Sean Spicer: King of Alternative Facts

[apple1]

2 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

Once you sell your soul like that, there is no coming back.

Well, maybe. But I choose to believe that where there is life there is hope. He made a horrible choice by going to work for Trump - but I have heard a number of reporters say that he actually had a good reputation prior to going to work for Trump. I don't excuse any of his mistakes, but I hope he can recover.

Just my opinion.

[onekidanddone]

21 minutes ago, apple1 said:

Well, maybe. But I choose to believe that where there is life there is hope. He made a horrible choice by going to work for Trump - but I have heard a number of reporters say that he actually had a good reputation prior to going to work for Trump. I don't excuse any of his mistakes, but I hope he can recover.

Just my opinion.

I hope he can recover as well, and he was no where as odious as most of Trump's minions. I'm just letting my own bitterness show too much these days I suppose. I am glad was able to have an audience with the Pope. I get the sense his faith was important to him. Perhaps after this Spicer can begin to heal. (Not heel as his x-boss would say).

Edited August 29, 2017 by onekidanddone
Edited because I left out words.

[GrumpyGran]

15 hours ago, apple1 said:

Well, maybe. But I choose to believe that where there is life there is hope. He made a horrible choice by going to work for Trump - but I have heard a number of reporters say that he actually had a good reputation prior to going to work for Trump. I don't excuse any of his mistakes, but I hope he can recover.

Just my opinion.

I don't wish him bad either but he did lose credibility, as has everyone associated with Trump now. I don't know what he is actually doing right now, maybe intense therapy? This trip might have been part of the healing, taking back the things he lost but it would help him regain his reputation if he did a bit of public apology.

Of course we don't really know how far the reach of Trump goes so maybe he and his family are going into Witness Protection. 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Spicer lands post-White House gig"

Spoiler

Sean Spicer is cashing in on “candor.”

President Donald Trump’s first press secretary — who ceded his high-profile post to Sarah Huckabee Sanders in July but celebrated his official last day in the West Wing on Aug. 31 — has signed with Worldwide Speakers Group, the company confirmed to POLITICO.

“Audiences around the world will benefit from the same candor, wit and insight that Spicer brought to the White House briefing room,” Worldwide Speakers Group writes about Spicer in its pitch to potential customers, an early copy of which was reviewed by POLITICO.

But at his first briefing in January, Spicer falsely claimed the size of the crowd at Trump’s inauguration was bigger than President Barack Obama’s crowd eight years earlier, despite photographic evidence to the contrary — and then refused to take questions from reporters. In July, CNN preemptively said it would not hire Spicer, citing credibility issues related to that and other false statements made from the podium.

Spicer’s tenure in the White House often put him in what seemed to be an impossible position, being forced to defend claims by the president for which there was no basis in fact. But he remains in high demand on the speaking circuit, in part as an inside player with a unique vantage point on a historic election and on the opening months of the Trump presidency.

His first paid speaking gig will be in New York City on Sept. 11, at the annual conference of the investment bank Rodman & Renshaw, according to two people familiar with his schedule.

A spokesman for Worldwide Speakers Group said in a statement: “We are thrilled to provide Sean for our major trade association, corporate, university and public lecture series customers around the world. With his well-known candor and extensive experience, Sean is uniquely qualified to help audiences understand how the political environment will impact them now and in the future.”

The spokesman declined to comment on how much Spicer would be paid per speech. Spicer declined to comment for this story.

After POLITICO published its story early Monday morning, the speakers' bureau deleted any mention of "candor" from Spicer's online bio. Instead, the pitch to customers was edited to read: "everybody knows Sean Spicer," and included a mention of his "trademark style behind the White House podium."

Delivering paid speeches — the lucrative and well-trod pasture of former lawmakers and their name-brand aides — will be one of the main components of Spicer’s post-White House life, according to multiple people briefed on his plans. But he is also planning to pitch a book proposal and, as of last week, his agent, Robert Barnett, was making the rounds to networks to negotiate a possible deal for his client. So far, Spicer has yet to nail down a paid television talking-head gig.

For months, agents in Washington have been playing the guessing game about who would be the first Trump insider to cash in on a book about the administration. In a saturated news environment, it is not exactly clear what that book would be.

“This is simultaneously the most opaque and the most transparent administration in history,” said Keith Urbahn, whose company, Javelin, represents former FBI Director James Comey and Democratic operative Donna Brazile. “There are not a lot of secrets. They are leaked every day in the newspapers. So you really have to think through what the book is, because publishing into a news cycle like this is a challenge.”

But Spicer, other agents have said, could have an interesting story to tell about his interactions with the media and his relationship with the press when the cameras were off.

The most famous former press secretary to pen a book about his experience inside the bubble is Scott McClellan, a former spokesman for President George W. Bush whose tell-all, “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,” criticized his former boss for the way he sold the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. The book was widely criticized by other Bush operatives, who painted McClellan as an opportunist who never voiced any skepticism about the administration’s foreign policy decisions when he was on the inside.

“The criticism from some in Washington will be directed at those that write an honest account, versus those that write a book simply because they have an opportunity to leverage it for their own personal reasons,” McClellan said in an interview. “My intention was totally different when I wrote it. I decided if I tell it from my perspective, based on what the truth is, I’ll let the chips fall where they may.”

