Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Gibbs 'Gitmo' Reply a bit "Hasty" - Flip-Flop

From the White House press briefing - May 20 - H/T - Gateway Pundit:
QUESTION: This is a President who has not been afraid to admit that he made a mistake in the past when he made one. If you say Congress deserves a plan [concerning the closing of Gitmo] before we ask them for resources [$$$], was it a mistake to ask for the resources before you give them a plan?

ROBERT GIBBS: ...I think [the president will] say this tomorrow -- that we've made some hasty decisions that are now going to take some time to unwind. And closing Guantanamo Bay obviously is one of those decisions.
Later on, a reporter asks Gibbs a follow up question, requesting a clarification on his previous reply:

Get a load of this exchange!:
Q: You said hasty -- you talked about hasty decisions tomorrow, that it's going to take some time to unwind. Are you talking about the President's hasty decisions or the previous administration's hasty decision as it regards Guantanamo?

GIBBS: No, no, no, I'm sorry, let me be -- good question. My boss might want to know the answer to that. (Laughter.) No, no, I'm discussing decisions that were made in the previous administration --

Q: You were not referring to the executive order --

GIBBS: No, no, no --

Q: -- as a hasty decision.

GIBBS: No.

Q: Absolutely not?

GIBBS: Thank you for letting me clarify that before I go see the boss later this afternoon....

GIBBS: You just saved us a series of phone calls. Let me explain a little bit of what I meant by that....
Gibbs goes on and on and on. But, ultimately he fibbed on that one, or perhaps he was only kidding. Who knows....... But I think Gibbs made an egregious error in responding so "hastily" to the original question. He should have allowed himself "some time to unwind" before giving his reply - which would have "saved him a lot of phone calls" and shielded him from his boss' wrath......

Update: The aforementioned flip-flop was noted by David Paul Kuhn over at Real Clear Politics. Gateway Pundit - who I cited earlier - linked to Kuhn's post, but did not mention the flip-flop. I did not see Mr. Kuhn's post till now and only took notice of Gibbs' reversal because I had perused the complete White House briefing. But if it's any consolation to Mr. Kuhn: I offer him a somewhat belated hat tip.