According to this report on the Drudge Report, ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver the June 24th, World News broadcast live from the Blue Room of the White House. Your Mandarin thought it was a clever little jibe when Rush Limbaugh refered to the press as the state run media, but this is ridiculous. Hosting a news broadcast in the White House blurs the line between the government and those that claim to be the watch-dog for the country’s citizens.

What makes this even more insidious is that this is an effort by a news agency not to report on the facts, but instead to help drive the President’s healthcare policy initiative. Most people realize that the press has always been used by politicians to help drive policy, justify actions, or divert the public’s attention from crises or scandals, but it has always been somewhat subtle (realizing that subtle is a relative term) or downplayed. This rips off the shroud of illusion that there is not a progressive bent to the media and that they are simply there to report the facts.

The Democrats have been raising a hue and cry about reinstating the “Fairness Doctrine” stating that conservative media only presents one side of the facts. Your Mandarin patiently awaits these same Democratic “leaders” to come forward and protest this blatant one-sided presentation of the “facts.”

The Mandarin

The Mandarin, whose real name is 吏恆, joined the order in 1309, and introduced the Gormogons into England during the 18th Century.

The Mandarin enjoys spending time with his pet manticore, Βάρἰκος, or Barry (who can be found in the Bestiary). When not in the Castle…well, frankly, nobody is quite sure where he goes.

The Mandarin popularized the fine art of “gut booting,” by which he delivers a powerful kick to the stomach of anyone that annoys him. Although nearly universal today, the act of gut booting or threatening someone or something with a gut boot is solely due to him.