Spicer is joining Worldwide’s roster of paid talent, which includes former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Fox contributor Tomi Lahren, former Obama communications director Jen Psaki, and former Trump campaign deputy manager David Bossie, among others.

Since late July, when Spicer resigned as White House press secretary following the appointment of Anthony Scaramucci as communications director, he has been exploring opportunities available to a former Republican National Committee spokesman who virtually overnight became a household name — thanks to the country’s obsessive focus on all things Trump, as well as to comedian Melissa McCarthy’s recurring impersonation of Spicer as a surprisingly endearing rage case on “Saturday Night Live.”

He turned down an opportunity to appear on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.” But he has been exploring other ways to make a living based on his unique position as one of the best-known faces of the opening months of the Trump administration — over the past month interviewing about 10 speakers’ bureaus that had expressed interest in signing him as a client.

When Scaramucci announced that Sanders would be replacing Spicer, he wished him success in his next chapter. “I hope he goes on to make a tremendous amount of money,” Scaramucci said at his one-and-done news conference in the White House briefing room.

Trump also sent him off with well wishes, tweeting that Spicer is “a wonderful person who took tremendous abuse from the Fake News Media — but his future is bright!”

"...candor, wit, and insight..." Seriously?

[sawasdee]

It was yet another example of the TT's petty spitefulness - he likes to do things like that just to show he can.

[Audrey2]

1 hour ago, GreyhoundFan said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Sean Spicer is cashing in on “candor.”

President Donald Trump’s first press secretary — who ceded his high-profile post to Sarah Huckabee Sanders in July but celebrated his official last day in the West Wing on Aug. 31 — has signed with Worldwide Speakers Group, the company confirmed to POLITICO.

“Audiences around the world will benefit from the same candor, wit and insight that Spicer brought to the White House briefing room,” Worldwide Speakers Group writes about Spicer in its pitch to potential customers, an early copy of which was reviewed by POLITICO.

But at his first briefing in January, Spicer falsely claimed the size of the crowd at Trump’s inauguration was bigger than President Barack Obama’s crowd eight years earlier, despite photographic evidence to the contrary — and then refused to take questions from reporters. In July, CNN preemptively said it would not hire Spicer, citing credibility issues related to that and other false statements made from the podium.

Spicer’s tenure in the White House often put him in what seemed to be an impossible position, being forced to defend claims by the president for which there was no basis in fact. But he remains in high demand on the speaking circuit, in part as an inside player with a unique vantage point on a historic election and on the opening months of the Trump presidency.

His first paid speaking gig will be in New York City on Sept. 11, at the annual conference of the investment bank Rodman & Renshaw, according to two people familiar with his schedule.

A spokesman for Worldwide Speakers Group said in a statement: “We are thrilled to provide Sean for our major trade association, corporate, university and public lecture series customers around the world. With his well-known candor and extensive experience, Sean is uniquely qualified to help audiences understand how the political environment will impact them now and in the future.”

The spokesman declined to comment on how much Spicer would be paid per speech. Spicer declined to comment for this story.

After POLITICO published its story early Monday morning, the speakers' bureau deleted any mention of "candor" from Spicer's online bio. Instead, the pitch to customers was edited to read: "everybody knows Sean Spicer," and included a mention of his "trademark style behind the White House podium."

Delivering paid speeches — the lucrative and well-trod pasture of former lawmakers and their name-brand aides — will be one of the main components of Spicer’s post-White House life, according to multiple people briefed on his plans. But he is also planning to pitch a book proposal and, as of last week, his agent, Robert Barnett, was making the rounds to networks to negotiate a possible deal for his client. So far, Spicer has yet to nail down a paid television talking-head gig.

For months, agents in Washington have been playing the guessing game about who would be the first Trump insider to cash in on a book about the administration. In a saturated news environment, it is not exactly clear what that book would be.

“This is simultaneously the most opaque and the most transparent administration in history,” said Keith Urbahn, whose company, Javelin, represents former FBI Director James Comey and Democratic operative Donna Brazile. “There are not a lot of secrets. They are leaked every day in the newspapers. So you really have to think through what the book is, because publishing into a news cycle like this is a challenge.”

But Spicer, other agents have said, could have an interesting story to tell about his interactions with the media and his relationship with the press when the cameras were off.

The most famous former press secretary to pen a book about his experience inside the bubble is Scott McClellan, a former spokesman for President George W. Bush whose tell-all, “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,” criticized his former boss for the way he sold the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. The book was widely criticized by other Bush operatives, who painted McClellan as an opportunist who never voiced any skepticism about the administration’s foreign policy decisions when he was on the inside.

“The criticism from some in Washington will be directed at those that write an honest account, versus those that write a book simply because they have an opportunity to leverage it for their own personal reasons,” McClellan said in an interview. “My intention was totally different when I wrote it. I decided if I tell it from my perspective, based on what the truth is, I’ll let the chips fall where they may.”

Spicer is joining Worldwide’s roster of paid talent, which includes former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Fox contributor Tomi Lahren, former Obama communications director Jen Psaki, and former Trump campaign deputy manager David Bossie, among others.

