Josh Earnest

Earnest on MSNBC: 'Success Or Stability Of The Yemeni Government' Not a Measure of Success of U.S. Policy
By Tom Blumer | March 26, 2015 | 2:19 PM EDT

Employing a variant of the old surgeon's joke — "The operation was a success, but the patient died" — White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, on friendly ground on MSNBC this morning, essentially told viewers that the administration still considers Yemen a success, even as its government is on the fast track to being forced into indefinite exile.

Earnest told the "Morning Joe" show's Mika Brzezinski and the assembled panel that "U.S. policy should not be graded against the success or the stability of the Yemeni government" — although, just for starters, Yemen's President has fled, while the Los Angeles Times is reporting that, because of the Yemeni government's instability, Iran has obtained a treasure trove of U.S. intelligence. Video and a transcript follow the jump (HT Real Clear Politics):

ABC’s WNT, CBS EN Tag Team to Barely Cover Obama’s Absence From Paris March
By Curtis Houck | January 12, 2015 | 10:34 PM EST

On Monday, ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir and the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley did their best to move on from the Obama administration’s decision to not have President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, or Attorney General Eric Holder attend the march against Islamic terrorism in Paris on Sunday that drew well over one million people. 

All told, ABC ran only a 42-second segment on the White House’s response to the criticism on Monday and CBS had a news brief. Along with one tease on CBS, their coverage combined for a scant one minute and three seconds.

Fox News's Ed Henry Questions White House Flack Over Obama Hypocrisy
By NB Staff | December 10, 2014 | 5:11 PM EST

Fox News Channel White House correspondent Ed Henry posed some tough questions to White House press secretary Josh Earnest regarding President Obama's hypocrisy on enhanced interrogation techniques.

Jon Stewart Eagerly Mocks Josh Earnest Following Scuffle With Jon Karl
By Jeffrey Meyer | December 4, 2014 | 2:35 PM EST

Earlier this week, Jonathan Karl, ABC News Chief White House Correspondent, confronted White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest over President Obama’s decision to nominate Colleen Bell, an Obama donor and former soap opera producer, to be the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary. While ABC has yet to acknowledge it’s own reporter’s battle with the White House, on Wednesday night Daily Show host Jon Stewart eagerly mocked the situation and claimed “that is the greatest thing I have ever seen the president's press secretary do.” 

ABC Still Ignores Obama Donor/Former Soap Opera Producer Being Named Ambassador to Hungary
By Curtis Houck | December 3, 2014 | 10:03 PM EST

On Wednesday night, ABC became the only major broadcast network to not have covered the controversy over President Obama’s choice to name former soap opera producer and Obama reelection campaign bundler Colleen Bell the new United States Ambassador to Hungary. 

The network’s zero coverage of this story came more than a day after ABC’s own chief White House correspondent, Jonathan Karl, grilled White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on what exactly did Bell have in terms of qualifications for the job (to which Earnest was visibly stumped).

CBS Covers ABC Reporter Grilling White House Press Secretary, ABC Doesn't
By Jeffrey Meyer | December 3, 2014 | 9:43 AM EST

On Tuesday afternoon, Jonathan Karl, ABC News Chief White House Correspondent, confronted White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest over President Obama’s appointment of Colleen Bell, a major Obama donor and producer of the soap opera The Bold And The Beautiful, to be the ambassador to Hungary. Despite the controversy surrounding the appointment, ABC has yet to cover Karl’s questioning on television, but CBS This Morning found the news worth reporting and gave the story more than a minute of coverage during its Wednesday morning broadcast. 

ABC's WNT Omits Jonathan Karl Grilling Earnest Over Soap Opera Producer’s Credentials for Ambassadorship
By Curtis Houck | December 3, 2014 | 1:22 AM EST

On Monday, ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl grilled White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on what exactly did Obama campaign donor and former soap opera producer Colleen Bell have in terms of qualifications for becoming the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary.

When it came to ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir mentioning or playing video of that exchange on Monday evening, the program stayed silent. Instead, video of Karl’s exchange was relegated to ABC News’s website.

Earnest: Obama Was Speaking 'Colloquially' in 'Change the Law' Immigration Remark
By Tom Blumer | December 2, 2014 | 5:27 PM EST

Earlier today, according to several center-right and zero establishment press outlets thus far (based on an appropriate Google News search done just before 5 PM ET), White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that President Obama was only speaking "colloquially" when he told hecklers in an audience in Chicago last week that "I took action to change the law" in his November 20 announcement on immigration.

Video follows the jump (HT National Review):

ABC’s Jonathan Karl Mocks Alison Lundergan Grimes During White House Press Briefing
By Jeffrey Meyer | October 14, 2014 | 3:12 PM EDT

Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Kentucky, has been mocked repeatedly for refusing to tell voters if she voted for President Obama in 2008 and 2012 citing the sanctity of the ballot box as her reason. With Grimes continuing to not answer a basic question about her political leanings, Jonathan Karl, ABC’s Chief White House Correspondent, hilariously asked White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest about his vote for president. The ABC reporter framed his question by maintaining that “the Democratic candidate for Senate in Kentucky, this is the Democratic Party’s top hope for knocking off an incumbent Republican, Allison Grimes.”  

Obama Spokesman Sarcasm: ABC's Jon Karl Deemed the 'Most Delightful' Reporter
By Tim Graham | October 11, 2014 | 8:07 AM EDT

During Tuesday's segment of the new Bloomberg TV show, "With All Due Respect," hosts Mark Halperin and John Heilemann were getting whimsical with their guest, Obama press secretary Josh Earnest, asking which reporter at the White House is the "consistently most delightful."

Earnest picked ABC's Jon Karl -- suggesting he's the un-favorite right now.

Shepard Smith to Josh Earnest: Admin's Anti-ISIL 'Coalition' Claims 'Something of a Fantasy'
By Tom Blumer | September 19, 2014 | 11:23 PM EDT

When White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest made his first Fox News appearance in that role, he may have thought that having Shepard Smith interview him would make the exercise a relative cakewalk.

It didn't happen. Even though Smith, as Matt Sheffield observed last year at NewsBusters, is "not known as any sort of conservative," he was clearly critical of Earnest's breezy claims about the wondrous "coalition" allegedly being assembled to fight ISIS/ISIL without U.S. combat forces, calling it "as the president once put it, something of a fantasy." The video and a transcript of key segments follow the jump.

Josh Earnest 'Didn't Bring a Dictionary,' So He Can't Define 'Victory'
By Tom Blumer | September 11, 2014 | 7:28 PM EDT

A frequent tipster has informed me that on today's episode of "The Five" on Fox News, Bob Beckel actually said that he likes current White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest better than his predecessor James Carney because Earnest "looks better." Far be it from me to render a judgment on relative male handsomeness. But one thing I can say about Earnest is that, at certain times, when he gets a question he doesn't like, he acts like a snotty teenager caught not having his homework ready.

One such incident occurred today. Rather than answer a question about how the Obama administration specifically defined victory over ISIL and what the idea of "destroying" it really means, Earnest ... well. catch the transcript of the first 30 seconds of the video found at (HT Real Clear Politics):