Gibbs Tells a Female White House Correspondent to ‘Calm Down’

Ms. Ryan needs to stop acting like a crabbarel. kudos to Gibbs

When my wife gets to me, I say “Oh stop it.” That goes over like the proverbial lead balloon!

Gibbs just needs to tell a male WH correspondent — such as Jake Tapper — to calm down next time.

Seems to me their were two “petulant children” in this exchange.

If this is all the news we have with the status
of the nation, I would say that we’re doing
pretty good.

The real issue here is that the Social Secretary was supposed to be taking care of business and the gate crashers would not have gotten in. Gibbs doesn’t want to answer any questions about the incident as that might lay blame where it belongs, on Desiree Rogers instead of solely on the Secret Service. So instead he wants to try and make the reporter look like a fool for asking a pertinent question. If Ms. Rogers wants to be a Social Secretary, then she needs to do her job. If she wants to be a social butterfly, then she does not need to be in charge of putting people in the same room as the President, and Gibbs, whose main function to date is to simply give no one a straight answer on anything, needs to go home and tend to his son and let the White House hire a press secretary that acts like an adult himself.

Gibbs acted just like the administration, like their above everyone else. Lets see how that goes.

I think any talk of race or sex in this instance is irrelevant. It’s obvious that Ryan wanted to get some juice about Desiree Rogers out of Gibbs.
Gibbs obviously didn’t want to offer anything in that regard and talked down to her after becoming annoyed that Ryan wouldn’t relent and give up on the line of questioning. I think he lost his cool and was not professional in the way he reacted.
Still, I think Gibbs saw Ryan’s line of questioning for what it was–an obnoxious attempt to get gossipy details.
What else could she have been looking for after her statement of obvious disdain or at least disapproval about Desiree Rogers? Calling her the “belle of the ball, overshadowing the first lady.”
Clearly, Ryan was fishing for dirt and Gibbs wasn’t having it. Hr probably shouldn’t have compared a grown reporter to a child, but it certainly has nothing to do with the reporter’s sex or race.

Well I see that the administration’s detractors are trying to make a “mountain out of a mole hill” on anything they can – even irrelevant topics like this one. Robert Gibbs is probably the best press secretary I have ever seen. Sexist?/ LOL…LOL!

It seems like Mr. Gibbs starts to act like Mr. Obama here.

didn’t think it was sexist, but it was certainly demeaning. I gasped when he compared her to his son.
Posted by: MayBee | Dec 4, 2009 8:40:20 PM
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I’m certainly no fan of this Admin, nor of Gibbs.
Is this woman a second-class citizen that she must be protected from views of her by shutting everybody else up?
Was she not talking down to Gibbs?

What did she want Gibbs to say about Ms. Rogers? He couldn’t very well say anything bad as the whie house is circling the wagons around her. I don’t care much for the way things are right now and think our President is getting bad advice from his advisors but I’ll have to side with Gibbs.
Besides if the first lady thinks she is being upstaged I have a feeling Ms. Rogers might become the dog walker…if she is lucky.

Gibbs was just following orders from his dictator-in-chief.

Gibby is a chump, and often makes this sort of snarky, childish remark. Was the reporter a tad childish, too? Could be, but she was trying to get answers on an actually germane subject– usually, the social secretary works the party, rather than being a guest. The seats for that particular state dinner, the obamas’ first, were extremely coveted. She claimed one for herself (and brought a guest, perhaps?) How did that happen– she makes up the guest list, so did she just pop herself onto the list or did Michelle or someone else tell her to put herself on the list? This is a reasonable line of questioning, because the argument can be made that had she been working the party, as social secretaries usually do, rather than shmoozing with the other invited guests, the boo-boo might not have happened. That does not exonerate the secret service, but I think there’s plenty of blame to go around.

Pathetic WH press corps protecting each other in your teenie tiny little DC Village.
Ryan was trashing Rogers for abolutely no reason. Why don’t you report on that instead?
Or how about a report on how appropriate the entire piece she was referencing was as a hit piece on Rogers?
Read to me like a nasty bit of “you don’t belong” here from a white woman to a black woman.
It was horrible, just horrible

What is with the “nasty bit of ‘you don’t belong here’ from a white woman to a black woman? The reporter is not white – so what the heck is that comment about?

Gibbs is a jerk.

Gibbs is a talking piece of feces just like everyone else in the Administration.

who cares really? I wonder if these people are living in the same world as some of us are. the real world of needing work or keeping our homes. or maybe someone out there can donate a some funiture to a family that was recently homeless. or we can keep our focus on cinderella and who allowed her to come tothe ball

Dictator in Chief
Propaganda in Chief
Personal Destructor in Chief
Liar in Chief

I don’t know that it was a sexist comment but it was certainly rude and demeaning. Gibbs job is to answer questions. Most often he seems to deflect and obfuscate while throwing in a nice little insult for good measure. He’s not a classy guy, nor does he reflect well on this administration.

