Kennedy: Washington press corps “despicable”

Rep. Patrick Kennedy is getting a lot of attention for some angry remarks he directed toward the Washington Press Corps during a debate on Afghanistan policy in the House today:  "If anybody wants to know where cynicism is … cynicism is that there is one … two press people in this gallery," Kennedy said, angrily ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy is getting a lot of attention for some angry remarks he directed toward the Washington Press Corps during a debate on Afghanistan policy in the House today: 

Rep. Patrick Kennedy is getting a lot of attention for some angry remarks he directed toward the Washington Press Corps during a debate on Afghanistan policy in the House today: 

"If anybody wants to know where cynicism is … cynicism is that there is one … two press people in this gallery," Kennedy said, angrily pointing to the press gallery where reporters sit. "We’re talking about Eric Massa 24/7 on the TV. We’re talking about war and peace, $3 billion, 1,000 lives and no press?"

 

"No press!" Kennedy repeated, his voice cracking. "You wanna know why the American public is fit? They’re fit because they’re not seeing their Congress do the work that they’re sent to do."

 

"It’s because the press, the press of the United States, is not covering the most significant issue of national importance, and that is the laying of lives down in the nation for the service of our country. … It’s despicable, the national press corps right now!"

 

The bill under consideration when Kennedy made his remarks, a resolution offered by Rep. Dennis Kucinich instructing President Obama to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, has almost no chance of passing. But since Kennedy thinks it’s worthy of so much attention, it’s interesting that he doesn’t seem to have shown up for the vote to authorize debate on it. Overall, Kennedy’s missed about 20 percent of his votes during this session of Congress, which could be another reason why the American public hasn’t seen him doing what he was sent to do.

In any event, the Massa coverage has certainly been excessive, but there were plenty of stories today on Kucinich’s bill, probably written by the majority of reporters who were watching the action on C-Span. As for the portion of the American public that feels like reading about the war in Afghanistan, they have plenty of options. If cable news networks are focusing on the congressional sex scandals, they’ve probably come to the conclusion that more people will watch it. 

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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