Since late July, when Spicer resigned as White House press secretary following the appointment of Anthony Scaramucci as communications director, he has been exploring opportunities available to a former Republican National Committee spokesman who virtually overnight became a household name — thanks to the country’s obsessive focus on all things Trump, as well as to comedian Melissa McCarthy’s recurring impersonation of Spicer as a surprisingly endearing rage case on “Saturday Night Live.”

He turned down an opportunity to appear on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.” But he has been exploring other ways to make a living based on his unique position as one of the best-known faces of the opening months of the Trump administration — over the past month interviewing about 10 speakers’ bureaus that had expressed interest in signing him as a client.

When Scaramucci announced that Sanders would be replacing Spicer, he wished him success in his next chapter. “I hope he goes on to make a tremendous amount of money,” Scaramucci said at his one-and-done news conference in the White House briefing room.

Trump also sent him off with well wishes, tweeting that Spicer is “a wonderful person who took tremendous abuse from the Fake News Media — but his future is bright!”

"...candor, wit, and insight..." Seriously?

Well, hiding in the bushes was pretty funny...

[fraurosena]

1 hour ago, Audrey2 said:

Well, hiding in the bushes was pretty funny...

And going after journalists with his motorized lecturn... wait, that was Melissa McCarthy. Nevermind.

[GreyhoundFan]

"The amazing anecdote about Sean Spicer in Katy Tur’s new book'

Spoiler

NBC News correspondent Katy Tur is out with a look-back book on her 500-plus days covering the Trump campaign. Titled “Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History,” the journalist’s tell-most pairs the usual stories about campaign-trail drudgery and logistics with the highly unusual stories about Donald Trump and his fellow road warriors. In the midst of it all is a doozy of an anecdote regarding eventual and now-former White House press secretary Sean Spicer. The backdrop is Election Day afternoon, as Tur is explaining Trump’s “paths to victory” on “Meet the Press Daily” with colleague Chuck Todd. After finishing up, she tweets: 

... < tweet : Publicly and privately we are already hearing frustration from Trump camp about the coordination bw RNC and Team Trump. >

Now, let “Unbelievable” take it away:

My phone rings while still in my hands.

Never good.

Hey, I say, trying to sound at ease.

Casual Katy.

It’s Sean Spicer, the communications director for the RNC.

Who told you there was frustration between the party and the campaign? he asks, in a tone somewhere between a growl and a yell. It’s not true.

I start to tell him about Ali Vitali’s reporting, but he interrupts.

Katy, I’m telling you it’s not true.

Sean, it’s not just Ali’s source.

Who’s saying it? he demands.

Well, this is easy.

Kellyanne Conway just said it on the air with Chuck Todd, I say.

What? Huh? What did she say?

Read my tweet, I say. She said she was disappointed she didn’t get the full support of the party.

Sean is silent for a half second.

I gotta go, he says.

Click.

To turn back the time machine: Conway told Todd that the Trump campaign didn’t receive the “full support of the Republican infrastructure” and lamented that “we have former presidents not voting for us, former nominees not voting for us.” And Vitali’s source ripped the Republican National Committee for coming up short on getting out the vote, according to “Unbelievable.”

Nor were Tur and Vitali on fresh turf here. Accounts of tensions between the Trump campaign and the RNC were a staple of 2016 campaign-trail journalism, with Tur contributing to the crop.

Yet: Spicer perhaps had cause to grumble. The Trump campaign relied to an extensive degree on RNC assistance with functions that had long been the province of presidential campaigns. As the New York Times’ Nicholas Confessore and Rachel Shorey wrote months before the election, “Donald J. Trump is leaning heavily on Republican Party organizations to provide crucial campaign functions like getting out the vote, digital outreach and fund-raising, at a time when some leading Republicans have called for party officials to cut off Mr. Trump and focus instead on maintaining control of Congress.” The campaign’s reliance on the RNC exceeded that of any previous campaign, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Apparently the future White House press secretary didn’t care to litigate those points with an NBC News correspondent on election night.

By the way, Melissa won a well-deserved Emmy for her portrayal of Spicey!

[GreyhoundFan]

"Jimmy Kimmel mocks Sean Spicer to his face about that inauguration crowd size incident"

Spoiler

... < video >

Jimmy Kimmel had a lot to discuss with Sean Spicer on Wednesday night, as President Trump’s embattled former press secretary stopped by “Jimmy Kimmel Live” for his first interview since leaving the White House.

“He survived one of the worst jobs ever and is free, at last, to speak about it,” Kimmel said by way of introduction, as Spicer walked out to big applause.

They talked Trump’s Twitter habits; the term “fake news”; that Melissa McCarthy impression (Spicer deemed it “kind of funny”); whether he’ll write a tell-all book (he says no); and, obviously, Anthony Scaramucci. But Kimmel was especially animated about one particular topic — Spicer’s debut in front of the White House press corps back in January, with his statements about Trump’s inauguration crowd size.

