Was HBO to blame for this too?

[dsc]

Here is the live blog from the offical Inaguration website.

http://www.pic2009.org/blog/entry/liveblogging_the_inaugural_welcome_event/

1:59pm, Sam: Welcome to our liveblog of the We Are One event at the Lincoln Memorial. Jon Bon Jovi, Bettye LaVette, and Pete Seeger added to musical lineup. Jack Black, Steve Carell, Rosario Dawson, Tom Hanks, Samuel L. Jackson, Ashley Judd, Laura Linney, George Lopez, Kal Penn, Marisa Tomei, Forest Whitaker, and Tiger Woods have been added to the lineup of readers. These new additions will join Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Usher Raymond IV, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am, and Stevie Wonder. Shaping up to be an incredible show.

2:10pm, Amy: The crowd is building. Take a look at the photos of people filling the Mall.

2:26pm, Sam: The photos you’ll see here are taken by Kevin Mazur, courtesy of HBO and provided by image.net.

2:40pm, Amy: The National Anthem just echoed across the Mall, followed by a rousing introduction from Denzel Washington. Bruce Springsteen is strumming along with a gospel choir to his song, “The RIsing.“

end of quote

I made no cuts here. Notice what is missing. (Hint: it happened at 2:20 and involved Gene Robinson)

Here is the description they had for people to base a schedule on

2:30 p.m. - The Lincoln Memorial
President-elect Barack Obama with the help of an all-star line-up of talent will kick off the inaugural celebration in Washington, D.C., with a free and open event at the Lincoln Memorial, between Constitution Avenue NW and Independence Avenue SW on 23rd Street.

Musical performers scheduled for the event include Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Usher Raymond IV, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am, and Stevie Wonder.

Among those reading historical passages will be Jamie Foxx, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah and Denzel Washington. The Rt. Reverend V. Gene Robinson will give the invocation. Rob Mathes will be the music director and arranger for the backing band, which will support all of the artists. Additional performers will be announced as they are confirmed.

The Reflecting Pool area, JFK Hockey Fields and Constitution Gardens are open to the public and space will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 8:00 a.m.

http://www.pic2009.org/page/content/weekendschedule/

Here is the description of Tuesdays stuff

11:30 a.m. - West front of the U.S. Capitol
The President-elect and Vice President-elect and their families will participate in the traditional inaugural ceremonies and events. For the first time ever, the length of the National Mall will be open to those wishing to attend the swearing-in ceremony. No tickets are required to view the Inaugural Ceremony on the National Mall west of 4th Street. If you’re planning on attending, you can find more information here to help plan your trip.

Festivities will include:

• Musical Selections: The United States Marine Band, followed by The San Francisco Boys Chorus and the San Francisco Girls Chorus
• Call to Order and Welcoming Remarks: Senator Dianne Feinstein
• Invocation: Dr. Rick Warren
• Musical Selection: Aretha Franklin
• Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will be sworn into office by Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, the Honorable John Paul Stevens
• Musical Selection: John Williams, composer/arranger with Itzhak Perlman, (violin), Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Gabriela Montero (piano) and Anthony McGill (clarinet)
• President-elect Barack H. Obama will take the Oath of Office, using President Lincoln’s Inaugural Bible, administered by the Chief Justice of the United States, the Honorable John G. Roberts, Jr.
• Inaugural Address
• Poem: Elizabeth Alexander
• Benediction: The Reverend Dr. Joseph E. Lowery
• The National Anthem: The United States Navy Band “Sea Chanters"


http://www.pic2009.org/page/content/weekendschedule/

Any person reading this website would have believed that if they watched HBO at 2:30 they would see Robinson. Instead he gave the invocation at 2:20, and nowhere, not a single, solitary place were they told that would happen. He also didn't make the cut of their blog. Not a single, solitary word. More than a few gay people purposely watched in order to see Robinson, only not to be able to because their website didn't bother to inform us of when he actually would be speaking. Nor did they even bother to say when he did give the prayer. Unless HBO runs their blog on their website, maybe, just maybe, Obama's team is responsible for this.

One final thing, given the timing of this, Obama didn't hear the prayer unless he listened to it back stage.

