On Sun, Apr 29, 2018 at 8:42 PM, Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 29, 2018 at 7:10 PM PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I agree - if Trump, or even Sanders standing in for Trump, had closed it >> would be different, because participation signals the kind of underlying >> mutual respect, even if grudging and institutional, that I referred to >> earlier. This is what provides the context that takes the mean spirited >> edge off. But this requires a capacity, which both Bush and Obama and just >> about every POTUS including Nixon had, to be the “Bigger Man” and >> gracefully take the joke (even when giving some back). Trump is incapable >> of this. >> > > I didn't watch the dinner speeches because there was an exceptional hockey > game on NBC and the coverage today has been so off-putting I'm not > interested in watching the videos. Institutions are built to last forever > but there comes a time when they no longer perform their function but they > continue because people get paid to perpetuate the institution and keeping > the institution provides a feeling of stability in a chaotic world. > The US Presidency is such an institution. > When plutocrats refer to the media as elites journalists get dressed up in > tuxedos and gowns and invite Hollywood stars to sit at their tables. No > matter the circumstance, the optics are horrible. > None of what is occurring right now in the media regarding what Wolf said is Wolf's fault, and it is wrong for members of the press, for politicians, and now for the WHCA (who invited her) to cast any blame her direction. People can say she was unfunny (a good chunk of the time, I think she was), but she did her job. > Whatever the dinner is supposed to accomplish it no longer can. > The dinner is a charity event to raise money for scholarships and journalistic awards. The dinner raised money, thus its goal was accomplished. > > Before Colbert was the invited guest nobody paid attention to the dinner > or the comedian. Colbert was brilliant and subversive and people got it in > their minds that is what the dinner should be. The dinners reached their > peak with Obama but we are now in a different era and those days are coming > back. > > Here is a Washington Post column: For the sake of journalism, stop the > White House correspondents’ dinner > > https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/for-the- > sake-of-journalism-stop-the-white-house-correspondents- > dinner/2018/04/29/e2cb780c-4962-11e8-9072-f6d4bc32f223_story.html > > And a journalist's Twitter thread: > > https://twitter.com/BGrueskin/status/990728624251650048 > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