“Right off the bat, your first-ever press conference — you get in there, and it’s the day after the inauguration, and you are charged with the job with going in front of the press,” Kimmel said with a huge grin, already starting to chuckle. “And saying that the inauguration crowd was the biggest crowd, I think, ever, biggest audience …”

“Yes, I’m aware of it,” Spicer said, laughing. The audience cracked up and applauded at that line. “I appreciate the reminder of how it went down.”

That made Kimmel laugh, too. “Now if it was up to you, would this even have been a topic?” he prodded.

... < video >

“If it was up to me, I would have probably worn a different suit,” Spicer explained. Apparently, he went to work that day to set up his office, unaware that he was going to have to go on TV and tell the world, “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration — period — both in person and around the globe.” (The remark earned Four Pinocchios.)

Spicer said that Trump “wanted to make sure the record got set straight” and was upset because he felt that people were trying to undermine the validity of his election and didn’t want to give him credit for his victory.

Kimmel pointed out that inaugural crowd size and electoral victory are two very different things, and Spicer admitted many in the White House would have rather focused on other issues. “But look, he’s president,” Spicer said. “He made a decision.”

The late-night host appeared fascinated by this. “So if you have to go along, even if you know — and I’m not asking you to say whether it was or not — even if you know the crowd wasn’t bigger, you have to go, as press secretary, you have to say that it was.”

“Your job as press secretary is to represent the president’s voice and to make sure that you are articulating what he believes … whether or not you agree or not isn’t your job. Your job is to give him advice, which is what we would do on a variety of issues all the time,” Spicer said. “But ultimately, he’s the president. He would say ‘I agree with you’ sometimes, or ‘That’s a good point,’ incorporate it; or sometimes he would say, depending on the issue, ‘Look, I know what I believe, and this is what I think the right thing to do is.’ ”

“And then you have to march out there and go, ‘Yeah, he had a bigger crowd, everybody!’ ” Kimmel said mockingly.

“As I said, he’s the president; he decides,” Spicer said.

“I understand,” Kimmel acknowledged.

“And that’s what you sign up to do,” Spicer concluded.

Kimmel swung back around to the incident one more time, as they discussed Spicer’s relationship with the press, showing a video of the time ABC’s Jonathan Karl asked if Spicer intended to always tell the truth. Spicer was not pleased with that remark. “To get up there and question, on day one, my integrity, I think was not something that I anticipated,” he said.

“Yeah, well, I’m sure. Although when you brought that crowd size thing out, you opened this terrible Pandora’s box,” Kimmel countered. “You think that got you off to kind of a bad start with the press corps?”

“I don’t think it was probably the best start, no,” Spicer said, smiling.

And in case you’re wondering how he feels about the Mooch — a much-dissected topic since Spicer left when Scaramucci was given the top White House communications job — Spicer insists that he had no personal issues with him and simply thought he wasn’t qualified for the position.

Kimmel asked if Spicer celebrated after the now-infamous New Yorker interview that led to Scaramucci’s extremely swift departure. Spicer insisted there was no schadenfreude.

“I don’t think it’s right to relish in someone else’s problems,” Spicer said. “But again, I think it proved my point that to do this job, is one in which you have to have the proper background —”

Kimmel interrupted: “I imagine you high-fiving everyone.” Spicer just laughed.

He says he isn't going to write a book. I wonder if that's true or if he'll succumb to the large paycheck he could get. My thought is that if he doesn't, it's because the TT has something on him.

[onekidanddone]

Gravity. We have our facts, Spicey has his.

[GrumpyGran]

He's up to something, you don't just appear on Jimmy Kimmel because you're bored and he had a space open. He probably got himself a PR person and they're trotting him around to see what kind of reception he gets. Then maybe a book.

[candygirl200413]

Isn't he going on a show? Forgot to add to something like fox.

Edited September 15, 2017 by candygirl200413

[Bethella]

38 minutes ago, candygirl200413 said:

Isn't he going on a show? Forgot to add to something like fox.

I think he's joining the paid speaking circuit.

[Howl]

On 9/5/2017 at 0:39 PM, GreyhoundFan said:

"Spicer lands post-White House gig"

  Reveal hidden contents

Sean Spicer is cashing in on “candor.”

President Donald Trump’s first press secretary — who ceded his high-profile post to Sarah Huckabee Sanders in July but celebrated his official last day in the West Wing on Aug. 31 — has signed with Worldwide Speakers Group, the company confirmed to POLITICO.

“Audiences around the world will benefit from the same candor, wit and insight that Spicer brought to the White House briefing room,” Worldwide Speakers Group writes about Spicer in its pitch to potential customers, an early copy of which was reviewed by POLITICO.

But at his first briefing in January, Spicer falsely claimed the size of the crowd at Trump’s inauguration was bigger than President Barack Obama’s crowd eight years earlier, despite photographic evidence to the contrary — and then refused to take questions from reporters. In July, CNN preemptively said it would not hire Spicer, citing credibility issues related to that and other false statements made from the podium.

Spicer’s tenure in the White House often put him in what seemed to be an impossible position, being forced to defend claims by the president for which there was no basis in fact. But he remains in high demand on the speaking circuit, in part as an inside player with a unique vantage point on a historic election and on the opening months of the Trump presidency.

