Andrea Mitchell on Obama's "fake" interviews

We heard about this soundbite on Chris Matthews' Hardball yesterday, but couldn't find the video. Captain Ed did find it, and posted it the very bottom of this piece. The point that Andrea Mitchell makes is that in Afghanistan and/or Iraq the presser and interviews Obama claims to have had weren't real. They weren't with journalists, so they seem staged, at best: (Emphasis -- Captain Ed.)

MITCHELL: Let me just say something about the message management. He didn’t have reporters with him, he didn’t have a press pool, he didn’t do a press conference while he was on the ground in either Afghanistan or Iraq. What you’re seeing is not reporters brought in. You’re seeing selected pictures taken by the military, questions by the military, and what some would call fake interviews, because they’re not interviews from a journalist. So, there’s a real press issue here. Politically it’s smart as can be. But we’ve not seen a presidential candidate do this, in my recollection, ever before. …

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about access to the troops, Andrea. A lot of African-American faces over there, very happy, delighted faces. Is that a representation of the percentage of service people who are African-American, or did they all choose to join someone they like, apparently? What’s the story?

MITCHELL: I can’t really say that. Being a reporter who was not present in any of those situations, I just cannot report on what was edited out, what was, you know, on the sidelines. That’s my issue. We don’t know what we are seeing.

Here is the point we think she was making here. Obama claims to be a "new politician." He vowed transparency for the nation, and he's not giving it. He has kept himself from the press, for the most part, in an effort to minimize the gaffes he's made.

Katie Couric's interview with him last night had a couple of hard-hitting moments, but for the most part it was pap. She hammered him pretty hard on the issue of his opinion about the surge and whether or not it's true he would stick by his guns, and stand in opposition to it today. You can clearly tell from the video (You can view the clip here at Hot Air and you can view some of the questions she asked of him there, too) that he gets flustered at her repeated questions to him regarding the surge, the security issue in Iraq, and whether it's really a smart things to "take our eye off the ball in Iraq" and focus on Afghanistan.

But, back to Andrea Mitchell, the only press time he's giving anyone in the media are the ones he's basically scheduled with them. There's no time for off-the-cuff moments. (No doubt in response to this montage assembled by Rush Limbaugh's team of the stuttering fool. BTW, you must be a subscriber to hear the entire 8 minute long montage.)

Folks, he doesn't speak well in front of people when he doesn't have prepared remarks, a memorized speech, or a teleprompter. In the video at Hot Air it shows him shooting hoops with black troops (for the most part) in Iraq. He can hang with the guys and girls because they're not going to ask him specifics. This is a visit from a politician, and one that is running for president. They're psyched, regardless. But no one asked him to explain his timetable idea for Iraq, or asked him about his ideas regarding taxation or federal court justices. They probably asked him how the campaign was going, how his family was, and maybe even who he was thinking of for veep. (I can only speculate on that because the video of the hoops shooting has no audio.)

Ms. Mitchell's point is noted, and it's a shame that Captain Ed and others had to dig up the video from other places, like Breitbart, and not on MSNBC's website. I wonder about that. Is that because MSNBC might be a tad embarrassed at having this pointed out to them? Where's the tingle now, Chris?

Publius II