Once again yesterday, Press Secretary Jen Psaki called on Peter Doocy of "Fox News" who asked yet another pudding-headed attempt at a gotcha question, and failed miserably as she politely explained why his question was empty and without meaning in the real world.
This one from Doocy junior was a several-parter, but the core of it was to find out why-oh-why the Biden administration hadn't ignored the World Health Organization just do its own investigation on how the COVID-19 coronavirus came about. Her once-again polite response began with a quintessential Psaki-like comment of deep understatement: "I think you're misunderstanding how this process actually works," she explained. And then went into detail how the international community and investigations work, noting that they need access "to the underlying data and information in order to have that investigation." And that they have been trying to get it. Doocy, being Doocy, wasn't able to see the train wreck heading his way, nor did he follow the famous dictum of Abraham Lincoln, "Better to remain silence and be thought a fool than speak and remove all doubt." So, he went on, and several more questions, culminating in -- "So, is there any amount of casualties from COVID in this country that would make you want to not wait for an international effort and just do it?" (Forgetting that Ms. Psaki had already explained the need for getting access to the information the World Health Organization has, even by Doocy Standards this latter was too much for me, so I sent him a note on social media,. "So, to rephrase your question -- "Are there any amount of casualties from COVID in this country that would make you want to" ask why Trump & the GOP & "Fox News" minimized the threat -- as being merely like flu -- and the use of masks that helped lead to those 600,000 casualties?") But this all got me wondering, since these inane DoocyQuestions and kindly school marm replies from Jen Psaki seem to happen almost every day, with corresponding, and entertaining, if head-numbing, videos. What I find bewildering is why Ms. Psaki seems to call on him every...single...day. Since she knows he's going to ask some smarmy and utterly infantile question that she'll have to smack down albeit politely. I know he's with "Fox News" and if she doesn't call on him, they and the far right will cry in outrage. But just calling on him every other day -- not "blackballing" him entirely -- would seem to be acceptable, to show you aren't ignoring him. But the other thought is that she calls on him intentionally. Knowing that he is going to ask an unearthly stupid question which will be brain-dead easy for her to answer -- usually with, "That's not how things work, let me explain..." And there will be footage of it, and the footage will get out, and it will make her look kindly and endearing and smart, and make him look like a churlish clod out far of his depth, And further, she can prepare for what he's going to ask, since he's so blatantly transparent and limited in his perspective. While I think that Option A -- this is "Fox News" and she sort of has to call him -- is the most likely reason under normal conditions, I sort of think that Option B may have more weight than one would otherwise presume. At least I hope it does...
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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