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You are here: Home / Politics / Media / Wingers heart Tapper

Wingers heart Tapper

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No one could have predicted this. Here’s the National Review’s Mark Hemingway, who got an interview with Tapper:

What we can say for certain is that Tapper isn’t afraid to go against the grain of the liberal consensus in pursuit of a story. Whether he was pointing out that Barack Obama was a “one-man gaffe machine,” factchecking Obama on the surge, or chiding him for blaming any and all mistakes on his staff, no mainstream journalist was tougher on Obama during the campaign. Considering the fact that much of the media gave Obama the kid-glove treatment, Tapper’s reporting was essential.

[….]

Rush Limbaugh declared on air that “Jake Tapper is the one guy outside the butt-boy bubble in the White House press room,” all but giving Tapper the closest thing to a seal of conservative approval to be found within the “liberal media.” Of course Tapper — who in his early days worked for Handgun Control, Inc. and Salon — is somewhat taken aback by the idea he’s rooting for the Right.

Of course, being the subject of a fluff piece from a right-wing publication increases Tapper’s professional status. Similar treatment from a left-wing one would be a career killer.

Reader Interactions

48Comments

  1. 1.

    Zifnab

    No one could have predicted this. Here’s the National Review’s Mark Hemingway, who got an interview with Tapper

    You know the problem with that sentence? It’s the "Journalist A", who got an interview with "Journalist B" part. That’s some circle jerk you’ve got going on there. Bravo.

  2. 2.

    chuck

    Rush Limbaugh declared on air that “Jake Tapper is the one guy outside the butt-boy bubble in the White House press room,”

    Again with the anal fixation, Rush?

  4. 4.

    Face

    I wonder how long before Limbaugh is forced to apologize to Tapper for associating Tapper as a conservative.

  5. 5.

    JenJen

    What Limbaugh, et al don’t yet realize is that Tapper swings with the wind.

    I remember his 2001 book "Down & Dirty: The Plot To Steal The Presidency" as being the first one I ever bought online.

    We’ll always have Amazon, Jakey!

  6. 6.

    Zifnab

    @JenJen: Almost like he’s just trolling for fame and fortune. No wonder Rush loves him. A man after his own heart.

  7. 7.

    The Moar You Know

    That Boss Limbaugh approves of Jake Tapper is all I need to know about the quality of the man’s "journalism".

    That, and this from April 2008:

    Last August, I ran into Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, outside the Senate chamber in the Capitol.

    This was before the Obama surge, before he had omnipresent Secret Service agents, back when you might see him strolling solo.

    We chatted for a second, mainly about the Pakistan speech he’d recently given and about how the media had covered it. He was in good spirits.

    As any close friend or family member can attest, I have an unusually keen sense of smell and immediately I smelled cigarette smoke on Obama. Frankly, he reeked of cigarettes.

    Obama ran off before I could ask him if he’d just snuck a smoke, so I called his campaign.

    They denied it. He’d quit months before, in February, they insisted. He chewed Nicorette.

    But I knew what I’d smelled and I asked his campaign to double-check and to ask him if he’d had a cigarette.

    They reported back that he had told them he hadn’t had a cigarette since he quit.

    And maybe that was true. Maybe I imagined the cigarette smoke. My olfactory nerve somehow misfired.

    Except….last night on MSNBC’s Hardball, Obama admitted that his attempt to wean himself from the vile tobacco weed had not been entirely successful.

    “I fell off the wagon a couple times during the course of it, and then was able to get back on,” he said. “But it is a struggle like everything else.”

    Now I wonder about last August.

    It’s not a big deal in the scheme of things—the war on Iraq, a major economic crisis—indeed, it’s miniscule. Hardly worth mentioning.

    Except that I don’t like feeling that I wasn’t being dealt with honestly. And as much as citizens who are suspect of the media might scoff at such a notion, many of us consider ourselves to be your representatives to help make sure our leaders are telling us the truth, and leading the country down a path we’re confident is the right one. (Corny, I know.)

    OBAMA LIED, PEOPLE DIED

    FAINTING COUCH, STAT!

