Free Republic

Via the Examiner, what are the odds that Joe Biden and Arne Duncan and, oh, 99.9 percent of the rest of the liberal intelligentsia support legalizing gay marriage but The One doesn’t? It’s getting harder every day to sustain this charade, which is why Axelrod is suddenly eager to change the subject: Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod on Monday pivoted sharply to Mitt Romney’s views on gay marriage when reporters pressed him on the president’s stance on the issue. On a conference call with reporters, Axelrod said there’s a “clear distinction� between Obama’s views on gay-rights issues and the presumptive...

CBS News reporter Bill Plante challenged White House press secretary Jay Carney on President Obama’s statement Monday that for the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act would be an “extraordinary, unprecedented step,” during a Thursday press briefing. BILL PLANTE: What he said on Monday was an obvious misspoken moment because he talked about the court not being in a position to overturn an of Congress— JAY CARNEY: Bill— PLANTE: You’re standing up there twisting yourself in knots, because he made a mistake and you can’t admit it. CARNEY: No, no, Bill, I am acknowledging that—you’re sharing in the...

The White House Press Office has refused to give the Boston Herald full access to President Obama’s Boston fund-raiser today, in e-mails objecting to the newspaper’s front page placement of a Mitt Romney op-ed, saying pool reporters are chosen based on whether they cover the news “fairly.” “I tend to consider the degree to which papers have demonstrated to covering the White House regularly and fairly in determining local pool reporters,” White House spokesman Matt Lehrich wrote in response to a Herald request for full access to the presidential visit. “My point about the op-ed was not that you ran...

Jay Carney lamented Tuesday that the conspiracy theory about President Obama’s birth is getting “serious attention” while more important matters are getting overlooked. CNN’s Ed Henry asked the White House press secretary to react to Donald Trump’s seemingly constant presence on TV, in which the real estate mogul has stoked the myth that Obama wasn’t born in Hawaii. In response, Carney said that CNN itself had reported a “highly credible piece on an established fact” — that “the president was born in the United States of America.” “This was a settled issue,” Carney said, calling it “unfortunate” that “for whatever...

White House press secretary Jay Carney was asked today why President Obama did not give a statement on Easter. He laughed it off. Barack Obama released statements for the Muslims holidays of Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr, the Hajj, and Eid-ul-Adha last year. Just last month he released a statement for the Persian Nowruz holiday. The Hill has more: Carney also scoffed at media reports calling out the White House for not releasing a statement commemorating Easter on Sunday, explaining Obama and his family attended church services in Washington. “The president went to church yesterday, it was well-covered. I’m not sure if we...

New White House Press Secretary Jay Carney punted on Iran, fumbled a question on the national debt, and blamed Bush just ten minutes into his first press briefing.

President Obama named ex-journalist Jay Carney as the next White House press secretary on Thursday, rounding out a broad personnel restructuring within the West Wing after the midterm elections. With new Chief of Staff William M. Daley already on board, Obama has an almost entirely new senior lineup - even if many of the faces are familiar. He has shed some of his most longtime loyalists, including outgoing press secretary Robert Gibbs, and moved others into official campaign roles ahead of his 2012 reelection bid. What has emerged is a staff that is well-versed in the ways of the Obama...

WASHINGTON – Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary and one of the most visible and forceful advocates for President Barack Obama, is quitting his job to become an outside political adviser. The change is among the many expected in the coming days as Obama redefines his leadership team to get ready for a re-election bid and a more powerful Republican Party. Gibbs said he would be leaving the White House by early February. The top contenders to replace him are two of his deputies, Bill Burton and Josh Earnest, and Jay Carney, who is the press secretary to Vice...

WASHINGTON – White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says he is resigning his job as the president's chief spokesman.

(CBS/AP) President Barack Obama will hold a post-election news conference on Wednesday. The White House said Tuesday that Mr. Obama will take reporters' questions Wednesday at 1 p.m. in the East Room.

Robert Gibbs: 'I don't plan on leaving' By: Matt Negrin August 11, 2010 03:30 PM EDT Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, revisiting a newspaper interview in which he blasted “the professional left” for criticizing President Barack Obama, brushed off calls for his resignation during Wednesday’s daily briefing, and said his remarks were the result of frustration with pundits who haven’t given the administration its due. "I don’t plan on leaving, and there's no truth to the rumor that I've added an inflatable exit to my office," he quipped to reporters, a reference to the frustrated Jet Blue flight attendant who left...

Video of Rick Sanchez discussing Fox News getting the front row seat in the WH briefing room with CNN's Ed Henry, it takes about one minute for Sanchez to take a cheap shot at Fox, Ed Henry actually defends the Fox News WH reporters (Video)

<p>The White House Correspondents Association voted unanimously Sunday afternoon to move Fox News to the front row of the White House briefing room.</p> <p>The seating change was prompted by the resignation of veteran UPI reporter Helen Thomas.</p> <p>According to Ed Henry, the senior White House correspondent for CNN and member of the WHCA board, the Associated Press will move to the front-row middle seat formerly occupied by Thomas.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama has signed a law intended to provide more protections for a free press around the world. The law, the Daniel Pearl Freedom of Press Act, expands efforts to identify countries where press freedom is being violated.

<p>From CNN White House Producer Xuan Thai Obama declined to answer questions at bill signing for the Freedom of Press Act.</p>

Neil Cavuto: “No where in that exchange nor in the rest of the interview...did Michael Brown ever say that this White House was behind this spill...That is beyond laughable. Here is what is not: dismissing what Mr. Brown did say about a president who may have botched a lot since that Gulf spill, just as Mr. Brown argued the last president did in the immediate aftermath of that Gulf hurricane. He was criticizing his old boss. Mr. Brown says he has become an expert on botched responses: that is why I had Michael Brown on. Robert Gibbs seems to have...

As a Fox reporter brings up criticism likening the administration's response to [the Gulf oil spill] to President Bush's reaction to Hurricane Katrina, Gibbs launches into a tirade on Fox News for bringing former FEMA Director Michael Brown on the air to discuss the accusation that the Obama White House purposefully leaked the oil to walk back environmental and offshore drilling policies. "You should call headquarters, my friend," Gibbs says to the Fox reporter, asking him to talk with the person who decides which guests to book. "Your network put on the former FEMA director to make an accusation that...

Press airs grievances to Gibbs By: Mike Allen April 17, 2010 12:06 PM EDT White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs met with a delegation from the White House press corps for 75 minutes on Thursday in an effort to improve frayed relations between the two sides. Ed Chen, a White House correspondent for Bloomberg News who is president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said he asked for the meeting “to clear the air because in my 10-plus years at the White House, rarely have I sensed such a level of anger, which is wide and deep, among members over...

CNN is reporting Obama plans to barnstorm nation and tell voters the benefits of Obamacare and tout the historical "Change" in the "Hope & Change" Mantra.

Sensing victory, President Barack Obama is planning to make a statement to the nation Sunday night after the House takes its final vote on health care legislation. The White House announced late Sunday afternoon that Obama would speak from the East Room in the evening, with the timing to be determined. SNIP(Talking Points Memo says the House vote is expected to take place sometime after 10 p.m. EDT.

"There definitely aren't a lot of laughs around the briefing room these days," says Washington Examiner White House correspondent Julie Mason. "Robert's little digs and evasions have lost their power to amuse — particularly since we haven't had a presser since July."

Obama: GOP and Dems Together Can Spur Job Growth CHARLES BABINGTON WASHINGTON – Appealing for bipartisanship in a town where it's hard to find, President Barack Obama sat down with Democrats and Republicans Tuesday to spur cooperation on job creation, deficit reduction and health care overhaul. He promised to do his part — but warned he would take Republicans to task if they don't do the same. "The people who sent us here expect a seriousness of purpose that transcends petty politics," Obama said afterward, making a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room. He started his remarks to...

<p>He must be worried. Sounding all conciliatory about health care resolution, etc. etc.</p>

WaPo's Howie Kurtz writes about increasing grumblings from the White House press corps over the lack of presidential news conferences in recent months: "It's a source of great frustration here," says Chip Reid, CBS's White House correspondent. "It's important for us to hold the president's feet to the fire." NBC White House reporter Chuck Todd calls the situation a "shame," saying the administration is trying to control the message rather than allowing Obama to be seen "unscripted." While the White House argues that there has been no shortage of appearances by the president on television and in print, some White...

Six months ago, network executives were complaining that the White House was costing them tens of millions of dollars by pressing them to carry presidential news conferences in prime time. Problem solved: President Obama hasn't held a full-scale news conference since July. Instead, he answered a dozen people's questions last week on YouTube, most of them easily finessed and -- extra bonus! -- no annoying follow-ups of the kind posed by real, live journalists. It would be hard -- impossible, actually -- to argue that Obama hasn't been accessible to the media, not with his constant television interviews. The man...

