Wow. Jake Tapper. What an asshole.

[Barack_America]

So yesterday Tapper interviewed Caterpillar's CEO and quoted him as saying that not all of Caterpillar's laid-off employees would be immediately rehired as a result of the stimulus. Tapper took this quote and ran with it, insisting that the Caterpillar CEO had directly contradicted what Obama had said about their conversation (ignoring the fact that never did Obama claim that ALL employees would be rehired IMMEDIATELY.)

The Caterpillar CEO even went so far to issue his own statement to clarify the issue; stating that, yes, with the passage of the stimulus plan and similar global measures, he was confident that some of those laid-off employees would be rehired.

But, seemingly unashamed at the revelation of his disingenuous jackassery of yesterday, Tapper went back for more during today's WH press briefing and proudly posted his foolishness on his blog, for the world to see.

Today's Q for O's WH -- 2/13/2009

February 13, 2009 2:41 PM

TAPPER: I just wanted to give you guys an opportunity to respond to two things from yesterday involving Caterpillar. One is the CEO of Caterpillar, after the president left the event, said that he did not think the stimulus package in and of itself would be able to enable him to rehire workers, certainly not in the short term. He put out a statement today saying that the stimulus package, "combined with other significant stimulus packages abroad, would help move the global economy towards recovery and, if these packages are enacted quickly, they could stimulate the need for our products, and that would likely over time provide capital and the opportunity to recall employees that have been laid off," certainly not exactly what President Obama said he had said. And I don't know what he said to begin with. But if you could clarify that. And also...

GIBBS: Well, let me -- let me -- let me take a stab at that one. I think what the president said that the chairman and the CEO said, if the recovery plan is passed, the company would be able to rehire some of those employees. And as you just read, he said that, if these packages are enacted quickly, they could stimulate demand for our products that would likely over time provide Caterpillar the opportunity to recall employees that have been laid off during this downturn. I think the statement that you just read and the statement of the president are very consistent.

(PAUSE)

TAPPER: I don't even know how to respond to that. It seems to me like the president -- well, it just -- I mean, the president was clearly giving the impression, before the stimulus package had passed, that the CEO of Caterpillar, who just announced layoffs in January, said that he would be able to rehire some of those workers if this stimulus package passed, the one stimulus package that the Senate was considering at the time. And what the CEO of Caterpillar said today -- and, again, I don't know what he said in private to anybody in your administration -- what he said today was, this one, plus other ones worldwide, over a period of time, that could enable them to rehire some of those workers.

GIBBS: It would likely over time provide Caterpillar the opportunity to recall employees who have been laid off during this downturn.

TAPPER: All right. I'm not going to belabor it. The other thing is, Congressman Ed Schock yesterday, who President Obama urged Caterpillar employees...

GIBBS: Aaron Schock....

Savor more of Tapper's idiocy here:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/02/todays-q-for--3.html


Particular :rofl: moments for me included Tapper's obsession with "Caterpillar's CEO said GLOBAL! He said GLOBAL! Obama didn't say GLOBAL!", when Gibbs pointed out to Tapper that what Obama and the CEO said were perfectly consistent. Also, Tapper's huffy "All right. I'm not going to belabor it." retort when he had obviously been beaten.

:eyes:

What a pompous idiot.

[Phx_Dem]

1. Huge asshole. His next question about Aaron Schock was

even worse. To sum it up, "The Caterpillar employees didn't do what President Obama asked them to, why do they hate him?"

[RepublicanElephant]

2. someone tell this idiot there is something called a "transcript".

you know, jake?
for fact-checking?

[firedupdem]

3. They are better than me because that fuck wouldn't get an

opportunity to ask a question for a very long time. You don't have to agree with the President or his policies but don't fucking lie! Once you lie, no more questions for a minimum 30 days.

**If you read the comments on his blog, you can clearly tell who he's working for.

[Barack_America]

5. Yes, I noticed that.

Very obvious who he is trying to impress.

[Thrill]

4. Gibbs owned him. By showing that the CEOs statement was consistent with Obama's

He couldn't trap Gibbs. So he tried to brush it off. :)