Obama Staffers Smoke up the Press Room (Literally)
EmailABC News’ Sunlen Miller Reports:
Some beginnings are easier than others — for the Obama team, getting in is half the battle…
Shortly after 4 p.m., the stench of smoke began filtering back to the press booths in the White House.
Reporters ran out of their booths to see small clouds of smoke puffing from the top of the James S. Brady briefing room door leading to the White House lawn.
The culprit?
None other than Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton who — on his third day in the White House — was still having a little trouble working the door.
Trying to get into the briefing room from the outside, Burton inadvertently short circuited the electronic door opener, causing small plumes of smoke to fill into the inside of the briefing room.
Eye witness reports β- from reporters who looked on laughing at the mishap of the new deputy press secretary β- said that Burton tried the electronic button which opens the door a few too many times. The door began to make a loud jamming noise the more Burton tried to force the door open.
A security officer was sent right over to check out the situation. White House electricians quickly followed.
βHe fried it,β an electrician said as he took off the panel over the doorway to reveal wires that were still smoking.
No evacuation was necessary… it was after all just a small plume of smoke… but one can imagine a big bite out of the pride out of the new spokesman.
– Sunlen Miller
Sen. DeMint: GOP Race Could Go Until Convention 
Obama Avoids Questions on Contraception Rule
What an idiot.
When opening a door, if you feel lots of resistance, STOP.
This goon just horses it open. It isn’t like the White House won’t have properly working doors. I’m sure that door closure cost thousands. More like hundreds of thousands. I still remember what Clinton spent on a toilet seat.
Posted by: Terry | January 23, 2009, 7:02 pm 7:02 pm
What hard hitting investigative reporting.
Posted by: Random Internet User | January 23, 2009, 7:07 pm 7:07 pm
Terry? Dude, get a grip on things. Clinton did not spend a fortune on a toilet seat, the Air Force did.
If you want to be outraged about things, keep your data straight.
Posted by: Arthur | January 23, 2009, 7:09 pm 7:09 pm
There’s two minutes of my life I’ll never get back.
Posted by: Kevin | January 23, 2009, 7:11 pm 7:11 pm
Why is this news?
Posted by: Duh | January 23, 2009, 7:12 pm 7:12 pm
Do you call this reporting ?
Posted by: James Duval | January 23, 2009, 7:21 pm 7:21 pm
Many people, especially Anne Compton, will be glad to see that electric door just allowed to be a normal door. Remember when Sec. Paulson walked through that door…
Posted by: Daniel S. | January 23, 2009, 7:22 pm 7:22 pm
Glad to see the Obama’s are trashing the Whitehouse already.
Posted by: Steve | January 23, 2009, 7:27 pm 7:27 pm
Funny. Pure funny, human error humor. You know…if I were a reporter, reporting something like this…I think I would try to see the up side to this. Besides…as time goes on, all we begin to see of Obama and all those in office are the faces in front of the bad things…not the human behind the difficult things. Imagine the humility that comes with a story like this for the person written about.
I don’t know if I would want everytime I screw up or show my human nature under pressure to be be landed on national news. We need to change the perspective of news as Americans.
Posted by: tiffanysfunny | January 23, 2009, 8:00 pm 8:00 pm
Why add bite the hand that feeds you by making this a printed news item. Bill had to at best feel like hell already!
Posted by: S Velsor IV | January 23, 2009, 8:06 pm 8:06 pm
“. I still remember what Clinton spent on a toilet seat.
:
that was Raygun.. who also spent 200$ on hammers.
he was a spendthrift, and almost doubled the number of govt employees.
Posted by: Tra la la | January 23, 2009, 8:14 pm 8:14 pm
Abortions and Cigarettes for all! At least my tax dollars are not going to buy cigarettes yet.
Posted by: Huh | January 23, 2009, 8:40 pm 8:40 pm
Well if you look at the SCHIP joke, the Democrats need about 22 million more smokers to pay for it.
Posted by: bill-tb | January 23, 2009, 8:51 pm 8:51 pm
I am just wondering when Republicans are going to realize that THEY are the BIG government that they so hate. Hello? Can you read a balance sheet? If not, go back to school…
Posted by: CE | January 23, 2009, 8:56 pm 8:56 pm
Fun little bit of levity to end a pretty intense week.
Posted by: CJ | January 23, 2009, 10:25 pm 10:25 pm
I’m only going to take so many of these “making fun of the new guys” reports.
This one was probably worth reporting (fire in the WH DOES grab attention :-) but there’s an element of treating others the way you want to be treated here as well.
I think Jake has been an outstanding WH journalist.
However, Jake, please just remember that the honor the Constitution gives you is the honor of informing us about our government, not informing us about the lives and foibles of the humans running our government.
Keep up the good work.
But we could use some information that will help us remain informed citizens, okay?
Posted by: Jan | January 24, 2009, 7:28 am 7:28 am
This is no funny business.
Burton broke government property by irresponsibly and forcefully imposing his ignorant and incompetent will on that poor tender electrical door. If he was you, you would be in the Big Whitehouse rather than still working and having a job in the Whithouse.
Good reporting here. The citizens have a right to know what wasteful damages these people are making since day one.
Posted by: two cats | January 24, 2009, 8:36 am 8:36 am
Good reporting here. The citizens have a right to know what wasteful damages these people are making since day one.
____________________________________________
LMAO – you can not seriously post that with a straight face.
Posted by: Paige | January 24, 2009, 9:28 am 9:28 am
Another case of “do as I say — not as I do”…….
BO is a smoker — so why wouldn’t we expect his “news guy” to smoke???
Don’t y’all remember the stories of the newsmen who flew on BO’s campaign air/bus complaining about the stench coming from the smoking aboard the BO special??