Reporters Feel Jilted By President Obama Lack of televised healthcare talks make campaign pledge of transparency seem like an empty promise. James Rainey January 20, 2010 "Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on," Robert Gibbs implored the White House press corps. "Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on." That's 16 "hold ons" President Obama's chief spokesman reeled off Friday at his regular briefing, with a few more following, after a brief interlude. That's the kind of verbal salvo you lay down when...

President Obama is preparing for his State of the Union address, expected sometime in the next month, but some in the White House press corps are getting antsy for him to hold a news conference with reporters, something he hasn't done since July 22, almost six months ago.

Late last night, the White House announced that there would be no pool coverage for Sunday, January 10. While the President had no scheduled events this weekend, there was pool coverage yesterday. It could be a mere coincidence, or it could be that the White House is trying to catch its breath before responding to bombshell revelations in the upcoming book Game Change,excerpts of which poured out all day yesterday. President Obama already issued a statement about Harry Reid’s “negro dialect” quote, but even more explosive passages have emerged since. The newest passages from the book to hit Marc Ambinder’s...

Q: He has spoken quite a bit on the Christmas Day incident but he hasn't opened himself up to questions from the media. Do you think he might entertain some questions on that -- MR. GIBBS: No. Q: and isn't it unusual that on an event this big that he would not open himself up to questions? MR. GIBBS: I don't want to speculate. He's not taking questions today. Q: Well, Mr. Knoller, I think, will back me up on this. He hasn't had a press conference since July at the White House. Why can't we get him to respond...

<p>He's tanned, he's rested and he's back in love with the cameras!</p> <p>For the third day in a row since returning from his Christmas/New Year's vacation, Barack 'can't I just eat my waffles' Obama is appearing before the cameras to speak to the American people.</p>

Here is video of CBS News' Chip Reid grilling White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs over whether or not President Obama intends to keep his campaign promise to broadcast Health Care negotiations on C-Span. Obama promised at least eight times to do so when he was running for President, and has never once even made a move to try and make good on that promise. Gibbs would not respond, instead referring Reid to "yesterday's transcript" where he claimed he "addressed the question." Actually he dodged a question about it yesterday, but has never addressed it. The truth is that candidate...

Per Fox.. He's gotta spin some more. Apparently his pre-recorded statement didn't poll well...

Four days late, Barack Obama will interrupt his Hawaii vacation and finally speak to the nation today about the Christmas Day terror attack on America. However, he will be hiding from the American people and a media that might (might) ask uncomfortable questions by releasing a taped statement rather than making a live address.Reports are that he will tape his remarks at the nearby Marine base he has been using for his gym workouts, golfing and beach outings. Obama is staying at a $8.9 million estate that rents for an estimated $4000 per night. The White House Web site still...

The White House says President Barack Obama is preparing to make his first public statement on the Christmas Day terrorist attack and describe U.S. efforts to protect the nation's skies. Obama is scheduled to speak soon after 3 p.m. EST (SNIP) Obama also is expected to address the outbreak of violence in Iran in recent days.

I predicted last month that the White House would lose its war with Fox News. That now looks to be the case with the announcement by Fox News White House correspondent Major Garrett that Fox is one of five networks selected to interview Barack Obama in Beijing this evening, with each allotted ten minutes with the President. The decision to include Fox in tonight’s interview roster, alongside the likes of NBC, ABC and CBS, is a humiliating about-turn for the White House after it spent weeks rubbishing Fox’s credibility. As Anita Dunn, the Mao-quoting White House communications director put it...

The president on Wednesday night held his fifth press conference since taking office in January, the fourth in prime time, but he didn’t get a bounce from it as is generally the case. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll today finds his overall approval rating falling below 50% for the first time.

In White House Vs. Fox News War Of Words, Who Gets Your Vote?The stories about what the Obama White House has to say about Fox News Channel keep coming. There was White House communications director saying telling Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post and CNN "let's not pretend they're a news network the way CNN is." Also last week it was NPR's David Folkenflik reporting that "the White House is taking direct aim at Fox News, the news organization that is the home to the most potent collection of its conservative critics." This week it's ABC News' Jake Tapper asking...

Chairman Obama: "We are going to take the media as it comes."

On Tuesday, another prominent media member challenged the White House strategy of attacking the Fox News Channel. This time up at the plate was ABC's Jake Tapper who asked White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs during today's gaggle: It’s escaped none of our notice that the White House has decided in the last few weeks to declare one of our sister organizations “not a news organization” and to tell the rest of us not to treat them like a news organization. Can you explain why it’s appropriate for the White House to decide that a news organization is not one?

