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15 Jun 2011 11:17

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Tech: Facebook’s growing war chest of former presidential aides

They didn’t get Robert Gibbs, but they did get Joe Lockhart (Clinton’s press secretary). And a bunch of Bush aides. Looks like someone’s prepping for a big legislative fight in DC. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jan 2011 23:25

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Politics: Dear Obama: We’re everything you need in a press secretary

  • Look, now that Robert Gibbs is leaving you must be taking resumes or something. And before we go about submitting an application to the Obama/Biden beast (and spending hours upon hours updating our resume), we thought it might help to explain what you’d be getting if the ShortFormBlog staff took over the work of Mr. Professional himself, Robert “Obama’s bulldog” Gibbs. We can’t expect to be everything for you that he was, but we do have a lot of unique qualifications, including:
  • We like complaining! We notice that your administration doesn’t know when to complain about the right’s withering attacks on your character, on your policies, on your place of birth, on how ugly Bo is, on how much money Michelle spent on that trip to Spain, etc., etc. … God, can you give us a break? This job is really hard and we’re trying to save you from yourselves!
  • Blurby Press releases The Obama administration has had many PR innovations in its first two years in office – an open-source Web backend, a hugely-popular Twitter account, an entertaining Flickr account … but you’re missing something. You need press releases with giant numbers, profanity and myriad obscure pop-culture references. We can offer that.
  • The press will be putty Look … between CNN, Fox News, NBC, the other networks … they’ll all ask really tough questions and we’ll evade them by using the Socratic method. Sample dialogue: Them – “Why was Obama golfing during the oil spill?” Us – “Why do you care? You’re annoying and nobody watches your channel anyway, CNN.” Yeah, we’re good.
  • » So, what do you say, brah? We’re available to work immediately, and your organization could use someone like us. We’d make things interesting, because we know how drab the White House gets when there’s no change. We can be that change you promised, Barack.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

05 Jan 2011 22:36

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Politics: Robert Gibbs: My leaving the White House useful for Obama

  • The best service I can provide this president is, for the next couple of years, outside this building.
  • Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs • Explaining his reasoning for leaving the warm confines of the White House. Essentially, he won’t be working for Obama inside of the press room, but on the public circuit, where he can show off his feisty nature a bit more freely. It says a lot about Obama’s presidency that two of his top three first-term guys in the White House will still play major roles in his second term – even if it’s not inside the stoic walls of the White House itself. His lead confidantes are mostly loyal. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jan 2011 10:26

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Politics: Sigh: Robert Gibbs stepping down as Obama’s press secretary

  • You know, we like Robert Gibbs. Endlessly entertaining, more willing to make waves than any other recent press secretary, and a great fit for Obama. He’s feisty where Obama is measured. He isn’t a mouthpiece. He’s a contributor and played a huge role in Obama’s first two years. And that’s why, even though he’s leaving as press secretary in February, he’s still likely to play a role in Obama’s future campaigns. We salute you, Robert Gibbs. You make Scott McClellan look like the straight-up mouthpiece he was. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Dec 2010 12:15

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Politics: Robert Gibbs: Obama’s cabinet likely to stay mostly the same

  • I think we’ve had a very capable and good cabinet that has helped move the president’s agenda forward.
  • Obama’s Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs • Emphasizing that there shouldn’t be major changes to the cabinet on the horizon, despite the departure of at least one major figure, top economic adviser Larry Summers (he’s stepping down). However, not all reports agree with that assessment. Among other things Gibbs said on “State of the Union”: Obama is likely to run in 2012, though he hasn’t made it official yet, and he offered hope that the GOP would work more with Democrats in the upcoming session, referring to the “cranky bipartisanship” that the successful lame-duck session wrought. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Oct 2010 01:42

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Politics: White House, Hillary Clinton deny job-swapping rumors

  • denial Robert Gibbs had this to say about Bob Woodward’s vice president rumors: “It’s just not true, It is not anything that is being discussed here.” He added that Obama is very happy with Joe Biden as his vice president.
  • denial Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton added this rebuttal to the record (while noting they were all very busy people): “I have absolutely no interest and no reason for doing anything other than just dismissing these stories and moving on.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Oct 2010 10:31

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Politics: Rumor of the day: Robert Gibbs as the next DNC chair?

Why the hell not? The RNC has had a loose cannon as its leader for the last 18 months. Why shouldn’t the DNC have a straight shooter? Wait, what about Tim Kaine? He’s pretty good. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

11 Aug 2010 21:31

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Politics: Dear Robert Gibbs: We love you, but you should zip it

  • Robbie, it’s been a love affair for us. You seem like a genuine fun-loving guy and have generally been a decent press secretary. But recently, you’ve just been opening up your mouth too much. While refreshing honesty is nice and refreshing, it’s not your job. Your job isn’t to fight the “professional left” for respect. Your job is to help Obama communicate with the press. And if you become the news, you aren’t doing your job anymore. We love you and your demeanor. It’s refreshing considering some of the guys Bush had in that spot (Scott McClellan, anyone?), but don’t it get in the way of your job. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Aug 2010 10:05

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U.S.: Obama turns 49 today, and he plans to keep it low-key

He’s gonna hang with some buddies in Chicago, and according to Robert Gibbs, “I think he is looking forward to spending the night in his house for a change.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jun 2010 10:53

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Politics: White House on Romanoff thang: There was no job offer, kids

  • Messina wanted to determine if it was possible to avoid a costly battle between two supporters. But Romanoff said that he was committed to the Senate race and no longer interested in working for the Administration, and that ended the discussion.
  • White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs • Regarding the situation with Colorado Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff. Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina had contacted the candidate before he officially ran for the Senate, but since he had his mind made up, it wasn’t happening. Still, though, expect people to dig for a controversy here. Because, hey, why the heck not. They need something to do, right? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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