It was only a matter of time before the White House got around to webscrubbing. Well, to be perfectly honest, it’s more like a game of cat and mouse right now. But you can’t blame Beethovenqueen or RBO for assuming it’s just more of the same old same old.
After all, it practically became a trademark of PrezCanO’s campaign, including MyBarackObama communities or groups that appeared, then disappeared into the ethers. At one point, a little more than a year ago, echoing the Little Green Footballs blog, RBO wrote that there was just too much crazy to clean up.
Apparently the game is still afoot and has moved on to the West Wing of the Big White Mansion at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Congratulations to Beethovenqueen for making this Big Catch.
Take a gander at this YouTube playlist of White House press briefings for the whitehouse’s Channel and see — without peeking below — if you can tell what’s missing.
Give up? Beethovenqueen writes:
- 7/1/09. It doesn’t show up no matter how you view the page. Instead they show 6/26 and then 7/2.
7/1 is still posted but I found it by specifically searching for it, not via the playlist where it is missing.
What should appear at 7/1/09, you ask?
It’s the Chip Reid/Helen Thomas White House presser smackdown of mouth piece Robert Gibbs on how the White House is handling the press corps. It’ll be a classic for sure. RBO wrote all about it July 2, including posting the following YouTube clip in question.
By the way, you can read transcripts of all White House press briefings here.
How long, may we ask, before Google obediently wipes the clip forever from internet memory? Time for someone to come up with a YouTube Wayback Machine. It’s gonna be a long four years 928 days 20 hours (but who’s counting?) as of this writing.
UPDATE: It appears that, no matter which way she tries, Beethovenqueen cannot locate the June 29 presser either.
Here’s the transcript for June 29.
Interestingly it starts out with Gibbs being grilled about POTUS not being ready for a question about Michael Jackson on Friday, June 26, and the matter of whether or not a private letter had been sent to the Jackson family. That was followed up with questions about the “coup” in Honduras, that followed up with questions as to whether POTUS would veto a health care bill.
Then, the real drama began. Just read the following and see what it tells you.
Video Update: Although it is difficult to find, there is a way to locate an embed link for the CSPAN coverage. The transcript of the contentious segment about POTUS’s promise not to raise taxes follows.
-
Q [...] That may be true, but the President on the campaign said that — he made a flat pledge that he would not raise taxes on anybody making under $250,000. So is that pledge still operable?
MR. GIBBS: Well, again, I think in some ways your question is hypothetical because there are any number of different bills, different proposals. I think the President has outlined what he believes is the very best way to pay for health care.
Q It doesn’t have to be hypothetical. He made a pledge –
MR. GIBBS: I understand.
Q — he said, I am not going to raise taxes on anyone making under $250,000. Is that pledge still active?
MR. GIBBS: We are going to let the process work its way through.
Q So it’s not.
Q So it’s not.
Q So it’s not. (Laughter.)
MR. GIBBS: We’re going to let the process work its way through. All right?
You have that awfully perplexed look on your face, Mr. Garrett. [This is Fox News Channel's Major Garrett.]
Q Well, what would be the reason for reversing among the most conspicuous, if not the most conspicuous, campaign promise that this candidate Obama repeated everywhere across the country?
MR. GIBBS: Well, I appreciate the indulgence to get into these hypothetical questions months before we’re likely to do that. It is rich to watch the fact that we’re making so little progress on health care reform that you’ve asked me if the President is going to sign the bill that’s not at his desk. Let’s –
Q We didn’t ask you about signing the bill –
MR. GIBBS: No, no –
Q And there’s nothing hypothetical about reaffirming a campaign promise.
MR. GIBBS: It is in the sense that we’re not facing any sort of decision on this. We’re letting Congress work many of these issues through. And we’re making progress.
Q But, historically, administrations that make such conspicuous promises tell Congress, you can do this, this, and this, but don’t go there because it’s not something we’re going to do.
MR. GIBBS: And I think the President in his principles and in the $948 billion to finance health care reform has laid out pretty clearly what his financing mechanism would be. Which –
Q Then why not take the opportunity provided by Ed to reassure the American public that the campaign promise still stands?
Garrett never got an answer. Sounds like the press corps was becoming a little annoyed shall we say? A little testy? This was two days prior to the Reid-Thomas showdown.
P.S. FreedomFairy emails she discovered a video of the full June 29 White House press conference at CSPAN!!! You can either watch it or buy it.
Question: Why is it not available on the White House YouTube channel? It is, as Beethovenqueen points out, “public domain”.
The CSPAN webpage for the June 29 presser provides a list of correspondents in attendance. For other press briefings click on the “People” tab at the bottom of the page. It would appear that because CSPAN airs the press briefings it has the rights to post them online.
If you click on the link View in timeline, you can see who was speaking and in what order. Even cooler is that if you click on a name in the timeline you will be taken directly to that particular entry in the video tape. So, if you are looking at the transcript, for instance, and want to watch a particular exchange, it’s just that easy to find it!
The more I think about this, the more it’s irritating me.
Inconvenient truths (public briefings) simply not listed, reporters identified with a generic “Q”…
Even the notes “(laughter)” remain unidentified in the transcripts. This means if Gibbsy is laughing at his own evasiveness, his laughter is written up in the transcript the same way as if a few reporters or the entire room is laughing….
Tsk, tsk. Mighty misleading O-Admin-of-Transparency!
Example:
MR. GIBBS: How so? Is there any evidence currently going on that I’m controlling the press — poorly, I might add. (Laughter.) <——This was Gibbs only, laughing at his own "joke".
BQ – great find. After the Press-O-Rama in which this occurred, I was waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the proverbial and pre-requisite “Ask me tomorrow” Ask-a-thon, tomorrow 7/2.
And even though this “Press Briefing” ruffled everyone enough, to make some headlines and a lot of blogs, I have yet to see Gibb’s answer to the reporting and to the question “Whay did you set this up, and why was that woman the President hugged and offered help to, a member of his campaign?”
Of course we know “the White House” put out a statement that describe the woman, and evidently everyone else in the room who asked questions who were connected to PSBHO as “coincidence”, was that enough to muzzle the Press?
Anyone?
:crickets:
Transparent, indeed.
re-read this
Q Well, what would be the reason for reversing among the most conspicuous, if not the most conspicuous, campaign promise that this candidate Obama repeated everywhere across the country?
MR. GIBBS: Well, I appreciate the indulgence to get into these hypothetical questions months before we’re likely to do that.
Chris Reid wasn’t present at the 7/2 briefing.
I hope he’s back today!
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