"I don't talk to the press"

Chelsea Clinton hates the media--she always has. She's never given an interview, not even to 9-year-old kid reporter Sydney Rieckhoff, who asked her a question in 2009 for Scholastic News when Chelsea was out on the campaign stump for her mother.

Kid reporter: "Do you think your dad would be a good 'first man' in the White house?" young Sydney asked.

Chelsea Clinton: "I'm sorry, I don't talk to the press and that applies to you." WTF?

OK, so that would be fine, I suppose, except that now little Chelsea has a new job as a special correspondent for NBC News, no less. Seriously? "Chelsea Clinton has loathed the news media for most of her life," wrote Don Van Natta, reporter for the NYT, via Twitter. So what does she do? She takes the plumb job in prime time at NBC News--and refuses to be interviewed. Haha. No, you can't make this stuff up.

Says Erik Wemple, who has an opinion blog on news media at the Washington Post: After all, you can’t say it’s not relevant — if you’re going to interview other people, it might be helpful to have spent a moment or two on the other side of the mike. . . . Now Clinton will be asking lots of questions. She just won't answer any. What a great media world we inhabit.

I'm pretty sure no one has even heard this woman speak. At least Brian Williams hasn't, since he recently said, in a "gushing defense" of her hire at NBC: "She just wants to work for us and she just wants to do our "Making a Difference" stories. . . . Most Americans haven't heard her voice. . . . I don't know her well, but what an impressive, impressive woman . . . .I can't wait to hear her voice and her viewpoint. Oh for the love of God.

Chelsea has a master's in Public Health from Columbia and a bachelor's in history from Stanford. She has lived her life off of her trust fund (daddy's money); her life experience, and Brian Williams clearly attests to this, consists of "travel." Whoo-hoo. She schmoozes with her other 1% friends on her expense account and then goes to the head of the line in prime time at NBC. I'm looking forward to hearing about the first person who stiffs her for an interview. Heh.

Rush Limbaugh said yesterday that this was being done so that Chelsea has an opportunity to get used to being in front of the camera, a skill necessary for neophyte politicians, since obviously her intent is to run for some political office at some point or another. We remember the disaster that Carolyn Kennedy made of her Senate bid, sounding like a New York Valley Girl with all of her "you know's." Wow, Chelsea Clinton for Senate. That's really something to look forward to. Although Carolyn Kennedy's "you know" disaster (repeated 142 times in one interview) came during an interview. It would seem that the skill that Chelsea really needs is talking to people, one that up to and including the present day she has consistently run from.

Update: A must-read from Clarice Feldman at American Thinker: "Secrets of the American Nomenklatura." "TV News is now officially entertainment and if you are looking for journalism turn it off and look elsewhere."