A lovely moment, and glimpse inside the audacity of the Obama communications shop, at the press briefing just now. Jake Tapper pointed out that travel-industry officials had characterized Vice President Joe Biden’s comments about swine flu and public transportation as “fearmongering.” Biden made the comments on NBC’s “Today” show this morning, prompting a federal-government backtrack that looked like a Moonwalk convention.
Tapper asked for clarification and whether there would be an apology from the administration for Biden’s comments. Robert Gibbs responded with a reiteration of the president’s standard talking points- “I think what the vice president meant to say was,” there’s cause for concern, but not alarm, people should wash their hands, etc. Tapper interrupted, saying, “With all due respect, that’s not even remotely what the vice president said.” “I’m telling you what he meant to say,” Gibbs said, sounding peeved as the press corps laughed somewhat incredulously. He added that, “if people felt unduly alarmed for whatever reason, we would certainly apologize for that.” Another reporter asked Gibbs if “we would certainly apologize for that” meant he was actually apologizing, and Gibbs referred him to the statement from the office of the vice president, which is notably without apology:
I’m assuming the White House will now be giving the administration credit for another “profuse” apology from the White House for scaring the mess out of people, for the second time this week.
