Paul Gigot's clown show

I heard recently that the joke in the Wall St. Journal newsroom was that the paper didn't need a comics page since the editorial page served that purpose already.

The Wall Street Journal, in an unsigned editorial, took issue with President Obama having prescreened journalists at Monday’s prime-time press conference.

Since then, the paper has been flooded with responses from readers who consider the conservative editorial board adopting a double standard, according to a source.

In November, I reported that Obama held transition press conferences with a list of reporters to call on, so it's not a completely new press strategy that the Journal took issue with. Of course, it's well within the editorial board's right to criticize this practice if they see fit.

However, one line stood out with critics: “We doubt that President Bush, who was notorious for being parsimonious with follow-ups, would have gotten away with prescreening his interlocutors.”

Of course, Bush did prescreen reporters. Media Matters noted that Bush joked in a press conference once about it being scripted. And on Monday night, Ari Fleischer talked on Fox about preparing a list or reporters before the president's press conferences.

Editorial Page Editor Paul Gigot, through a spokesman, said the editorial speaks for itself.

Well, does it? It would be easy to see the Journal’s point if it the editorial board called out both Bush and Obama for this practice, or simply noted that, in their opinion, the media lets Obama get away with things Bush never would.

But the editorial still gives the impression that the Bush team didn't preselect jounalists, when in fact they clearly did.

I expect Gigot and the clown car otherwise knows as the WSJ editorial section will grow increasingly unhinged. It's encouraging though that readers and some other media outlets are calling them on it.