It’s not easy being a spokesperson
We’ve had our fun with Marie Harf and Jen Psaki, and Josh Earnest as well as Jay Carney before him (for some reason, Robert Gibbs wasn’t a source of much fun). But I admit to a sneaking sort of awe of what they do, although it’s not a good sort of awe.
People are fond of saying that Harf or Psaki are airheaded, for example. I beg to differ. What they are—and what all on that list are—is loyal party apparatchiks with a fair amount of facility (some more than others) at keeping their stories and talking points straight, firing off a flurry of glib words to get those points across, and sticking relentlessly to message in the face of some difficult questions and no small amount of mockery and potential embarrassment.
You might say that they are shameless. Perhaps. However, they are buoyed and driven not only by personal ambition, but also by their dedication to whatever they think their party and their boss stand for, so much so that they believe that telling lies and manufacturing spin is a noble calling. This accounts for their triumph over any lingering shame they might feel. As with Winston Smith’s interlocutor O’Brien, they not only say that 2 + 2 = 5, but they come to actually believe that on a certain level it’s true as soon as they say it.
Or of course they might instead just be sociopaths to whom the only important thing is their personal advancement in the world, and their jobs are their tickets to the stars.
It also takes a certain amount of skill to learn so much information each day in order to get the administration’s stories straight and be able to rattle off the responses without getting rattled. And if the responses are lies, coverup, and/or spin, so much the more difficult, because it’s harder to keep a pack of lies straight than it is to tell the truth. Yes, they get better at it over time, and some people have a special facility for it. But I still believe it isn’t easy just to keep up with the sheer pace of information overload.
Does this mean I have sympathy for their plight? No. I don’t even think they see it as a plight; I think they consider they’ve got a fabulous job in the service of a wonderful president, doing wonderful things. A little ridicule rolls off their backs. Although I did always see something in Jay Carney’s eyes—or did I imagine it?—some mild sense of shame that I haven’t spied in the physiognomy of any of the others. Perhaps it’s just that I remember this:
” And if the responses are lies, coverup, and/or spin, so much the more difficult, because it’s harder to keep a pack of lies straight than it is to tell the truth. ”
I know what you’re saying, but I don’t think it’s quite right. If you’re memorizing a story and reciting it back, it doesn’t matter how true it is as long as it’s consistent. I mean, the press secretary doesn’t know how whether a country has complied with a treaty or a bill has been passed. It’s not like there are cover-ups that a press secretary has knowledge of. I could recite The Lord of the Rings or the Battle of Waterloo equally well if I had notes beforehand. That is in fact the reason I don’t listen to press conferences. A truth, a lie, or a typo all sound the same.
Rudyard Kipling:
The Female of the Species
…
When the early Jesuit fathers preached to Hurons and Choctaws,
They prayed to be delivered from the vengeance of the squaws.
‘Twas the women, not the warriors, turned those stark enthusiasts pale.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male…
http://www.potw.org/archive/potw96.html
Here’s a PJM piece on Harf’s thesis:
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/02/20/marie-harfs-college-thesis-right-wing-support-for-israel-complicates-foreign-policy/
She seems to fit right in in the Obama WH.
It may not be easy as argued.
However, there are those who make it appear so, and, who’ve done a damned fine job at it:
Tony Snow, none were better.
Dana Perino, professional and respectable
I’m terribly biased, but I thought Tony Snow was an excellent spokesman. Never felt like he was snarking or serving up preposterous b.s. like I do with each of Obama’s spokesmen. He always seems of good cheer and interested in sharing what he could with a certain grace and humor.
(Yeah, I’m definitely biased…)
I remember many such from many regimes. Most, from what I recall… were functional or actual sociopaths. Actually, when you mentioned, I do recall Carney looking pained, on many an occasion, even as few times as I bothered to see what propaganda he was spewing. Looked like his shoes were too tight but he was trying to will them to be the right size. So, yes, I think he knew. Of course, I am not sure if that doesn’t actually make him worse. The others have no soul to sell, he seemed to but continued anyway. Who knows though. Maybe he has some medical or mental condition that puts him in some slight perpetual distress… when on his feet, or all the time, or some such. Still, I suspect as you do, he knew he was lying, and he knew why he was lying, and why was expected to lie. It didn’t seem to set well with him on some level.
Lizzy:
Well if you’re biased, then I’m biased too, because I agree that he was great.
I very much liked Dana Perino as well.
The prophet Isaiah: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.”
Josh Earnest is extremely adept at deflecting or dodging questions with a straight face. He’s way more talented at lying with a straight face than the other two. Ms.Harf is a distant third.
Neo’s analysis is thorough and insightful as only she, experienced in psychotherapy, seems to have done. I watch a lot of Fox News and use my remote to speed to what interests me, and so have watched a lot of these conferences. And, I have regularly wonder how they do it – mental gymnastics, as well as emotionally – shame or pride in making the best of a difficult situation. These two women don’t look very confident or happy, but perhaps that see themselves as actresses playing difficult roles. And, I also paid careful attention to how GW Bush expressed himself poorly, even though I agreed with what he was trying to say. I too, thought that Dana Perino and Tony Snow were excellent and did not betray their integrity.
I don’t agree with Nick. They can’t just memorize talking points; they have to try to be consistent with the contorted logic presented as press conferences go on.
There’s an episode of Seinfeld where Jerry has to beat a lie-detector on whether or not he watches Melrose Place. He asks George how to do it.
George says, “Remember, it’s not a lie if you believe it.”
I think that kind of ability is necessary for the job.
“Josh Earnest” — a rather Gilbertian name!
I think they consider they’ve got a fabulous job in the service of a wonderful president,…
People like these who are willing to promulgate lies in service of someone they think is the bees’ knees are otherwise known as cult members.
A society in which such people are need by the ten of thousand or millions is too depraved to know the truth.
the litanny of things you brought up as to what they do, requires sociopathy… ie. no guilt… you find it hard because you have guilt, but if you did not have it, ie. your sociopathic, then what bothers you wont bother you.
for a label: sycophantic sociopath…
George says, “Remember, it’s not a lie if you believe it.”
I thought if you crossed your fingers behind your back it’s not a lie.
The current administration are sociopaths, all sociopaths up and down the line. Except for the homicidal megalomaniacs, who, if sufficiently intelligent, get the top jobs. Why we are not having treason trials, I cannot understand.