Toady time: Jonathan Capehart would be the worst!

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2013

If it weren’t for everyone else: What is the Washington “press corps” like?

Let us introduce Jonathan Capehart as he discusses the issue of diversity in the White House.

Capehart’s blog post starts as follows. Yes, this is written in English:

CAPEHART (1/16/13): Yes, President Obama has an image problem, literally. As the now infamous White House photo illustrated, so many men—all but one of whom is white—seemingly dominate his inner circle. But one photograph does not an administration make. I’m not saying the lack of women in his latest appointments isn’t an issue. My concern here is with the women who ARE there and who are staying. To hear the conversation in Washington you’d think there are no women of consequence in Obama’s orbit. The opposite is true.

Just read that highlighted sentence. According to Capehart, the now-famous White House photo “illustrated” this fact:

“So many men—all but one of whom is white—seemingly dominate Obama's inner circle.”

Just for the record, that highlighted sentence was indeed written in English. As he continues, it becomes clear that Capehart knows an important fact—in reality, many women play important roles in Obama’s White House. He mentions Sebelius, Napolitano and Rice, and from there he just keeps going.

He even knows that Obama picked a woman to serve as the nation's first lady!

To less of a toady, Capehart’s facts would reveal something about that now-famous photo. Here's what it is:

On balance, that photo doesn’t “illustrate” the way the White House works! But Capehart is part of the press corps elite, so he can’t seem to be contradicting the New York Times front-page news division, or other useless pundit luminaries like Marcus, Carlson and Dowd.

So instead of writing an accurate piece, he starts with a jumbled introduction, in which he seems to say that the photo in question illustrates some seeming fact. And like the skilled indoor worker he is, the useless fop ends like this:

“So, while I get all this talk of Obama needing his own binders of women, I also see how it completely ignores the powerful women who are already there.”

You see? Capehart “gets all the talk” about Obama needing binders of women! He “gets” that talk, even though it “completely ignores” a whole giant binder of facts! Even though it completely ignores a whole giant roster of actual women. Even though "the opposite is true" from the conversation that photograph managed to spawn.

Plainly, Jonathan Capehart does get it! Our ruling? Jonathan Capehart would be the worst, if it weren’t for everyone else.

Tomorrow: Who is Jonathan Capehart?