Posted by: LZK | January 24, 2009, 10:04 am 10:04 am
This bunch of over anxious children have the same amount of respect for the Whitehouse as the hillbillies did. Kind of a foreshadowing of the mindset of Zero’s gang ~ if the doors/people resist use brute force.
Posted by: Reilly | January 24, 2009, 10:21 am 10:21 am
“BO is a smoker — so why wouldn’t we expect his “news guy” to smoke”???
You didn’t read the article.
Posted by: Clint | January 24, 2009, 11:12 am 11:12 am
Reilly—”same amount of respect for the Whitehouse as the hillbillies.” honestly, when is the disrespect for the Bush administration end?
Posted by: Paul Wall | January 24, 2009, 11:20 am 11:20 am
Reilly—”if the doors/people resist use brute force.” why do you still detest the Bush presidency so much?
Posted by: Paul Wall | January 24, 2009, 11:22 am 11:22 am
Typical O-bama: If you don’t get what you want immediately, force it! After all-HE won!
Posted by: Reis Kash | January 24, 2009, 12:39 pm 12:39 pm
WOW…..where was the Lame Stream Media with their Pulitzer Prize winning reporters digging up all the back ground on the Obama Bozos? Or for that fact……Barry(I won)Obama?
Where there is smoke there is …. who?
Not you A.K. journalist on TEAM OBAMA!!
Posted by: American Infidel | January 24, 2009, 3:23 pm 3:23 pm
“Trying to get into the briefing room from the outside, Burton inadvertently short circuited the electronic door opener, causing small plumes of smoke to fill into the inside of the briefing room.”
Riiight … “inadvertently” after the press rebellion on the canned Re-Oathing foto, etc.
Gibbs telling the press to check websites for canned “news” must not be change in which all are willing to participate.
Hurray for passing on this story.
Posted by: Belle Starr | January 24, 2009, 8:23 pm 8:23 pm
ok, raised in the deep south. Atl.Ga of a very prejudiced family. Could tell some stories. Segrated school. Military 1966. Many best friends Afro American. Learned to respect and be respected. If we can not respect him, respect the office and that beautiful family. Who knows, he may be the best thing ever to happen to our country. MR. OBAMA SIR you have my best wishes and full support. As we used to say, “Don’t let the turkeys get you down.” Fine family . My family very proud of you.
Terry Mc
Missouri
Posted by: terrell | January 24, 2009, 11:39 pm 11:39 pm
“Burton broke government property by irresponsibly and forcefully imposing his ignorant and incompetent will on that poor tender electrical door.”
- – - – -
And while he was doing that, over here people were wreaking havoc on, and doing violence to, notions of civility, perspective, and the generally-accepted not-a-rule-but-a good-idea-anyway “stop and say it aloud in your own mind and see if you visibly wince, and if you do, think about it some more, ‘cuz others might not just wince” teachings of the School Of Considered Thought.
And, there’s no way someone can cause a short or an overheating of such a mechanism by pressing the button too many times. There was obviously something wrong with it.
So here’s your first instance – write this date down – where reporters lied to you in order to get back at someone (and here’s the part that makes it so rare) who is on Obama’s team. They lie to you in a significant percentage of their writings, but they’ve generally not aimed at Obamites.
Posted by: bobby b | January 25, 2009, 2:24 am 2:24 am
Surely now is the time for a bi-partison committee to investigate and report at length upon the frailties of the Press Room door. The immediate cause may have been the Obama Administration, but that door was doubtless already weakened under Bush!
Posted by: Margaret | January 25, 2009, 4:41 am 4:41 am
“However, Jake, please just remember that the honor the Constitution gives you is the honor of informing us about our government, not informing us about the lives and foibles of the humans running our government.”
Really? Can you quote the exact text which states that?
The Constitution does not give Jake “the honor” of “informing us” — it gives him the right. And President Obama has the right to treat the media anyway he chooses, and suffer or benefit accordingly.
There isn’t an established, state-run media anymore than there is an established, state-run church in this country.
When you invent what the Constitution actually says, you convince others of your ignorance.
Posted by: JB | January 25, 2009, 11:01 am 11:01 am
“And, there’s no way someone can cause a short or an overheating of such a mechanism by pressing the button too many times. There was obviously something wrong with it.”
Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Bobby. If repeated pushing on a button caused elevator overheating, then most of us would have caused shorts. There clearly was a problem beforehand. I think there’s a grasping at straws these days to make Obama and members of his administration look bad.
Posted by: kathy | January 25, 2009, 11:09 am 11:09 am
An Omen?
Posted by: btenney | January 25, 2009, 1:55 pm 1:55 pm
Harvard, eh?
Posted by: Stacy | January 25, 2009, 4:08 pm 4:08 pm
Dear Sunlen Miller,
I don’t know you and I don’t know Bill Burton but as a former journalist I find it a real sad state of affairs that these days this passes for news at ABC.
The media plays an important role both as a watchdog and as a filter for its readership, supplying us with sharp, inciteful and relevant reporting about the news of the day.
I realize that there is an entertainment element to consider but this type of non-reporting is not only disrespectful of the person you write about but it belittles your own role as reporter at one of the world’s largest media organisations.
The world is in crisis and you are very privileged to be reporting on the White House, please don’t just pass your time making snide remarks about recently-hired deputies. (“But one can imagine a big bite out of the pride out of the new spokesman.”)
Surely you can invest your considerable talents in more newsworthy pursuits.
Kind regards,
Martin Boer
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Former contributor to The Associated Press, The Economist, The Financial Times, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal Europe etc.
Posted by: Martin Boer | March 17, 2009, 9:50 am 9:50 am