It's got to be 50 shades of exhausting having to not just speak on behalf of Joe Biden but to cover for his incoherency and penchant for looking out of it and generally unwell. Couple that with having to spin his epic policy failures like the border crisis and the deadly Afghanistan debacle, and it pretty much becomes a no-win situation for those tasked with getting "the message" out, whatever it may be.
But that is what White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is paid a lot of money to do. And though she as one of his senior-most handlers hasn't done it particularly well throughout her tenure as Biden's second press secretary, it is her job description and one she wants people to believe she takes very seriously.
On Monday, though, there was a crack in Jean-Pierre's usually oblivious veneer as the press briefing devolved into pandemonium over the explosive story of the Parkinson's expert, Dr. Kevin Cannard, who was said to have visited the Biden White House some eight times over a period of eight months starting in July 2023 as questions about Biden's mental acuity were reaching a fever pitch.
Watch the post-Independence Day fireworks below between some reporters in the press corps and Jean-Pierre over her attempts at dodging and evading more probing and important questions about the expert and what he was doing related to Biden, especially on the issue of meeting with his physician:
Sparks fly when Karine Jean-Pierre is pressed about why a Parkinson’s specialist visited the White House multiple times over the past year, including a meeting with the president's physician. pic.twitter.com/G78IxoYdwO
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 8, 2024
Karine Jean-Pierre AGAIN refuses to confirm why a Parkinson’s specialist was at the White House.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 8, 2024
Reporter: "You could clear this all up here just by saying what he was doing here and if it was connected to the president! Yes or no?!"
KJP: "I am not going to confirm..." pic.twitter.com/2m2ZXlFwFk
Things boiled to a head later when a flustered Jean-Pierre came pretty close to meltdown territory over the chaotic moments from earlier and proceeded to lecture the press on how the Biden comms team supposedly makes their best effort every day at bringing them reliable information:
"I just want to take a step back for a second because I do take offense to what [CBS News reporter Ed O'Keefe] alluded to," Jean-Pierre said. "You know, I come out here every day there's a press briefing, and we do our best to give you the information that we have at the time. That's what we do. And we understand that the freedom of the press, we respect the freedom of the press. You heard me talk about this last week. I appreciate the back and forth that we all have. I try to respect you and hope you try to respect me. And we literally do everything that we can- my team does everything that we can to make sure we get the answers to you. That's what we do."
"And sometimes we disagree. Sometimes we are not in agreement. But you know what, that's democracy. That is what is important, to have that healthy back and forth. And so, to say that I'm holding information or allude to anything else is not [fair]. It's really, really unfair," she said.
"I think people who are watching, have been watching this briefing for this past week could say that we are doing our best in this briefing to provide the information that we have. And I will admit, I will be the first one to admit sometimes I get it wrong. At least I admit that. At least I admit that. And sometimes I don't have the information. And I will always, always admit that. But I do take offense to what was just happening at the beginning of this briefing. It's not okay," she added.
HILARIOUS: Karine Jean-Pierre, on the verge of tears, lectures the press for finally demanding she actually answers a question coherently. pic.twitter.com/XmlEGoBSzp
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 8, 2024
As RedState readers are well aware, that was nothing but a bunch of utter nonsense and hogwash, but it was sure fun to watch the Academy Award nomination-worthy performance. I suspect this type of performance will become just about a weekly, perhaps even a daily thing at this point considering where we're at on this issue, with all the widening fissures in the Democratic Party in the aftermath of his disastrous debate performance.
Popcorn stocked, wings sauced, and feet firmly planted on the ottoman. Bring it on, Baghdad Karine, because we are so here for it.
Related: CNN's Jim Acosta Weighs in on Biden 'Napgate' and Gets Exactly the Responses He Deserves
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