    Everyone please remember that Jake Tapper has an almost superhuman sense of smell, so please refrain from farting in his vicinity unless he asks you what you did for dinner last night.

  8. 8.

    Saucy Knave

    Just what is Rush’s obsession with male asses? Is he secretly gay or something? Not like I care, but that would make sense why Jabba cannot keep a woman or why he has no kids. Explains the suitcase full of hard-on pills whilst vacationing in a spot known for underage prostitutes.

    But all the references to ankle grabbing and felching makes one wonder…

  10. 10.

    gex

    @The Moar You Know: Because, as you know, standing next to someone who smokes a cigarette could never cause this phenomenon.

    What. A. Tool.

    Tapper. For some reason, Larry Craig comes to mind.

  11. 11.

    Scott H

    More journalist as news. Maybe Tapper can report whether his career is clockwise or counter-clockwise as it circles the drain.

  12. 12.

    HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker

    @The Moar You Know:

    Come on, everyone knows that the sneaked cigarette is the gateway drug to a life of starting trumped-up wars and torturing political prisoners.

    Famous cigarette-sneaks in history:

    John Wilkes Booth
    Brutus
    Benedict Arnold
    Satan
    Guy Fawkes
    Ted Bundy
    Osama Bin Laden
    The Joker
    Timothy McVeigh

    Good on Tapper for being alert to this.

  14. 14.

    Poopyman

    Journalists interviewing journalists.

    Pity there’s such a dearth of real news out there these days.

  15. 15.

    jacflash

    Geez, I remember when Tapper was a young punk working as Sarah Brady’s mouthpiece. He was a clueless jerk back then. I’m so glad to see that he’s grown in office.

  16. 16.

    sgwhiteinfla

    OT

    This post from Kagro X aka Dave Waldman should be required reading for every MSM journalist.

    http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/6/717061/-Story-punches-reporters-in-face;-goes-unnoticed

    Especially the ending.

    When a shooter’s best friend tells you he killed cops because his mind was being controlled by aliens from planet Xoltron, you have a sad and inexplicable illness on your hands, and "just the facts" reporting is all you can responsibly do.

    When a shooter’s best friend tells you he killed cops because he believed fake stories you can hear reported as "news" on a well-known (and even "respected!") 24-hour cable television network, you’ve got a very serious story on your hands that it’s actually irresponsible not to look deeper.

    This stuff isn’t just appearing from out of nowhere. It’s being beamed out under the protections you’ve worked hard to protect for your profession.

    To the extent that you refuse to call FOX out for their nonsense, you become partly culpable for its continuance.

    Take the reins and lead.

  17. 17.

    schrodinger's cat

    Maybe Tapper can report whether his career is clockwise or counter-clockwise as it circles the drain.

    That depends on which hemisphere he is in.

  18. 18.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Why the fuck is anyone interviewing Tapper? Isn’t that Tapper’s fucking job?

  20. 20.

    Malron

    If you ever need an indication of how much wingnuttia loves Tapper, check the comments section of any of his blog posts.

  21. 21.

    Bill H

    @The Tim Channel: late charge

    Well, you paid $300.00, but did you pay it before the due date? If not a late charge would be appropriate. Not defending them, but you aren’t giving us all of the facts.

  22. 22.

    TenguPhule

    Take the reins and lead.

    This would be difficult because they are wearing the bridle.

  23. 23.

    rock

    Just what is Rush’s obsession with male asses? Is he secretly gay or something?

    Not that there’d be anything wrong with that.

    Anyway, in Limbaugh’s quote teh gay are the liberal mainstream press, clearly cast as Obama’s bitches. Ironic, because I assume most liberals thought of the press as Bush’s bitches over the last 8 years.

    But, in general, you should know that the meme is conservative=steely-eyed not-gay realist and liberal=fancy boy. It helps to keep that context in mind when consuming media.

  24. 24.

    jake 4 that 1

    @Just Some Fuckhead: I have this mental image of Jake Tapper standing before his bathroom mirror, conducting an in-depth interview of himself. He’s using a hairbrush in lieu of a microphone and loves the way the tiles bounce his voice around.

