Thu
Nov 12 2009
05:56 am
Photo Op with Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker
By: EricLykins

See also: 14 Health Care Provisions that won't take effect immediately if our republican senators have their way.
The Advocacy Journalism Award of the Week goes not to Lou Dobbs but Molly Secour, whose Tennesseean article went national to the Huffington Post this week:

The long table had two chairs at the head with enough space for the five of us to talk comfortably with the senators. So far so good. [that sentence was omitted in the HuffPost version, and I want to point out that it sets the scene nicely. It took a minute to figure out why I wasn't as mad today after seeing this story again]

Within the next 20 minutes, the seven-person meeting doubled, then almost tripled in numbers. Affable aides and assistants chatted about all things Southern, including Mule Day in Columbia.

Around 9:20 a.m., the senators arrived and began the howdy do's around the room. The five of us looked at each other, wondering what to make of the production.

After making the rounds, the senators addressed the group like royalty and thanked us for coming all this way for what turns out is a down-home Washington tradition they like to call "Tennessee Tuesday."

And then came the six little words that summed up our growing suspicion: "C'mon, everybody, let's take some photos." This was not a meeting, this was an "Okeedoke."

The doctor never got to tell the senators about her practice or her patient who died almost two weeks ago now; the man who may be forced to close his family business didn't get to talk, either.



meet Jim Cooper...

With Representative Cooper there were no shiny smiles, slaps on the back, doughnuts or biscuits and gravy, just some good, old-fashioned respect and humility.

Cooper knows very well that 58 percent to 72 percent of Americans want robust reform and is keenly aware that 60 percent of his own Fifth District in Tennessee wants a strong public option, according to a recent Daily Kos Research poll.

Before the vote on Thursday and Friday, Rep. Cooper's offices were flooded with calls in support of HR3962 and on Saturday, he cast his vote accordingly.

For those in D.C. threatening to filibuster, obstruct and vote along party lines against real change, you will be remembered and rewarded in the next election And when you wonder why you weren't re-elected, just remember you work for us. Okeedoke?

The Scene, Nashville's alternative weekly, identified Secours as one of "Nashville's most influential public intellectuals(ref)" and now we're friends on facebook. Sweet.

Stuff:
*Affordable Health Care for America Act Implementation Timeline (found that here)
*Carrie Budoff Brown is my most trusted name in news
*Remind me to get my education czar to check this out.
*What Ben Vos said
*magic box
*To quote the great social critic Ice Cube, who has finally convinced the American Medical Association to reverse a policy stance yesterday, "Blaze one for the nation."
*W. RETURNS TODAY with new motto: "Less Research, More Results. Go Big Dubya." God luv'im.

Topics:
KC's picture

Secours did not write a fair

Submitted by KC on Thu, 2009/11/12 - 8:59am.

Secours did not write a fair and accurate story concerning "Tennessee Tuesdays."

I've been to one, and a person has all the opportunity in the world to discuss issues, one-on-one, with both Sen. Corker and Sen. Alexander.

I did.

Perhaps Secours and her group were expecting a private meeting? Or to be "front and center" at the gathering? Or to have the microphone?

Both Senators have on their web sites these descriptions of the event:

When the Senate is in session, Senator Corker and Senator Alexander hold an informal breakfast on Tuesday mornings for Tennesseans visiting Washington.

Tennessee Tuesday provides a great opportunity to speak with both Senators and schedule meetings with their staffs to discuss legislation important to you or your organization. A Senate photographer attends regularly to take photos.
(link...)

If you will be in town on a Tuesday that the Senate is in session, we would love for you to attend Tennessee Tuesday, a constituent breakfast co-sponsored by Senators Alexander and Corker. This light breakfast of coffee and doughnuts is provided from 9 AM to 10 AM each Tuesday that the Senate is in session.

Guests have an opportunity to meet both Senate staffs and, whenever possible, have their photographs taken with the Senators. Please call 202-224-4944 to make a reservation and confirm the room location.
(link...)

And Tennessee Tuesdays are exactly as described above.

So Secours is either intentionally misleading her readers that she thought she and her group were going to have a formal meeting with the Senators, OR she was led to believe that her group would have a formal meeting with the Senators, OR she failed to do her research on what Tennessee Tuesdays are all about.

But since Tennessee Tuesdays are clearly explained on both Senators' web sites, which I would assume she visited, she's distorting the truth and misrepresenting an event in order to make a point.

And IMO, that discredits her.

