Sarah Huckabee Sanders Version of Covfefe

[GreyhoundFan]

"MSNBC babysits White House press briefing"

Spoiler

MSNBC seems to be applying a great deal of consideration to how it handles the increasingly infrequent briefings conducted by White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. As we noted here in November, the cable-news channel has distinguished itself from its two main competitors by covering a number of breaking stories instead of providing live coverage of Sanders saying things after receiving questions from reporters.

On Tuesday, the cable news channel experimented with another worthwhile approach: It started carrying Sanders' briefing live until it heard a statement from the podium worthy of dissection or refutation. It took three minutes and 25 seconds. Host Katy Tur watched as Sanders, at the start of her briefing, recommitted herself to an earlier statement that the FBI had “ambushed” then-national security adviser Michael Flynn in early 2017 when agents came to interview him about contacts with Russia. “What we do know . . . is that the FBI broke standard protocol in the way that they came in and ambushed Gen. Flynn . . . and we know that because James Comey told us that,” said Sanders.

Moments later, MSNBC traded Sanders for Tur: “She is standing by her comments earlier today saying that the FBI ambushed Michael Flynn. Michael Flynn disavowed that this morning in court. He said he knew very well that lying to the FBI was a crime. She also claimed that James Comey said the FBI broke protocol. Can you fact-check that for me off the top of your head,” Tur asked correspondent Ken Dilanian. Dismantling Sanders' claim, Dilanian noted that Flynn had to sign periodic forms acknowledging that lying to the FBI was a felony. “He knew full well you can’t lie to investigators,” said Dilanian, who also noted that the alleged protocol violation related to the fact that the FBI didn’t call White House counsel before arriving to question Flynn. “He wasn’t suggesting that that somehow absolved Michael Flynn,” he said.

More debunking followed. MSNBC then returned to the briefing room, but not live: It ran some more stuff from Sanders that she’d said a few moments before in response to a question from Post reporter Josh Dawsey about whether President Trump was “concerned” that Flynn lied to his own government and was “working for another government during the campaign.” The press secretary dodged the question by saying that she’d let the courts deal with Flynn.

MSNBC again pulled away, chewing over another moment of Sanders absurdity. “Let’s just be clear here: Sarah Huckabee Sanders was just asked a very simple question,” said Tur, recapping the moment. One of her panel members called this response “mind-blowing.”

The next time MSNBC went back to the briefing, it got there just in time to hear Sanders talk about appropriations, and then this: “I’d encourage you guys to tune into the president’s event. We’ll talk to you soon.” Someone in the room blurted out, “That was a 10-minute briefing, Sarah!" It was not a compliment, considering that the last press secretary during the Obama administration, Josh Earnest, averaged nearly 70 minutes per podium appearance.

What Tur & Co. did here was to babysit the White House press briefing. Trump aides simply cannot be left to their own devices, requiring adult intervention again and again.

 

[mamallama]

5 hours ago, fraurosena said:

I'm glad the press is now no longer being polite.

 

Is this some kind of uniform now?

[AmazonGrace]

All numbers matter 

 

[Howl]

Wallace b***h slapping Sarah H. over those numbers on Faux was something else.  She can hold the party line in press briefings but you can bet you behunga she won't be let off her short leash to appear on Sunday morning talking head shows again. 

I've heard she's job shopping but nobody wants her. 

I wouldn't be surprised to see her showing up at somebody's lobbying shop, though, or as some kind of Republican consultant. 

[Audrey2]

5 hours ago, Howl said:

Wallace b***h slapping Sarah H. over those numbers on Faux was something else.  She can hold the party line in press briefings but you can bet you behunga she won't be let off her short leash to appear on Sunday morning talking head shows again. 

I've heard she's job shopping but nobody wants her. 

I wouldn't be surprised to see her showing up at somebody's lobbying shop, though, or as some kind of Republican consultant. 

As tainted as she is, she'll end up somewhere because she's Mike Huckabee's daughter. I'm sure someone, somewhere, needs someone who can tell the most preposterous stories without batting an eye.

Unfortunately for her, it won't be FOX. She doesn't have their look.

