Biden Reporter Party Gets Deserved Critique

Glad to see some are weighing in on the fact that a slew of reporters attended a pool party thrown by Vice President Joe Biden this past weekend.

Salon scribe Glenn Greenwald rightly notes the conflict involved here, citing CNN's Ed Henry Tweeting about the event and posting a video of Biden frolicking with the press.

“Does one need to wonder why there was no media outcry when Joe Biden dismissed the deaths of numerous civilians at the hands of the Israelis in international waters, including an American citizen, with the obnoxious, Israel-subservient cry: “So what's the big deal here”?" Greenwald writes. “Who wants to criticize someone who was nice enough to invite you to his beach party and whose wife paid attention to you, established your importance, and gave you self-esteem by chasing you with a water gun? Why risk not being invited the next time? Perhaps if Helen Thomas had attended more water park parties with the White House and her fellow reporters, she'd still have her job. Do you think David Halberstam would have played water sports with Rahm Emanuel and then proudly giggled about it afterward on his Twitter feed."

While I do not agree that the socializing is likely hampering coverage as much as Greenwald does, I do say such partying is at least the appearance of a conflict.

See Biden sliding down a water slide below, and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanual Super-Soaking reporters under that: