INTRO: Below is an excerpt from a recent White House Press Briefing, where the reporters are being quite direct and enthusiastic in trying to challenge the talking points of the Bush Admin about the poor emergency response to Katrina. We Democrats applaud any showing of real backbone by the press against the Bush Admin.

As Democrats, we have have been dismayed for 5 years about what we perceive to be the unwillingness of the White House Press Corps to challenge this Republican administration to get off of their talking points.

We watched how the press treated Bill Clinton and we think we see a stark contrast. The press feasted on hounding Clinton’s press secretary, and Clinton himself, about ultimately unimportant things to the nation. Monica, Whitewater, Vince Foster, etc.

The press must have felt comfortable on the attack against Clinton, and I speculate that is due to the huge national drumbeat of right wing radio and religio-political broadcasters. It’s a “safety in numbers” or “join the crowd” sort of attitude.

For 5 years we’ve watched the press corps inhale talking points without aggressively telling truth to power, or forcing power to be more truthful.

It’s been mainly the blog universe that has highlighted the contradictions and pushed and pushed for better reporting.

If you watch the powerful Democratic blog sites, like DailyKos, you will see the process unfold whereby blogs try to influence reporting. Independent blogporters accumulate enough facts to make a credible argument, and then the blogs push the media to push Bush’s people. Email campaigns may occur. And then, wow, finally someone in the powerful media takes notice, and a few questions get asked or a news item is presented, and the blogs take credit for motivating a little example of better reporting.

Republicans don’t need blog sites - they have Limbaugh Hannity Coulter Fox, pushing the Republican spin version nationwide ad nauseum.

(Quick hit: The New York Times is editorially Democratic for the most part, but the paper has no meaningful influence over the eyes and ears of the masses - few read the Times. It’s just one talking point by the Republicans to portray the Times as an all powerful propaganda machine. Every propagandist must have an enemy to rail against, and despite its lack of influence over the regular folk the Times is the most powerful Democratic voice, hence the Times is the target. Propaganda 101.)

Speculations about the psychological makeup of the White House Press Corps -

People being people, I imagine the press corps is populated by a fair share of shy people, those who cater to leaders, those who can be easily intimidated — somewhat like in real life in any group (takes all kinds to make up the world!).

Moreover, I speculate that people who GET TO BE members of the White House Press Corps are decidedly NOT individualists and NOT of a more radical skeptical mental bent. I say this because such appointees tend to have gone to college and then survived apprenticeships in the corporate media world, and learned how to socialize among powerful and wealthy people. And they are ambitious and want to appear controlled.

In other words, the WH Press Corp tends to be made up of reasonably well cultivated, smart, ambitious, and perhaps even star struck, people who have learned to control their R-Complex. [a few exceptions, like with the Jeff Gannon fiasco, of course]. These press corps members do not get angry in public, and they are highly in tune with appearances. They push politely and care too much about how the powerful perceive them, and so they fail in their watchdog function.

Ah, but all that changes when the Press are confident that the nation is behind them, just as everyone’s backbone is stiffened when we know we enjoy broad support.

The national mood is one of accusations of incompetence directed at FEMA and DHS. And Bush looks terrible for the uninformed things he said in the wake of Katrina, like “No one anticipated the levees might break”.

With the general public’s blessing, the reporters are getting tough.

The toughness will not last long

The Republican Damage Control Machine has kicked into high gear. The major propagandists are coming on board to defend the Bush administation and shift or minimize “blame” for FEMA’s poor response.

As Limbaugh Hannity Coulter Fox get the message out, the White House Press Corps will begin to feel less confident that they are speaking with broad support when they attack. As I speculated once before, the Machine may be ready to throw some red meat to the wolves, and we may see a forced resignation of FEMA’s Director Mike Brown (AKA “Brownie”).

And pretty soon, things will settle down and return to normal among the White House Press Corps. And Democrats will have to fight hard to get any real skeptical reporting done due to the incredibly powerful unified voice of the right wing and religio-political media.

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But here below is a nice example of respectful point-on assertiveness by the WH Press Corps, in trying to punhc through the talking points. Wish we’d see a lot more of it. Click the link and read a longer version of the briefing.

White House Press Briefing: Angry Reporters Hit McClellan Hard on Hurricane, Ask if Heads Will Roll

Q One last question. The person who says that he found out about the Convention Center seeing it on the media — that is to say the FEMA director — is still in place. Is that satisfactory that somebody would have responded like that?

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, this is getting into — we’re somewhat engaged in a blame game. We’ve got to –

Q It’s not a blame game. That’s accountability –

MR. McCLELLAN: Terry, we’ve got to –

Q It’s accountability.

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes.

Q Is “Brownie” still doing a “heck of a job,” according to the President?

MR. McCLELLAN: We’ve got to continue to do everything we can in support of those who are involved in the operational aspects of this response effort. And that’s what we’re going to do. There will be plenty of time –

Q If he fails at it, he’s not going to be good at it going forward. That’s what Bob is saying.

MR. McCLELLAN: There are people working round-the-clock with FEMA. The Secretary, the FEMA Director and many others who are working round-the-clock. And we’ve got to do everything we can in support of their efforts to make sure people are getting what they need.

Q Does the President really believe we could respond to a terrorist attack with any — amount of weeks, months?

MR. McCLELLAN: We’ve actually done a lot of exercises, David, to prepare for possible attacks, but –

Q Do you think most Americans agree, based on –

MR. McCLELLAN: But the most important thing we’ve got to do is focus on –

Q You mean exercises for Hurricane Katrina.

MR. McCLELLAN: We’ve got to focus on prevention, and that’s what we’re doing by staying on the offensive.

Q Well, let’s talk about it. Are you saying the President is — are you saying that the President is confident that his administration is prepared to adequately, confidently secure the American people in the event of a terrorist attack of a level that we have not seen? And based on what does he have that confidence?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, and that’s what he made clear earlier today, that obviously we want to look and learn lessons from a major catastrophe of this nature.

Q Yes, but you’re telling us today there will be time for that somewhere down the road. Well, what if it happens tomorrow?

MR. McCLELLAN: We can engage in this blame-gaming going on and I think that’s what you’re getting –

Q No, no. That’s a talking point, Scott, and I think most people who are watching this –

MR. McCLELLAN: No, that’s a fact. I mean, some are wanting to engage in that, and we’re going to remain focused –

Q I’m asking a direct question. Is he confident –

MR. McCLELLAN: We’re going to remain focused on the people.

Q — that he can secure the American people in the event of a major terrorist attack?

MR. McCLELLAN: We are securing the American people by staying on the offensive abroad and working to spread freedom and democracy in the Middle East.

Q That’s a talking point. That’s a talking point.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, that’s a fact.