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Gibbs Says That He "Stated the Obvious"
"The conservative media is having fun with the ongoing fight between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House over predictions about whether she's still going to be Speaker on Nov. 3," writes Carolyn Lochhead for the SF Gate. When White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs indicated over the weekend that Republicans may win back the House, he obviously didn't consider the feelings of the Speaker.
"How could he [Gibbs] know what's going on in our districts?" Pelosi said, according to Democrats who attended the meeting. "Some may weigh his words more closely than others. We have made our disagreements known to the White House."
Campaign supporters may wonder whether Mrs. Pelosi knows for herself what's going on-- within her own district. She'll know soon enough. With the John Dennis campaign continuing to gain momentum daily, our message will soon be impossible to ignore.
As for Gibbs, Monday he said he was simply stating "the obvious." Yesterday, he associated his statement with other news worthy slips-of-the-tongue, such as Rep. Joe Barton's apology to BP and Rep. John Boehner's "ant" analogy for finance reform. Although there are "enough seats in play" to lose the House, he elaborated by quickly stating that he thinks the Democrats will retain it.
Democratic strategist and former Clinton advisor Richard Socarides says that Gibbs was expected to support the President and say "most of all, most importantly, we believe that because we have Nancy Pelosi as our leader, we are going to win."
"I was on the White House staff, and she [Pelosi] is probably the last person you want to offend," he adds.
Today, Pelosi downplayed the tension between her and the White House, saying that Gibbs comment "was unfortunate," could be "interpreted many ways," and compared it to a political "Rorschach test," CNN reported. If that's the case, we now know what Pelosi interpreted this ink blot (Gibbs comment) to look like: a picture of the Dems losing the House in November.
He originally said "there's no doubt there are enough seats in play that could cause Republicans to gain control," basically admitting that it's possible... that was enough to start this "fight between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House," as Lochhead puts it above.
It appears Gibbs took Socarides' advice, as CNN reports below.
He [Gibbs] also has praised Pelosi for doing a "monumental" job over the last 18 months and insisted he has a "cordial" relationship with the speaker.