His first paid speaking gig will be in New York City on Sept. 11, at the annual conference of the investment bank Rodman & Renshaw, according to two people familiar with his schedule.

A spokesman for Worldwide Speakers Group said in a statement: “We are thrilled to provide Sean for our major trade association, corporate, university and public lecture series customers around the world. With his well-known candor and extensive experience, Sean is uniquely qualified to help audiences understand how the political environment will impact them now and in the future.”

The spokesman declined to comment on how much Spicer would be paid per speech. Spicer declined to comment for this story.

After POLITICO published its story early Monday morning, the speakers' bureau deleted any mention of "candor" from Spicer's online bio. Instead, the pitch to customers was edited to read: "everybody knows Sean Spicer," and included a mention of his "trademark style behind the White House podium."

Delivering paid speeches — the lucrative and well-trod pasture of former lawmakers and their name-brand aides — will be one of the main components of Spicer’s post-White House life, according to multiple people briefed on his plans. But he is also planning to pitch a book proposal and, as of last week, his agent, Robert Barnett, was making the rounds to networks to negotiate a possible deal for his client. So far, Spicer has yet to nail down a paid television talking-head gig.

For months, agents in Washington have been playing the guessing game about who would be the first Trump insider to cash in on a book about the administration. In a saturated news environment, it is not exactly clear what that book would be.

“This is simultaneously the most opaque and the most transparent administration in history,” said Keith Urbahn, whose company, Javelin, represents former FBI Director James Comey and Democratic operative Donna Brazile. “There are not a lot of secrets. They are leaked every day in the newspapers. So you really have to think through what the book is, because publishing into a news cycle like this is a challenge.”

But Spicer, other agents have said, could have an interesting story to tell about his interactions with the media and his relationship with the press when the cameras were off.

The most famous former press secretary to pen a book about his experience inside the bubble is Scott McClellan, a former spokesman for President George W. Bush whose tell-all, “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,” criticized his former boss for the way he sold the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. The book was widely criticized by other Bush operatives, who painted McClellan as an opportunist who never voiced any skepticism about the administration’s foreign policy decisions when he was on the inside.

“The criticism from some in Washington will be directed at those that write an honest account, versus those that write a book simply because they have an opportunity to leverage it for their own personal reasons,” McClellan said in an interview. “My intention was totally different when I wrote it. I decided if I tell it from my perspective, based on what the truth is, I’ll let the chips fall where they may.”

Spicer is joining Worldwide’s roster of paid talent, which includes former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Fox contributor Tomi Lahren, former Obama communications director Jen Psaki, and former Trump campaign deputy manager David Bossie, among others.

Since late July, when Spicer resigned as White House press secretary following the appointment of Anthony Scaramucci as communications director, he has been exploring opportunities available to a former Republican National Committee spokesman who virtually overnight became a household name — thanks to the country’s obsessive focus on all things Trump, as well as to comedian Melissa McCarthy’s recurring impersonation of Spicer as a surprisingly endearing rage case on “Saturday Night Live.”

He turned down an opportunity to appear on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.” But he has been exploring other ways to make a living based on his unique position as one of the best-known faces of the opening months of the Trump administration — over the past month interviewing about 10 speakers’ bureaus that had expressed interest in signing him as a client.

When Scaramucci announced that Sanders would be replacing Spicer, he wished him success in his next chapter. “I hope he goes on to make a tremendous amount of money,” Scaramucci said at his one-and-done news conference in the White House briefing room.

Trump also sent him off with well wishes, tweeting that Spicer is “a wonderful person who took tremendous abuse from the Fake News Media — but his future is bright!”

"...candor, wit, and insight..." Seriously?

Well, one would hope that candor would include an answer to the question, "What the **** were you thinking when you took the job at the WH?"

I'm not holding a grudge against Spicey; there's a self deprecating aspect to his personality that seems appealing.  I hope he bounces back and leads a long and decent life, far away from the TT.  I'd love it if he and Melissa McCarthy would co-host Saturday Night Live. 

[GrumpyGran]

5 hours ago, Howl said:

Well, one would hope that candor would include an answer to the question, "What the **** were you thinking when you took the job at the WH?"

I'm not holding a grudge against Spicey; there's a self deprecating aspect to his personality that seems appealing.  I hope he bounces back and leads a long and decent life, far away from the TT.  I'd love it if he and Melissa McCarthy would co-host Saturday Night Live. 

So they're putting him out there now to drum up interest, sort of auditioning him for speaking engagements.

It would be great if he and Melissa could do SNL. He seems to have at least a bit of self-awareness.

[GreyhoundFan]

14 minutes ago, GrumpyGran said:

It would be great if he and Melissa could do SNL. He seems to have at least a bit of self-awareness.

I have an image of Melissa/Spicey resigning (loudly) and then driving her motorized podium outside to see the real Spicey in the bushes. Of course, he'd never go for that.

[GreyhoundFan]

Jennifer Rubin's take on Spicey: "Why are elites rewarding Sean Spicer?"

