Don’t Call it Lie

Posted by on . 11 comments.

Remember, the White House Press Secretary speaks for the President. His answers are the official position of the White House and the President. This isn’t Kellyanne Conway spinning on Crossfire, it’s Tony Snow at the White House podium.

I’m waiting on the edge of my seat for the excuse and scolding for daring to use the word “lie.”

    Snow was taken out of context.
    Librul bias because Jon Stewart aired it.
    Depends on the definition of “performance.”
    Video was doctored with spliced audio.

What am i missing?

Comments

  1. sarabeth says:
    June 16, 2007 at 12:37 pm

    How come no one in the briefing room noticed Tony’s pants bursting into flame?

    He must have taken some instantaneous action to douse that fire, putting it out literally the second it started.

    Since I doubt that he carries around an invisible fire extinguisher, he must have performed an emergency high-pressure bladder discharge.

  2. JimC says:
    June 17, 2007 at 5:52 pm

    Actually, if you read the transcript, you can clearly discern that the main point of the questioning was that ‘if’ politics were involved, and Tony’s answer appears to be to deny that they never said that politics were not involved, not that they never said it was performance based. So yes, context does help but it is funnier this way but that’s Jon’s job, to make people laugh…

  3. Nailed Saviour says:
    June 17, 2007 at 6:12 pm

    I’d love to know what magnitude of lie would be required to make you doubt this administration, Jim. The transcript clearly shows Snow denying something that he not only has said, flat out, but has been the main thrust of the entire administrations argument since the story first broke.

  4. sarabeth says:
    June 17, 2007 at 6:22 pm

    Get real, Jim.

    It was a short, clear Q.

    It was a short, clear A.

    Q Okay, but at the beginning of this story, the President, you, Dan Bartlett, others said on camera that politics was not involved, this was performance-based.

    MR. SNOW: That is something — we have never said that.

    There’s no out-of-context spin anyone can give this. He himself said both things in Jon Stewart’s old clip. That it was performance based, and that politics were not involved.

    So yes, context does help but it is funnier this way but that’s Jon’s job, to make people laugh…

    This is not just bullshit. To flat out deny what is obviously true, is a lie. And this time I’m not talking about Tony Snow, I’m talking about you.

  5. JimC says:
    June 17, 2007 at 6:48 pm

    Well from what I read, I don’t see the “obvious” lie or truth as you see it. I see a broken answer in response to a muti-faceted question designed to attempt to frame a position of which Tony didn’t bite. I don’t care about this issue, it is a non-issue and I hope the President fires more of these people for political reasons…and maybe a few for performance…and few just because they have the wrong name…just because he can.

  6. matt says:
    June 17, 2007 at 7:15 pm

    this is exactly what i was expecting, but hoping against. i really wanted you to either decline to comment or call what snow said what it is, A LIE. jim, you’re not a serious partner in debate. your responses here are shameful. you should be embarrassed.

    but just as you pathetically tried to pretend you weren’t wrong about every last thing that has happened in iraq, and that we got most of it right, here you are either delusional or intentionally obtuse.

    look, i know the big bad democrats are coming for your very way of life, and you don’t want to have to live under your bed because they won’t keep you safe from boogeymen and will steal all of your paycheck to give to welfare queens etc. i know. but the fact that you still defend this criminal enterprise called the bush administration is a step too far, especially when there is ironclad proof. these clips aren’t just a one time slip of the tongue. each, as your Saviour pointed out above, was the official position of the administration and congressional republicans FOR WEEKS AT A TIME. how on earth do you explain that?

    this isn’t one of those instances where we can agree to disagree. IT DOESN’T GET ANY MORE CUT AND DRIED THAN THIS. i see no reason for you to continue here.

  7. sarabeth says:
    June 17, 2007 at 7:16 pm

    Tony Snow said (in Jon Stewart’s old clip):

    [W]hat the President has — the Department of Justice has made recommendations, they’ve been approved. And it’s pretty clear that these things are based on performance and not on sort of attempts to do political retaliation, if you will.

    You really want to argue he didn’t say both the things he flatly denied saying?

    And admitting “broken statements” as an excuse means Tony Snow can never be held to anything he said. Not the President either. Just because they speak in broken sentences doesn’t mean the meaning of their statements isn’t clear.

  8. JimC says:
    June 18, 2007 at 5:17 am

    I don’t equate “not on sort of attempts to do political retaliation” with “no politics involved”. As often we are here to discuss what people said versus what we think they said, I compared the two transcripts and based my response on that, nothing more. But if I am wrong, let Tony resign, he’ll probably have a job at Foxnews if he does…

  9. sarabeth says:
    June 18, 2007 at 6:07 am

    Hogwash, sir! Balderdash!

    The only politics that has been alleged in this context is political retaliation.

    When he denied political retaliation was involved, he was denying that politics was involved, by any standard of public discourse.

    But if I am wrong, let Tony resign

    What shit is this? How about if you’re wrong, you admit it for once?

  10. matt says:
    June 18, 2007 at 6:36 am

    jim, i’ve lost my patience. this isn’t about what anyone thinks anyone else said. you can play all the word games you want. you can not change what the official positions of the white house happened to be.

    But if I am wrong, let Tony resign, he’ll probably have a job at Foxnews if he does…

    wtf does this even mean? you know he’s not going anywhere, and he’s not responsible for the horseshit spewing from your mouth. just shut the fuck up.

  11. sac says:
    June 18, 2007 at 7:30 am

    Snow should take a page from the Gonzo’s playbook and just say he can’t recall ever saying there was no politics involved.

    Come on, Jim, there really is no wriggle room on this one.