Thursday, May 14, 2009

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: Gibbs & the Cell Phones

Being the White House press secretary seems like a cruddy job. You've got to field questions about subjects about which you might not have a firm grasp. You might be asked to subvert the truth, to lie, to pretend you don't know something that you DO in fact know, to try not to cringe when you hear yourself say ridiculous statements like when Robert Gibbs had to, with a straight face, tell us what the vice president MEANT to say when he said he wouldn't want anyone in his family to be in a confined space with the swine flu going around.

That said, I laughed when I saw this video of Gibbs' response to THREE reporters' cell phones going off during a nationally televised press briefing. I only wish he'd been able to snag that last phone from the CBS reporter and chuck it out the door with the other one.

Honestly, don't these folks get that it's respectful to put your phones on vibrate, particularly after one interruption, never mind THREE. If I can figure out how to put my cell phone on vibrate when I'm in a movie theater or at church, certainly White House reporters can do that during a press briefing. Maybe Gibbs needs to run a public service announcement before commencing the briefing: Silence your cell phones. Or else we'll toss 'em out of the room. (Link to the video here.)

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