    Bloom County geeks, er, fans will recall the Opus interviews Opus strip. Like that, only Tapper isn’t nearly as cute as a talking penguin.

  25. 25.

    Svensker

    Rush Limbaugh declared on air that “Jake Tapper is the one guy outside the butt-boy bubble in the White House press room,”

    My Christian wingnut brother informed me when I visited him last year that he and his wife no longer patronize entertainment that is "vulgar" because they feel it diminishes their Christian life. My brother also listens to Rush, um, religiously. I believe next time I visit I will refer to "butt boys" frequently, as well as "anal poisoning". Gives new meaning to the concept of assploding, dunnit?

  26. 26.

    nylund

    If a reporter gave a blow job to an-undead Reagan and then hit Clinton over the head with a baseball bat, the DC villagers would call that person "fair and objective".

    Despite the fact that Right-Wing media dominates talk radio, gets the highest rating on cable news, and, increasingly, controls the newspaper business, how they manage to convince everyone that the "media" is liberal is beyond me. Yet, the villagers still feel that have to be extra conservative to avoid the "liberal" epithet.

  27. 27.

    Palooza

    Meta journalism… a journalist interviewing a journalist about how he is perceived as a journalist… how is this news?

  28. 28.

    cleek

    how is this news?

    now it’s a meta-meta-news: talking about the media talking about how it talks about the news.

    and this is a meta-meta-meta-news comment, except for the previous clause, which was meta-meta-meta-meta-news, except for the previous clause, which was meta-meta-meta-meta-meta-news, except for the previous clause, which was meta-meta-meta-meta-meta-meta-news…

    STACK OVERFLOW

  29. 29.

    JM

    For the most part, Tapper pops up on media matters repeating someone else’s BS. He’s rarely remarkable enough to be noted for his own:

    County Fair: Jake Tapper pretends Obama didn’t take responsibility for AIG bonuses
    Friday, March 20, 2009

    ABC’s Tapper joins media advancing small business falsehood
    Friday, February 27, 2009

    ABC’s Tapper ignored CBO report, advanced GOP claim that recovery bill is "not a stimulus plan"
    Monday, February 2, 2009

    He’s just a useful idiot.

  30. 30.

    bayville

    Hemingway goes from here…

    What we can say for certain is that Tapper isn’t afraid to go against the grain of the liberal consensus in pursuit of a story. Whether he was pointing out that Barack Obama was a “one-man gaffe machine,” factchecking Obama on the surge, or chiding him for blaming any and all mistakes on his staff , no mainstream journalist was tougher on Obama during the campaign. Considering the fact that much of the media gave Obama the kid-glove treatment, Tapper’s reporting was essential.

    To here – just nine paragraphs later:

    Another big concern for Tapper is coming down with a bad case of Beltway-itis . Asked whether the Washington press corps gets too focused on issues of little consequence to average Americans, Tapper readily admits that’s the case.

    Jake Tapper… D.C. outsider .

  31. 31.

    tofubo

    i’m just wondering about his fixation with everything anal

    butt-boy, bend-over, grab-the-ankles, cysts-to-get-out-of-the-draft, etc

    project much rush ??

  32. 32.

    Balconesfault

    I remember reading Tapper here in Austin doing political reporting for the local alternative weekly. He wasn’t bad.

    But let’s face it – at any time there are hundreds of Tappers out there doing some good local reporting. And some of them get breaks to play in the big time.

    And some of them, when they get to the big time, think that they’re supposed to keep doing solid reporting on real issues, since that’s what got them noticed in the first place.

    These generally don’t last long.

    Some others realize that their editors and publishers and producers couldn’t give a rats ass about their ability to break real news … and that if they want face time with the camera or column inches, they’d better produce what the people who are writing checks want to hear/read.

    It’s evolution, babe. Thank Bill Clinton for signing off on media consolodation, since that put the whole process on steroids.

  34. 34.

    MikeJ

    "Butt-boy"? Seriously, what is wrong with this guy?

    Merely saying it will piss off liberals. That’s the only thing that’s required.

