Burying the Lede
Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports on the Bush-Maliki press conference on the NYT site, but either she or her editor buries the lede. First comes 13 grafs of boilerplate about Bush slathering praise on Maliki, starting with:
President Bush today proclaimed Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki "the right guy for Iraq," and said the two had agreed to speed the turnover of security responsibility from American to Iraqi forces.
Eventually, the news arrives:
Still, tensions seemed to bubble just under the surface. The two leaders barely looked at one another during the news conference. And when Mr. Bush, at one point, asked the prime minister if he wanted to continue taking questions from reporters, the prime minister swiveled his head toward the president and shot Mr. Bush an incredulous look.
"We said six questions, now this is the seventh – this is the eighth – eight questions," Mr. Maliki said.
J. McCutchen
Rumsfeld and Brown were the "right men for the job" too.
Somewhere Ngo Dinh Diem and Madame Nhu are laughing
November 30, 2006 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
But what is Big Minh doing?
November 30, 2006 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maliki kind of reminds me of the Count, on Sesame Street:
"Eight! Eight questions! Maaaahahaha!!!!"
Dissent Protects Democracy.
November 30, 2006 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, at least the Decider didn't say, "You're doing a heckuva job Maliki."....As far as burying the lede (and please, Professor G., explain why its spelled that way), I think the intrigue around Maliki's failure to show would have made a good sidebar to the main article. I watched a bit of that news conference in a newscast and noticed Maliki staring forward with no expression. My interpretation was that his English is not good. His answers were translated, and as the article states, as were his responses to other questions. I'd like to see the 6,7,8 questions quote.......The news I thought was buried was the significance of his meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II in the absence of the Texas prince........From the NYT .."Mr. Maliki, for his part, dismissed any suggestion that he had cancelled the meeting out of pique, saying the meeting – which had been scheduled to include King Abdullah II of Jordan – was not necessary because the prime minister and the king had already had discussion earlier in the day. 'So there's no problem,' Mr. Maliki said."
November 30, 2006 8:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Lede" was used to distinguish from "lead" (the metal) type.
Since newspapers don't use lead type anymore, let's drop "lede" in favor of the equally correct and intuitive "lead".
December 1, 2006 8:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Just for fun and curiosity, I checked Wackypedia for the Madame. She might be laughing on the French Riveria, where she was last spotted:
In the 1990s, she was reportedly living on the French Riviera and charging the press for interviews. She has been listed in biographical publications as recently as 2001. [link]
Neoboho
December 1, 2006 9:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think reading b/t the lines, what was meant by Maliki was:
"When your people threatened me beforehand to get me to meet with you and agree to this joint press conference to aid you in your domestic American politics, you said we would only take 6 questions and now I've taken 7 or 8. When will the indignity end?"
December 1, 2006 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mr.Wright, you are. That sounds like a very plausible explanation. Thank you.
December 1, 2006 5:02 PM | Reply | Permalink