Edited January 11, 2019 by Audrey2

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, Audrey2 said:

As tainted as she is, she'll end up somewhere because she's Mike Huckabee's daughter. I'm sure someone, somewhere, needs someone who can tell the most preposterous stories without batting an eye.

Unfortunately for her, it won't be FOX. She doesn't have their look.

All she has to do is buy a bottle of bleach and a iron

[fraurosena]

10 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

All she has to do is buy a bottle of bleach and a iron

Bleaching her hair won't cut it though. She'd also have to slim down to Barbie proportions, have a face-lift and have corrective surgery to fix her wonky eyes. They're all miss Plastic Fantastic at Faux, remember?

 

(Note that I don't give a hoot about her appearance, this is what Faux watchers want)

[Audrey2]

4 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Bleaching her hair won't cut it though. She'd also have to slim down to Barbie proportions, have a face-lift and have corrective surgery to fix her wonky eyes. They're all miss Plastic Fantastic at Faux, remember?

 

(Note that I don't give a hoot about her appearance, this is what Faux watchers want)

Thank you for saying this. I was trying to come up with a diplomatic way to say about the same things that you were, but you put it so much better than I did.

[onekidanddone]

Sarah-Shut-Up-a-Bee Sanders is giving a press conference and the banner showed up on washintonpost.com.  Tag line:

No damage to the economy White House Says.

Excuse me while I go punch a wall.

[Cartmann99]

41 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

Sarah-Shut-Up-a-Bee Sanders is giving a press conference and the banner showed up on washintonpost.com.  Tag line:

No damage to the economy White House Says.

Excuse me while I go punch a wall.

Sarah's full of shit and cheap domestic beer.

[onekidanddone]

5 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

Sarah's full of shit and cheap domestic beer.

Hold my cup of covfefe and watch this. 

[GreyhoundFan]

Boy, everyone in the room should be wearing hip waders:

 

[Howl]

Another  "I'll have to back to you on that, We don't comment on that, I'll have to ask the president!" presser.  So why bother?  No information is relayed, no questions answered. 

Sarah will no doubt be picked up by some right-wing evangelical policy "institute" or a lobbying outfit.  She's not stupid. I have no doubt that she has a direct hand in developing much of the end-run strategy and spinning spinning spinning.  She has lasted for a remarkably long time.  On the other hand, she's a woman, which in the Teavangelical world means you're not quite as valuable as a guy. 

I don't know what she really thinks about Trump; she may be one of the King Cyrus ass hats that see Trump as a god-ordained means to an end, which would be to eliminate Roe v Wade, abolish gay marriage, eliminate any impediment to gun ownership and many other items on the reich wing Teavangelical wish list.  Maybe right now she realizes that she just can't anymore with the spinning and lying and seeing Trump at his insanely worst.  

Plus, she's like anyone else with a job.  DC is an insanely expensive place to live.  Somebody's got to pay the rent/mortgage and tuition at the private school and whatever else, which tells me she is not in a place financially to leave without having another good paying job to go to. 

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"CNN joins MSNBC in shunning Sarah Sanders briefing"

Spoiler

On Monday afternoon, CNN host Brooke Baldwin told her viewers: “We have one ear to this White House briefing. We’re waiting for the Q-and-A portion with Sarah Sanders.” The existence of a White House briefing, of course, was news unto itself. Sanders, the White House’s press secretary, hadn’t held a formal briefing since Dec. 18, leaving correspondents scrambling to figure out when she’d appear on Fox News so that they could ambush her somewhere on the White House grounds.

On Monday, however, Sanders convened a room of media types and said, “Missed you guys” as she passed the baton to three officials — national security adviser John Bolton, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow — to address U.S. policy toward Venezuela.

The three finished their work just after 4 p.m., allowing Sanders to step up and take questions on the prospect of another shutdown, the employment of undocumented immigrants at President Trump’s golf club and other issues. As she jousted with the assembled media, however, CNN did something it doesn’t routinely do: It stayed away. CNN host Jake Tapper opened his show with an extensive discussion of the 2020 presidential candidacy of Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), with whom Tapper held a CNN town hall in Des Moines on Monday night. Moments later, the network aired a prepared package by White House reporter Kaitlan Collins on the first White House briefing of 2019 — complete with footage of Sanders, moments earlier, telling reporters that Trump doesn’t want to do another government shutdown.

