Watch: White House Press Sec Makes a Fool of Herself - Reads Wrong Talking Point in Response to Question
This is the kind of video that never gets old for me. I’m not sure why. Immaturity, maybe. Schadenfreude, probably. Original sin, almost certainly.
Regardless of the reason, I could watch this thing several times a day every day for the next year.
You’ve seen it before. I mean, maybe you haven’t seen this particular video before, but you’ve seen White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre do and say some pretty ridiculous things in public media briefings, in front of the cameras and White House press pool and everything.
But this video is particularly enlightening, because it shows that even when this press secretary comes prepared with a plan, she has trouble competently executing on it.
This specific incident started during the normal White House briefing on Dec. 5, when a reporter asked about the fact that New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen was skipping that night’s White House congressional ball in protest of President Joe Biden’s support for pushing the South Carolina primary ahead of her home state’s.
According to The Hill, the plan would put South Carolina ahead of Nevada and New Hampshire, which would share the same primary day in the new schedule.
“One last thing. Sen. Shaheen has a statement. She’s apparently not coming to the ball tonight,” a reporter asked after Jean-Pierre concluded her brief. “She’s upset that the president endorsed a proposal to put South Carolina ahead of New Hampshire. And she says that New Hampshire is now vulnerable for her party, which — does the president have a response to that?”
Jean-Pierre did have a response to that. Actually, she gave two responses — one that had nothing to do with the question asked, and a second that had almost nothing to do with the question asked.
“So, look, we honor — we honor the Hatch Act, as I mentioned many times before, here, as we are talking about a potential election – a 2024 presidential election,” she started. She was clearly reading from her notes, and just as clearly seemed to realize that something was off as she tried desperately to relate what she was talking about to the question that had just been asked.
“But, looking backward, it is the ultimate irony, you know, that the 2020 election was — was proven by the Trump administration’s Homeland — ” And at that point, she realized that not even the sycophants of the White House Press Corps were going to be able to let this one go.
“Oh, sorry — I think I got ahead of myself there,” she said, before laughing. And that’s according to the White House transcript, which means that’s the best possible face that could be put on the exchange.
She then switched gears, but it’s hard to see how her new angle was much more responsive than her original.
“We take the law very seriously here,” she claimed. “And so, that’s the number one thing.”
I think the number of people who believed that statement was about equal to the number of people who asked about it — which is to say, zero.
“And again, I want to be very careful because of 2024, and it places strict limits on what I can say, because of the Hatch Act, about future elections and, of course, political party processes,” she added.
I’m no lawyer, but it’s hard to see how the Hatch Act would apply to answer a question about primary schedules. Regardless, Jean-Pierre then went on to say what she probably should have said in the first place.
“I know I was asked this question many times before about the DNC,” she said. “And so, I’ve always referred folks to go to the DNC.”
I’m no more a press secretary than I am a lawyer, but that sounds like the right answer to me: I have nothing to say on that topic, ask someone else.
Jean-Pierre went on for a few sentences after that — some language about diversity and breaking down barriers that I think all leftists learn to recite in grade school — but none of it made any more sense than what I’ve already quoted, so I won’t force you to read it. You can, however, watch it here, if you really want to:
I can’t speak for you, but this is the kind of video that just sums up the Biden administration so effectively: Even when there’s a playbook in place, it doesn’t get used effectively. If that doesn’t scream incompetence, I don’t know what does.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think it’s time to watch that video again.
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