The Word Rachel Maddow Is Looking for Here is ‘Lying’ [Greg Pollowitz]
An excerpt form last night's Rachel Maddow Show on a Robert Gibbs briefing answer on "don't ask, don't tell":
Today, at the White House press briefing, Air America‘s Ana Marie Cox — a friend of the show, who‘s on deck to join us tomorrow — asked the White house spokesman about “don‘t ask, don‘t tell.”
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANA MARIE COX, AIR AMERICA NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This isn‘t about Gitmo, but is about national security. Recently, three officers, West Point graduate Lieutenant Dan Choi, Air Force pilot Lieutenant Colonel Victor Fehrenbach, and Army Second Lieutenant Sandy Tsao were all dismissed under “don‘t ask, don‘t tell.” And is their dismissal a part of his national security strategy, or is their dismissal itself a threat to national security?
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: No, it — as I‘ve said, I think when I was asked about these individuals — I think it may have been last week — I said that the president agreed that, and said during the campaign, and agreed with former members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that the policy wasn‘t working for our national interests, that he committed to change that policy, that he‘s working with the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the policy wasn‘t working for our national interests, that he committed to change that policy and that he‘s working with the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs on making that happen and that the only durable way to do that is to go through Congress, and that‘s what the president intends to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: The part where Mr. Gibbs says the president is working with the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs on making that happen, to change the policy, the Pentagon spokesman said just yesterday that that‘s not actually happening, that there is no planning underway. There‘s no work underway inside the Pentagon toward changing the policy, despite the fact that the White House keeps saying that there is. This is a programming note — good on Anna Marie for asking that very tough question.
I highly doubt Maddow would have any trouble calling George W. Bush a liar in a similar situation.
05/21 01:30 PM
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