I have great sympathy for White House spokespeople like Jay Carney. It is almost impossible to avoid coming off as a weasel. You have to face the press and fend off questions, never revealing more than the White House chooses to reveal, seldom being fully candid, always being governed by talking points. Of course, being in such a role for an Administration that promised, in the person of its leader, to be transparent above all others shouldn’t be quite so hard, but we all know that this promise lies molding in the Trash Heap of Cynicism, buried by Guantanamo Bay, the  waivers of conflicts for lobbyists, the Obama Super-Pac, and especially the recent assertion of executive privilege. Eventually all Presidential spokesmen reach the point where they are barely believed and no longer trusted, which is all the more reason not to rush the process and savage one’s credibility by uttering stupid and pointless lies that are both unbelievable but also easily disproved.

This week, President Obama was briefly booed at an appearance in Boston when he made a joking reference to Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis, a fan favorite who had just been traded to Obama’s Chicago White Sox under wrenching circumstances. It was good natured booing, I’d say, but booing nonetheless. The Red Sox Zone is dangerous territory for politicians and the casual fan, as Martha Coakley discovered to her dismay in 2010. Obama recognized his error quickly, and I would say he handled it superbly. But he was booed. The reporter on hand wrote it; Obama acknowledged it, and the video of the episode is unambiguous. So, naturally, Jay Carney makes this foolish statement about the incident:

“There has been some really silly reporting about the president’s remarks regarding Kevin Youkilis last night. It is highly commendable in my view as a Red Sox Fan that the president has always refused to pander on sports. He is a White Sox fan, he owns his fandom of the White Sox. He proved that again last night, and anyone who knows Boston, knows the Red Sox and anyone who was in that room last night knows that the preponderence of people shouting in response to what the President said about Kevin Youkilis were saying ‘Yoooook’ [Red Sox fans’ nickname for Youkilis, which they cheered whenever he went to the plate] and not ‘Booo’ for God’s sake.”

“For God’s sakes” is right. The Boston writers and anyone (like me) who follows Red Sox games knows the characteristic tone of the “Yooooouk!” cheer, and what the Bostonians sent Obama’s way wasn’t that. The video proves it. So why does Carney not only insist that what is false is true, but do it indignantly? Maybe he’s so used to having to lie to protect his boss that he does it automatically, but this is a damaging lie. It shows that Carney will lie, will lie brazenly, and will even lie when he doesn’t have to. Why would the press, or anyone, believe such a spokesperson about anything?

Ironically, President Obama made a mistake of judgment and recovered deftly; the truth speaks well of him in this instance. His spokesman, however, by being overly protective, damaged his own credibility beyond repair. Distorting the truth for necessity can sometimes be the duty of a loyal agent, but lying without a good reason is just the mark of a liar.

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Source: Hot Air

Ethics Alarms attempts to give proper attribution and credit to all sources of facts, analysis and other assistance that go into its blog posts. If you are aware of one I missed, or believe your own work was used in any way without proper attribution, please contact me, Jack Marshall, at  jamproethics@verizon.net.