White House Reporter To Obama: Are You A Dictator Or A Giant F**king P*ssy?
At the conclusion of the White House’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit last night, President Obama held a press conference at which he addressed a number of issues, but the thing that really stood out was the absurd framing of Jonathan Karl’s question about the President’s use of executive authority. The ABC News Chief White House Correspondent gave President Obama two choices of how his use of executive orders are viewed, neither of them good. The best part of this clip is President Obama’s knowing grin as Karl finishes his question:
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“Does it bother you more to be accused of being an imperial President, pushing those limits, or to be accused of being a do-nothing President who couldn’t get anything done because he faced a dysfunctional Congress?”
Granted, this question is coming from a reporter who is known for asking bullshit questions (even the President has noticed this) and fabricating reporting against him, but the narrative that everything Republicans do is Obama’s fault has firmly taken root in the mainstream media, and has even metastasized into the supposedly liberal media. This isn’t a “When did you stop beating your wife?” question, it’s a “How hard does beating your wife get you; raging hard, or call-your-doctor hard?” question.
It also had the added benefit of the out-of-context “Gotcha!” quote, because then-Senator Obama was speaking about the specific issue of civil liberties. He was not making a broad statement about the use of executive orders.
The President delivered a characteristically measured, Bill Bixby-esque response, and made some news (for careful listeners) with his response to Karl’s followup question, “Do you believe you have the power to grant work permits to those who are here illegally?”…READ MORE
Eric Trommater August 7th, 2014 at 12:59 pm
My friends and I have a theory about Karl’s questioning style. We think it’s a mixture of performance art, truth or dare and lost poker bets. Whatever the reason this guy has become a satire of himself and the White House Press core and it’s not partisian either. I’d be saying the same thing if he asked a GOP POTUS such dumb questions.
ChrisVosburg August 7th, 2014 at 2:56 pm
It’s reminiscent of that Howard Stern stringer who used to crash press conferences and submit satirical questions, famously once asking an unsuspecting Gennifer Flowers if she was planning to sleep with any other candidates before the election.
cecilia August 7th, 2014 at 8:52 pm
The difference is that the questions to Flowers were satirical and funny.
the comments by this NON journalist are lame and pathetic
dave-dr-gonzo August 7th, 2014 at 9:19 pm
“Stuttering John” Karl, the White House press corps’ clown-in-residence. Bababooey.
m2old4bs August 7th, 2014 at 1:16 pm
Do not believe that Karl is a journalist in any sense, not even a reporter. He needs to find a new job. He certainly doesn’t serve the citizens of the U.S. very well.
John Tarter August 7th, 2014 at 2:09 pm
“Obama’s knowing grin”? Yep, Obama knows exactly what he is doing, that he is exceeding his constitutional authority and he knows that his political opposition will do nothing about it.
William August 7th, 2014 at 2:21 pm
“he knows that his political opposition will do nothing about it”.
That’s because they are too busy sponsoring monumental legislation to do anything else.
It’s your Congress Skippy, own it.
M D Reese August 7th, 2014 at 2:26 pm
That just about sums it up. Oh–and of course Benghazi!Benghazi!…
William August 7th, 2014 at 2:30 pm
Yeah, Hey how is that Benghazi thing going anyway? When are the indictments being handed down.
M D Reese August 7th, 2014 at 9:28 pm
What is Boy Gowdy up to? I thought he was going to have the biggest, baddest Benghazi!Benghazi! superduper investigation yet!
Seriously,. I’ll bet that Gowdy is trying to figure out how in the hell he can just make the whole idea go away and be forgotten.
dave-dr-gonzo August 7th, 2014 at 9:17 pm
You forgot BenGHAZI!!!!!1!1!!
M D Reese August 7th, 2014 at 9:26 pm
OOPS! My bad…
EL Guapo August 7th, 2014 at 2:27 pm
Baloney!
linann.singh@yahoo.com August 7th, 2014 at 2:41 pm
Do you think congress has done anything for the American people? If your answer is yes, you must make over $250,000 a year.
ChrisVosburg August 7th, 2014 at 3:03 pm
JT writes: he knows that his political opposition will do nothing about it.
…other than provide fodder for Democratic opponents’ campaign ads. Yeah, keep doing that, Republicans, hahahaha, no really, you look great!
