Out of Touch with the White House

Great piece in the New York Times yesterday on the uncanny ability of the operators of the White House switchboard to get anyone on the phone, anytime, if the president wants to speak to them. Anyone, that is, except Shirley Sherrod, who remained out of touch for hours last week as the White House was trying to reach her as part of a desperate effort to quell the firestorm caused by her ouster.

Why couldn't she be reached? Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack had a theory:

Much of the time, Ms. Sherrod was busy chatting her way through network and cable television, leaving the White House and Mr. Vilsack scrambling to get her. When, at a news briefing, a reporter remarked, "She's been all over TV -- why wasn't she reachable," the press secretary wryly replied, "It may have been because she was all over TV."