On Tuesday, White House press secretary Jay Carney scolded a reporter for daring to shake her head at his spin. The reporter, Alexis Simendinger of Real Clear Politics, asked, “I just wanted to make sure, are we going to find out, because of the president’s animosity, or feelings, or shortcomings about Citizens United that he himself appreciated or wanted the IRS to be looking and scrutinizing those -“
Carney cut in: “That’s a preposterous assertion, Alexis. You’ve heard from the president, if this turns out to be true, he would be outraged …. It’s not who we are, it’s not the way the IRS should ever operate if it turns out to be true.”
The reporter followed up with a question on Benghazi. She asked about an email presented to the public by CNN. “After eight months of what you call a political circus, why not just put out the emails now?
Carney interrupted again, then launched into a monologue about how Republicans had seen the emails, Speaker of the House John Boehner was “obsessed” with the Benghazi issue, and how internal deliberations (read: manipulation) about the talking points on Benghazi were inoffensive. When the reporter began shaking her head, Carney blurted, “Alexis, shake your head and editorialize, but let me finish.”
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).