody stand to listed to that screeching voice of hers . I would also love to know when it is that she is at home paying any attention to those kids she loves so much and especially her youngest boy! How long before the other daughter gets knocked up? What a loser.

Is that what happened with your kids granny? Projecting doesn’t solve your problem dear.

Nacho said:
Her problem was she doesn’t know what a journalist is.

you are wrong.
Palin knows Ron Burgundy.

The obvious answer is Kent Brockman

Who is this Palin lady and why do people think she is a C&NT?

WCinWI said:
I hope you don’t have kids.

I wish you had a brain, Sally!

Azarkhan said:
How liberal journalists think- http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zF3hbPtCttc

cmon why blame libs she could not reply to simple question the far right is weird you guys see left vs right in everything ..

seek said:
Have you met any lately?

Rarer than hen’s teeth.

True words! The majority of people mentioned are NOT journalists anyway. The honest ones would describe themselves as columnists or opinion people, not journalists.

Is this a “Palin Didn’t make a mistake today” article?

Its a tough question.

grafxmail7 said:
Who is this Palin lady and why do people think she is a C&NT?

Not sure, but that picture sure looks like my Aunt drunk at a party trying to kiss everyone with that awful old lipstick that you just can’t get out.

“Hey did you know the President was here?”
“OHHHH, your’e so cute.”
“Let me kiss you.”

meena140 said:
Sarah Palin Can’t Name Most Influential Journalist
…
“Oh my goodness, that’s a great question,” she said, “Greta Van Susteren is the most influential journalist!”

roxsteady said:
But she can’t name a single journalist, while she’s actually standing in a room full of, you know, journalists?

it depends on what your definition of journalist is.

The White House “Correspondents” might have had a good reason not to call themselves the White House “Journalists” or “Reporters”.

I’m not saying there weren’t real journalists in the room. But if there were, they were mostly ignored during the event.

For most people, “journalist” is just another name for “Democratic Party activist”.

J Baustian said:
it depends on what your definition of journalist is.

The White House “Correspondents” might have had a good reason not to call themselves the White House “Journalists” or “Reporters”.

I’m not saying there weren’t real journalists in the room. But if there were, they were mostly ignored during the event.

For most people, “journalist” is just another name for “Democratic Party activist”.

Yes, the people trying to find the truth are all liars when the truth is upsetting.

What’s that quote? Truth is treason in a house of lies?

Even if you disagree with my politics, there’s no doubt that the truth can hurt both parties in some ways, I hope you don’t just assume anyone that says something contrary to your believe is a “liar” or “democratic party activist”

“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.” Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The rightwingers are just that vulgar and express it forthrightly.

I hate to say it, but the rabid hatred that the right wingers spew against anyone who disagrees with their uncivil and angry opinions is getting to be too much. The America I knew and loved is now in shambles. I am about ready to apply for political asylum in a rational country rather than deal with the hatred and meanness in this one.

We once were the greatest country, now we are the running with Zimbabwe and North Korea for the ugliest. The way it’s going, America will combine the worst of both of those hellholes and the folks who are the most hateful now will be the ones who are too ignorant to understand what they have wrought–and will be whining for the rest of us to fix things. Nope, as my mama used to say, you made your bed, now you can sleep in it. When it collapses into anarchy, fix it yourselves, rabid ones, if you have the skill to do it….which I doubt.

Now I know how thinking Germans felt in the early 20th century as they watched Berlin go from being a center of culture and the arts and political thought to being a deathtrap for a whole nation, thanks to the power of the propagandistas. No wonder they wanted to get out of Germany while they could.

It’s sickening to see how ugly my country has become.

of course Sarah had to think about it. She had to find someone to tell her waht to say.

azgrandma said:
Never lets us down – nearly always stumped for an answer. Guess you should have asked Queen Moron first of all if she knows what a Journalist is – that woudl have thrown her for a loop! How can anybody stand to listed to that screeching voice of hers . I would also love to know when it is that she is at home paying any attention to those kids she loves so much and especially her youngest boy! How long before the other daughter gets knocked up? What a loser.

Ah, the irony. Yes, who “woudl” like to “listed” to Palin, that moron. I can’t emphasize enough how much I don’t really care for Palin, but oh how I love me some Palin-haters. They seemingly always have to attack the family some reason and question her love for her kids. I just would like to point out male politicians are rarely questioned about their dedication to their family. Feminists, where are you? Oh, I forgot Palin has different positions than what a feminist “should be.” It’s funny how todays western feminists have actually become sexist, having pre-conditions of what a true woman or feminist should believe…is the definition of sexism.

Snowspot said:
I hope you don’t just assume anyone that says something contrary to your beliefs is a “liar” or “democratic party activist”

Of course I believe they are liars and Democrat activists — I was not born yesterday!

Khyber Pass said:
Now I know how thinking Germans felt in the early 20th century as they watched Berlin go from being a center of culture and the arts and political thought to being a deathtrap for a whole nation, thanks to the power of the propagandistas. No wonder they wanted to get out of Germany while they could.

You may go. No one is going to stop you.