Robert Gibbs Takes a Beating « The Washington Independent
Jul 31, 202023.6K Shares877.5K Views
Today was not a good day to be the White House press secretary.
After two of President Obama’s prominentnomineeswithdrew from consideration because of tax concerns, Robert Gibbs took tough questions from the media at his daily press conference. And he didn’t enjoy a bit of it.
At first, he danced around the questions about the Tom Daschle scandal, even pulling a Blagojevich as he changed the subject to the recent peanut butter contamination. “I thought about it the other day when I was making a sandwich for my son,” he said, to the annoyance of the press.
But when the questions about Daschle’s vetting process continued, a visibly impatient Gibbs began shooting them down. “I’m not gonna spend a lot of time up here looking through the rear-view mirror,” he said on three separate occasions.
Finally, he began to take out his frustration on the press. When NBC’s Chuck Todd interrupted him to ask a follow-up question, Gibbs cut him off. “We need lights like the debates,” he said. “At least wait for mine to turn yellow.”
And a minute later: “You know what I’m gonna do from now on? I’m gonna have you write down your questions.”
He did provide a substantial piece of information, though, in confirming that Daschle had withdrawn from bothof his prospective posts: secretary of health and human services and White House “health czar.” He also said of the Daschle debacle, “We all take responsibility. The president takes responsibility.”
All in all, not a fun day for Gibbs. Get this man a whiskey.
Paula M. Graham
Reviewer
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