Through the looking glass: White House that loves using anonymous sources upset at being attacked by anonymous sources
posted at 8:01 pm on July 21, 2014 by Allahpundit
Josh Earnest had himself a day, didn’t he?
He’s grumpy here because of the WaPo story I posted earlier about Obama and the White House having had advance warning about the impending border crisis. Cecilia Munoz, O’s amnesty czar, is quoted by name in that one defending the administration; several law enforcement officials are quoted anonymously criticizing it. In Earnest’s universe, the Hopenchange apparatchik who puts her name to her own self-serving spin is more credible than the anonymous source who risks retaliation from the federal government by exposing the president’s negligence.
“I’m not suggesting that they shouldn’t run their story,” Earnest said. “They’re entirely entitled to doing that. What I think is important is that greater weight should be granted to those who are willing to put a face and a name with specific claims. Cecilia Muñoz, who’s the president’s top immigration adviser, is in that story conveying exactly the White House position…
Two reporters pointed out the White House is hosting its own anonymous call Monday afternoon on a job-training report.
“So, Josh, would you commit then when you have situations like today’s call, which is people picked specifically by the White House to roll out a policy of the White House — would you commit to having those people speak on the record?” asked one journalist…
Earnest said those decisions would be made on a “case-by-case” basis and repeated his position about the “weight” given to the anonymous sources, and told reporters to enjoy the anonymous call later in the day.
Ron Fournier of National Journal translates:
How bereft of a defense on the merits to WaPo’s story must this poor dope be to try convincing a roomful of reporters that anonymous sources are basically inherently untrustworthy? One of the weird things about it is that there’s no use at this point for the White House in pretending that Obama’s serious about border enforcement. He told immigration advocates this month that he’s hoping to extend DACA to a huge class of adult illegals; whatever he does to slow the flow of kids crossing the border illegally right now will be consumed politically by that mega-amnesty later. Even weirder, as John Sexton says, is Earnest arguing that the White House didn’t ignore warnings but has been more or less on top of the border crisis from the beginning. So even as O allegedly tried to stop it, the problem got bigger and bigger? That’s smart power for you.
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/07/21/through-the-looking-glass-white-house-that-loves-using-anonymous-sources-upset-at-being-attacked-by-anonymous-sources/