Spoiler

Sean Spicer was no victim. He willingly served a president who asked him over and over again to lie. Rather than resist or quit, he repeatedly stood behind the podium, the face and voice of the White House, and lied. Ryan Lizza recounted:

Spicer defended Trump’s lie about how there were three million fraudulent votes in the 2016 election. He spent weeks using shifting stories to defend Trump’s lie about President Barack Obama wiretapping Trump Tower. In trying to explain the urgency of the attack on Syria, Spicer explained, “You had someone as despicable as Hitler, who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons.” …

He lied about the nature of the meeting at Trump Tower in June, 2016, between senior Trump-campaign officials and several people claiming to have information about Hillary Clinton from the Russian government. “There was nothing, as far as we know, that would lead anyone to believe that there was anything except for discussion about adoption,” Spicer claimed, bizarrely, because Donald Trump, Jr., had already admitted that the meeting was about Russian dirt on Clinton.

He insulted and demeaned the free press, continuing an unprecedented assault on objective sources of truth.

Melissa McCarthy, in her uproarious impersonation of Spicer (or more like an inhabiting of Spicer) on “Saturday Night Live,” arguably did more than any single human in peeling the bark off the dishonest press secretary. She exposed the peculiar mix of inarticulateness, obnoxiousness and duplicitousness that defined not only Spicer but also his boss.

For this, you’d expect that in his post-White House life, he would receive the scorn and ostracism of liberal elites, and certainly from the media, right? You’d be wrong.

He’s the toast of the towns, the elite ones. He’s a guest on Jimmy Kimmel’s show, yukking it up about, well, about lying. The Los Angeles Times recounted: “According to Spicer, journalists cross a line when ‘they go on Twitter, or on other social media, and start to perpetuate myths.’ ” Yes sirree, what a laugh riot. Still trying to discredit the press that dares to expose his and his ex-boss’s lies.

They should be teaching a course at Harvard on ethics and democracy just using Spicer’s tenure as an example of the threats to free societies when its leaders abscond with the truth and delegitimize the media. Well, not exactly.

Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government has extended him a visiting fellowship. No, really. The Kennedy School (full disclosure: I have accepted an invitation to speak later this month) was recently shamed into revoking the visiting fellowship of Chelsea Manning, convicted for betraying her country and leaking classified material. (President Barack Obama, in one of the most controversial actions of his presidency, commuted her sentence.)

Reflecting the widespread outrage of the intelligence community over the Manning commutation, CIA Director Mike Pompeo withdrew from a scheduled appearance at Harvard, and ex-acting CIA director Michael Morell resigned as a senior fellow at Kennedy. (Pompeo cited the decision of “Harvard to place its stamp of approval upon [Manning’s] treasonous actions.”) The school’s dean, Douglas W. Elmendorf, withdrew the visiting fellowship invitation to Manning.

And yet the invitation to Spicer still stands. Elmendorf wrote about Manning:

I see more clearly now that many people view a Visiting Fellow title as an honorific, so we should weigh that consideration when offering invitations. In particular, I think we should weigh, for each potential visitor, what members of the Kennedy School community could learn from that person’s visit against the extent to which that person’s conduct fulfills the values of public service to which we aspire. This balance is not always easy to determine, and reasonable people can disagree about where to strike the balance for specific people. Any determination should start with the presumption that more speech is better than less.

Spicer is not in the same moral universe as Manning. Nevertheless, as with Manning, the fellowship for Spicer will be viewed as “honorific,” and hence a validation of his actions, which are defined almost entirely by the lies he told. Harvard absolutely should invite those who have served in this administration, although I grant you, the pickings are slim. But why not invite Sally Yates or James B. Comey? They’d surely have important lessons to depart about the obligations of public servants. Perhaps Elmendorf will reconsider his invitation to Spicer as well.

From Hollywood and Cambridge, Mass., Spicer has gotten not only a second chance but also a pat on the back after disgracing the institution of the presidency and waging war on a free press. And you wonder why our politics and culture have gone to seed?

I can't believe Harvard has offered him a visiting fellowship.

[onekidanddone]

2 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

He’s the toast of the towns, the elite ones. He’s a guest on Jimmy Kimmel’s show, yukking it up about, well, about lying. The Los Angeles Times recounted: “According to Spicer, journalists presidents cross a line when ‘they go on Twitter, or on other social media, and start to perpetuate myths.’ ”

Fixed it for him.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Sean Spicer crashes Emmys in another apparent attempt to repair his image"

Spoiler

...

Looks like Sean Spicer stayed in Los Angeles after his appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” this week for one big reason — to crash the Emmy Awards.

Stephen Colbert, while delivering his monologue, lamented that there was no way to really know how many people were watching the Emmys. “Sean,” he called out, “do you know?”

All of a sudden, Spicer appeared from backstage on a rolling podium, just like the one Melissa McCarthy used during her “Saturday Night Live” impression of President Trump’s former press secretary.

The crowd went wild. Cameras caught “Veep” star Anna Chlumsky with her mouth agape, and panned to McCarthy, who grinned. Kevin Spacey of “House of Cards” was also shown laughing.

...

“This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period, both in person and around the world!” Spicer announced, over cheers of the Emmy attendees.

This, of course, is a reference to Spicer’s own statement about Trump’s inaugural crowd size during his first White House press briefing in January: “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration — period — both in person and around the globe.”

