From MEDIA MATTERS:
Joseph Curl and Matthew Mosk at the Washington Times came up with a heck of a non-story story today for the reportedly troubled newspaper, titled, “Top Republican lawmakers not invited to State Dinner [for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh].”
…snip…
The print article ran on the Times‘ front page with the headline, “Obama’s big tent leaves out GOP bigwigs; Dinner to honor India’s leader.” Slightly different, but it gets the same point across. From the headlines, one would think that Curl and Mosk had exposed President Obama as a biting partisan, who ran Republicans’ invitations to the White House’s first state dinner through the shredder while they eagerly awaited them at home. But one would have to read on.
As it turns out, Obama did invite “top Republican lawmakers.” They just aren’t attending.
The print article ran on the Times‘ front page with the headline, “Obama’s big tent leaves out GOP bigwigs; Dinner to honor India’s leader.” Slightly different, but it gets the same point across. From the headlines, one would think that Curl and Mosk had exposed President Obama as a biting partisan, who ran Republicans’ invitations to the White House’s first state dinner through the shredder while they eagerly awaited them at home. But one would have to read on.
As it turns out, Obama did invite “top Republican lawmakers.” They just aren’t attending. Let’s run through the list of Republicans the Times names in its story, despite its headline:
House Minority Leader John Boehner: He certainly counts as a “top Republican lawmaker.” Curl and Mosk write that “Boehner won’t be there; he’s on Thanksgiving break and home in Ohio.” Left out of their story? That Boehner was reportedly invited.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: Also a “top Republican” who “received an invitation” but “decided to skip the dinner.”
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal: He was invited, according to the Times, because he is a “prominent Indian-American.” You could make a pretty solid argument that Jindal rose quickly in the GOP’s ranks after they chose him to give a rebuttal to Obama’s first address to Congress. At the time, the Times even decided that Jindal sounded pretty presidential.
Sen. John McCain: Not invited. The Times writes that this is despite the fact that “Obama the candidate pledged a post-partisan presidency.”
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor: Not invited.
So let’s recap: Mosk and Curl named five Republicans in their story who are “not on the A-list” for the White House’s state dinner, two of which were apparently not invited. But they frame their story as “Top Republican lawmakers not invited to State Dinner.”
(Video at MEDIA MATTERS link)
The non-story, of course, was picked up by Fox News and the Drudge Report. They didn’t mention this (from From TALKING POINTS MEMO):
Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) will be attending, and he’s not the only Republican.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is attending, as is Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN).
The full guest list is at the TPM link.
From rediffNEWS:
The current and former co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans in the House of Representatives like Democratic Representatives Gary Ackerman of New York, Jim McDermott of Washington state, Republican Ed Royce and their spouses were also in attendance, although erstwhile Caucus GOP co-chair Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina who screamed “You lie,” at President Obama as he was delivering an address to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care some months ago, was not among those invited.
On the Senate side, besides Kerry, Senator Richard Lugar, ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee came with his wide, as did US Senate India Caucus co-chair Senator Christopher Dodd.
HYSTERICAL RAISINS 
I wasn’t invited, either. I think that that proves that Obama hates white people.
I don’t think that my neighbors were invited … that probably proves that he hates African-Americans.
My father wasn’t invited. That proves that he hates veterans and public school teachers.
It’s really time that people stop regarding the “Washington Times” as a real newspaper. It makes Fox News look credible. Frankly, if you get your news from the Onion, you’re more likely to be right than the Times.
😯 hey! i wasn’t invited either! what an anti-semitic misogynist!
Look who I found on the guest list.
The Honorable (Governor) Jennifer Granholm, Governor of Michigan (D)
Mr. Daniel Mulhern, First Gentleman of Michigan
I’m thrilled for them, although I wonder how they got lucky enough to be the Democratic balance to GOP Bobby Jindal. Maybe because they have a subsidiary of Tata Motors in the state.
tata motors? do they have really big headlights? ( 😆 i’m really a junior high school boy)
i thought the guest list was very interesting. i had to google a lot of the names to see who they were. i still don’t know who a lot of them are, because they weren’t on teh google.
Nonnie, you just failed the Beavis and Butt-Head Test. (Huh, huh, he said “tata”) 😛
It turns out her attendance was newsworthy enough to be covered by the local edition of Examiner.com.
http://www.examiner.com/x-24437-Detroit-Headlines-Examiner~y2009m11d25-Gov-Granholm-attends-state-dinner-Honored-US-strong-ties-with-India
That article has the guest list, too. It seems almost every accomplished Indian-American is on it including Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Yes, I actually looked to see if he was on the list.