[Joe the Revelator]

1. Impeach him. Impeach him now. We want our prayers to be heard!

[farmboy]

12. Faced with real facts, your hyperbole falls as short as the mud you're slinging all over DU tonight.

[JimGinPA]

2. Great Work Columbo!

I'm totally convinced someone has an agenda now!

:eyes:

[TheWraith]

3. So because in the spotty, incomplete format of a liveblog the intern didn't mention it...

It's Obama's fault? You're trying to make steel out of dust.

[dsc]

5. The blog also said, in clear terms that the concert started at 2:30

and that Gene Robinson was participating. Instead he was at 2:20 and missed by all.

[ZombieHorde]

4. Wow, you have already got two bad ass arguments from thoughtful debaters.

Check out the super cool strawman in the first reply. Dorthy would be jealous.

[IndianaJones]

6. have your overlords set you "straight' yet? nt.

[pnwmom]

7. Maybe the blogger was watching HBO, rather than being in the crowd at

the Memorial?

[dsc]

8. then they would have commented about Ghost from 1:59

until about 2:25 and about upcoming stuff on HBO until 2:30 sharp.

[VADem11]

9. Meh

Do you really think Obama would go to the trouble of inviting Gene Robinson only to purposely ignore and exclude him? That makes no fucking sense.

[NYC_SKP]

10. Pretty crappy liveblog if you ask me. No mention of the invocation at all.

There are big holes in their narrative, like they weren't paying attention.

This doesn't shed much light on what was happening and when with respect to the good Reverend.

[ecstatic]

11. maybe the blogger is an atheist?

:shrug:

[nofurylike]

13. it broke my heart, dsc.

some of us get it, completely. i'm posting only because so many of the ignorant are being mentally cruel to you. and you are always above-and-beyond... reasonable. that should tell them all something.....

ah well


peace and solidarity


*edit to put subject line.

[dsc]

14. thanks

Honestly I don't think we will have a single gay poster left soon.

[NashVegas]

15. The Only Ones Who Really Know Are the Concert's and the Telecast's Producers

It was announced HBO would broadcast the first week of January (1/6 is the earliest news reference I can find), and Robinson's participation seems to have been announced on the 11th or 12th.

So here's the question: when did the concert producer add Robinson to the line-up *and* inform HBO what time? Did whomever added Robinson to the schedule communicate to the concert producer the importance of Robinson being part of the broadcast?

In my experiences, people who plan the coordination of these things aren't thinking politics, they're thinking minutes and seconds. The people who are thinking of the politics *don't want* the techies to be making decisions.

I think the most likely answer is that there was a communication error, because HBO could *probably* have taken enough promos out of their schedule to go live at 2:20 if they were asked to.

This probably doesn't help with the slight; somewhere out there is a dunderhead who's going to have to come through with a make-good.

[KittyWampus]

16. What is the point of posting a blog? Are you insinuating that Robinson didn't speak at all?

Because some live blogger didn't mention it?

We are supposed to be outraged not just because HBO didn't telecast Robinson but some random live blogger on the intertubes didn't blog about it?

I sincerely don't understand why you post about a blog missing a mention about Robinson.

Being upset about Robinson not being on HBO, yes.

Some blog, no.

But maybe I'm missing something. Is this some universally read blog?

[dsc]

17. It is the official blog of the Obama inaguration committee

and the rest of what I posted was their website's schedule. My point is this. We were told, repeatedly, that Robinson was the reaching out to us but nothing, nada on their own site about what the man said and following their instructions as to where and when to turn in caused us to miss what he did have to say.

[KittyWampus]

18. Thanks. I had no idea it was an official blog of the Obama InaugComm. I thinks it's a shame

Robinson wasn't televised regardless of how that came to pass.

Wonder if ANYONE got him on video.

I read his Invocation and would enjoy seeing it spoken to get a flavor of the man's delivery.

[KittyWampus]

19. Here's a bit more info I'm tucking away into this thread about Robinson being MIA in the media

Nor did Robinson's picture find its way into NPR's gallery of images from the concert. Admittedly, the news division did not cover the event -- NPR Music did -- but the website certainly is the domain of NPR News. A search of Getty Images, NYTimes.com and WaPo slide shows turned up nothing. In short, I found no visual evidence that an invocation was ever said.

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2009/01/why-was-rev-gen.html