That was all — Spicer rolled back off stage. “Wow, that really soothes my fragile ego. I can understand why you would want one of these guys around. Melissa McCarthy, everybody!” Colbert called out. (McCarthy won an Emmy for playing Spicer at the Creative Arts Emmys last weekend.)

While the Emmys crowd roared and applauded at the unexpected appearance, viewers on Twitter were instantly divided about whether Spicer’s latest stop on his image repair tour went too far to “normalize” him — especially after he went on TV last week and essentially admitted that he would say whatever Trump wanted him to, whether he actually believed it or not.

...

It was another stop on a media tour that appears to be an attempt at re-branding Spicer’s image. Earlier this week, Spicer (who resigned from his press secretary post last month) visited Kimmel, who couldn’t help but mock him about that incident — particularly after Spicer said he wanted to talk about other issues, but Trump wanted him to focus on crowd size.

“So if you have to go along, even if you know — and I’m not asking you to say whether it was or not — even if you know the crowd wasn’t bigger, you have to go, as press secretary, you have to say that it was,” Kimmel said.

“Your job as press secretary is to represent the president’s voice and to make sure that you are articulating what he believes … whether or not you agree or not isn’t your job,” Spicer said.

Backstage at the Emmys, fresh off his win for portraying Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” Alec Baldwin addressed the Spicer situation.

“People in the business and the average person is very grateful for him to have a sense of humor and participate,” he said, according to Entertainment Weekly. “Spicer obviously was compelled to do certain things that we might not have respected, we might not have admired, we might have been super critical of in order to do his job, but I’ve done some jobs that are things that you shouldn’t admire or respect me for either. He and I have that in common.”

 

[candygirl200413]

I'm so disgusted that he was even allowed on the awards show. He was a peddler in fuckface's agenda.

[onekidanddone]

Why are people giving any credence and air time to this sycophant e is a peddler of pure evil propaganda. Will he ever admit what a puppet he was? Sean and his "Holocaust centers".

Edited September 18, 2017 by onekidanddone
sycophant not psychopath. Although if you work for and TrumpSplain..there really is something wrong with you

[GreyhoundFan]

"Sean Spicer Says He Regrets Berating Reporters Over Inauguration Crowds"

Spoiler

During his surprise comedy skit at the Emmys on Sunday, Sean Spicer may have made light of his six-month tenure as the White House press secretary, but a message was also embedded in his performance.

In an interview on Monday morning, Mr. Spicer said he now regrets one of his most infamous moments as press secretary: his decision to charge into the White House briefing room in January and criticize accurate news reports that President Barack Obama’s inauguration crowd was bigger than President Trump’s.

“Of course I do, absolutely,” Mr. Spicer said.

For Mr. Spicer, who resigned this summer after repeated clashes with the news media and a sharp disagreement with Mr. Trump over the appointment of Anthony Scaramucci as communications director, the Emmys were his latest attempt to court the largely liberal coastal entertainment and news elites he so acidly disdained as the president’s alter-ego spokesman. The once-obscure party spokesman has been elevated to a level of celebrity he scarcely dreamed possible a year ago. And, like many before him, he hopes to translate his embattled tenure into something more lasting and lucrative. So the Emmys were also a chance for Mr. Spicer to cultivate a television industry audience that he may need as he seeks speaking engagements and paid television appearances in his post-White House life.

Mr. Spicer’s arrival on the Emmys stage garnered mixed reviews, however — not so much for his star turn with Stephen Colbert of “The Late Show” on CBS, but for Hollywood’s sudden embrace of a man once viewed as a not-so-truthful mouthpiece for a president that much of the town despises.

As Mr. Spicer prepared to return to Washington, he was asked if he was worried that Mr. Trump would take offense over the skit, which many viewers saw as lampooning the president’s preoccupation with the size of his inauguration crowd.

“I certainly hope not,” Mr. Spicer said after a brief pause. “This was an attempt to poke a little fun at myself and add a little bit of levity to the event.”

Mr. Spicer made his Emmys appearance at the end of Mr. Colbert’s opening monologue, which included a long riff about Mr. Trump’s uneasy relationship with the entertainment industry and his apparent frustration that his NBC reality series “The Apprentice” never won an Emmy Award.

Mr. Colbert, a frequent critic of both Mr. Trump and Mr. Spicer, went on to say that the president was primarily concerned with TV ratings, but that there was no way to know how large his audience was.

Mr. Colbert asked, “Sean, do you know?”

At that point, Mr. Spicer shot out of the wings — pushing a podium similar to the one immortalized by Melissa McCarthy in her impersonation of him on “Saturday Night Live.”

He recited his briefing room statement, nearly word for word. “This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period — both in person and around the world,” he declared with a semi-straight face.

Laughter and applause could be heard throughout the Microsoft Theater, and celebrities in the audience were seen on the telecast, reacting with their mouths agape.

Mr. Spicer said he did not give the president or senior White House staff a heads up about his appearance, which had been in the works for several days.

