Media Outlets Neglect to Mention that Doctor Photo-Op Was Staged

Media Outlets Neglect to Mention that Doctor Photo-Op Was Staged: "

In his latest push for a health care overhaul bill, President Obama spoke to doctors in the White House Rose Garden yesterday. Painting a nice picture of the event were many media outlets that neglected to mention the White House's doctoring (forgive the pun) of the audience in an attempt at a powerful photo-op.

Doctors attending the event were instructed to show up in white lab coats to give observers the feeling that doctors stand behind the President's health care plans.

"White Coats in the Rose Garden, as Obama Rallies Doctors on Health Overhaul," read a New York Times blog post headline. "The roughly 150 doctors assembled wore white lab coats under the brilliant fall sun," the Washington Post recalled. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Obama faced rows of smiling doctors, all wearing white lab coats." NBC News also noted the white coats donned by the doctors in attendance.

But none of these media outlets mentioned that the White House had to hand out lab coats to a number of the doctors in attendance who showed up in business attire. Apparently trying to drive home the image of medical professionals applauding the President, the White House would not start the press conference until all of the doctors were dressed in the "spiffy" outfits, in the President's words.

The Washington Post and the New York Times included pictures in their respective stories showing white-coated doctors listening to and conversing with the President.

According to the Associated Press, the Obama offered nothing new in his address to the doctors, so the event was clearly an opportunity to show the country that medical professionals support his plan. Many major media outlets declined to note the botched attempt to enhance the 'doctors-support-the-plan' image of the event, playing right into the White House's objectives.

Rather than cover the clear attempt by the President to use visuals to enhance the public perception of support from the industry, media outlets chose to rehash White House talking points.

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Bloomberg group petitions Obama for more gun control

Bloomberg group petitions Obama for more gun control: "A report from the Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition urges Obama to adopt more gun controls."

Michael Moore's 'Capitalism' a Bust at the Box Office

Michael Moore's 'Capitalism' a Bust at the Box Office: "

Michael Moore is destined to really hate capitalism, for his new movie "Capitalism: A Love Story" appears to have totally flopped at the box office.

This comes despite all the gushing and fawning by Moore-loving media members prior to the film's October 2nd release.

Take heart, fellow capitalists, for according to Deadline Hollywood this could be a flop of epic proportions:

Michael Moore's purposefully controversial and politically polarizing documentary Capitalism: A Love Story was distributed by Overture Films and wound up in 7th place. It went wide into 962 theaters this weekend after opening on September 23rd in a limited release of 4 theaters. The pic about the financial crisis made $1.6M Friday and $2M Saturday (+33%) for a $5M weekend and $5.4M cume. Just for comparison purposes: Moore's most recent Sicko did $4.4 mil its opening weekend from only 441 theaters (and that was with him guesting on The Tonight Show and announcing he'd been subpoenaed by the Bush administration for the health care documentary). And his Fahrenheit 9/11 did $23.9M its opening weekend from 868 venues.) So, as much as the left loves Moore, and the right detests him, and he always uses the ensuing controversy to self-promote, the money angle is only what interests me. The fact is that Capitalism: A Love Story looks like its domestic total will fail to crack $20M and end up his worst performing film since his Oscar-winner Bowling For Columbine in 2002.

All together now: aaaaaaaawwwwwww!

For those that want to keep track of the developing train wreck, daily tallies are available here. 

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