October 12, 2007
WTOP Reporter Gets Booted From White House
If there are two things most people know about WTOP Political Analyst Mark Plotkin, it's that one, he's not very tech-savvy, and two, he's passionate aboout District voting rights. So passionate, it seems, that he even got himself kicked out of the White House yesterday.
According to fellow WTOP reporter Mark Segraves' account of the incident, Plotkin, along with the rest of the D.C. press corps and various local elected officials, attended an event at the White House yesterday featuring First Lady Laura Bush and the Ballou Senior High School Marching Band. After a brief speech by Mrs. Bush, Plotkin fired a question her way that wasn't taken to kindly. Writes Segraves:
The First Lady gave a brief speech. That's when Plotkin literally sprung into action. He called across the East Room, "Mrs. Bush, Mrs. Bush." He caught her attention; she stopped, smiled and listened. In typical Plotkin style, he blurted out the following question: "Mrs. Bush, do you agree with those who say and believe that members of the Ballou High School band should not grow up to become members of the House of Representatives?" About half way through the question, Mrs. Bush realized this was not a friendly softball being lobbed from the peanut gallery, but a real question with an agenda from the press gallery.After leaving the East Room, Plotkin was told by White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten that the question had been "disrespectful" and quickly shown the front gate. After the event, Segraves continues, various reporters and city officials argued that the question was rude. Mayor Adrian Fenty, though, disagreed, stating, "That's not the position of the administration, I don't know who in my administration would have said otherwise, but it's the right of a reporter, it's actually your job."Mrs. Bush looked down and walked to her seat without a word. The smile was gone. At that moment, White House staff formed a human wall between the press and the First Lady and pointed to the door. One White House staffer told Plotkin he was out of line because the event was "about the kids." "My question WAS about the kids," Plotkin fired back.
It's easy to argue that since this was an event to recognize a talented group of District youth, the questions should have been limited to that. Then again, those same talented District youth are looking at a future of being as disenfranchised as their elders. Do you think Plotkin was out of line?
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In line like a porcupine, baby.
Absolutely not out of line.
Laura Bush can, of course, choose to answer whatever question she wants.
But the press shouldn't be required to subject themselves to the White House's idea of 'objectivity' (its bad enough that they claim any objectivity ... in my opinion its impossible, agenda's should be worn on shirtsleeves and punches -- at least verbally -- should be thrown).
Imagine if the daily press conference with the White House Press Secretary resulted in people being picked off for questions like that. No one would be there (nevermind that they all, mostly, act like they're not there anyway).
Mayor Adrian Fenty, though, disagreed, stating, "That's not the position of the administration, I don't know who in my administration would have said otherwise, but it's the right of a reporter, it's actually your job."
respect++
Not in the least. Keep stickin' it to 'em. The wrong thing here is kicking him out.
nope...not at all out of line. I wish more reporters would ask these types of questions of the Bush crime family and other repubs...
These kids are being relegated to a life of being second class citizens...
So asking the First Lady a question at a press event is disrespectful but half a million tax-paying disenfranchised Americans is totally okay?
Maybe a little out of line, but so was the Declaration of Independence...
Not out of line at all. Much respect for Plotkin and Fenty. What shocks me is that *other reporters* thought it was out of line. Think so? Maybe Fox News is hiring.
ms bush may choose not to answer a (or any) question posed to her by a member of our press corps. reporters ARE SUPPOSED to ask tough questions. we need MORE reporters like plotkin. the only part i am unclear about is whether there was an even better time for him to pose it, i.e., was there a question and answer period??
Out of line? No.
Lacking tact? Absolutely.
And that's the big issue with Plotkin: he's not a master of tact, of proper strategy to get answers from politicos other than the DC government people who have learned to accept his less-than-reasonable approach to Q&A.
I do applaud him for asking the question. I just wish he'd framed it better, with a more effective setup. That might've worked with Laura B.
Good for Mark. He is who he is, and they ought to know that when they let him in the door in the first place. Also, it's time that members of the press who are frustrated with politicians who strongarm every photo op into such narrow focus get a little press coverage of their own.
Of course he should have asked.
It's not like reporters (and I am one) have unlimited opportunities to put questions directly to public figures.
