Today’s Q for O’s WH – 4/30/2009
EmailWhite House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs started the briefing by telling us about an advance staffer for Energy Secretary Chu who had contracted flu in Mexico City.
TAPPER: I have a question and a follow up. Do you have any idea how this individual may have contracted…
GIBBS: No. It’s — again, without knowing the precise time in which he began to feel ill on the 16th, we didn’t land until the afternoon of the 16th. It’s based on the fact that there’s an incubation period, you know, it’s likely he began to get sick before — days before the team landed on the day of the visit.
TAPPER: And my other question has to do with remarks that Vice President Biden made this morning on television. Representatives of the travel industry have accused the vice president of coming close to fear mongering because of these comments. I’m wondering if you wanted to clarify or correct or apologize for the remarks that he made.
GIBBS: Well, I think the — what the vice president meant to say was the same thing that, begun, many members have said in the last few days. And that is if you feel sick, if you are exhibiting symptoms — flu-like symptoms, coughing sneezing, runny nose, that you should take precautions, that you should limit your travel, and I think he just — what he said and what he meant to say.
TAPPER: With all due respect, I sympathize with you trying to explain the vice president’s comments, but that’s not even remotely close to what he said. He was asked about if a members of his family…
GIBBS: Look, I understand what he said, and I’m telling you what he meant to say, which was that… (LAUGHTER BY REPORTERS) … if somebody is experiencing symptoms — you heard the president say this last night — iIf somebody is feeling sick, if somebody is exhibiting symptoms of being sick, then they should take all necessary precautions. Obviously, if anybody was unduly alarmed for whatever reason, we — we would apologize for that. And I hope that my remarks and remarks of people at CDC and Secretary Napolitano have appropriately cleared up what he meant to say.
– jpt
Rick Santorum Sweeps 3 States 
Pentagon to Open Additional Jobs to Women
I’m amazed at the extent to which “Sheriff” Joe Biden cannot say what he means to say and the amount of ice cream he eats in public.
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At least the press corps that Jake’s with recognizes {PRESS LAUGHTER] they’re lap dogs
Posted by: Passerby | April 30, 2009, 2:57 pm 2:57 pm
In the same Matt Lauer interview, Joe Biden meant to say that the Pennsylvania REPUBLICAN party had left Arlen Spector.
However, Joe said the Pennsylvania DEMOCRATS had left Spector.
Unless he meant exactly what he said. Maybe he knows something we don’t.
Posted by: mad | April 30, 2009, 2:57 pm 2:57 pm
Jake,
Please ask the President if he is continuing the Bush policy of covertly disrupting Iran’s uranium enrichment program while putting forth the ‘play nice’ policy with Iran?
The NYT has reported last year that the previous admin was undertaking covert means to delay or disrupt Iranian enrichment. Is it still the policy of this admin, or not?
Posted by: J House | April 30, 2009, 3:05 pm 3:05 pm
Wash your hands and cover your mouth on your way to the Chrysler/Jeep dealership!!
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | April 30, 2009, 3:11 pm 3:11 pm
“TAPPER: With all due respect, I sympathize with you trying to explain the vice president’s comments, but that’s not even remotely close to what he said. He was asked about if a members of his family…”
PRICELESS!!!!!
And yet, even with Jake’s prodding, Gibbs regurgitates same talking points. Ridiculous.
Posted by: tjp612 | April 30, 2009, 3:17 pm 3:17 pm
I find very amusing the difference between Glibbsy explaining Biden and Obama:
(On swine flu): “The VP is an idiot, here’s what he should have said…”
(On torture memos/flip flop du jure): “I think you should refer to what the president said in his remarks…”
In other words, “I have no idea how to reconcile those remarks, but Obama must know what he’s doing…right?”
Posted by: Dan | April 30, 2009, 3:21 pm 3:21 pm
Seems like a waste of a question. We already know what Biden said, and we know exactly what the Whitehouse “clarification” was.
“Obviously, if anybody was unduly alarmed for whatever reason, we — we would apologize for that.”
