Gibbs Lies About Obama’s Lie to Put Health Care Negotiations on C-Span
From the White House playbook: If you’re caught in a lie, lie some more.
DRJ mentioned this earlier, but it can’t be repeated enough.
The promise:
The refusal to address the breaking of the promise.
And just so it’s crystal clear: when Gibbs claims “we covered this yesterday” . . . he is lying. Here is what he said the day before:
QUESTION: C-Span television is requesting leaders in Congress to open up the debate to their cameras, and I know this is something that the President talked about on the campaign trail. Is this something that he supports, will be pushing for?
GIBBS: I have not seen that letter. I know the President is going to begin some discussions later today on health care in order to try to iron out the differences that remain between the House and the Senate bill and try to get something hopefully to his desk quite quickly….
Later in that same briefing, a reporter raised the C-Span issue again:
QUESTION: Okay, just lastly, why can’t you answer the C-Span question —
GIBBS: I did.
QUESTION: You didn’t, because you said —
GIBBS: I said I hadn’t seen the letter, which I haven’t —
QUESTION: do you need to see a letter? I mean, this is something the President said during the campaign and he talked about he wants everything open on C-SPAN —
GIBBS: Dan asked me about the letter and I haven’t read the letter.
QUESTION: Well, I’ll just ask you about having it on C-Span —
GIBBS: I answered Dan’s question and I answered this before we left for the break, Keith. The President’s number-one priority is getting the differences worked out, getting a bill to the House and the Senate…
QUESTION: There are a lot of reasons not to do it on C-Span — people could showboat. Does he regret making that statement during the campaign?
GIBBS: No.
That was an answer?
The only reason to ask these questions is to get the answers on you tube. Then, you have a you tube collection that can be made into an ad. These guys are supposed to know about this stuff.
MIke K (2cf494) — 1/6/2010 @ 6:15 pmIt’s all the answer we need, not even honest enough to admit a lie.
MD in Philly (d4668b) — 1/6/2010 @ 6:16 pmMike K., Gibbs is among the dumber of White House press secretaries. And that is not a high bar to begin with.
SPQR (26be8b) — 1/6/2010 @ 6:18 pmFrom one end of the building to the other:
AD - RtR/OS! (b6fff3) — 1/6/2010 @ 6:21 pmLying c..ksuckers all!
It’s really stupid I think for places like the realclearpolitics to host videos like this where there’s no resultant view count. They should just get a youtube channel.
Sometimes there is a right way to do things, isn’t there? Yes. Yes sometimes there is.
happyfeet (e9e587) — 1/6/2010 @ 6:21 pmwhich would be a comment I made before the first video loaded
happyfeet (e9e587) — 1/6/2010 @ 6:23 pmI’m going to make a cheese plate.
happyfeet (e9e587) — 1/6/2010 @ 6:23 pmWell, I guess in Gibbs’ mind, it was not only an answer, but quite witty, as well.
antisocialist (0b8dde) — 1/6/2010 @ 6:34 pmDumba$$es are like that.
Hey everyone! He won, remember?
Besides, any disagreement is only due to racist tendencies.
You call it lying or hypocrisy. I call it racist opposition. Isn’t that Teh Narrative™ these days?
Elections have consequences, you folks who sat out the last election.
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/6/2010 @ 6:35 pmIf these people will lie about providing health care for illegal immigrants, and lie repeatedly about the promised transparency of the health plan on C-SPAN, and lie about the results and disbursement of the stimulus package, and lie about who’s to blame for the $1+ trillion deficit, and lie so often . . .well, don’t you think they’d also lie about Obama’s Constitutional eligibility to hold his office?
Of course they would. That’s Lie #1.
Official Internet Data Office (2748b2) — 1/6/2010 @ 6:47 pmObama lies … One thing for sure, you will never associate the word character with Obama.
I wonder does he think this doesn’t effect people’s trust of everything Obama does? It does, big time.
bill-tb (541ea9) — 1/6/2010 @ 6:56 pmDana Perino and Tony Snow were certainly class acts.
Dana (f64b7d) — 1/6/2010 @ 7:12 pmTony Snow had true class. Yes, he could dodge a question but he had the ability to make the MSM look naturally stupid. Gibbs, on the other hand, shows that he, like his boss, is utterly classless and out of his league.
PatriotRider (1729de) — 1/6/2010 @ 7:22 pmHe need not answer it. We all know the answer.
Does it really matter what Gibbs or the big O says any more? If their lips are moving…
What would really be amusing is if either were to describe the vast respect they have for the intelligence of the American public.
jodetoad (059c35) — 1/6/2010 @ 7:49 pmWhat would really be amusing is if either were to describe the vast respect they have for the intelligence of the American public.
Well, now that would just be another lie, wouldn’t it?
Dana (f64b7d) — 1/6/2010 @ 7:54 pmI’m fairly confident that their respect for the intelligence of the American publich is only half-vast.
GaryC (e23438) — 1/6/2010 @ 8:35 pmThe important thing is that the American public has become quite aware of what’s going on–that’s why the poll numbers are so bad for the Pres. Also, I think it’s worth something that ALL the people sitting in that WH press room know by now that Gibbs is a dissembling idiot and that the C-span promise is just one of many campaign promises made by Obama which have been blatantly broken. Anyone honestly reviewing MSM press coverage of the administration over the past 2 months or so would have to admit that in general it is becoming less fawning and considerably more critical in a number of areas. Not unbiased by a long shot, but better. It’s a start. The campaign schmoozed the media and they loved it and initially performed like Pavlov’s dog. But nobody likes being played for a fool, and I think the Obama White House has finally gone too far with the contempt they are showing to many members of the “elite” Washington press corps.
elissa (94eb2d) — 1/6/2010 @ 9:19 pmThe saddest thing about the President’s unprecedented failure is simply that if he had really done what he said he would do, he would still be The One or a reasonably facsimile.
Americans are a generous lot. Say the right things and we’re right there behind you.
Doing is hard.
Ag0 (76c798) — 1/6/2010 @ 10:12 pmAl Capone rose from the gutter to become feared, rough and even the mayor of Chi town.
Crooked, violent thug that he was, he was a far superior statesman that the “one” could ever aspire to.
At some point even the MSM has to get their fill and print their final full front page banners.
“The President is Lying Again”
TC (0b9ca4) — 1/6/2010 @ 10:14 pmAg0, indeed Obama would be unstoppable if he could keep his promises.
But. He promised to cut the deficit, give everyone tax cuts, and increase government programs dramatically in many directions. In other words, he promised to turn water to wine and feed the crowd with only five loaves of bread and two fish.
Obama knew he couldn’t force congress to hold the health care wheeling and dealing on C-Span. I guess he figured we wouldn’t blame him, because it’s totally not up to him. The kind of leadership and cunning it would take for Obama to have that kind of power over Pelosi or Reid is significant. Maybe if he was very experienced, he could pull that off a couple of times.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/6/2010 @ 10:34 pmAg0 should be Ag80, just to stay a little bit honest.
Ag80 (76c798) — 1/6/2010 @ 10:46 pm