All White House press briefings, gaggles, and conferences are on the White House website, although for the most part the transcripts do not say which reporters are asking the questions.
He is right. The times were different then, but still, he’s right. The press knew (at least in general) about JFK’s health and womanizing issues, and let it go. And I’ve got to be honest: JFK’s bonking a Mafia don’s mistress bothers me one hell of a lot more than WJC’s bonking some random intern.
Tony Blair does this every Prime Minster’s question time. But his stooges are fine upstanding MPs! The brass neck is quite amusing, as is the gay porn angle (what is it with gay 'pubbies anyway?). But I can’t muster any outrage.
Y’know? I would love to see the President (any President) have to stand in front of Congress for an hour every week and answer whatever bullshit question the opposition thinks up. That’d be great!
It’s not those questions I have an issue with. It’s the toadying (and clearly planted) stuff from his own benches that’s usually cringe worthy. Funny how codified it all is too. They occasionally get told off, usually for making statements rather than making statements pretending to be questions. Not that I wouldn’t love to see Bush (or any POTUS ) properly grilled too.
I hear he kills kittens, too. I could forgive all that easily enough. Its the invading countries for reasons that turn out to be completely false that I can’t abide. Its the telling his citizens that Iraq was six months away from having nuclear weapons when Iraq wasn’t even trying to develop them while North Korea probably actually does have them and Iran almost certainly has them that I can’t abide. Its the lies about the cost of the Medicare drug plan that pisses me off, as do the lies about the iminent collapse of the Social Security system. I didn’t know about the denying the vote to minorities, though—if its true, that pisses me off as well. Another thing that pisses me off is the blatant pandering to the religous right with his espoual of a Constitutional amendment denying fundamental rights to a certain class of citizen. There are other things that piss me off, too, not the least of which is the simple fact that people are able to convince themselves that he is a good president.
I believe only the leader of the opposition is actually allotted a set number of questions to ask. Could be wrong there. The 3rd party leader might get some too or he could just be getting picked out of politeness. Everyone else just has to stand up and hope they catch the Speaker’s eye. The government benches always get plenty of picks and, barring it being an Old Labour warhorse, they’re usually obviously planted questions (“Would the Prime Minster please explain how under Labour things are so great and a return to Tory rule would result in plague, famine and repeats of 'Ello 'Ello on BBC1”).
Damn right they do. Same in the Australian Parliament. And it would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic.
Take, as an example, this killer question from the February 2 Question Time, in which a Labor MP throws Tony Blair a softball:
Or this beauty, from the same day:
I’m not sure if the term has wider currency, but in Australia we call these type of questions “Dorothy Dixers,” after US advice columnist Dorothy Dix (real name: Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer) who apparently often wrote and answered her own questions.
Questions asked of a PM during Question Time by people in his own party tend to be pre-arranged softballs that give the PM a chance to hold forth on a topic that he wants to get on the record about, or give him an opportunity to slam the opposition and point out how great the government is doing.
) properly grilled too.