Nedra Pickler: the worst "journalist" in America

this personage is a living disgrace to the journalism profession....why doesn't the Associated Press (AP) fire her?....i've had my eye on her since her pity inspiring coverage during the democratic presidential primary (iowa caucus)... her latest story buffs up the idea that bush is a "fun guy" when all he is doing is dissembling and failing to answer the questions that we the american people deserve to have answered when he deigns to hold one of his two or three annual press conferences..is that what nedra pickler was hired by the AP to do? analyze the president's laughable attempt at stand-up??!?

Bush Uses Humor to Deflect the Heat

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press WriterThu Jan 26, 4:15 PM ET

President Bush's first news conference of the year was just a camera strap away from becoming hazardous to reporters.

As the president began his opening statement, a camera that the news service AFP had hung from the ceiling dropped and nearly fell on the heads below. It was caught by its strap, and Bush stopped and looked at it dangling precariously.

"Are you wearing your helmets?" he joked to reporters sitting in the White House briefing room.
Bush was full of quips during the 45-minute news conference, poking fun at the media and deflecting some of the heat when questioning got intense.

Yes, Bush acknowledged, he had his picture taken with admitted criminal Jack Abramoff.
"Having my picture taken with someone doesn't mean that I'm a friend with him or know him very well," he said. "I've had my picture taken with you at holiday parties."

Another reporter pointed out that allegations of Abramoff's influence went beyond the photographs to questions of why he met with the president's top aides. The White House has refused to disclose just how often or why Abramoff was there, and Bush wasn't about to, either. He returned to jokes about the pictures.

"I mean, people, it's part of the job of the president to shake hands with people and smile," he said. He said he'd turn over records about Abramoff's meetings at the White House only to federal prosecutors if they suspected something inappropriate.

When a radio reporter asked the president again to never mind the photographs, just talk about lobbyists' influence on the White House, Bush interrupted: "Easy for a radio guy to say."