Hopefully Que reporters have learned not to repeat the mistakes of the past…their job is to question and find the truth.

Gibbs is one arrogant you know what. Maybe he belongs in the former Bush administration. Can’t stand the guy.

What is important here is that three secret service members are out of a job.
________________________________
Nobody is out of a job.
By the way, it seems you have already judged who is responsible.
Excellent. You would be perfect on a jury in your little fascist right wing state of the future – no need for rule of law or justice, just judge and condemn on your own limited evidence and beliefs.
Perfect.

It hardly matters what they ask in the white house press briefing, the Obama Admin never answers any questions forthrightly or honestly. Does anyone think that they could get more than about 17% of the vote if they answered questions honestly?

Tierra; how come your not upset that they are using executive powers not to have Desiree Rogers testify to why she was not doing her job? this is the same thing the libs got mad when busch would not let rove testify. So is it ok to have double standards? why wouldnt you be mad when gibbs treated a person rudely and unprofessional basically calling a press woman she was acting like a 5 year old? Is only people that dont agree with you held to standards in your twisted mind?

Yes, I do think he talked down to her. However, how is it that anyone thinks it’s acceptable to speak to a member of the Presidential staff in such an abusive manner?
Gibbs tried to move onto another subject, only to be dragged right back down into the pit. I think the reporter was way out of line!
Once again, trying to gain traction from a non-issue.

Couldnt agree with you more Que! At least Obama doesn’t stack the audience and pressroom with people who only ask easy & scripted questions!

They are all a bunch of whiny cry babies.
Not ready for prime time.

Reading the transcript doesn’t do it justice. The video shows the reaction of the other reporters when Gibbs made that statement.
You should be careful Mr. Tapper, very soon Gibbs and Rahm will be saying ABC isn’t a real news organization too.

LOL…LOL… This is such a non-issue and yet look at all the emotional responses posted on it. Is it any wonder why politics is so screwed up. Nobody knows how to tell the difference between the important versus the non-important.

Maybe Ryan was just fed up with Gibbs bs.
I know I am.

Hey Disney news most people don’t care about this story.

If a Republican Press Sec’y had done this, can you imagine the reaction by the leftwing loons ?

The question is whether or not Gibbs would have used the same expression in replying to a male reporter´s tenacious questioning. (If male, it´s tenacity; if female, it´s nagging.). I think not, therefore, if not exactly sexist, it was a patronizing remark.

I was disappointed to hear Gibbs had a son. After listening to him for the last year I had hoped he had been snipped.

Robert Fibbs doesn’ believe what he say’s ,why would anyone else,and I wish more so called journalists would grow a spine and not let this whimp get away with his aggrogance.

i can’t belive that reporter was from anywhere reputable. she sounded like she was asking questions better suited for the enquirer. belle of the ball? r u kidding me?

This reporter was doing her job and Gibbs should have answered her questions. Desiree Rogers is just like Brownie in the Bush Administration–a crony who can’t get the job done.
They have the nerve to invoke executive privilege over this? Rogers isn’t some spy. She’s the Social Secretary and if Congress wants her to testify about her errors then she should testify. This adminstration is arrogant and incompetent!

does anyone notice out there how everything associated with this barry soeturo is classless and arrogant? who the heck does this hayseed hick called bobby gibbs think he is? he certainly aint no genius in hos own right. what are his credentials- a real loser

too bad the press didn’t get as vociferous with Bush and Cheney as they ‘led’ america to ruin, the press were cowards, or ‘Rummy’ with his many inane ‘quasi-mystical’ military pronouncements

i think bobby gibbs is racst and sexst, he never said anything similar to a white male reporter

Posted by: jcarob | Dec 5, 2009 5:57:24 PM “Isn’t it obvious that things are spinning out of control for this administration?”
Nonsense. Didn’t you ever watch the interaction between the press and the White House Press Secretaries during past administrations? It’s a horrible job no matter who is president and every Press Secretary gets beat up by the Press at one time or another. And, how exactly does this incident translate into the Obama administration making “errors of judgments left and right”?

realman1963 | Dec 5, 2009 6:22:55 PM posted “Nothing this administratoin does from teh top on down smells right, they cant even run a state dinner without probs, think bout it.”
Nonsense. The world is far more complex. I am old enough to remember a State Dinner when Nancy Reagan got into a huffy fight with Raisa Gorbachev.

