Jen Psaki describes a better relationship with Peter Doocy when the cameras are off

Originally published at: Jen Psaki describes a better relationship with Peter Doocy when the cameras are off | Boing Boing

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That’s life inside the Beltway.

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Beat me to it!

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I love to see a smart person like Ms Psaki help the less fortunate in the smarts department.

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No surprise at all that these two get along just fine behind the scenes.

The empire is bipartisan, and they’re both just part of a show produced for the rubes.

giphy (2)

(K Harris and L Graham)

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“a very low-blood-pressure briefing room”

Compare that to Sean Spicer losing his mind and flop-sweating during his very first briefing, where he claimed the attendance at the 2017 Inauguration was the highest ever, period. (And in the previous sentence, he’s just said any quoted numbers were inaccurate because the NPS doesnt publish numbers.) So: “No one knows how many people were there / But we had the biggest numbers ever.”

And his career has been a series of stunning successes from then on. It’s NewsMax now, I think ?

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Why is that disingenuous wank-stain - or any other Fox-hole - being treated with the slightest bit of respect, though? They aren’t “members of the press,” they’re agents of right-wing disinformation and propaganda.

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Yep, he went to Newmax, with a little attention/cash-grab along the way.

Sean Spicer Dwts GIF by Dancing with the Stars

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wow, she’s so amazing. what a great interview! (at least the part i watched) i love how she takes everything with a bit of humor, like every interaction has this subtext in her head saying “can you believe this?” because she’s so excited and humbled by being where she is, doing what’s she’s doing. of course, she is where she is doing what’s she’s doing because she’s the best at it.

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Because Jen Psaki is better than us.

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Because, as Psaki herself said, this is all a show.

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Still, one has to accept the fact that Doocy chose to work at Fox News. So by that association…

he still asshole sacha baron cohen GIF

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Disappointed. Would prefer, “Peter, you ignorant slut!”

(Not really going for slut shaming, mind you, just a callback to Dan Ackroyd and Jane Curtin.)

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Yeah, but I don’t think Peter Doocy actually turns on the stupid for the cameras. I’m thinking that part isn’t an act.

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I totally bet he does. I’ve met too many politicos, even in the deep south where I grew up, to know how this works. Some of them are dumb, but some of them are brilliant but have to play dumb to avoid being seen as “liberal elites.”

I totally trust Psaki’s judgement of Doocy here. He’s putting on a show.

It’s like how at Fox, they have vaccine passports and all their people are vax’d and have to wear masks and get regularly tested , but then on their shows they put on their act.

It’s not cynical to say at this level, everyone’s playing for their crowds.

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She didn’t say he was smart when he’s off camera, though, just “entirely professional”. He can still be performing on camera, but still be a dim bulb on and off camera.

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One time I was watching a Canadian political debate with questions from viewers. And one viewer asked each person to say something they liked about the person to their left. The Green candidate had to think of something nice to say about the Conservative candidate, and said, “He’s got really nice kids.”

If that’s the best you can do…

I really keyed into the fact that Psaki used the word “professional” three times to describe Doocy without saying anything else. We know Psaki is on orders to not descend into name-calling, to try to keep the White House above social-media-level fray. So Psaki basically had to downplay the acrimony with Doocy. But the absolute nicest thing Psaki could say was, “Doocy acts the way a person in that profession would be expected to act,” or, “Doocy has never done anything that forced security to ask Doocy to leave.”

“You must really hate that guy?”
“Well, you know, they’ve never assaulted any of my staff.”

That’s a yes.

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Of course, because this is how normal colleagues who disagree get along. The dangerous aberration was the previous administration calling press the “enemy of the people”.

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All I’ll say is this, the expectation that these people all hate each other is based on nothing more than what they want you to think in order to get people to tune in. These guys all play golf and hang out at the same clubs and send their kids to the same private schools.

Sure, she may not be lovey dovey over Doocy, but I bet she doesn’t hate him. He makes her look good to her people, she makes him look good to his people, and everyone plays the game.

EDIT:

I had previously referred to George Conway as an “extreme liberal”, and that IS what members of his party called him after he turned against Trump, but he is decidedly NOT an extreme liberal by any sane definition.

I still stand by my opinion though, these guys are all playing a game and work together. When Jen Psaki leaves the white house , whenever that is, she will get offers from many news agencies and will take the one that best suits her career. That might be Fox. Which is why they don’t burn bridges.

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Unfortunately, the first rule of Media Club is that you don’t trash other members of Media Club.

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