White House Jumps On the 'Intimidate Erickson' Bandwagon

Over the past few days there has been a manufactured firestorm over comments Erick Erickson made on his local Georgia radio show last week. You can hear his full remarks by clicking here.

Today the White House joined in the pile-on at the instigation of a left-wing talk radio host and former CNN employee who somehow got credentials:

BILL PRESS: Robert, on the Census, Erick Erickson, a commentator for CNN, a couple of days ago, he said he was not going to fill out his Census form, and if a Census worker came to the door, he said he would “pull out my wife’s shotgun and see how that little twerp likes being scared at the door.” So my question is, do those remarks concern the White House? And are there any —

ROBERT GIBBS: It should concern CNN — probably first and foremost. Probably concerns his wife as well.

PRESS: Any thoughts about protection for Census workers?

GIBBS: Well, I think there are a lot of people that get on cable TV and say stuff so that people will quote it back to other people.

Allow me to rip this apart. (My comments in italics):

BILL PRESS: (First of all… this is like having Rush Limbaugh in the press pool asking Gibbs questions as a legitimate reporter. Bill Press is a partisan, lefty radio host – just not nearly as talented or succesful as Rush) Robert, on the Census, Erick Erickson, a commentator for CNN, (He may be a CNN commentator, but the remarks were made on a local, Georgia radio station. But, former – and maybe disgruntled – CNN employee Bill Press makes it look like the remarks were made on CNN. Maybe to intimidate the network into doing something about Erickson?) a couple of days ago, he said he was not going to fill out his Census form, (No, actually it was not about the census form which Erickson went on at length about to implore all of his listeners that it was their legal and constitutional obligation to complete. This was about the intrusive American Community Survey (ACS) which is very different and should not be confused by a smart “reporter” with the Census) and if a Census worker came to the door, he said he would “pull out my wife’s shotgun and see how that little twerp likes being scared at the door.” (What Press leaves out here is that Erickson said he would do this if they came to him to try to “come throw me in jail” for not returning the ACS. Important distinction, isn’t it?) So my question is, do those remarks concern the White House? And are there any –

ROBERT GIBBS: It should concern CNN (Now we have the Press Secretary. for the White House suggesting a cable news network should be concerned over one of their employees remarks? What business is it of the White House to suggest such a thing?) — probably first and foremost. Probably concerns his wife as well. (And, typically of the left, they make a personal remark not only about the person but about his wife. Who is this man Gibbs to stand up on behalf of the White House and make a comment like this about someone’s wife?)

PRESS: Any thoughts about protection for Census workers? (Protection from being “scared”? Erickson said he would scare the census worker if they tried to take him to jail)

GIBBS: Well, I think there are a lot of people that get on cable TV and say stuff so that people will quote it back to other people. (See how Gibbs takes the bait from Press and then repeats misinformation? He did NOT go on cable TV, he was on a local, Georgia radio station. But this is part of their attempt to intimidate CNN into not hiring anyone from the right)

It’s one thing when these guys go after Erickson, we sort of expect that at this point. But when the Obama press secretary engages in a line of questioning that is tantamount to a Potemkin Village with fake reporters posing questions based on half-truths and outright falsehoods, then it is something that all citizens should take notice of.