PrintOctober 25, 2009
The buck stops down there in the ranks
More foolishness over Fox from the White House, now showing an inability to keep their story straight when making excuses. From essentially claiming it was an accident and Fox didn't even request an interview (via Talking Points Memorandum), to blaming it on an un-named subordinate via Huffpo (hat tips Politico and Lucainne.com):
A Fox News executive told the Huffington Post Saturday that the network "absolutely" did request an interview with Obama administration "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg and that the White House acknowledged a mistake on the part of a Treasury department staffer in failing to initially include Fox News in the round of interviews Feinberg conducted Thursday."Of course we requested an interview," Fox News Senior Vice President Michael Clemente told the Huffington Post.This directly contradicts reports by the Associated Press and Talking Points Memo, both of which reported that the White House had excluded Fox News because it did not request an interview.....Clemente added that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs acknowledged to Fox News' White House Correspondent Major Garrett that a low level Treasury staffer made a mistake in attempting to exclude Fox from the pool interviews.
Blaming an unnamed subordinate is a shameful negation of leadership. This kind of thing eventuallty takes a toll, both with the public, and with lower level staff, who start to catch on that they need to cover themselves, lest they become the sacrificial lamb. A voice activated digital recorder in the pocket can do wonders.
