Why Was The NY Post Alone in Reporting ‘White Coat-gate? Because It’s Not True

by Tommy Christopher | 5:53 pm, October 7th, 2009

exclusive

obama1--300x300 The NY Post alleged yesterday that the Health Care event held on the White House lawn Monday was fraudulent and staged, specifically claiming that white lab coats were passed to attending doctors by WH staffers.

Yesterday we tried to answer Ed Morrissey’s question “Why Was NY Post the Only Outlet to Report ‘White Coat-gate?” Initially, we thought the answer was that the story simply wasn’t newsworthy. It turns out it wasn’t even true.

According to the Post, the White House wanted all of the doctors attending Monday’s Rose Garden speech to wear white lab coats, and when some of the doctors forgot to bring theirs, “the White House rustled up white coats for them and handed them to the suited physicians who had taken seats in the sun-splashed lawn area.”

They also ran this photograph, with the caption, “OOPS! A crowd of 150 doctors gathers in the Rose Garden to support the health-care overhaul — as White House staffers scramble to hand out camera-ready white coats to those who forgot their own.”

The picture bothered me, because I didn’t recognize the staffer who was handing out the white coats.

I checked on it, and a White House source told me that the White house did not provide the extra lab coats. Doctors for America paid for and brought the extras. OOPS!

share this post

filed under

Ed Morrisey, Hot Air, NY Post, Tommy Christopher, White Coat Gate, White House

8 comments

rmbltmbl says:

October 7, 2009 at 6:24 pm

Gee, I thought it was silly before.. now it appears to be astroturf, but that’s okay with Pelosi, here, I am sure.

JunkJunk says:

October 7, 2009 at 8:43 pm

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story…

Alex Lawson says:

October 7, 2009 at 8:47 pm

@rmbltmbl

Oh my gosh, are you telling me that a press event on the White House lawn was stage managed!!!

Oh no, that is so disingenuous, most press conferences on the White House lawn are spontaneous and just kinda happen. It is not right for Obama to contact an organization that is made up of doctors who support reform, in order to bring together a group of doctors who support reform.

The rule is you have to just find all the people for your press conference the day of with no preparation, otherwise it is staged.

rmbltmbl says:

October 7, 2009 at 9:42 pm

And everyone knows that Lawson.. /sarc correction

This is a perfect example of why no one trusts government.. dem doctors listening to obama pitch socialized medicine?? He’s doing this?

arlenearmy says:

October 7, 2009 at 9:42 pm

This was mentioned on Hannity tonite. Malkin weighed in on this.

rmbltmbl says:

October 7, 2009 at 11:17 pm

When was the last time Obama was in front of the press corps instead of Gibbs anyway? I should ask that question lightly though I wouldn’t want any Iranians showing up ’spontaneously’. Oh wait.. he took questions in Copenhagen, didn’t he? And after, I would speculate he scolded his appointed top man in Afghanistan about saying what he thinks. I guess this all comes back to what I thought about Obama when he did NOTHING about the Iran elections.. if he doesn’t care about Iran’s freedom, how much does he care about your freedom?

Give me liberty or give me death.

ingenieux says:

October 8, 2009 at 3:09 am

rmbltmbl – what??

Chris Jones says:

October 8, 2009 at 12:56 pm

Like that makes it any less phony

If you would like to comment, please login or register:

» Login » Register

» Or connect with your Facebook account:

Obama’s “Hawaiian Earthquake” Comment Sends Conservatives Into A Tizzy

by Colby Hall | 7:27 am, Thursday

video

Last night, the right-of-center side of the blogosphere jumped all over President Obama's reference to what they thought was a non-existent Hawaiian Earthquake in 2006. Writers for the site Hot Air and Gateway Pundit, used this as an example of a "one size fits all" government-funded solution, and even worse, an example of the presidential cluelessness. Because of course, "Hawaii hasn't had an earthquake since 1972!" Actually, on this one, Obama was right.

» 29 comments

Bo Obama: The Alpha and Omega Dog

by Tommy Christopher | 7:49 am, Thursday

video

Everyone knows that Bo Obama is the First Dog, but The History Channel's Life After People recently imagined what it would be like if he ended up being the last dog, too. In last night's episode, the show examined the likely fate of the White House, among other world leaders' domiciles, if all the people on Earth were suddenly wiped out. Maybe it's a case of "Old Yeller Syndrome" (which dictates that, in movies, it's much worse to kill a dog than a human), but the producers predict a far-too-rosy fate for Bo. Read no further if you cherish their delusion.

» 1 comment

More Online headlines: