Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Can Howard Fischer fire himself from Capitol Media Services? His PR work for Governor Jan Brewer and her fictional biography "Scorpions for Breakfast" is an utter embarrassment to someone who is often referred to as the Dean of the Arizona press corps. What a way to tarnish a career.
We have been over this territory before. The wrong way and right way to report the abuse of power by Governor Brewer and her Star Chamber:
Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services provides news content to many of Arizona's news outlets, including our sad small-town newspaper the Arizona Daily Star.
Fischer has been publishing what would appear to be nothing more than publisher PR press releases for Jan Brewer's new book "Scorpions for Breakfast" for several months now, including this most recent release on Tuesday, the date of release of her book. Brewer book tells different story of Arizona governor's meeting with Obama.
Color me skeptical of Fischer's ability to be objective in his reporting. He frequently inserts his own editorial opinion into what is purported to be objective factual reporting. Because his reporting is used by so many news outlets in Arizona, Fischer enjoys an outsized influence over public opinion through his reporting not enjoyed by any other political reporter in Arizona, and that is a problem.
Fischer was back hawking Governor Brewer's book this week with her staged political theater greeting the President. Brewer, Obama exchange tense greeting at Mesa airport – East Valley Tribune:
Three months after she published her unflattering description of him, it appears President Obama is still miffed with Gov. Jan Brewer.
[Several paragraphs promoting Brewer's fictional biography]
During the short encounter at the airport, Brewer pointed at the president, with that moment captured in a photograph. But the governor said that, whatever the picture looks like, she was not acting in anger.
"I've always been kind of animated,'' she said.
"We could have been talking about a lot of different things,'' Brewer continued, saying she respects the office of the president. "And I would never be disrespectful in that manner.''
But Brewer said that, the president's complaints Wednesday afternoon about the book aside, she and Obama clearly were not communicating much at all.
"He wants to talk about amnesty and I want to talk about securing our border,'' she said. "We're just not ever going to agree on that.'' [This was never part of their conversation from multiple media accounts]
That, she said, was underscored by how the conversation at the airport ended.
"I was in the middle of a sentence and he walked away,'' Brewer said.
Only that's not accurate. How do I know? Because Republican Mayor of Mesa Scott Smith and Democratic Mayor of Phoenix Greg Stanton were standing next to the governor.
The Dean of Arizona's press corps did not quote them for his report, only Governor Brewer. Had he bothered to do his job as a reporter instead of his PR work for Governor Brewer's book, he would have learned what Nick Martin learned. Mayor Seems To Contradict Gov. Brewer’s Story On Obama Run-In | TPMMuckraker:
President Obama didn’t exactly walk away from Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) during their disagreement on Wednesday on an airport tarmac near Phoenix, said one of the only people to witness the exchange up close. The president simply began talking to the other two elected officials who were there to greet him.
Mayor Scott Smith of Mesa, Ariz., declined to say exactly what he heard Obama and Brewer talk about during their now-infamous tiffnext to Air Force One.
But the mayor said he was standing right next to the governor when the exchange took place and Obama didn’t seem to be in any kind of hurry to leave.
“There was no sense that he was running to or from anything,” Smith told TPM. In fact, he said, the president stayed and had a pleasant conversation with Smith, who’s a Republican, and Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, a Democrat.
It was “just the four of us,” Smith said. “Mayor Stanton and I had a decent talk with him.”
The portrayal of a calm, friendly president seems to at least partly contradict what Brewer has said about the encounter in numerous interviews since Wednesday afternoon. She described the president as “tense” and said he walked away from her while she was in mid-sentence. She told a Phoenix television station she felt “a little bit threatened” by the encounter.
"Threatened"? Seriously? Why, because he is a black man and you're an itty-bitty white woman? Can you blow that dog whistle any louder, Guv? Brewer has been on every program on FAUX News Fraudcasting repeating the talking points issued by Roger Ailes that President Obama is "thin-skinned" and "overly sensitive." Which is interesting, because that is exactly how I would describe Jan Brewer after observing her over many years. I've seen it myself.
Fischer is back doing PR work for Governor Brewer's fictional biography again today. Brewer's book jumps over 285,000 places on sales list after Obama incident – East Valley Tribune. He again repeats his inaccurate account from Governor Brewer, and throws in the FAUX News Fraudcasting talking points: "In fact, she has been fanning the flames a bit, telling Capitol Media Services on Thursday the president is 'a little thin-skinned and a little over sensitive.'''
Fischer never delves into the book sales numbers. The conservative publisher of this book has a long history of "purchases" to drive up "sales" numbers to move a book up on the best-seller list. Conservative publishers have engaged in this practice for many years to promote their stable of conservative politicians writing books. The books wind up as recycled pulp for the next faux "best seller." This mysterious surge in "sales" for a book that was already in the discount bin on the date of its release is highly suspect. I would look to the publisher.
But it's Howard Fischer's job to do PR work for Governor Brewer's book. I hope she is paying you well.
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