Is that the apology you were doggedly hunting for? I’m definitely an Obama supporter, but even I would rather you had used that chance to push a relevant question and make the administration think. Next you be asking if they think the NY flyby photo op was a bad idea – gee, I wonder what they’d say?
Posted by: jhw539 | April 30, 2009, 3:23 pm 3:23 pm
How about asking about Gitmo detainees being released into the U.S.??
Attorney General Eric Holder, aka “the right man at the right time to protect our citizens in the critical years ahead,” is in Germany discussing what he doesn’t seem to want to talk about much in the United States: the Obama administration’s emerging plan to comply with the President’s arbitrary January 2010 deadline for closing Guantanamo Bay by throwing open the door and releasing trained jihadists into the United States (among other places). Fox News is reporting that, in addition to the Uighurs, another 13 combatants have now been “cleared” for release — bringing the total to 30. And when many, if not the vast majority, of the people who trained to kill you end up here, you’ll get to pay for it! Fox elaborates:
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair has indicated that detainees released in the U.S. would likely receive government assistance to help them return to society — one they’ve never been a part of. “If we are to release them in the United States, we need some sort of assistance for them to start a new life,” Blair said last month. “You can’t just put them on the street.”
So to complete the picture, we now have an FBI out beating the bushes — and taking lots of flak for it — to try to find out which radical Muslims in the United States may be embedded jihadists who’ve gotten paramilitary training from al Qaeda, and we’ve got an Attorney General and a President who are simultaneously planning to embed in the United States jihadists who’ve gotten paramilitary training from al Qaeda.
Posted by: Coming Soon to Your Town | April 30, 2009, 3:24 pm 3:24 pm
First reaction, OMG – That’s it just OMG. Gibbs is such an arrogant revisionist liar. Joey B meant what he said and he said what he meant. When is the general public going to call the Obama administration on their lies? Except for Tapper the MSM isn’t going to do it.
Posted by: Concerned | April 30, 2009, 3:27 pm 3:27 pm
Coming Soon to Your Town:” And when many, if not the vast majority, of the people who trained to kill you end up here,”
Hundreds of people have been released from Gitmo already. Not one has ended up in the US. What are you basing your outlandish assertion that “many, if not the vast majority” of them end up here? And if there was evidence they had “trained to kill you” then why didn’t Bush deal with them?
Your random fear mongering and complete contempt for the rule of law that defines our country is just sad.
Posted by: jhw539 | April 30, 2009, 3:30 pm 3:30 pm
Gibbs to Jake:
Go ask the White House.
Posted by: riley | April 30, 2009, 3:30 pm 3:30 pm
Where is the documentation for the 150,000 jobs??
Posted by: drjohn | April 30, 2009, 3:46 pm 3:46 pm
“Fox News is reporting that”
FoxNews does not report, they read the talking points provided to them by the GOP.
Posted by: Ryan C | April 30, 2009, 3:47 pm 3:47 pm
TAPPER: With all due respect, I sympathize with you trying to explain the vice president’s comments, but that’s not even remotely close to what he said. He was asked about if a members of his family…
LOL I love it when you do this Jake! Call them on the carpet and don’t let them get away with such obvious spin. Transparency my butt! This administration is pathetic, they can’t even come up with good lies. Of course there is no way to spin this in a credible way if you actually listen to the tape. Pretty funny to me that the press corps laughs it up, but then fail to report the truth. There are still a few live Journalists out there such as yourself. Keep it up!
Posted by: Jason | April 30, 2009, 3:52 pm 3:52 pm
Seems to me Dopey Joe Biden is one of the comic relief characters in this administration. The media can ask Gibbs to clarify the nonsense that Uncle Joe babbles in public, and explain the cavalcade of amateur follies (DVD sets for the wrong region, secret AF1 fly-bys over Ground Zero, etc. etc.), and it looks almost like they’re doing their jobs.
Meanwhile, the other folks can get on with the serious business of seizing control over the entire economy and anything else catches their eye. Don’t pay attention, folks, that’s just borin’ ol’ policy stuff — hey, look, kids, Dopey Joe’s imitating a rabbit!!1!
