If you're a member of the mainstream media, the White House is fed up with you. Ever since the Obama-created and signed sequester became law, you've been slacking off. To put it bluntly, you've haven't done your part to tell people how terrible things are.
Seriously. People are just walking around out there, thinking the sequester wasn't really that big of a deal. Some of them even accuse the White House of employing bogus scare tactics in the days leading up to the fiscal cliff. Then, yesterday, Fox News had the audacity to send Ed Henry to a press briefing, where made the following point.
“Yesterday, the customs and border protection agency said they’re actually postponing furloughs and overtime cuts for border patrol agents. I thought in February, when Secretary Napolitano came out here with you, she told us it was dire, these border patrol agents were going to be furloughed, and that we were going to be less safe because of that."
Carney did his best to claim that money was shifted around, but Ed Henry wasn't going to let him off the hook. He did something that Jay Carney has proven himself powerless against. He pressed the issue.
“The administration kept saying in February that there was no flexibility for these cabinet secretaries,” Henry replied. “Republicans were saying that they can move money around. You said, Secretary Duncan said, others said, ‘You can’t do that. There is no flexibility.’ Now you’re saying, ‘It’s a moving picture.’ I thought there was no flexibility? I thought it was indiscriminate, across the board, that’s it.”
Carney started flailing, telling reporters to "go ask" other agencies, and doubling down on the "blame Republicans" canard, but the usual stuff wasn't working. The fact is, the administration officials chose cuts designed to cause the maximum amount of pain for the average citizen. When the GOP called their bluff, they started backing off and changed their minds.
Since they'll never admit that they inflated the initial threat, it's time to blame the media.
“The impacts are real,” Carney stammered. “And they effect real people. And I know that there hasn’t been a lot of coverage of the impacts on real people.”
So, there you have it. The sequester is every bit the horrifying monster that Democrats claimed it would be, it's just that the media hasn't bothered to tell the American people how truly awful it really is.
Apparently, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, The New York Times, The Politico, The Huffington Post, and heck, even the Daily Kos have all decided not to report on the damage being done because they're so desperate to protect Republicans.
Gotcha, Jay Carney. Thanks for the briefing. Here's the video.
