Monday, October 05, 2009

Integrity:MIA

SCRUBBED (AGAIN): NYT Scrubs More From Their Olympic FAIL Article . .

I wonder how many WH calls it took, to get this article the way they wanted it . . .

As I noted HERE earlier, the NYT has scrubbed some major parts of this story, including damning quotes by both Rahm (“I think they should take some pride in the U.S.’s win, and you know, we’ll make sure they get some good seats once Chicago does host the games.”) and Obama (“In 2016, I’ll be wrapping up my second term as president,” he told a rally in Chicago in June 2008. “So I can’t think of a better way than to be marching into Washington Park ... as president of the United States and announcing to the world: Let the Games begin!”). Well, they used some more 'BOpolish'. It went from this:

Mr. Gibbs dismissed the criticism as inevitable partisan carping. “There’s people trying to solve problems and there’s people playing games,” he said. “If he hadn’t come, people would have said, ‘I can’t believe he didn’t go.’

...

For months, Mr. Obama and his crew have approached this competition with all the intensity of the Iowa caucuses. Mr. Obama taped five video messages pitching Chicago’s bid, created an Olympic office within the White House and hosted Olympic athletes on the South Lawn. For the past couple weeks, he worked the phones, calling some heads of state, and lobbied others at the United Nations opening session in New York and Group of 20 economic summit in Pittsburgh last week.

He put Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to work making calls and sent Michelle Obama to Copenhagen a couple of days early to buttonhole committee members. His senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, consulted with Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, whose personal lobbying won London the 2012 Summer Games.

Before leaving Washington, Mrs. Obama made clear how seriously the first couple took the matter, saying “the gloves are off” and they would “take no prisoners.”

To this:

Barry Bowlus, one of those waiting in Daley Plaza, said that at least Mr. Obama had tried. Had he not gone at all, Mr. Bowlus said, “there would have been a lot more heck for him to pay around here.”

...

How much it cost taxpayers to fly Air Force One and its backup plane, transport the armored presidential limousines across the ocean and provide security for the whirlwind trip was uncertain.

...

A sense of stunned bewilderment suffused Air Force One and the White House. Only after the defeat did many advisers ask questions about the byzantine politics of the Olympic committee. Valerie Jarrett, the president’s senior adviser and a Chicago booster who persuaded him to make the trip while at the United Nations last week, had repeatedly compared the contest to the Iowa caucuses.

But officials said the administration did not independently verify Chicago’s chances, relying instead on the Chicago 2016 committee assertions that the city had enough support to finish in the top two. Mr. Obama, Michelle Obama, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Ms. Jarrett worked the phones in recent weeks without coming away with a sense of how behind Chicago really was.

Notice how they take away Gibbs quote, but add a similar quote given by a person waiting in Daley Plaza.

I included the price tag question because the story never mentions that Michelle Obama left for Copenhagen 'a couple days early'. They even scrub her 'the gloves are off' and 'take no prisoners' quotes.

They also leave out the fact that Jarrett spoke with Tony Blair.
Thanks Weasel Zippers
http://www.weaselzippers.net/blog/2009/10/scrubbed-again-nyt-scrubs-more-from-their-olympic-fail-article-.html

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