And one more thing about Jay Carney…
Actually, if might be more than one more thing.
In the comments thread of the post about his departure yesterday, commenter “Lizzy” wrote of the press secretary position:
Yes, it’s an awful job, but imagine how much harder it would have been if Carney worked for a Republican president? Hard to pity Carney or Earnest.
My response is that yes, but it all depends which you consider more awful. Personally, I’d rather be serving a Republican president and be questioned by a hostile liberal press than to have to lie through my teeth over and over in public as Carney did. But I agree that both situations are bad.
However, (and I may be imagining this, because of his choirboy looks) I always thought I saw a tiny smidgeon (and I mean teeny-tiny) of shame and/or suffering behind Carney’s eyes when he was standing on the podium as press secretary. Unlike the more pugnacious Gibbs, he never seemed to me to be enjoying the actual performance of his job, although he no doubt enjoyed the manifold perks.
I’m not saying his conscience tortured him. But something seemed not right to me. Of course, he should never have taken the job in the first place, or at the very least have quit much earlier. But early in his tenure I found the following video from 2006, which I featured in a previous post but which I may as well repeat here:
As I wrote in that earlier post:
Carney is caught in a terrible dilemma, unless he is completely amoral (which I don’t think he is, but I certainly could be wrong about that). He either has to lie for the president, day after day, in the most public and embarrassing way possible, or he must publicly break away and become a traitor to his fellows, shunned and despised, and off the guest list at the best parties.
It may sound as though I’m making light of this, but I’m not. How many people have that sort of courage? How many would instead find themselves compromising bit by bit, until they find in the end that they have become something they once would have hated and despised? I don’t know the numbers, but I believe that last group is not small.
I think Carney finally couldn’t take it anymore, in the personal sense. But I think he will never publicly renounce or disown what he did (au contraire), and I believe that he remains strongly dedicated to the liberal and the Obama cause.
Breaking! American POW freed from captivity in Afghanistan
http://commoncts.blogspot.com/2014/05/breaking-american-pow-freed-from.html
I share that perception of Carney and also feel no sympathy for him whatsoever. He knowingly lied thousands upon thousands of times. Day after day, week after week, month after month for over three years…
Carney, like all active on the left has bought into the meme that the end justifies the means, yet truth has no need for subterfuge or of obfuscation, much less of outright lying.
So on some level, the Carney’s of the world know in their heart of hearts that what they espouse cannot withstand the light of examination. Thus the need for subterfuge, obfuscation and lies.
Having rejected objective logic and reason in service of an ideology willing to forcibly impose itself upon the unwilling, ultimately, the only difference between a Carney and a Stalin is the amount of power they wield, that and a willingness to personally pull the trigger. Make no mistake, the Carney’s of the world will kill the innocent in service of their ideology, they simply lack the ruthlessness to do it themselves. For that, they have their thugs.
What Geoffrey Britain said!
His poor lying skills seemed to indicate a sliver of a conscience, but….
Carney is the tail of a very rotten fish. Obviously, he has not personally prodded the passengers with a bayonet; but he knew the destination of the train. Him and the horse he road in on.
Neo: I think the tiny bit of shame/suffering you detected behind Carney’s eyes was instead the discomfort/indigestion of having to explain/defend himself in front of his colleagues. Once again you’re being too kind!
The Carney Barker was right about one thing in that C-Span interview from 2006: He wasn’t very good at the job of White House Press Secretary.
He was cocky, snide, and condescending, always saying ‘I’ll get back to you’ when confronted with a tough question, though he never got back to anyone with an answer.
The Carney Barker’s a progressive, and the first rule of progressives is: They lie. The Carney Barker is a liar, just like is boss, which is why he was hired for the job in the first place.
Carney has commie art posters all over his residence!
Radical is as radical does.
gotta go with blert …if the communist propaganda posters in the KITCHEN and the photo shop of his bookcase doesn’t convince you that lying is what he lives for…what would it take? And I hope you didn’t miss their “kiss” … in order for Jay to see, jugears needs a glass navel…. even “teeeny-tiny” is waaaaay too much credit… puh-leeez!
He lies when he opens his mouth like Zippy.
And they named their kid after Hugo Chavez.
Old joke variation.
Q. How can you tell when a press secretary is lying to you?
A. Watch his lips. If they’re moving, he’s lying.
Carney proves the old adage about the wicked prospering. It is about the likes of him that the Psalms were written.