Seems a lot of people think Robert Gibbs only mocks and criticizes "the left". So I took a look into that.
February 20, 2009
“I’ve watched Mr. Santelli on cable the past 24 hours or so. I’m not entirely sure where Mr. Santelli lives or in what house he lives but the American people are struggling every day to meet their mortgages, stay in their jobs, pay their bills, send their kids to school,” Gibbs said…
I would encourage him to read the president’s plan. ... I’d be more than happy to have him come here to read it. I’d be happy to buy him a cup of coffee — decaf,” the press secretary said, in a not-so-subtle jab at Santelli’s frantic style.
Gibbs brandished a copy of a fact sheet about Obama’s plan. “Download it, hit print, and begin to read it,” he said. In all, Gibbs used Santelli’s name six times.
March 16, 2009
Question: "One quick followup: Former Vice President Cheney was on State of the Union yesterday. He had a lot -- a lot of criticism of this White House.
"To boil it down, on national security, he said the president's policies were making the country less safe. And on the economy, he was charging that the president is taking advantage of the financial crisis to vastly expand the government in all kinds of ways -- health, education, energy.
"How do you respond to those kind of allegations from the former vice president?"
Gibbs: "Well, I guess Rush Limbaugh was busy ... so they trotted out the next most popular member of the Republican cabal.
March 26, 2009
QUESTION: ... House Republicans unveiled what they described today as their alternative to the president's budget. I wonder if anyone here has had a chance to brief you on that on -- if you're aware that it doesn't actually contain any numbers.
GIBBS: I did -- I -- it took me several minutes to read it. (LAUGHTER) I will note that ... there's one more picture of a windmill than there is of a chart of numbers. There's -- just for your knowledge, there's exactly one picture of a windmill.
May 15, 2009
When asked about the Republican National Committee's (RNC) plans to pass a resolution renaming the Democratic Party, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs had a chuckle and more than an ounce of sarcasm.
"I would say given the challenges they face… that's the exact same way I would be using my time too," Gibbs said.
February 9, 2010
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs flashed a left palm with notes written on it at the news briefing Tuesday, an apparent mocking reference to former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's use of her hand as notepad during the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville…
Gibbs began the exchange while discussing some points he wanted to make about bipartisan health-care reform efforts, according to a transcript:
GIBBS: ....oh, I wrote a few things down...
(LAUGHTER)
... I wrote...
(CROSSTALK)
GIBBS: I wrote -- I wrote "eggs, milk and bread."
(LAUGHTER)
But I crossed out bread, just so I can make pancakes for Ethan if it snows. And then I wrote down "hope and change," just in case I forgot...
QUESTION: Oh, my Lord.
GIBBS: ... that.
(LAUGHTER)
QUESTION: Is that when he was talking?
It came in handy (OFF-MIKE)
GIBBS: Pretty good. Pretty good.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
Then later…
Q I appreciate your notes-on-the-hand gag. (Laughter.) Does the White House -- how closely did the White House monitor the tea party convention this weekend? Do you have any reaction to what was said there --
Q Careful. (Laughter.)
MR. GIBBS: I didn't watch it. I didn't watch it at all.
Q Well, do you see the tea party movement as a real political force this year?
MR. GIBBS: Look, it seems to be a very successful private enterprise.
March 4, 2010
GOP lawmakers and pundits had taken to criticizing nine officials of the Obama Justice Department who defended detainee rights as the “Gitmo Nine.” Attorney General Eric Holder had disclosed the names of two of the nine; the group then called the remaining unidentified officials the “Al Qaeda Seven.”
Gibbs today was asked for a reaction to the criticism.
“I think the best reaction might be from somebody like Theodore Olsen or -- who, I think, has written extensively about this,” Gibbs said, “or somebody, I think, at the Giuliani firm, who might be able to speak to the bizarre criticisms.”
April 5, 2010
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs got a few oohs and aahs in today's press conference, when responding to embattled Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele's recent claim that both he (Steele) and President Barack Obama have a "slimmer margin" for error because of the color of their skin.
I think that it is a very silly comment to make. I think Michael Steele's problem isn't the race card, it's the credit card.
June 17, 2010
"It's hard to tell what planet these people live on," Gibbs said, when asked about the litany of attacks on the White House's treatement of BP coming from multiple Republicans.
"It's hard to understand their viewpoint but it may explain their votes on financial regulation," he continued. "It explains how they view whether or not the banks ought to be able to write their own rules and play the game the way they played it several years ago that caused our economy to crash."
July 8, 2010
CNS News’ Fred Lucas asked about a comment from Obama appointee Donald Berwick about rationing…
Lucas: “You said you were confident there would have been a confirmation had there been a hearing. But do you think that it would have been politically troublesome in an election year to have all of these comments aired out about rationing and redistribution that Dr. Berwick had talked about in the past?”
Gibbs: “You just read comments. Is there, like, a secret comment book that somehow you got and that nobody else got?” <Laughter> “And you just read them to me and somehow they wouldn’t have come out? Did he say things like ‘rationing happens today, it’s just a question of who will do it?”
July 12, 2010
“Kyl says wealthy need big Bush tax cuts while middle class families are on their own to fend for themselves as a result of Bush economy.”
Oh, but he said he wants to punch hippies one time so I guess he should be crucified. Got it.
By the way? If you don't think Obama is just like Bush or that the Pentagon should be eliminated or the even Dennis Kuccinich isn't liberal enough? Well, then, HE WASN'T TALKING ABOUT YOU!!!
I’m just sayin'…