Obama's 2d news conference audience large and smaller
The new White House TV drama series "East Room" depicting the triumphs and travails of a Democratic president through his unfolding series of national news conferences, lost a little more than 8% of its primetime audience in its second outing last night.
According to Nielsen, the rating service, President Obama's news conference last night attracted a total of 40,354,000 viewers for a combined household rating of 25.9 on 11 networks. Obama's initial primetime news conference back on Feb. 9 attracted nearly 50 million on fewer networks (8). Last night's viewers were also down from the 52.37 million who watched his address to Congress Feb. 24.
Regular network show producers would waterboard their grandmothers for such an audience these days.
In the last week, Nielsen reports, Obama has taken his message on the road, meaning on TV, drawing nearly 9 million households on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and another nearly 12 million households for his interview on Sunday's "60 Minutes."
Tomorrow, as The Ticket reported here earlier, he plans an unusual online opportunity for citizens to ask e-mailed questions and vote on the ones submitted.
None of this, of course, counts his video views on YouTube, WhiteHouse.gov and through his e-mail network of supporters.
The overarching message: He needs your support to convince Congress to pass his immense budget and ambitious spending plans.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Speaking of voting online, join thousands of other politics fans and register here to receive automatic Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item.
Photo: Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images
William Ayres Bombing History
William Ayres, for those who don't know him was a member of the Weather Underground. These are the bombings his association was tied to.
February 21, 1970, bombs were exploded three gasoline-filled fire bombs at the home of New York State Supreme Court Justice Murtagh. The same night, bombs were thrown at a police car in Manhattan and two military recruiting stations in Brooklyn. March 6, 1970 a bomb under construction blew up in the groups home, killing three members. October 6, 1970 They blew up the 1886 Haymarket Riot statue in Chicago. Bombed the Unites States Capitol on March 1, 1971. Bombed the The Pentagon on May 19, 1972. They bombed the United States Department Of State January 29, 1975.
William Ayres is unrepentant and has written and spoken about wishing he had done more during those years as an active member of the Weather Underground.
Knowing all this, would you want to be on the same board, have a political fundraiser thrown for you in his home, let him appoint you to a board of directors, shake his hand or even give him the time of day?
In a new afterword to his memoir, released after the election, 1960s radical William Ayers, who admits to bombing and planning to bomb government targets in the 70's, writes that the campaign controversy over their relationship was an effort by Obama’s political enemies to “deepen a dishonest narrative” about the candidate. “We had served together on the board of a foundation, knew one another as neighbors and family friends, held an initial fund-raiser at my house, where I’d made a small donation to his earliest political campaign,” he writes. Obama had been denying most of these statements for months and now we know it to be a lie.
As an internationally known figure, controversially pardoned by President Carter, Obama knowingly entered into a long term friendship with an unrepentant terrorist.
Posted by: Pom Pom Girl | March 25, 2009 at 05:26 PM
Today only tens of millions, tomorrow everyone will be watching "Big Brother Obama" and yelling "Big Brother Obama, "Big Brother Obama", "Big Brother Obama".
All eyes will be watching, and watching all the eyes will be the "Thought Police"
VJ Machiavelli
www.vjmachiavelli.blogspot.com
NO MORE SCHUMER
NO MORE PELOSI
NO MORE RANGEL
NO MORE ENGEL AN HIS MILLION DOLLAR HOME IN MARYLAND.
Posted by: VJ Machiavelli | March 25, 2009 at 09:10 PM