[ABOVE: Who were all the good little doggies at the secret White House "press" briefing? image: tizona]

What Media “Watchdogs” Got White House Doggie Treats?

KEITH OLBERMANN – MSNBC
RACHEL MADDOW – MSNBC
EUGENE ROBINSON – Washington Post
MAUREEN DOWD – NY Times
GWEN IFILL – PBS
GLORIA BERGER – CNN

“Where seldom is heard
A discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.”
–”Home on the Range”

The off-the-record White House press briefing Monday resembled a cross between “Home on the Range” and Reward Day at the Acme Obedience Training School for Dogs.

From Maddow/Olbermann Invited to White House Chat with Obama, But Fox Isn’t a News Organization?:

On Monday, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow were among several people who attended an off-the-record briefing with Pres. Obama at the White House. Sources tell us other attendees at the two-and-a-half hour chat included Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post, Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, Gwen Ifill of PBS and Gloria Borger of CNN. Perhaps not surprisingly, no one from Fox News was in the room.

It might prove interesting to count the total of discouraging words written about the Obama White House that have issued from the cozy group of hard-bitten skeptical newsies-cum-celebrities mentioned above.

Our guess? Not many.

Which might be why they were asked to the clandestine White House getaway for tea and chit-chat.

Think of the invite to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as sort of a “Doggie Treat for the Elite”. But, instead of a bit of meat-flavored kibble, Maddow, Dowd, et. al. got a sit-down with the Prez.

Perhaps, they even got in a little gossip about the bad boy down News Street: Fox News.

Tsk, tsk’s all around.

Strangely enough, upon learning about this Obama press confab, we felt a sense of comfort.

The next time Maurine Dowd or Keith Olbermann launch into a psychotic rant about 1) Glenn Beck; 2) Fox News, or 3) both, at least we’ll know that they had a “higher purpose” in doing it.

Top Dog Obedience School explains, “You may be surprised to find, though, that many behavioral problems will be eliminated simply by channeling your dog’s energy into obedience training“.

Or, as Eugene Robinson might call it, “A White House press get-together”.

MORE: Revealed: Who else was at that secret Obama briefing with Olby and Maddow?

Allahpundit: “Tantalizing but frustrating, as it’s only a partial list; without the full attendance sheet, it’s impossible to say definitively that the most transparent administration evah was playing only to its cheerleaders. Even so, while Gloria Borger isn’t particularly ideological as far as I know, there’s little question where Robinson, Dowd, and especially Ifill stand.”

FRUITY GOODNESS NOTE:
I Own the World has the following piece up, Fox Is Biased – This Has To Stop, which features a video of Keith Olbermann on Countdown featuring Glenn Beck.

Starting at the :15 mark, there is a hint of why KO got his ticket punched to the White House press schmoozer.

Maybe if Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News exhibited a few more “manners” and a bit more servility, they too will get an invite to the next “off-the-record White House press briefing”?

by Mondo Frazier
h/t: Hot Air