Robert Gibbs put on one of his more remarkable bravura performances in a White House press briefings last week.
He insisted that President Obama wants a transition of power in Egypt now. But all that tough talk started to fall apart when a reporter had the temerity to ask what Obama’s definition of now is and heard Gibbs define it as sometime between yesterday and September.
This clip shows the entire boring press briefing, so save yourself some pain by going to the 14:45 mark in this clip. (Transcript follows the video.)
Q Thank you, Robert. When you talk about the transition happening now, how do you define “now”? Because now means today not September.
MR. GIBBS: Well, no, now means yesterday — because when we said now we meant yesterday.
Q Right.
MR. GIBBS: So I mean I think the definition of now is —
Q But when you say now today, it means now —
MR. GIBBS: And I meant yesterday —
Q — or yesterday.
MR. GIBBS: This is — again, I want to be clear. This is — though we are in the here and now, now started yesterday. Again, I think that’s what, Dan — what the people of Egypt want to see is not some process that starts a week, a month or several months from now. This is a —
Q So you’re not satisfied with September as an out date for President Mubarak?
MR. GIBBS: If you’re asking if now is September, it is unseasonably warm, but it is not September. Now means now. The transition — there are things that the government needs to do. There are reforms that need to be undertaken, and there are opposition entities that have to be included in the conversations as we move toward free and fair elections that we’ve advocated for quite some time.
Q So is the White House then satisfied with Mubarak in power until September?
MR. GIBBS: Again, I am not going to get into all the details of what they discussed. The conversation was frank and the transition must begin now.
Bill Clinton said, “It all depends on what your definition of is is.” The Gibbs Corollary is, “The definition of now is different now than it was then.”
Source: WhiteHouse.gov
This post was last modified on June 26, 2021
View Comments (5)
*snores*
Fibbs: "I want to be clear" Huh???? The last thing Robert Fibbs wants to be is clear. He is either an expert bullshit artist or dumber than a box of rocks. Either way, it's why the Kenyan Muzzie picked him for the job.
"The definition of now is different now than it was then.” hahaha. Beautiful.
Who's on first?
It's those little words that cause the Democrats trouble. Maybe they should stop trying to complicate things so much with their big words and arrogant speech patterns..
Just once, I'd love to see these people speak in plain words.