The Anchoress

UPDATE: Check out the update at Michelle Malkin’s - where we discover that the UAW union stipulates that the televisions viewed by union members requires keeping that dial on CNN.

I bet even Paddy Chayefsky could not have imagined a press this deranged.

PLEASE tell me that the WH press corp is not this pathetic - that they are not yet parodies of themselves. IF it is true (I am fiercely hoping it is not), then the WH pressies are devolving into 8 year old brats…and I’m worried that they may continue to devolve until they become infants, then fetuses, then embryoes, then zygots, then simple, unfertilized sperm and egg…

This un-named reporter (if this is true - please say it’s not…even if it IS, please deny it, it’s that pathetic…I WANT to believe that no reporter actually bothered Scott McClellan with a cry of “victimization” and cable-news monopoly via the dreaded Fox News channel. I WANT to believe that the WH press folk are not suggesting that “one channel” is okay, as long as its the “right sort” of channel. I WANT to believe that Scott McClellan did not actually entertain this complaint rather than laugh at it and tell the reporter to grow up.)

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the conference room, or the senior staff office, the staff office, they’re different TVs, and you can switch to different channels. I’m not sure if some of these in the back are connected to some of the others that are watching right here, right now. It doesn’t look like it to me. I’ve never known anyone that’s raised a complaint about a request from back here to watch a different channel.

Q I used the phone back here.

MR. McCLELLAN: I find this all quite amusing, to tell you the truth. I mean, there are a lot of people on this plane that do watch that channel.

MR. McCLELLAN: First time you brought it to my attention. I’ll go see what we can do on it.

* * * * *

MR. McCLELLAN: We just called up. They’re going to be changing it, at your all’s request, to the channel that you requested, which is CNN — from the press corps.

Q Thanks, Scott.

I hope that “Thanks, Scott” was said with a sheepish face.

Please…please tell me this is some joke, because the appropriate answer by an adult dealing with this sort of perpetual adolescent would be a smile and a friendly, “you’re not seriously calling yourself a victim, are you, because that would just be too pathetic…” which would allow the child - sensing his silliness - to smile back and save face, saying, “of course it was a joke…” and the subject would quickly be changed

Please tell me that Tony Snow will do the right thing from this point on and gently mock these people back into some semblance of quasi-adult sanity.

This is not the first time McClellen made an incredible question credible by not laughing at it. When does he officially leave?

UPDATE: It’s True! Unbelievable! (Rightwing.com notes that Hotline left off that last bit. I’m sure the folks who think this reporter did not engage in childish behavior are sensitive to the fact that this exchange demonstrates the very mindset the reporter felt “victimized” by: that one network might be “preferred” and “acceptable” over another or that it is reasonable to act like a child because something on the television doesn’t conform to your world-view. I wonder if he objected to always watching CNN while traveling with the Clinton administration. I’d bet the house that he didn’t.)

Moderate Voice asks: Do VandeHei’s bosses realize that while he’s being paid to cover the news he’s fighting over who controls the White House remote? Or is controlling White House TV viewing habits a new part of print media beat reporting? Gandelman also directs you to check out the comments section at Hotline, which is…pretty amazing.

Weirdly, the press seems to like this story. They seem to think VanderHei comes off well. Trust me, he doesn’t. Lorie Byrd recounts Claire Shipman’s weird remarks on the story. Have they all lost their minds?

Nose on your face and more clever…and real…satire.

Related: (Sort of) - One of my doc’s office always, always has the waiting room tv set for ABC (WHY do we need televisions blaring at us everywhere we go, anyway?) So, I suppose I should whine and carry on because now I’ll be forced to listen to this woman while I wait? I mean, it’s the doctor’s office, and his tv, but I don’t like The View, and dammit, I’ll be a VICTIM, here. It will have to be changed.