In fact, virtually no one knew about it. According to Mr. Spicer, Mr. Colbert suggested the idea himself, and passed it to the former press secretary through his producer at CBS, who had gotten to know Mr. Spicer well years earlier when he was a producer on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

When Mr. Spicer and his wife left Washington for Los Angeles on Saturday morning, he donned a disguise. He would not say what it was, though a friend of his hinted that it might have included fake facial hair. After checking in, he stayed in his hotel room, leaving only for a walk-through that took place after the hall had been cleared. When scripts were handed out to crew members and performers, his name was nowhere to be found — replaced by an innocuous surname that began with the letter “S.”

A person familiar with the planning of the Emmy program said on Monday that Mr. Colbert and his staff regarded Mr. Spicer’s appearance as both a joke at the expense of Mr. Trump and a way to poke fun at Mr. Colbert, too. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose private discussions involving the Emmys and Mr. Colbert.

Just as Mr. Trump had been thin-skinned in employing a spokesman to exaggerate the size of his inaugural crowd, this person said, Mr. Colbert was mocking himself by using Mr. Spicer to overstate the size of his viewership.

Since leaving the White House last month, Mr. Spicer has been on a speaking and television circuit, trying to rehabilitate his image. On Wednesday, he appeared as a guest on the ABC late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” in an interview that drew criticism for its perceived leniency toward Mr. Spicer.

When Mr. Kimmel brought up the news conference where Mr. Spicer had talked about inaugural crowd sizes, Mr. Spicer answered: “I’m aware. I appreciate the reminder of how it went down.”

The next day, Mr. Colbert was a guest on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and the two talk show hosts talked about Mr. Spicer.

“I’ve always wanted to talk to that cat,” Mr. Colbert said.

Mr. Kimmel said, “A certain part of me felt sorry for him.”

Mr. Colbert replied: “Really? ‘Cause he wasn’t apologizing. He wants to be forgiven, but he won’t regret anything he did. You got to regret something you did to be forgiven.”

But at least among some people in Hollywood, Mr. Spicer may have been forgiven — or at least worthy of an Instagram.

At the Television Academy’s Emmy after-party in Los Angeles, several gown- and tuxedo-clad revelers stopped to gawk at Mr. Spicer.

Other guests patiently lined up nearby — Mr. Spicer was posing for selfies.

Maybe instead of regretting what he said and did, he should apologize for furthering "alternative facts".

[GreyhoundFan]

Yes!! "CNN’s Anderson Cooper brutalizes Sean Spicer"

Spoiler

Not long after Sean Spicer announced his resignation from the White House, CNN was asked whether it would consider hiring him as a pundit. No, came the prompt answer.

That was no wonder, either. Spicer assisted President Trump in attacking, demeaning and belittling the 24/7 news network. While the president was decrying CNN as “fake news,” his minions did their best to keep network correspondents at arm’s length. This week, the Erik Wemple Blog asked Spicer to name reporters who’d done good work on the beat. Did he wish to compliment anyone from CNN? “Oh, no,” he responded.

CNN has its own take on the situation, as host Anderson Cooper showed on his program Thursday night. He ran a clip of Spicer telling an ABC News interviewer, “I don’t think so,” when asked whether he had lied to the American people. Noting that the inquiry was a yes-or-no affair, Cooper laid right into the former White House press secretary: “Did Sean Spicer lie to the American people? Yeah, he did. He lied about the Trump Tower meeting being about adoption even after Donald Trump Jr. was forced to admit it was about Russian dirt on Clinton,” said Cooper. “Remember the president’s claim about 3 to 5 million people voting illegally? Not true, but Sean Spicer said it was. He lied about the president getting the most electoral votes of any Republican since Reagan. And the list goes on and on.”

Next up were Spicer’s lies about the inauguration crowd, back on Jan. 21 — the first full day of the Trump administration and the incident that will follow Spicer wherever he goes. “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,” he said, Stalinistically.

During Sunday’s Emmy Awards, Spicer turned in a cameo with host Stephen Colbert, just to satirize his infamy. “This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period, both in person and around the world,” he said.

A disgusted Cooper blasted away: “See, he’s making a joke of the fact that he lied. I guess the idea is if you let some time pass, lies become funny.”

Harsh as that assessment may be, it’s not as though Cooper lives to sit in judgment of Sean Spicer. The former press secretary left a high-profile job and seems intent on maintaining — or even enhancing — his visibility. Hence the Emmys appearance. He’s fairer game than ever.

I love AC.

[JMarie]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/11/politics/sean-spicer-book-trump-election/index.html

Quote

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer is writing a book to "set the record straight" about what he says happened during the 2016 election, transition and his time serving in the administration.

"I looked back at the coverage of the campaign, the transition in the first six, seven months of this White House, I realized the stories that are being told are not an accurate representation of what President Trump went through to get the nomination, to transition to the White House and then his first six months in office," Spicer told Fox News' Sean Hannity on Monday night.

The Donald Trump Story, narrated by Sean Spicer.  Just what I want to read next summer while plopped on a beach.

[GreyhoundFan]

9 hours ago, JMarie said:

The Donald Trump Story, narrated by Sean Spicer.  Just what I want to read next summer while plopped on a beach.

I would like to read it, just like I'd like to read Lewandowski's book, but it has to be a library copy, since I don't want to give either one a penny of my hard-earned money.