During the White House press briefing, as questions about the General Petraeus scandal were mounting, it became increasingly evident that stories weren't adding up. So much so, that even the press is acknowledging that none of what they're being told makes sense. And, unfortunately for Jay Carney, one of the very few real journalists left in the mainstream media was part of the press pool yesterday at the White House.
This morning on radio Glenn played the exchange between Tapper and the White House Press Secretary.
TAPPER: "This investigation had been going on for months. How is it that the White House didn't have any idea of this until the day after the election and then congress a few days later?"CARNEY: "Well, I would refer you to the FBI. They have as my ‑‑ as I understand it, protocols in place for when they notify the legislative and executive branches of investigations and, you know, it is simply a fact that the White House was not aware of the situation regarding General Petraeus until Wednesday and the situation regarding General Allen until Friday. So, you know, the FBI has a place to go in terms of an explanation of the protocols they follow, but I understand that that is the answer that they will give, that there are protocols they follow that govern how they inform the various branches of government of these kinds of investigations."
TAPPER: "Well, do you understand how people would think this is utterly bizarre, the day after the election and the anger you're hearing on Capitol Hill they didn't know this was going on? I mean the timing, at least the appearance."
CARNEY: "Look. All I can tell you is when the White House was informed. And I would let the relevant members of congress explain to you how and when they were informed. My understanding is there are protocols that the FBI follows with regards to these kinds of notifications and I would refer you to the FBI and the Department of Justice for an explanation of those protocols."
This administration really has no shame.
"It doesn't matter how ridiculous, how fairytale‑like it sounds to them, they don't care. They just stick to the line: 'We didn't know'," Pat snapped.
Glenn compared what's happening between the press and the White House to Watergate. Watergate without Woodward and Bernstein.
The fundamentals of journalism have changed — from what journalism students are taught to how they interact with the government.
Glenn explained that journalists are taught Walter Lippmann and they're taught about Watergate. They're supposed to be the watch dogs — reporting the truth and holding the country's leaders accountable to the words that they say as well as their actions.
"What they're taught is now that they have to get the bad guys in government," he explained. "They have to go get them because they can change the world, just like Woodward and Bernstein did with Watergate."
Unfortunately, they're also indoctrinated with the progressive agenda. So while that's what they do against the Republicans, but not on the liberal side. There is a complete double standard. They're job is still to change the world, unfortunately they do it by furthering the agenda of progressives.
If the media reported on the things going on inside the Obama administration with the same scrutiny that they did the Bush administration, there is no way he would have been reelected. In fact, Glenn thinks he would possibly be impeached.
"It's the coverup. And you can't tell me that we didn't, we didn't know," Glenn said. "We did. These reporters — did any of them ask yesterday — are any of them asking: How could the president not know? Don't you think that's a problem? I mean, again using logic, does the president not think that this is a problem, that he wasn't aware of Benghazi? When everybody around him had that information but he wasn't told?"
They just disregard the questions and refer reporters back to the FBI.
"That's all they do when they get in trouble," Pat said. "They refer you to somebody else. 'All I can tell you is it's a fact we didn't know until last Wednesday,' despite how unbelievable that is, to virtually anyone with a brain. Nobody believes that, unless you're an Obama zombie."
So what's Glenn's solution? How do you get the truth if the media isn't going to do its job?
Stop giving the mainstream media all of the power to get the answers.
"You're not going to win playing their game," he told his audience. "You have to spit yourself out of the system."
Which is exactly what Glenn and a few others have done.
"I don't care if it's the Daily Kos or, you know, or Breitbart or TheBlaze," he added, "but you stop getting your news from traditional media. Stop. It is the definition of insanity."
TheBlaze and other outlets, like Breitbart, the Daily Kos, and the Daily Caller, are trying to fill the space that nobody else will.
Glenn encouraged his audience to read the work these organizations are doing — but also to support them. It's not cheap to take on and do the work the big organizations of the mainstream media have stopped doing.
"We have to reinvent the entire system," Glenn said, and it starts really with you."