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present.
President Abraham Lincoln 1862

Bbeanster's picture

Huh? all the opportunity in

Submitted by Bbeanster on Thu, 2009/11/12 - 1:51pm.

Huh?

all the opportunity in the world to discuss issues, one-on-one, with both Sen. Corker and Sen. Alexander.
I did.

And how does this assertion discount/discredit what Secour had to say?
What, exactly constitutes "all the time in the world?"
Might it be possible that neither Lamar! nor Little Bob have any intention of listening to any constituent who wants to talk about heathcare delivery. much less anyone who supports the public option? Secour has become quite famous. They know who she is.

KC's picture

"all the time in the

Submitted by KC on Thu, 2009/11/12 - 2:59pm.
"all the time in the world?"

I didn't say that.

Sen. Corker's web site, again, says this:

Tennessee Tuesday provides a great opportunity to speak with both Senators and schedule meetings with their staffs to discuss legislation important to you or your organization.

So, when Secour says (t)he five of us looked at each other, wondering what to make of the production either she didn't take the time to bother reading about what she was going to on the Tuesday morning, or she didn't care what it says on both Senators' web sites about Tennessee Tuesdays. Maybe the picture of the guy playing the guitar didn't tip her off, who knows.

It's pretty clear what Tennessee Tuesdays is about, and it's not about serious policy discussions. Again, note the guy playing the guitar.

Even given your slant I see nothing in the way of a factual error in Secours' report.

As for the event being staged, it's not part of a listening tour or a town hall meeting. Secour seems to be implying that's what she thought it was supposed to be.

It's not any factual errors, but the tone of her article is that she believed that her Tuesday morning meeting was supposed to be something other than a friendly get together.

My question is this: Did she actually schedule a meeting with the Senators, and was told to go to the Tennessee Tuesday breakfast rather than given an appointment with the Senators or their staff? If that's the case, then she's got a point.

If she's calling Tennessee Tuesdays a "scheduled meeting," and she actually didn't try to schedule an appointment, then she doesn't.

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present.
President Abraham Lincoln 1862

Dave Prince's picture

My question is this: Did she

Submitted by Dave Prince on Thu, 2009/11/12 - 6:49pm.

My question is this: Did she actually schedule a meeting with the Senators, and was told to go to the Tennessee Tuesday breakfast rather than given an appointment with the Senators or their staff?

From the second paragraph of the article in question:

I was excited--and surprised--to hear that Republican Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker agreed to a Tennessee breakfast meeting with myself and four other small business owners.

Several paragraphs later:

After making the rounds, the Senators addressed the group like royalty and thanked us for coming all this way for what turns out is a down-home Washington tradition they like to call "Tennessee Tuesday".

Sounds like a bait-and-switch to me.

EricLykins's picture

I've been to one, and a

Submitted by EricLykins on Thu, 2009/11/12 - 11:22pm.

I've been to one, and a person has all the opportunity in the world to discuss issues, one-on-one, with both Sen. Corker and Sen. Alexander.

I did.

vs.

"all the time in the world?"

I didn't say that.

Looks like she owes you an apology for the misquote, dude. Slanderous stuff.

WhitesCreek's picture

I discredit your discreditation, G

Submitted by WhitesCreek on Thu, 2009/11/12 - 9:32am.

Even given your slant I see nothing in the way of a factual error in Secours' report. The event was staged so that the Senators did not have to listen to people who had something to speak with them about. The Senators were complicit in this.

However that is a small bit in this play. Let's have you apply your standard of discreditation to those on either side of this issue and see where you land.

thorsanvil's picture

let me see now...

Submitted by thorsanvil on Fri, 2009/11/13 - 12:00am.

if i've got this right--hack writer at the tennessean tees off w/ antisouthern bigotry to hone in on typical washington superficiality and hypocrisy and gee whiz gets her piece on national media whose readers thrive on such bigotry. and u guys write it up/eat it up here as if it were some kind of serious news deal. they are laughing at YOU.

EricLykins's picture

prolific bigoted hack. How

Submitted by EricLykins on Fri, 2009/11/13 - 3:49am.

prolific bigoted hack. How has she survived in the South for so long? For her best piece of propaganda, see Faces Of Tenncare: Putting a Human Face on Tennessee's Health Care Failure 2006

"Every state has faces like these. This film is an eloquent cry to the nation to guarantee the basic right to health care for all our people. How can anyone who sees it ignore this worsening crisis any longer?"
Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA)

I'll try to come up with a serious issue to write about for you and "they" tomorrow. Would you prefer guns or gays?

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