Booman Tribune

It's Really Dana Milbank Who is a D*ck

by BooMan
Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 02:00:04 AM EST

There was a brief period of time, probably in 2004, when I thought Dana Milbank was doing a decent job of showing a sane level of skepticism about the Bush administration's pronouncements and behavior. He wasn't striking for his wit or his moral outrage. He just stood out as someone who was occasionally willing to call bullshit in a town where that seemed never to happen. His schtick appeared to be irreverence of a kind slightly more substantive than that provided by Lady Dowd. But something changed. If I had to guess, what changed is that Milbank started getting invites to be on the cable news. And that made him somebody. He joined the Big Boys like Howard Fineman and Ron Brownstein. His opinion was supposed to move the national discourse. He became a connoisseur of the cocktail frankfurter. And then...he began to suck.

He lost his outsiderish up-and-coming edge. His condescension stopped reaching up and started hammering down. Instead of telling us that our betters are full of crap, he told us that his lessers were unworthy. And, at some point he reached a stage of inness where he felt comfortable enough to wallow in his sense of accomplishment and to develop a sense of entitlement. He worked hard to get where he is and, dammit, who is some blogger from the Huffington Post to get an invitation to ask the president a question? That blogger is Nico Pitney who has been covering the Iranian elections with indefatigable energy. Milbank's sense of vanity was on full display today when he appeared on Howard Kurtz's Reliable Sources with Nico, and whined about a mere aggregator of news getting called on in a presidential press conference. When the segment was over, Milbank turned to Pitney and told him, "You are such a dick."

It's hard to say exactly why Milbank decided to insult Pitney to his face, but it's a good bet that his feelings were hurt when Nico pointed out that Milbank once asked candidate Obama numerous questions about how he looked in a swimsuit. I think it should go without saying that a journalist's opportunities to ask a presidential contender questions are limited, and Milbank blew one of the few chances he will ever get. The truth is, only someone whose bowels are bloated with cocktail weenies would ever waste such a golden chance to probe the mind of a presidential candidate by asking about his pectoral muscles.



Display:
BooMan,

I think you're dismissing the importance of the President's tanline in dealing with an international crisis.

The phrase, after all, is tanned, rested and ready.

by shaej on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 05:52:19 AM EST
Oops.  That is a gross oversight on my part.
by BooMan on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 10:25:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I would suggest that david gregory might just be added to the D**K List! Talk about a inflated sense of disgusting self worth.
by billjpa (billjpa@aol.com) on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 07:36:49 AM EST
I consider most Sunday morning talking heads to be the equivalent to that blob of plastic and toxic materials swirling at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

And here's my confession: Unless there is a caption at the bottom of the screen giving their names I can't tell the difference among them all, except for Cokie Roberts who I really really really hate.

by Bob In Pacifica on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 09:29:26 AM EST
Garbage Patch? or maybe they don't reach that magnitude even of plasticky garbage?
http://www.zimbio.com/Great+Pacific+Garbage+Patch/pictures/2/Pictures+Great+Pacific+Garbage+Patch

Viva Obama
by Errol on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 09:46:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]
i have it on good authority that dana milbank's real name is Crybaby Diaperpants.

John Mccain Called his wife WHAT??
by brendan on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 11:22:37 AM EST
You just reminded me of this: LINK

Have you read any Captain Underpants yet?  It's a must-read series for little boys.  :)

"Little people are very stuff-intensive."

by CabinGirl on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 11:59:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Milbank & Gregory are the biggest d@@@ bites. Someone needs to point out that this is far from Jeff Gannon sitting in a press conference and asking the PRez "easy questions". While the White House press corps. did nothing to question Gannon's creditials.
by americanforliberty on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 11:50:31 AM EST
I have a feeling that poor Dana is feeling a bit resentful of TEH LEFT on account of getting booted from Olbermann's cast.

Nevertheless, I believe you are giving Milbank far too much credit for being less of a putz ca. 2004. You can't achieve his level of dickishness in a mere four years.

by Omar on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 12:59:17 PM EST
My memory may be faulty, but I am pretty sure that Milbank used to spend considerable time pointing out inconsistencies in the Bush party line.  
by BooMan on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 03:11:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
He was terrif!

He once did a live diary on dKos, and I spent a lot of time and energy defending his ass, because he'd done some really great work. People wanted to lay all the WaPo's sins at his feet, and that just wasn't fair.

I really think you've nailed it. I've been rather puzzled by his behavior for a while now, and I think cocktail-weenie-poisoning is as good an explanation as any.

He really showed his ass on Sunday. It made me really sad.

He's a smart, funny guy with a good sense of the absurd. And what is  our government, if not a theatre of the absurd?

I really wish he'd take a step back. That "Mouthpiece Theatre" video was just embarassing.

by hamletta on Tue Jun 30th, 2009 at 12:54:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Media Matters noted that no one said anything about the gay escort who was waved into the Bush WhiteHouse news briefings when the story broke . I figure because they were getting blow jobs from him.Since Milbank had Dick on his mind that's probably the reason
by danmac6 on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 04:26:05 PM EST


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