Compare JFK's and LBJ's press conferences with Kamala's. See videos here
Opps. A comparison isn’t possible because Kamala Harris hasn’t held a traditional press conference since being handed the Democratic nomination for president. Moreover, she isn’t likely to hold any before election day, Nov. 5.
No president in modern America has spit in the public’s eye like this.
That’s outrageous, but my point here is even worse: The media’s condemnable passivity in the face of this spit in their eyes.
The media’s important and historic role of peppering candidates from all corners with difficult questions is dead, dead, dead. The press is okay with this affront.
To get a sense of what Americans should be seeing, I’ve uploaded John F. Kennedy’s press conference, the first a few weeks before his assassination and, the second, his first after his election. Notice a roomful of the many reporters that he faced.
About three minutes into the conference he is asked about bringing back U.S. troops from Vietnam. Remember, this was in 1963 when those troops were only “advisors.” Links to other press conferences will show up after this one is concluded.
These press conferences generally lasted a half hour up to a full hour.
Below, President Johnson faces a crowed press conference in 1965 explaining his reasons for expanding the Vietnam War. Talk about a tough press conference. Questions start about 25 minutes into the press conference. Among the questions was why he doesn’t need a declaration of war from Congress.
As a journalist for more than four decades, I’m angry at what today’s journalists have done to discredit a once admirable profession. No longer, Today’s journalists seem perfectly contented to be manipulated and insulted. They feel comfortable in their ideological bubble, so comfortable that they no longer of any use to Americans. They’ve been reduced to shoveling political shit. They deserve this public’s loathing.