Mrs. Bush is a grown-up. The people who work for politicians seem to think the adults -- ostensibly intelligent people in positions of power and influence -- are incapable of handling themselves in conversations with other adults. It mystifies me.
way to go plotkin, i say, and big ups to mayor fenty for saying exactly the right thing in response.
now, josh bolten. wow, that guy can really go fuck himself. i mean, if the american people are only allowed to ask questions that the political class deems 'respectful', we'd have stories in the post with headlines like: bush says dinner enjoyable, dessert even better.
the level of disdain that they have for the people of this country, who are their equals not minions, is appalling and disrespectful of us. government is of, for, and by the people, never forget that.
What a stupid question. These students have every right to grow up and become members of the US House of Representatives. They can either stay in DC and run for Delegate, or move to another state and run there. As adults, they will have a choice where to live and if voting rights is that important to them, then they can make the decision to live somewhere where they have the vote.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with the way Plotkin asked the question. There is no better way to have asked it. Kicking him out was the wrong thing to do.
Guest14, you're missing the entire point.
People shouldn't have to move simply to be recognized by their government to exist. The fact that nearly 600K folks can literally see the government in their backyard but have no voice in it is shameful.
i just went over and read the comments on mark seagraves account of the story, and it's amazing to see the difference in opinion. almost all the commenters here think plotkin was within his rights to ask the question, but the WTOP commenters mostly think he was wrong.
Rock on, Plotkin.
Martin:
The real question is what those kids learned when the First Lady, a professional educator, ejected someone asking a question about their rights and their future.
Laura Bush taught the members of the Ballou High School Band a Civics Lesson they will never forget.
Why not do some type of formal request to all the presidential candidates about where the stand on this issue instead of making snarky posts like this?
I mean what the heck Bush or his wife going to do? He's at 28% or so approval rating and about out of office. I think we should be focusing on people who can actually make a difference and thats either Congress or the next president.
Of course, the premise of his question was false.
There's no law preventing kids from Ballou from growing up and becoming members of the House.
This lack of understanding of the legal (particularly Constitutional) issues involved in DC voting rights seems fairly widespread, and just hurts the cause.
Why wasn't he pestering the Democratic Congressional leadership to introduce a DC voting rights amendment to the constitution instead?
politicians who strongarm every photo op into such narrow focus
This group may be annoying, but I also find it annoying when reporters have to use every single available event (photo op or not) to ask questions about the exact same hot button issue. Simply adding, "Yeah, but what about voting rights?" to every single discussion that touches on the District may help to keep the issue in the public eye, but it does it in a way that will also rub a lot of people the wrong way.
Maybe if the Burmese High School Band was there Mrs. Bush would have answered the question.
If she can make statements on foreign policy, she can answer a legitimate question about the rights of the young people of this city.
While I support the cause of voting rights, what political clout does this First Lady have at all? She's all about the literacy activism, and that's about it.
yeah, I'm going to say that's out of line...
if you're willing to assume the point of view that anything somehow concerning the kids is an appropriate question, then doesn't that open questioning up to... well... just about anything? do the kids have health insurance? how will their lives be affected by global warming? etc, etc...
He's a douche. If it was George Bush, it may have been acceptable.
The First Lady is not an elected official, so Mark was just tooting his own horn and causing a scene as he so often loves to do. He can take any issue or any discussion of the most mundane and irrelevant crap and spin into some political stump about DC voting rights.
If I was her, I would have been pissed and said get the f out of my house. Politics is not her job, and frankly it's rude to force it on her. It's so freaking annoying if you date someone from or involved with "the hill". You can't be with a group of them and a sane conversation about music, culture, architecture, books or ANYTHING without somebody eventually badgering you about what your position is on whatever issue. Blah blah blah. I used to be apathetic, but now I just don't care anymore! I sympathize with her. Can't even host some kids without getting pestered by some lunatic reporter with a cause.
Hate her husband, but I bet Laura would be a lot of fun to have a few drinks with away from the hubby. I was always tight with my HS librarian, and librarians are way cool and let you get away with some much crap once you earn their trust. Does she still smoke? I actually admire that because today it's so taboo- like shooting heroin AND having unprotected sex.
Another good move from Fenty and a very good one from Plotkin. How on earth is it not ok to ask a question like this to a major state figure? All those who enjoy the District, have friends they care about in the District, and who feel that District residents are their equals should support voting rights and be prepared to answer for it.
Plotkin could be at a Venezuelan Embassy press conference announcing the latest vintage of beaver cheese and he'd somehow manage to come up with a question obliquely connected to DC voting rights. He can be a real one-note dildo sometimes.