What a jack-ass! This jerk should have never been hired. He either dodges or makes light of reporter’s questions, gets snotty with them and always wants to toss blame over to Republicans…He fits in real well with this incompotent bunch…

It was highly inappropriate for Mr. Gibbs to initially say, “Calm down,” to the reporter, and even worse to indicate that he had to handle his son in a similar way. He used condescending methods to express his feelings. As a press secretary, he knows how to skillfully redirect the topic of questioning as well as end a line of questioning that he doesn’t intend to address. Those are the types of expertise that any good press secretary possesses. It was unnecessary to make it personal and denigrating. Perhaps Mr. Gibbs did not intend to be personally insulting, but I hope that someone pointed out to him that his language was inappropriate. If something similar happens again, then it will show a pattern of prejudice.
As a female professional, I’ve noticed how some men use such tactics with female colleagues in meetings, etc.; whereas, they would never use such expressions to “win” during a disagreement with a man. It’s an attempt to label the woman’s point of view as juvenile and immature and hopefully cause her to back down. Truly confident, professional males don’t reduce themselves by engaging in this type of behavior.

What a bunch of nonsense.
Sometimes even professionals speak intemperately and it seems that’s the case on both sides of this dust-up.
According to ABC an unidentified “Some” are calling it sexist. Two things – I guess it’s now okay to report any nonsense that anyone says without any rhyme or reason to the charge. And secondly, is ABC saying that anyone that criticizes a woman opens themselves to a charge of sexism?

CND Fox wrote “Robert Gibbs is probably the best press secretary I have ever seen.”
My response to that statement is to question your age (could you possibly be less than 10yo), or to question your intelligence (is that horse excrement or bull excrement between your ears?), or to question your sanity (nutty as a fruit cake?). Next thing you’ll be telling us that the U.S. is running a budget surplus.
Posted by: htg *
That’s gonna leave a mark.

He either dodges or makes light of reporter’s questions, gets snotty
Posted by: Dennis
curious as to what country you lived in during the Bush/Cheney administration

Next thing you’ll be telling us that the U.S. is running a budget surplus.
__________________________________
No, it was the Republicans under Bush who promised a budget surplus – and failed miserably.

Hi. It seems as though many of you are missing the point of this story. The simple fact that this White House is using the excuse of “separation of powers” is in itself quite disgusting. This woman, I believe (correct me if I’m wrong) changed the procedure from that of previous White Houses of having someone there with a clipboard to check names. I seems to me that this is NOT the job of the Secret Service; at the same time they shouldn’t let people in without an invite or not on the list. However, to say that this woman bears no responsibility and shouldn’t at least be questioned is ridiculous.

well, sweetie, obama likes women. He married one!
he couldn’t be sexist, he just thinks women should remember their place

After listening to her I’m surprised he didn’t say worse. I wouldn’t have this job. No matter the party. It’s got to be one of the hardest jobs up there and I don’t see how any of them keep their patience.

After listening to her I’m surprised he didn’t say worse. I wouldn’t have this job. No matter the party. It’s got to be one of the hardest jobs up there and I don’t see how any of them keep their patienc
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I remember Bush’s press secretary responding to all the questions with exactly the same answer – repeated robotically. No interplay at all – just the same memorized talking point.

PERFECT COMMENT::::::::
Gibbs has to deal with a bunch of reporters more interested in gossip, gotcha and silly stories than substance and real issues. Are they the paparazzi or journalists, for pete’s sake? April Ryan was following a ridiculous, catty line of questioning and wouldn’t give it up. IMHO, she was disrespectful of Gibbs, Michelle Obama and Rogers. The briefing room is full of egos and agendas. What surprises me is that Gibbs doesn’t totally lose his patience more often. (He’s not perfect, but I like him. He’s funny, and a good guy– and if he got better questions, you never know, he might start really digging in to answer them– but maybe not. Everyone has their role and its funny that people act like he obfuscates more or is less direct than others– uh, no!)
Posted by: Jemma

Sounds like the reporter was way out of bounds and got a little too proud of herself. If I were Gibbs I’d have her permanently thrown out for acting like a petulant child.

Tankatron and joseph-the bastions of Free Speech!
Great.
Hey, Jake…if you ever throw your shoes at Mr. Gibbs, we’ll understand!

The heathers in the political press obviously can’t stand to see somebody who doesn’t know their place. As with Hillary in 1993, who fired their buddies in the travel office and Al Gore in 2000, who didn’t realize what a nerd he was, they are out for blood with Ms. Rogers. Maureen Dowd in on the case, so you know the Washington schoolgirls are sharpening their knives.
I hearken back to 1986 when the girls’ restroom was all atwitter that a band-geek would attempt to sit at the prom-queen’s lunch table…Some people never grow up.
If Ms. Ryan wants to be treated as an adult, she should act like one.