Oh, et tu, Jake?

 Jake Tapper is in a bit of hot water this weekend. He stated in a recent NYT podcast that he was unwilling to book Republican Congresspersons who stand by Donald Trump and question if there were election irregularities:  election-results deniers.

Some journalists thought this was a dumb move:  "Moral posturing" said journalist Chris Wallace, son of the late Mike, who wasn't in the business of making friends of his interview subjects, but seated them nonetheless.

Proponents of the "Big Lie" aren't welcome on my cable tv news show, Tapper said, flatly rejecting booking those who countenance the belief that last year's election was "stolen".  Turns out though, Jake was fibbing...

Both Josh Hawley and Elise Stefanik have released multiple emails to their offices from the Jake Tapper CNN show requesting the Republican Congresspeople please book an interview session.  Multiple emails, dating back to May of this year, asking again and again for them to sit down and speak with Jake...

Hm.  Maybe Jake doesn't know what his staff support people are doing in his show's name?  Maybe, he was fudging the truth a bit, finally wising up that neither Hawley nor Stefanik appeared to show any interest in sitting down with Jake, and so the host decided it was the other way around -- he was rejecting having them on, instead of their refusing to submit to CNN's line of questioning?

I hope the NYT runs a correction or follow up with Tapper to clarify.  If the emails the Congresspeople are posting are false, he should say so.  If not...  he just looks bad for shooting his mouth on a news-entertainment podcast, not expecting anyone would check him on the facts.

------

UPDATE:  Angry Jake fires back:  "I can’t account for every email from my excellent bookers whose job it is to present me with as many options as possible. I have just refused to allow any of the Liars, such as Rep Stefanik, on air. Kind of stunning to see her proudly identify as a conspiracy theorist."

Ugh, he throws his "excellent bookers" under the bus while playing the, "I'm not the liar, you're a liar!" kiddie card after getting caught in his lie and blaming his people who try and procure guests for him. (betcha it was women, young women too, in this support role. Just a hunch...  )

Somebody should tell the big-boy host when his anger cools, it doesn't look good for the on-air talent, whose name is on the final product afterall, to admit he has no idea what his people are doing in his name.  He should have just 'fessed up that his show indeed pursued the Republicans, and they did not respond to staff entreaties.

Advice:  stay off the social media and stick to the basics of newsgathering, Mr. Tapper.  Accuracy matters more today than every.  Stop making the news about you, and start reporting what is going down in the nation?  Can you do that, do you think? Honestly?

To be honest, I don't think he can...

"A lot of people who used to work with her in the Bush White House say that they don't recognize her," Tapper said. "And they don't know if it's an act or if she, you know, got a lobotomy."

That's classless, unprofessional, and worse... boyish bullying.  That's not how a grown-up journalist responds to getting caught publicly in a lie... He seems tired.  I wonder if Jake Tapper might want to spend more time with his family at this point in his career, like with the Cuomo and Emanuel brothers, I think he has peaked. Fresh blood coming up, trained to report news, not make it.  Mr. Tapper has served his party purpose, the Dems will likely tell him one day soon as he is ushed out for someone seen as less controbersial and more appealing to new news consumers.

---------------

Trivial Observation:  You know who Elise Stefanik looks like, in the above picture anyway? Monica Lewinsky, whom Jake Tapper used to date before she took up with President Clinton.  I wonder if that has something to do with his animosity toward being "outed" by the young Congresswoman?  He might not even be aware of the superficial comparison:  somebody on one of those chitty-chatty gossip podcasts might want to follow up and ask him... ;-)