Matt Langer

theawl:

eamcintyre:

motherjones:

hollybailey:

Mitt Romney will NOT REST until you eat a pastry. Here’s an excerpt of a Phil Rucker’s pool report from a flight between Charleston and Greenville Friday:

Before take off, Mitt Romney walked down the aisle with a large box of assorted pastries from Panera Bread to pass out to the passengers (including the governors and press).
What follows is a transcript of his exchanges.
“Come on, Kasie, dig in,” Romney said to Kasie Hunt of the Associated Press. “Pain au chocolat. Smart move.”
“Ashley?” Romney said to Ashley Parker of The New York Times.
“Can you just grab me something?” Parker asked, turning to her seatmate, Kasie Hunt, who was holding the tongs poised over the basket.
“What do you want though?” Romney asked.
“Um…” Parker said. “The popover thing?”
“The popovers?” Romney asked.
“Thank you very much,” Parker said.
“Sticky bun?” Romney asked other reporters. “There you go.”
“Snack time! Nothing? Just, you know, use your fingers,” Romney said, struggling with the big box. “The heck with this. There you go.”
“Come on, Emily, dig in here,” Romney said to Emily Friedman of ABC News. “Fingers are fine. We’re among friends.”
“Sarah, you want one? What do you want?” Romney said to Sarah Boxer of CBS News.
“I don’t know,” Boxer said. “What’s in there?”
“We’re gonna solve problem one here by getting rid of these ridiculous things here,” Romney said, handing two pairs of black plastic tongs to the flight attendant behind him.
“Rucker, come on Rucker,” Romney said to Philip Rucker of The Washington Post. “Oh, he makes a good move for the cheese. Take two.”
“No, no, no,” Rucker said.
“Look it, there’s so much in here,” Romney said. “Come in, take more. No, take more than one. Take two, take two, Ruck-man. Come on.”
“Where’d you get it?” Matt Viser of The Boston Globe asked Romney, referring to the pastries box.
“We found it on the floor up there,” Romney said.
“Do you want another one?” Romney asked Sara Murray of The Wall Street Journal.
“No, I’m good, but thank you,” Murray said.
“Who wants some more of these?” Romney said. “Look at this. This is good stuff. This is from Panera. Very high-end.”
“Pain au chocolat in there,” Romney continued. “Look at the sticky buns. Those are the best.”
“Hey, Rucker, there’s still some more of those cheese cake babies in here,” Romney continued. “No? You only had one of these. Come on, Ashley.”
“Alright,” Romney said. “We’ve got to get seated.”

“Look at the sticky buns. Those are the best”—amazing. (Photo: Charles Dharapak/AP)

Yup.

This is a hilarious story, but I’m confused. When I studied journalism in college and was working as a journalist, our newsroom policies were all never to take anything from sources, including food. That’s not the case with the pros?

Those reporters’ employers are all giving tens of thousands of dollars a week, give or take, to the campaign just to be on the planes and the buses. Taking a pastry from a candidate is the least of the problems, if it can even be considered a problem at all.

Reminds me of the time in 2003 when Stephen Elliot met Nedra Pickler (PDF):

Today I rode on the official Kerry campaign bus. First we went to a hospital, where Kerry unveiled his healthcare plan before a hundred people. Thirty of those hundred were from the bus, and many of the others looked like hospital workers with nothing better to do. Then we went to a firemen’s union hall, where the buffet table was loaded with seven-layer salad, sandwiches, baked beans, and free beer.

“We’re not supposed to eat from the buffet,” Nedra Pickler of the Associated Press told me. “You don’t want to be compromised.”

“I don’t mind being compromised,” I said, loading up my plate. “I like being compromised.”