Posted by: L.R. | April 30, 2009, 3:56 pm 3:56 pm
“Look, I understand what he said, and I’m telling you what he meant to say, which was that… ”
I would not expect that we’d need an interpreter for the Vice President. He is supposed to be able to speak English, right?
But nice work, Jake.
Posted by: drjohn | April 30, 2009, 4:00 pm 4:00 pm
“And if there was evidence they had “trained to kill you” then why didn’t Bush deal with them?”
I guess Obama will deal with them, sort of. He’ll likely expose all the agents involved and their covers because he’s Mr. Transparency. Either that or they buggers go free because of the compromise it would mean for US intelligence services.
My money’s on the former.
Posted by: drjohn | April 30, 2009, 4:04 pm 4:04 pm
This is hilarious. Fox did not cover Obama but they had their own version of his speech, and it rated better than anyone else:
FOX Lie to Me 2.4/7 2.1/7 7.88
CW Top Model 1.8/6 2.1/7 4.00
ABC Obama 1.6/5 1.4/5 6.12
CBS Obama 1.5/5 0.9/3 6.01
NBC Obama 1.6/5 1.1/4 6.68
UNI Obama 1.3/4 1.3/4 3.224
Posted by: drjohn | April 30, 2009, 4:15 pm 4:15 pm
Gibbs does pretty good for someone that had a lobotomy a few months back.
Posted by: Sally J | April 30, 2009, 4:18 pm 4:18 pm
“And I hope that my remarks and remarks of people at CDC and Secretary Napolitano have appropriately cleared up what he meant to say.”
Sure, Bobby.
It sounds a lot like the joke about the definition of a Freudian slip.
“I sat down for breakfast with my wife and when I meant to ‘Good morning’ I said……”
Posted by: drjohn | April 30, 2009, 4:20 pm 4:20 pm
@ Coming Soon to Your Town | Apr 30, 2009 3:24:29 PM
It’s bad enough that a portion (TBD) of Gitmo detainees will be released into the U.S. (and supported at taxpayer expense), but I don’t think it’s a stretch to believe that these (soon to be former) detainees will migrate to (or be recruited by) radical elements within the U.S., which will strengthen jihadist efforts here at home.
But, hey, no worries. As long as we keep an eye on returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and those with anti-abortion and Ron Paul bumper stickers, all will be fine.
Posted by: tjp612 | April 30, 2009, 4:23 pm 4:23 pm
“Distraction” is the Word of the Year, innit? Well, Joe Biden really IS a distraction.
Posted by: L.R. | April 30, 2009, 4:25 pm 4:25 pm
@ drjohn | Apr 30, 2009 4:15:43 PM:
“This is hilarious. Fox did not cover Obama but they had their own version of his speech, and it rated better than anyone else:
FOX Lie to Me 2.4/7 2.1/7 7.88
CW Top Model 1.8/6 2.1/7 4.00
ABC Obama 1.6/5 1.4/5 6.12
CBS Obama 1.5/5 0.9/3 6.01
NBC Obama 1.6/5 1.1/4 6.68
UNI Obama 1.3/4 1.3/4 3.224
=====================================
I didn’t realize Fox didn’t cover the speech…I thought “Lie to Me” WAS the The One’s speech…
Posted by: tjp612 | April 30, 2009, 4:29 pm 4:29 pm
Dr John – Bad news for your ratings breakdown: that means that more people watched Obama than Lie To Me. That’s because O’s viewership was split among many other channels so you have to add them up. The # watching Obama BLOWS AWAY Fox’s viewers. Nice try, tho.
Posted by: mk3872 | April 30, 2009, 4:34 pm 4:34 pm
Leave it to Jake to obsess over what Biden said ALL DAY LONG!
They cleared it up in a release. Instead of trying to cause a health panic, would it not be more prudent to say he said it wrong this AM?
But, nope, Jake’s gonna make Gibbs pay for Biden’s statement!
Way to go Jake!! You stick it to ‘em, buddy!
Posted by: mk3872 | April 30, 2009, 4:35 pm 4:35 pm
tjp612:”I don’t think it’s a stretch to believe that these (soon to be former) detainees will migrate to (or be recruited by) radical elements within the U.S., which will strengthen jihadist efforts here at home.”
