Elisberg Industries
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Products
    • Books
    • Movies
  • About Elisberg Industries
    • Our Corporate Board
    • Information Overstock
    • Elisberg Industries Entertainment Information
    • Elisberg Statistical Center of American Research
    • Consultancy Service
  • Contact
    • How to Find Us
  • Kudos
  • Good Things to Know
    • The BOB Page
    • Sites You Might Actually Like
Decent Quality Since 1847

Sarah Plain and Small

9/14/2017

0 Comments

 
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee has been on a roll lately.

It began with with her comments on Monday about former FBI director James Comey, when she said, "I think if there's ever a moment where we feel someone's broken the law, particularly if they're the head of the FBI, I think that's something that certainly should be looked at."  When asked if Mr. Comey should be prosecuted, however, she ran away from her charge -- "I'm not a lawyer," she said, and dumped it off on others. "That's the job of the Department of Justice, and something they should certainly look at." 

So, let me get this straight.  She believes herself knowledgeable enough as a legal expert to say that someone has broken the law, to stand there as the spokesperson of the president of the United States and say that someone has broken the law... but acknowledges she isn't actually a lawyer, so she can't say what that means.

This isn't merely the ultimate of passive-aggressive, this is gallingly disingenuous and shamefully cowardly.  This is inflaming the crowd with cries of hell and damnation, and then running away after you've poured on the gasoline and lit the match.  And since it's an expression of Trump's position, It may also be obstruction of justice, suggesting a potential witness be investigated.


And it was worse the next day, when she repeated her act and ratcheted it up several notches.  That's when she threw in specific and extensive detail when putting on her prosector's hat as she laid out the Case Against James Comey by telling the press corps at the afternoon press briefing --

“The memos that Comey leaked were created on an FBI computer while he was the director. He claims they were private property, but they clearly followed the protocol of an official FBI document. Leaking FBI memos on a sensitive case regardless of classification violates federal laws including the Privacy Act, standard FBI employment agreement and nondisclosure agreement all personnel must sign. I think that's pretty clean and clear that that would be a violation,"

But when challenged about whether her charge about leaking the memo was actually...,oh, illegal -- she cowardly, disingenuously and shamefully scurried away again.  "I'm not a lawyer," she once more tried to hide behind.  "The Department of Justice has to look into any allegations of whether or not something's illegal or not. That's not up to me to decide."

No, it's not for her to decide.  And no, she's not a lawyer.  But dang, there she was, laying out the prosecution's case for illegal activity.  Point by point.  Pouring on the pseudo-legal gasoline...before admitting, well, gee, no, but I'm not a lawyer.  Don't look at me.  I'm just an innocent bystander.  Before dropping the match and running away.


And then the very next day again, she was at it once more.  But she moved on to a different subject.

It all began when ESPN host Jemele Hill posted a tweet where she called Donald Trump a "white supremacist."  ESPN later released a statement that her comments did not reflect the position of ESPN, while adding, "We have addressed this with Jemele and she recognizes her actions were inappropriate."

Personally, I think I would have understood if ESPN said that her tweet did reflect the position of the network, but given how subject the show harsh words are, it's reasonable that they answered how they did.  And it's worth noting that Ms. Hill acknowledged her words were inappropriate -- as perhaps they may have been when you're a face of a network -- though not necessarily incorrect.

But that's when dear Ms. Huckabee Sanders stuck her foot in it once again.  "I think that’s one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make," she said in yesterday's press briefing, "and certainly something that I think is a fireable offense by ESPN."

Honestly, given the charges being investigated against members of the Trump administration and actions taken that are on the record -- I would think the very last people who should throw around charges of what is a "fireable offense" would be anyone having anything to do with the White House.  For the White House to chastise anyone for what they consider a "fireable offense" is not just the height of gall, but if you look up "hubris" in the dictionary, there's a good chance you'll see this.

Furthermore, given the whole, y'know, First Amendment thing, it seems a bit reprehensible for the office of the president to suggest a member of the news media should be fired.

But almost best of all, it's when challenged about her statement that Sarah Huckabee Sanders showed again what an empty vessel she is.  Asked by the Washington Post's David Nakamura 
why an influential African American sportscaster, like Jamele Hill, might make such a comment about the president, Sanders replied, “I’m not going to speak for that individual, but I know that the president has met, again, with people like Senator [Tim] Scott, who are highly respected leaders in the African-American community.”

You have to love it.  The old, "Some of my best friends are black" gambit.  Though in this case, she didn't even say they were friends, just that Trump has met with them.  Though she was at least able to name one.  Of course, for all we know, the reason these "highly respected leaders in the African-American community" were meeting with Trump was to voice their disapproval of his actions.

And if Ms. Huckabee Sanders was looking for an actual answer to why an influential African American sportscaster might make such a comment about the president, charging him with being a white supremacist, she might want to look back as far as...the day before.  That's when the House and Senate each UNANIMOUSLY passed resolutions that condemned white supremacists, the KKK and neo-Nazis, and sent it to the White House.  And when asked if Trump would sign it as well, the White House spokesperson answered, "No announcements at this time."  Nor have there been since.

So...I don't know, maybe the fact that Trump is unwilling the join the House and Senate in UNANIMOUSLY condemning white supremacists, the KKK and neo-Nazis may have at least something to do with it.

Besides, I can imagine few things worse for a press secretary to do than take a small issue under most peoples' radar and turn it in two full-blown national issues -- whether the president is violating the First Amendment and getting the public debating whether the president is, in fact, a white supremacist! 

After all this -- and we've only just made it past half the week, so there are still three full days to go, I believe that the facts show Sarah Huckabee Sanders to be guilty of fraud, abuse of power, obstruction of justice, violation of civil rights and infringement of the First Amendment, for all these detailed reasons above.  As for whether she could be prosecuted for them --

​I'm not a lawyer.  That's up to the Department of Justice.



0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture
    Elisberg Industries gets a commission if you click here before shopping on Amazon.
    Picture
    Follow @relisberg

    Author

    Robert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 

    Elisberg is a two-time recipient of the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting. He's written for film, TV, the stage, and two best-selling novels, is a regular columnist for the Writers Guild of America and was for
    the Huffington Post.  Among his other writing, he has a long-time column on technology (which he sometimes understands), and co-wrote a book on world travel.  As a lyricist, he is a member of ASCAP, and has contributed to numerous publications.



    Picture
           Feedspot Badge of Honor

    Archives

    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Animals
    Audio
    Audio Land
    Books
    Busienss
    Business
    Chicago
    Consumer Product
    Education
    Email Interview
    Entertainment
    Environment
    Fine Art
    Food
    From The Management
    Health
    History
    Huffery
    Humor
    International
    Internet
    Journalism
    Law
    Los Angeles
    Media
    Morning News Round Up
    Movies
    Music
    Musical
    Personal
    Photograph
    Piano Puzzler
    Politics
    Popular Culture
    Profiles
    Quote Of The Day
    Radio
    Religion
    Restaurants
    Science
    Sports
    Technology
    Tech Tip
    Theater
    The Writers Workbench
    Tidbits
    Travel
    Tv
    Twitter
    Video
    Videology
    Well Worth Reading
    Words-o-wisdom
    Writing

    RSS Feed

© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2023
Contact Us    About EI    Chicago Cubs
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Products
    • Books
    • Movies
  • About Elisberg Industries
    • Our Corporate Board
    • Information Overstock
    • Elisberg Industries Entertainment Information
    • Elisberg Statistical Center of American Research
    • Consultancy Service
  • Contact
    • How to Find Us
  • Kudos
  • Good Things to Know
    • The BOB Page
    • Sites You Might Actually Like