by The rude, crude, and unattractive behavior exhibited by DOJ press flack Tracy Schmaler and White House Associate Communications Director Eric Schultz towards CBS News Investigative Reporter Sharyl Attkisson is part of a conscious effort on the part of the Obama Administration to bully reporters over their stories. This according to a blog post by Keith Koffler of the White House Dossier blog. Koffler has covered the White House since 1997 and is the White House correspondent for Roll Call.
Koffler says the bullying tactics used against reporters are part of the Obama Administration’s standard repetoire of tactics used to get them to spike negative stories.
Such tactics as this were rare in both the Clinton and Bush White Houses.
These Obama flacks are not just reacting with visceral anger to the story. They are specifically trained and encouraged to do this. Most of them are actually quite nice to be around when they’re not in Kill the Story Mode.
As Koffler notes, this tactic amounts to a suppression of free speech by this administration. He has written more extensively about it here.
Moreover, Koffler says it amounts to an admission on the part of the Obama Administration that the reporting on Operation Fast and Furious and Project Gunwalker “has legs.” Of course, any reader of this blog or Mike Vanderboegh’s Sipsey Street Irregulars or David Codrea’s National Gun Rights Examiner column knows that. Still he has some good advice for Sheryl:
If Ms. Attkisson understands it’s nothing more than a tool being used against her, it shouldn’t affect her.
Except in that she should understand there’s a good reason they’re doing it: she’s onto something big. The higher the volume of the screaming and the more sickening the language, the closer she’s getting.
As to the immature twits running press operations in this administration, frankly they need their mouths washed out with soap and should be sent to their rooms without dinner. It goes without saying that they shouldn’t be allowed their Blackberries or Xbox 360s either.
