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.)

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: WH Spokesman Tells Reporters What Biden 'Meant to Say' on Swine Flu

Who didn't see this coming? The White House's awkward backing off from what Vice President Joe Biden said on the Today Show this morning, that he wouldn't go in any confined area like an airplane or a subway while the swine flu is spreading.

You had to feel badly for WH Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, having to stand there at the podium, on national TV and, with a straight face, BS his way through this quagmire, where the president tells everyone to remain calm, wash their hands and stay home if sick, while the vice president says he for one isn't gonna get trapped in some subway car potentially loaded with people carrying the swine flu.

ABC's Jake Tapper asked Gibbs about Biden's statements and Gibbs talked in nonsensical circles saying that what Biden was really saying was that if you feel sick you should take precautions. To which Tapper replied, "With all due respect . . . that's not even remotely close to what he said."

"I'm telling you what he meant to say," Gibbs said as the reporters guffawed. (Link to the question and answer here.)



Meanwhile, in another development on the swine flu front, the Associated Press reported that a White House aide and his family are being tested for the flu. "A member of the U.S. delegation that helped prepare Energy Secretary Steven Chu's trip to Mexico City has demonstrated flu-like symptoms and his family members have tested probable for swine flu."