Wouldn’t that be awful. I mean, it’s not like we know exactly who they are and could be keeping tabs on them and where they associate.
And this is still all hypothetical – get back to me when a single one has been released in the US and it might sound less like deranged partisan ranting.
Posted by: jhw539 | April 30, 2009, 4:40 pm 4:40 pm
“And this is still all hypothetical – get back to me when a single one has been released in the US and it might sound less like deranged partisan ranting.”
Where else are they going to go? France has agreed to take one (1). Not many other EU countries are jumping on-board:
LUXEMBOURG (AP) (4/6/09):
Austria was worried about the security threat to the European Union posed by the detainees, Interior Minister Maria Fekter told a meeting of her European counterparts.
“If the detainees are no longer dangerous, why don’t they stay in the U.S.,” Fekter told the meeting. “For Austria, I cannot accept Guantanamo inmates.”
Obama repeated his request Sunday for European countries to take some of the 60 inmates who will have to go to another country as they could face abuse, imprisonment or death if returned to their homelands. He has ordered the center to close within a year of his taking office.
Several EU countries, including the Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU presidency, have already declined to take inmates.
=================================
Where’s the love, Europe? We voted in The One!
Posted by: tjp612 | April 30, 2009, 4:49 pm 4:49 pm
Bidens’s comments make more sense that the junk coming out of Obama last night.
Obama said he doesn’t want big government. What a joke. Even France thinks we are too radical.
Obama said he has saved 150,000 jobs but offered no proof. And how much did it cost us per job?
And I feel safer knowing Obama isn’t willing to do everything he can to keep us safe.
Biden makes more sense than the brilliant president.
Posted by: nick | April 30, 2009, 5:16 pm 5:16 pm
VP Biden was specifically asked what he would recommend to his family. He was honest. I still don’t see the problem with his comments. I think it’s a just an excuse to call him out for another gaffe and I think that’s what they were wanting when they asked the question. Heaven forbid that they should just report news – they have to have some drama to include. That’s why I watch the Daily Show for my news. At least I know what I’m getting there.
Posted by: MaryE | April 30, 2009, 6:02 pm 6:02 pm
Are the Obama enablers feeling safe with Obama’s extremely poor choice of doofus Joe Biden to be second in command?
Talk about poor judgement!
Funny how 99% of the media and all of Obama’s supporters ripped Sarah Palin apart, yet they gave Obama a free pass on his horrendous VP choice.
Says alot about them.
Biden is the lovable crazy uncle you usually see on TV sitcoms, The Ted Baxter type, except Biden is real life.
Posted by: OxyCon | April 30, 2009, 6:18 pm 6:18 pm
In Your Guts you Know Biden’s Nuts! It’s not the right or Fox news that is calling him on this stupid gaffe… it’s the White House… wake up apologists… If everybody did what Biden said half the country would lose their job in a matter of weeks.
Posted by: FRedStates | April 30, 2009, 6:42 pm 6:42 pm
the left wants more pub transportation, and the vp is telling us to stay away from it..hahahah
who elected these morons?
Posted by: tom | April 30, 2009, 6:44 pm 6:44 pm
Is Joe Biden related to Homer Simpson? I wonder? Gibbs is equally colorful – perhaps Bart?
Posted by: Buzz Murdock | April 30, 2009, 7:27 pm 7:27 pm
Gibbs is a real piece of work.
Now he’s a mindreader who knows what Biden meant to say.
No, Gibbs is just a liar. Instead of being honest, he pulls an Obama.
No wonder Obama loves him.
Posted by: tanarg | April 30, 2009, 8:08 pm 8:08 pm
Jake,
Next time your at a presser… switch your question or let another reporter ask a question instead of you. I am wondering what would happen if Obama didn’t know what question was coming.
Posted by: Nate Brink | April 30, 2009, 8:28 pm 8:28 pm
This swine flu stuff is an excellent example of media driven (and Biden), mass hysteria. A lot of fuss over not much at all.
Posted by: DonG | May 1, 2009, 2:12 pm 2:12 pm