    And:

    Whether he was pointing out that Barack Obama was a “one-man gaffe machine,”

    A black man named Barack Hussein beat the best the GOP could come up with like a red headed step child, yet he’s the "one man gaffe machine". Wow.

  35. 35.

    JenJen

    @Zifnab: Except that I fully expect Tapper to morph into exactly the kind of full-on "Yes We Can" Obama hope-and-changer he so enjoys needling any minute now.

    The wind is blowing, and Tapper is all over that shit. If he really loved America, he would be forecasting weather in Oklahoma.

  36. 36.

    scarpy

    Of course, being the subject of a fluff piece from a right-wing publication increases Tapper’s professional status. Similar treatment from a left-wing one would be a career killer.

    I think we just found our silver bullet. Lefty pubs, get crackin’!

  37. 37.

    r€nato

    @sgwhiteinfla:

    Just wanted to point out that mass media has frequently been used by political elites to incite the masses into all sorts of madness. The most recent examples being Rwanda and Serbia.

    Of course, nothing of the sort could ever happen here in the US of A.

  38. 38.

    kay

    They should all drop the gaffe thing. No one cares anymore. Everything politicians say is so scripted. I enjoy a good "gaffe", and I don’t remember them longer than 5 minutes.
    It’s an outdated idea. They flogged each gaffe through the campaign and I don’t think any of them made a bit of difference.
    It wasn’t that John McCain said the fundamentals of the economy are strong. It’s that he looked like a deer in the headlights, and then went mental for a week.

  40. 40.

    r€nato

    @kay:

    They flogged each gaffe through the campaign and I don’t think any of them made a bit of difference.

    it’s one thing to trip over your own feet every so often; it’s another thing entirely to be a klutz.

    it’s one thing to have a cough; it’s another thing entirely to have emphysema.

    likewise, everyone who regularly speaks publically screws up from time to time. that’s quite a different thing than being a certified ignoramus who was too drunk until the age of 40 to bother developing his vocabulary or knowledge of the world around him.

    George W. Bush is walking, talking evidence of what happens to a person who is utterly devoid of the ability to examine one’s self.

  41. 41.

    The Moar You Know

    Despite the fact that Right-Wing media dominates talk radio, gets the highest rating on cable news, and, increasingly, controls the newspaper business, how they manage to convince everyone that the "media" is liberal is beyond me.

    Much as it makes me want to burn my own fingers off for typing this, here is the horrible truth: they won. The right-wing has absolutely won this battle, and the media, as far as America is concerned, is "liberal". Media sucking McCain’s shrivelled dick for BBQ? Hey, they’re liberal for not asking for second helpings of McCain Sauce. Media performing hagiography for five days straight over Reagan’s corpse? Fuckin’ liberal media, they should have done it for a month straight. Media insists on reporting Obama as a native-born American due to the existence of a birth certificate, witnesses, and applicable laws? LIBERAL MEDIA WON’T RECOGNIZE THAT BLACKS AREN’T CITIZENS.

    And so on. The fuckers won this one.

  42. 42.

    The Cat Who Would Be Tunch

    @MikeJ:

    A black man named Barack Hussein beat the best the GOP could come up with like a red headed step child, yet he’s the "one man gaffe machine". Wow.

    To be fair, just because someone is an idiot or prone to gaffes doesn’t preclude them from becoming president. Twice. See Bush, George W.

    The really funny part is Tapper calling Obama a gaffe machine. This is after eight years of a man that had a term coined specifically for his gaffes. Clearly, "Bushisms" have nothing on "Husseinisms."

  43. 43.

    Will

    @Saucy Knave:

    Let’s just kick this one off right now: Rush Limbaugh is a gay man.

    Never been able to keep a woman happy.

    Never much wanted to keep a woman around.

    Never had any kids.

    Obsessed with male ass.

    The man is GAY.

    He is about to begin a glorious journey, one that I think we all need to pony up and support him on.

    This is how I will open everything I every write or say about him every again:

    "Rush Limbaugh, gay entertainer, who also dabbles in politics occasionally…"

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