Topic: WorldNetDaily
In 2007, when WorldNetDaily's Les Kinsolving declared that he wasn't getting the respect he thought he deserved from then-White House press secretary Tony Snow, he threw a temper tantrum and declared he wouldn't attend White House press briefings, staging a passive-aggressive protest in which WND published "the questions that WND would have asked." That lasted for about a week, after Snow and Kinsolving held a mysterious "one-on-one conference."
Kinsolving's at it again, throwing another tantrum.
Kinsolving hinted at it in his Feb. 3 WND column, complaining that the press conferences held by President Obama "are 'fixed' in advance with some reporters selected for questions and others left out, that it raises the serious question as to whether such reportorial selectees by Obama may not have supplied him with their questions in advance."
In other words: Kinsolving was being ignored.
That apparently resulted in WND announcing later on Feb. 3 that "
WND is announcing a plan starting immediately to submit questions to President Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, via the technology of the Internet and e-mail, since his news briefings at the White House so far have been dominated by a select few reporters to the exclusion of the majority." Again, it's a complain that Kinsolving is being ignored: "Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House and one of the more senior journalists in the White House press corps, was not allowed to voice his questions on issues on which millions of WND readers have expressed an interest." Kinsolving then tries to spin it:
Kinsolving said the fact that he cannot ask a question every briefing is not the point; but the fact that some reporters are given four or five opportunities is.
"Why are so many of us not recognized for even a single question," he wondered.
Ah, but Kinsolving being ignored is exactly the point. Why go through this charade of a stunt if he wasn't out to get attention?
Further, the preonderance of evidence demonstrates why Kinsolving has earned the right to be ignored by presidential press secretaries: As we've documented, he asks loaded, right-wing-leaning questions that swing from Jeff Gannon-esque sycophancy to stunning irrelevence.
Plus, let's not forget the utter hostility Kinsolving's employer has demonstrated toward Obama. Why would the Obama administration want to deal with a "news" organization that spreads lies about the president?
And if Kinsolving's first response to perceived slights is to throw a temper tantrum, why should anyone take him seriously as a journalist at all?