That said, the trained seals in the White House press corps could learn to grow a pair and act like this dildo once in a while.
I wish he had asked a question like:
Shouldn't district residents be exempt from federal taxation since they have no vote?
Let’s focus on taxation, not representation. Believe me the citizens of Monaco live better than those of France.
maybe they (the white house) didn't like it but i didn't see it as "rude" nor "disrespectful".
whats disrespectful is that they clearly censored this guy by shoving him out of the house...that is disrespect to accountability to their admins. policies which they should at least have to back up; and a disrespect for the constitution.
i really like fenty's response it has balls which is lacking by the press and congress
Well, Plotkin never operates within the lines, so he can never breach them. Frankly, this is akin to the right bashing Graeme Frost, the 12 year old boy who spoke in favor of S-CHIP: if Bush et al want to bring in the Ballou band for a feel good moment, then they need to be ready to hear what is not necessarily so good for the civic future of these students.
DC VOTE NOW!
That's what sucks about cheesy photo ops with 'the locals', especially when your party has been pissing on the locals for generations. Sometimes the locals have issues.
Guest 26 - If Laura Bush is such a Rose Garden ornament what was she doing giving testimony about Burma before a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee last week?
If she can make official pronouncements about democracy in Burma she can answer a legitimate question about democracy for the children of the city where she enjoys the benefit of free public housing.
What shocks me is that Mrs. Bush, a trained educator, would perform such an ugly action in a room full of the children.
The reason the coments here are pro-Plotkin and
the comments on wtopnews.com are negative is that
WTOP attracts all the suburban commuters with
their traffic & weather evry ten minutes and those people often have it out for DC.
Puh-leeeeeze. Ballou's band deserves to be feted for the excellence they have achieved, historically and currently, but the Bush Administration uses these events for their PR. It isn't about whether the first lady has political clout, it's about calling them on using local kids to make them appear to care about what happens in salary-under-six-figure land. If they was to have the PR benefits of events like this, they should be asked why they think D.C. residents are good enough for PR, but not for full citizenship. Was the question rude? Not enough, and not nearly as rude as using people as your PR prop.
The reason the coments here are pro-Plotkin and the comments on wtopnews.com are negative is that WTOP attracts all the suburban commuters with their traffic & weather evry ten minutes and those people often have it out for DC.
That's no joke. Those WTOP commenters are mostly a bunch of bitches.
Great question to ask her and if you ask me it was the perfect opportunity. It shed light on a subject that too many people just blow by the wayside and use the constitution as an excuse to avoid.
I'm sure our forefathers didn't mean that people who lived in Washington DC wouldn't be able to become members of the house and if they did it was a couple hundred years ago, its time for change!
The point would've been better driven home if he had actually interviewed the kids to see if any of them would, perhaps one day, like to be a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Or at least framed the question in a non out-to-get-the-First-Lady manner.
"Mrs. President, what do you have to say to a young high school student like Jamal Watkins, who would very much like to be a member of the United States House of Representatives one day, but cannot due to the state of Washington, D.C. voter rights."
Just guessing here, but the First Lady isn't going to look down and walk away from poor little Jamal. She'd praise Jamal's aspirations and then the bullshit would start flying.
"Mrs. President! Mrs. President! One of the kids from this high school might possibly maybe one day decide that they for some reason might want to be a Representative of Washington, D.C. in the House. Why won't you let them? Why do you hate them?"
The First Lady is going to not address the question and walk away.
The guy asked a valid question in a horrible manner. Result: question thrown out, guy thrown out. Who is surprised?
Roy C:
Right you are. when the Constitution was written every American lived in a state -- there was no DC yet and no territories or possessions. When written the Constitution provided every American voter then living with representation in Congress. Congress never amended the document because it wanted DC as a playhouse and this abuse of power made DC a shambles from the get-go. Andrew Jackson tried to fix this in 1831 and 1832 but Congress ignored the President and the intent of the founders.
Actually, it's Pickle's husband Bush Chimp who has been OUT OF LINE these past 6 years, and the destruction he and his cronies have done to the Constitution (Patriot Act, molestation of habeas corpus, et al) and the Middle East !
For way too long, the press and the jingoists of this country have given him Carte Blanche.
For those who voted for him - even just once - I hope you've been enjoying the tarnishing of our reputation in the world. When was the last time we were regarded so poorly by the rest of the world?
Finally, journaslist whis actually doing their job!!!! Not merely being a megaphone for the administration and it's policies!!!!!