Here is video of Brit Hume saying President Obama's War on Fox News is an "anti-media campaign not seen since the days of Richard Nixon." Hume said in the short-term Obama may gain something by intimidating others in the media not to cover stories being covered by Fox News. But in the long-run, Hume believes Obama will suffer because he is fundamentally changing the image he worked so hard to create of being a different kind of candidate who would bring change to politics. . . . (VIDEO)

Senior Obama administration officials took to the airwaves Sunday to accuse Fox News of pushing a particular point of view, one week after the administration fired its initial salvo to try to isolate the news network by accusing it of being a GOP mouthpiece. "A lot of their news programming, it's really not news. It's pushing a point of view," senior adviser David Axelrod said on ABC's "This Week." "The way we -- the president looks at it and we look at it, is, it is not a news organization so much as it has a perspective," White House Chief...

Mafioso, Goon Squad, Communist, Nazi, Jihadi, Democrat politics as usual--whatever you want to call the thuggish tactics of the Obama administration, the very public threats they are making to the news media to not follow the lead of Fox News in questioning Obama's policies and personnel is a direct threat to the freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment.This morning on the Sunday talk shows, speaking on behalf of President Barack Obama, senior Obama advisers David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel carried on the war initiated by White House communictions director Anita Dunn last week on CNN.Axelrod appeared on ABC News' This...

A Maoist in the White House Posted By Roger Kimball On October 16, 2009 @ 11:35 am In Uncategorized | 169 Comments Jeremiah Wright. William Ayers. Van Jones. Where does the rogues’ gallery of Barack Obama’s radical friends end? These people are not liberals. They are not “progressives.” They are radicals who hate America and in many cases have advocated or even perpetrated violence in an effort to destroy it. Thanks to Glenn Beck, the American public has now been introduced to yet another radical member of Obama’s inner circle: Anita Dunn, Interim White House Communications Director, former top advisor...

White House interim communications director Anita Dunn assumed the role of lead Fox News Channel-basher this weekend. The attack was a dud. The left-leaning Nation magazine ridiculed President Obama's press shop for turning him into the "whiner-in-chief." AOL media columnist Jeff Bercovici called the war on Fox a "loser's strategy" that "signals weakness." And that's the friendly fire. Dunn found refuge in rival CNN's green zone, where she blasted Fox News as a "research arm of the Republican Party." Unhappy with headline-generating Fox News hosts who have wrested control of the news cycle from Team Obama, Dunn complained about "opinion...

The White House's war on Fox shows its ignorance of the network's true purpose: show business. And Team Obama is giving Murdoch just what he wants. After David Axelrod sneaked into Roger Ailes’ office in New York to powwow on Sept. 30, the White House brain trust of David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel decided that it is shrewd and useful to attack Fox News as a Republican tool—or as White House Communications Director Anita Dunn remarked, as “a wing of the Republican Party.” It is a guess that the president is not annoyed by this tactic. It is a better...

The White House is making a profound political mistake by targeting Fox News and deliberately deciding to exclude them from interviews and access to the administration. And not only that, they are making a mistake on both a practical and a political level. Frankly, it just doesn’t make sense. On a practical level, targeting a news organization only redounds to one’s detriment. I have no doubt that Fox News will not change its coverage, nor should it, in response to statements from White House Communications Director Anita Dunn. Nonetheless, indicating that five separate Fox News programs will not have access...

In a despicable, arrogant, and rather hypocritical display today, White House communications director (whatever the hell that is) Anita Dunn delegitimized the Fox News Channel as a bona fide news station. Among the gems shared by her with CNN’s Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz (h/t: Breitbart, via Mediaite]: Let’s be realistic here, Howie, they’re widely viewed as a part of the Republican party: Take their talking points, put ‘em on the air. Take their opposition research, put ‘em on the air. And that’s fine, but let’s not pretend they’re a news network the way CNN is.The reality of it is...

Here is video of Bill O'Reilly talking with Fox News Senior White House Correspondent Major Garrett about tensions that exist between the Obama White House and Fox News. O'Reilly believes that Obama's Administration really dislikes Fox News because Fox News dares to not give deliberately "favorable" coverage of Obama. Garrett would not say there is great tension between the White House and himself, but he did say it is obvious Fox News is not one of the favorites, and he is not given tips and "heads up" help the way some networks are. O'Reilly asked Garrett what is wrong with...

FOX News' Major Garrett discusses his question to Robert Gibbs Thursday afternoon.