But it didn’t go live from the White House briefing room.

The practice of cable-news networks to broadcast these sessions live has become a recent obsession of the Erik Wemple Blog. Last year, we wrote about how MSNBC led the pack in blowing off full live coverage of these sessions and grabbing only the newsworthy moments for subsequent clipping and commentary. “Handle with care” was the message — and an appropriate message in light of the frequent distortions and falsehoods that come tumbling from the lectern.

CNN’s move on Monday appeared to the Erik Wemple Blog to be a programmatic démarche. As a close watcher of these things, we’ve seen the network routinely uproot its regular coverage to take the feed from Sanders in the briefing room. Better said, the briefings have been part of CNN’s regular coverage — as they had been for all three cable-news networks for much of the Trump presidency. Looking back over Sanders’s “recent” briefings, it’s pretty clear that CNN defaulted to live and comprehensive coverage of these sessions: Dec. 18, Nov. 27, Oct. 29, Oct. 3, Sept. 10, Aug. 22, July 23, July 18, July 2, June 25, for example.

We asked the network about whether Monday’s decisions marked a turning point in handling Sanders’s appearances. A CNN source responded that there have been times when the network hasn’t taken the live feed and that it’s “common for us to dip in and out.”

The decision by both MSNBC and CNN on Monday to defend their airwaves from the often bogus pronouncements of prominent Trump officials could mean any number of things, including: 1) Nothing — CNN might have had peculiar reasons for its call, such as promoting its town hall with Harris, and it may return to default briefing coverage if Sanders ever presents herself again at the lectern; 2) Something — CNN may be discovering that its audience appreciates editorial discretion when it comes to White House lies, even though the network has done a good job of post-briefing fact-checking; 3) Everything — Monday could be a turning point for the media’s appreciation of its own role in covering the Trump White House. Maybe even Fox News will develop some self-regard on this front and air its own newsies instead of Sanders.

In observing this development on Monday, the Erik Wemple Blog received a bit of pushback:

There is, in fact, no contradiction in a news network pushing for White House briefings and then declining to carry them live. Even as CNN and MSNBC were airing other material Monday, their correspondents were in the briefing room seeking answers to their questions. Later on, if real answers actually materialize, they can air the footage, an approach that matches the prescription of two former White House press secretaries. It’s a fair approximation of journalism.

 

[Howl]

Here ya go: 

 

[Cartmann99]

26 minutes ago, Howl said:

Here ya go: 

 

Does she feel that way about all of the presidents, or just the Republican ones?

[GreyhoundFan]

33 minutes ago, Howl said:

Here ya go: 

 

She's confusing God with Putin.

[onekidanddone]

No way is it the same God who says "I think I'd like to see Barack Obama as President and then turns around and gives us a serial adulterer, thug, bigoted, sociopath. 

[Audrey2]

52 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

No way is it the same God who says "I think I'd like to see Barack Obama as President and then turns around and gives us a serial adulterer, thug, bigoted, sociopath. 

But Trump wants to outlaw all abortions, except for those his mistresses need.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Sarah Sanders says reporters are ‘angry’ in the briefing room. Here are 34 possible explanations."

Spoiler

In an interview with CBN News, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders revealed her inner thoughts about the spread of feisty correspondents who very occasionally assemble in the briefing room to toss questions in her direction. “I don’t want to generalize the crowd but I mean you do, you see a lot of like angry faces. People that their sole purpose is to find this gotcha moment, to catch you,” she told CBN’s David Brody.