About the most famous Indian-American I can’t find is Dinesh D’Souza. He writes for the National Review, though, and 1) doesn’t deserve the honor and 2) would likely turn it down anyway on principle.
the one i looked for and didn’t find was kal penn. i thought for sure he would have gone. i loved his character on house, but he left to work in the white house. the least they could do is feed the guy! the other person i looked for on the list and didn’t find was aasif mandvi from the daily show. he was actually born in india.
i wonder if spelling was part of the entertainment. check this out from wiki:
Scripps National Spelling Bee Champions (all indian-americans)
* Nupur Lala, 1999
* George Abraham Thampy, 2000[4]
* Pratyush Buddiga, 2002
* Sai R. Gunturi, 2003
* Anurag Kashyap, 2005
* Sameer Mishra, 2008
* Kavya Shivashankar, 2009
p.s. it looks like gov. grahholm wore something that looks very much like a nehru jacket. i wonder if it did in person, too, and if it did, whether it was deliberate.
Kal Penn was there under his legal name–Kalpen Modi, associate director in the Office of Public Liaison. See, he wasn’t forgotten!
Spelling was probably not one of the entertainments. Good catch on the Spelling Bee Champions, though. One of the places I used to teach has become the center of the South Asian community in Metro Detroit, and they were among my favorite students there.
I had the same reaction to the photo. It looked lovely, but I hope it was taken in the spirit in which it was intended.
I figured out someone who should have been there, but wasn’t–Vikram Pandit, CEO of Citibank.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikram_Pandit
I guess his bank needed to repay his TARP loan first.
d’oh! i should have figured out that he went back to his real name. good catch, neon vincent.
if vikram pandit should have paid for the damned dinner, not be invited to it! he’s been fed at the public trough already.
Oh, I agree about Pandit. Just the same, he should have been at the dinner instead of the gate crashers. IMHO, those two are right up there with Balloon Boy and his family in terms of being shameless, law-breaking media whores!
i think it’s very sad that we live in a society that rewards morons like the gatecrashers with attention. you could blame the networks that air stupid reality shows, but they only air them, because people watch them.
Damn, Fox reports another fake news story? They aren’t going to have any staff left with the great purge memo looming over mistake makers. 🙂
maybe they should have contests to find the nuggets of truth they sprinkle here and there. it can be like those pictures in highlights magazine, where you have to find the hidden umbrellas and spoons and scissors and stuff in the bigger pictures.
The Moonie Times may run anything nowadays, since their top staff has all quit or is being fired.
I’m waiting for their “Jonestown” story. That, of course, will have to be written by whoever discovers them.
hey jolly roger,
what a nice surprise to see you over here! 🙂
the moonie times is not long for this world, and i won’t shed any tears over its demise.
have a great thanksgiving, jr!
“The fact is, this country’s going broke….We’re spending money we don’t have and passing it onto our kids, and at some point somebody’s got to say, ‘Enough is enough'”
John Boehner
QUESTION:
Where was this jackass when the halfwit from Crawford, Texas was spending the United States into a bankruptcy so paralyzing there is no precedent for it in all recorded human history? Where was his outrage when when the Bush Mob plundered the nation’s treasure by making war on a country (Iraq – just in case it slipped your mind) that was a threat to absolutely no one? Is he really serious? That’s the really funny thing – he is.
John Boehner is as crooked as they come. Since the departure of Tom Delay he has become the corrupt politician’s corrupt politician. He is the new face of organized political sleaze. Someday we’ll all realize this. As hard as he may try, he’ll never be able to escape the wrath of history. The fact that he has always been (I’ll be polite) “ethically challenged” should not surprise anyone who’s paid even scant attention to his career these past twenty years.
In June 1995, at a time when Congress was deliberating tobacco subsidies, he was busted handing out checks (bribes – let’s be honest) from the cigarette industry to various members in a naked attempt to influence their votes. This incident occurred in plain view right on the floor of the House of Representatives. Is this a great country or what?
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
always nice to hear your words of wisdom, tom degan. hope you had a good t-day.
glad to see more and more “media” outlets have joined the liar’s club…….
how do these people sleep at night – oh i lknow -, like all republican outlets – with a lot of vodka and barbituates
they sleep quite well. they snuggle up under their duvets stuffed with cash. it keeps them nice and warm so they can dream about finding cold poor people they can laugh at.
The GOP is such a fucking joke. Shit.
if they do get soup, i hope it’s really hot, and it burns the roofs of their lying mouths.