"Robert Gibbs gets testy with NBC's Chuck Todd' -- that's the headline that the always-alert Alexander Burns put on his Politico story about the smackdown that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs administered on Thursday to NBC reporter Chuck Todd. Here's the transcript:
In a briefing-room clash over the president’s budget with NBC reporter Chuck Todd, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs mocked NBC and its parent company, General Electric, for suffering in the down economy.
The exchange began when Todd challenged Gibbs on the relatively small size of Obama’s spending cuts, which constitute a tiny fraction of the federal budget.
“One half of one percent — how is this truly a tough decision?” Todd asked Gibbs, referring to Obama’s $17 billion in planned program reductions.
“I’ll resist the temptation —,” Gibbs began, but Todd cut him off.
“You want to have a money argument, but the percentage does matter,” Todd said. “People are cutting back their spending by 10 percent. Companies are cutting back by 5 percent.”
“NBC!” Gibbs interjected with a laugh. “The stock of GE!”
It's ironic, of course, that Gibbs would be so tough on NBC, since the Peacock Network, and its sidekicks, CNBC and MSNBC, have been so slavishly devoted to the cause of Obamalotry. You might think that the White House would just sit back and enjoy the, uh, ring-kissing. But evidently not; Gibbs couldn't resist jabbing Todd. And so there's a lesson there: If you are someone's slave, the slavemaster won't always be nice, instead, the slavemaster might be cruel, out of contempt for his servile peon. That's what seems to be happening in the Gibbs-Todd relationship: Gibbs expects total subservience from the "National Bailout Corporation," and if he doesn't get such subservience, he won't hesitate to jerk Todd's chain.
Or to pull Todd's string.
