Why Does The White House Press Corps Have Such A Bad Rap In Europe?

The following is an update of my "Mr. President, for me 9/11 was not 'a moment'" post from two days ago:

In their Newsweek column Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey ask "why do Americans have such a bad rap in Europe?" Unfortunately they don't quite get it. They think hostility towards the President and the White House press corps equates to hostility towards Americans. That is not the case though. What these two journalists don't get is that the White House press corps is seen as being aligned with the President. People in Europe are not as stupid as you might believe. They do realize that the American media was instrumental for the Iraq war and that there's more sucking up to the administration than criticism of it. Case in point is when Mr Wolffe and Ms Bailey quote George W. Bush at the end of their column saying that 9/11 was just "a moment" and don't even get that Europeans might be offended by such a statement. Do Americans have a "bad rap" in Europe? Not generally, no. Do President Bush and the White House press corps have a "bad rap" in Europe? Certainly, and deservedly so.