So reporters in the briefing room look angry? We can only wonder just what could be irking them. Maybe it’s because, at any given time, one of the following things may have happened:

• Sanders just opened her briefing by saying “missed you guys,” after she broke a record for the longest span with no press briefing.
• Sanders just told the assembled reporters that she’s “really tight on time today” or a similar phrase, for no good apparent reason.
• Sanders just told the room that she had scheduled the briefing hard against another commitment: “We’ll get to as many things as we can before we have to break for the President’s event.” 
• Sanders's boss just called the reporters the “enemy of the people.” 
• Sanders just said the news outlets that are the “enemy of the people” “probably know who they are.” 
• Sanders just avoided a question by directing a reporter back to the president’s remarks.
• Sanders just deflected a question by saying she would get back to you, though in all likelihood she won’t.
• Sanders just blew through a follow-up question: “Sorry, I’m going to keep moving.” 
• Sanders just issued a statement condemning mail bombs sent to various individuals but excluded a news organization that was also targeted.
• Sanders just said she “can’t get into any details,” as if she ever does.
• Sanders just told a CNN correspondent, “I know it’s hard for you to understand even short sentences, I guess.” 
• Sanders just said, “We give the best information that we have at the time.” 
• Sanders just said, “I’ve addressed this, I don’t have anything else to add.” 
• Sanders just avoided questions on a scandal by saying things such as, “I wouldn’t have access to that information. I wouldn’t know the answer to that” and “I can’t speak to [that] … and therefore can’t comment on the process” and “I haven’t asked [the president] about that, specifically.” 
• Sanders just sidestepped a question by referring a reporter to a tweet from her boss.
• Sanders just said, “I’d refer you back to the president’s outside counsel.” 
• Sanders just said, “Anything beyond that, I would refer you to the president’s outside counsel.” 
• Sanders just said, “I’m not aware of any other activity, but I would refer you to Rudy Giuliani to respond to any of those questions or anybody else on the president’s outside counsel.” 
• Sanders just said, “The president maintains that he’s done nothing wrong. I’d refer you to Rudy Giuliani.” 
• Sanders just said, “I’d refer you back to him.” 
• Sanders just said, “You’re referencing a letter that came directly from outside counsel and I would refer you to them.” 
• Sanders just said, “For questions specific about comments by Mr. Giuliani, I’d refer you back to him.” 
• Sanders just said, “That’s something that I would refer you to the Trump Organization.” 
• Sanders just said, “And beyond that I don’t have anything to add, but I’d refer you back to the president’s comments.” 
• Sanders just said, in reference to calls for the president to release his tax returns, “I’m not aware of any plan to do that, but if it changes, I’ll certainly let you know.” 
• Sanders just said, “I’m not aware of anything on that front.” 
• Sanders just said, “I’m not aware of any conversations regarding that at all.” 
• Sanders just said she was “not aware” of controversial comments by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
• Sanders just said, “I’m not aware of anybody here ever working with WikiLeaks in any capacity.” 
• Sanders just said, “I’m not aware of any statement like that that Stephen Miller has ever made, and it’s certainly not the policy of the administration.” 
• Sanders just said, “I’m not aware of any contact from those individuals.” 
• Sanders just said, “I’m not aware of that. I haven’t had any conversations regarding that matter.” 
• It was raining.
• It was cold.

 

[Howl]

On 1/30/2019 at 8:15 PM, Audrey2 said:

But Trump wants to outlaw all abortions, except for those his mistresses need.

And abortions needed by the Elliot Broidy mistress.  The mistress claims Broidy refused to use condoms and gave her herpes.  Anybody want to speculate why Trump and Broidy didn't get vasectomies?

From 9.7.2018: Elliott Broidy’s Mistress Shera Bechard Says He Demanded She Get Abortion

Broidy was the former deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee; Cohen arranged the hush money payoff.

Interesting that Michael Cohen's one redeeming feature seems to be that he didn't cheat on his wife, or at least that we know of. 

Edited February 1, 2019 by Howl

[fraurosena]

3 minutes ago, Howl said:

Anybody want to speculate why Trump and Broidy didn't get vasectomies?

No speculation needed. Spreading ones seed around is what a real man is supposed to do, and getting a vasectomy would impair their 'manliness'.  

Plus, it's way too scary to have a doctor cut and snip down there. What if his aim is slightly off?

[Howl]

 

[WiseGirl]

[thoughtful]

On 1/30/2019 at 7:51 PM, Howl said:

Here ya go: 

 

What an entitled faux-faithful fuckbrain.

Even as an atheist I find this incredibly offensive. And that casual sidestepping of the church/state separation disgusts me, as well.