ShelleysLeg August 8th, 2014 at 8:24 am
Well why don’t you sue then? I’m SO sure you’ll have standing!
labman57 August 7th, 2014 at 2:49 pm
Obama’s thought bubble during Karl’s “I’ll damn you if you do, and I’ll damn you if you don’t” style of questioning:
“Does it bother you more to be regarded as a complete douche-bag or a paid hack of the RNC.”
Republicans_are_Evil August 7th, 2014 at 2:59 pm
If I were Obama I would respectfully request that reporter never be seen in my presence again.
ShelleysLeg August 8th, 2014 at 8:23 am
I wouldn’t acknowledge him with banishment…….it’s way more fun to watch him flailing and trying to be relevant.
majii August 7th, 2014 at 4:43 pm
Karl is nuts. He’s not even aware that he’s asking a question that contains opposing positions. If one is actually an imperial-style president, it naturally follows that he has been doing quite a few things on his own (like working, for example.) Combining an alleged imperial presidency with the idea of a do-nothing president doesn’t make sense. Only someone who possesses Karl’s ability to think two things which are opposites of each other make sense would believe this is a legitimate question or is based on reality.
My head hurts.
Edgar Halcyon August 7th, 2014 at 5:11 pm
Shame on whoever wrote that LIE of a title for the article!! Lying is a right-wing tactic and we should have no parts of it!
dave-dr-gonzo August 7th, 2014 at 9:15 pm
It’s called paraphrasing, and, in this case, it’s right on the money. Jonathan Karl is a movement conservative embed in the White House press corps (http://fair.org/extra-online-articles/a-right-wing-mole-at-abc-news/).
chicano2nd August 8th, 2014 at 12:54 am
Can you prove the lie? Bet we can prove a lot more on the other side!
Edgar Halcyon August 8th, 2014 at 10:22 am
Yes, it was right before your eyes. All you have to do is read the article! And, off COURSE there’s more on the other side – that’s their standard tactic. We shouldn’t be stooping to their level and our words should be beyond reproach!
Jim Valley August 7th, 2014 at 6:42 pm
“Bill Bixby-esque response”!
That was my favorite part of the article.
greenfloyd August 7th, 2014 at 10:19 pm
Again! The title to this post is not only misleading, it’s patently offensive. How come Daily Banter’s so-called writers can’t seem to construct a sentence without reference to sexual intercourse or other bodily functions? Freud would have a field day with these guys.
So, do yourself a favor and ignore this post and go to the complete Q&A.
U.S.-Africa Summit, Closing News Conference
The full exchange between Obama and Karl takes place about 11 minutes into it.
Debbie Pineau August 8th, 2014 at 6:25 am
There’s a person who has some courage to ask a question without pulling punches or without political correctness interfering with the truth.
ShelleysLeg August 8th, 2014 at 8:21 am
Bwhahahahhhhhhhaaa!!!
No wonder you have Dennis Miller and Kelsey Grammar as your ‘comedians’!
Jmacgowan8 August 10th, 2014 at 12:25 pm
And you got Bill Maher
ShelleysLeg August 10th, 2014 at 1:04 pm
Praise Jesus! And Louis Black, and Will Farrell, and Kevin Nealon, and Jerry Seinfeld, and Steve Martin and a thousand others.
You got bupkus….oh, I forgot to include the hilarious Victoria Jackson on your side of the equation!!
nidur August 8th, 2014 at 8:27 am
How come the president’s answer isn’t included? Also, the question didn’t contain the sexual reference in the title of the article. I think the president could have hit this soft ball question out of the park.
chair jackson August 8th, 2014 at 2:09 pm
It’s a fair question, because president obama has been accused of both things and it gave him an opportunity to point out that he’s “damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t”. I.e., if he does nothing he’s “weak” if he does something he’s a “dictator”. I’m not sure why liberaland would see anything odd or out-of-line about this question, it could have been a real good opportunity for the president.
Jmacgowan8 August 10th, 2014 at 11:38 am
Another article that says nothing of consequence. I am sorry to tell all you Obama supporters but executive orders are the lazy way to score points. If Obama really considered things important he would spend time doing tbe work of getting actual legislation. He famously said that he and his enemies the republicans agree on 80% of issues. If that is true and not just a sound byte then he should be able to get some legislation passed. The fact is that by jamming up congress he provides the dem talking point that the president is doing poorly but congress is worse which is an attempt to legitimize using executive orders over actual laws