we're all familiar with white house press secretary robert gibb's little tête-à-tête with rick santelli of cnbc...where robert invited rick to the white house to actually read the president's economic plan over a cup of "decaf" coffee.and i love heading home for lunch around 1pm CST each day and catching a bit of robert's press conference. yes, i'm a political geek and i'm proud to admit it.
but come on! the man is funny.... confident, calm.... in charge.
today was extra-special.
mr. gibbs was being grilled over "enhanced interrogation technique" photos... and i'm sorry, but i must digress for a moment. is this some sort of frank luntz bullshit phrase or what? just like the GOP shifted the scary "global warming" phrase to the less negligible phrase "climate change" - they are now attempting to rename TORTURE as "enhanced interrogation techniques."
you can put lipstick on a pig but....
anyway... they were questioning bobby about the release (or non-release) of the photos and he was attempting to explain the difference between releasing memos (which they have done) and releasing photographs (which they argue may further endanger troops overseas).
now... i didn't catch the very beginning - but why did mr. gibbs not just say, "photos are simply more inflammatory than a memo." plain and simple. whatever.
but he was being grilled by ed helms of cnn and mr. gibbs said, (paraphrased) "ed, why does cnn show the computer graphic of waterboarding?" ed fumbled for an answer. mr. gibbs continued, "you drew up that graphic long before we released the memos. everyone was aware of the techniques being used."
i thought it was great that he called cnn out on some bullshit. they're trying to be high and mighty yet they're out there showing graphics, etc.
"the public deserves to know." fine... i'm good with that. i hold no ill will against the times or any news organization that helped shine a light on the atrocities that took place under bush43.
and again.... at this point in time, we all know TORTURE happened... the bush administration has said as much. so releasing the memos was no big deal. it hasn't made us "less safe" as prick cheney would like everyone to believe.
and since when are we listening to someone with a 19% approval rating? is this who the GOP wants to stand behind?
but wait....there's more from the press conference. someone's cell phone went off.
mr. gibbs: (exacerbated) "just put it on vibrate, man. you know... we've talked about this before. actually, this is the third time. (motioning) just give it to me."
and he made the reporter turn over his phone! is was fucking great!
he then excuses himself for a minute, goes to the door leading out of the press room and tosses the phone to someone in the back. brilliant.
but then someone else's cell phone rings! bobby stops... he motions for the phone. you can hear the reporter tell the caller mr. gibbs wants his phone. but he gets up (from the front row, mind you) and excuses himself to take the call.
robert was not happy.
best part... when the reporter returned, mr. gibbs said, without missing a beat, "will someone please brief bill on our new supreme court justice nominee."
very clever... yes, you gotta love robert gibbs.
and yes, i'm a nerd.
e.
