It’s been a long time since the phrase “most transparent administration in history” has been regarded as anything but a punchline. Even a spokesman for the State Department couldn’t keep a straight face earlier this month while trying to make the claim in front of the assembled press corps.
It’s no surprise, then, that plenty got a good chuckle Wednesday when White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest himself had a letter to the editor published in the New York Times in which he complained that a recent opinion column “did not acknowledge the important and unprecedented steps that the Obama administration has taken to fulfill the president’s promise to lead the most transparent White House in history.”
Perhaps the only person alive who says "most transparent administration in history" w/o irony. #baghdadbob https://t.co/vVAyo5aQJN
— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) August 31, 2016
https://twitter.com/Opus2360/status/770989994601226240
This really is the most bizarre election cycle in recent memory: the White House press secretary is complaining to one of its biggest water carriers about journalists not giving credit to the Obama administration where it’s due. “If President Obama’s government transparency effort is not even noted by The Times’s media columnist,” he frets, “then why would future presidential candidates make it a priority?”
Why would future candidates make transparency a priority? Hopefully, because it’s the right thing to do, simple as that. If not that, then because the law compels them to, and the people and the press demand it. If not that, then only to cast themselves in sharp contrast against the current administration.
What journalists should note about the most transparent White House in history: My letter to the @nytimes editor → https://t.co/DWUfpJBHaM
— J Earnest (Archived) (@PressSec44) August 31, 2016
@WhiteHouse @nytimes you're kidding right?
— Unicron 2020 (@Unicronisboss) August 31, 2016
Some of you really need to see a doctor about how you are able to sleep at nights. It is astounding.
— Deplorable Eagle (@mstoecklin) August 31, 2016
Good God. Seriously, does it hurt your soul to lie like this? How do you sleep at night?
— All these changes & still no edit button. Guh. (@daganash) August 31, 2016
Have you seen this, @JamesRosenFNC ?? I seem to recall that the current misadministration tried to intimidate you.
— Ben Aksar (@BenAksar) August 31, 2016
https://twitter.com/fakederonreid/status/771103385747464192
@brianstelter This is utter BS from an administration that has fought transparency at every step. We know better.
— technum (@technum) August 31, 2016
The only thing transparent abt admin is its utter disdain for the truth. It is the most dishonest, corrupt in decades.
— Sheila Brown (@Sheilabgood) August 31, 2016
ok so everyone sees through your lies immediately. That's not the transparency we were hoping for. @Talkmaster
— Brett Nolan (@GALaundryGuy) August 31, 2016
Sorry, no partial credit will be granted for “intentions” or “effort,” only results.
Here's what the press really thinks of the current White House record on transparency https://t.co/s4Uc0qs0uV
— Sharyl Attkisson?️♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) August 31, 2016
"This is the most closed, control-freak administration I’ve ever covered,” David Sanger of @nytimes
— Brian Guy (@brianguy714) August 31, 2016
Josh, you aren't fooling anyone. cc @gmorgenson #FannieGate pic.twitter.com/44rSCZhsmR
— #FannieGate (@Fanniegate101) August 31, 2016
Not only is that a lie, the Admin set a new record in the process! #FannieGate pic.twitter.com/0hTx3ITbJC
— #FannieGate (@Fanniegate101) August 31, 2016
I didn't see anything about #FOIA, prosecuting whistleblowers, drones, surveillance, or access to government scientists. #OpenGov
— Alex Howard (@digiphile) August 31, 2016
By the way where are WH photos taken the night of Benghazi attacks? Photo office says you are disallowing their release.
— Sharyl Attkisson?️♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) August 31, 2016
Transparent!
gosh, Josh, so far it looks like you're batting .000 with this whopper.
— One Nation ❌ (@tomag49) August 31, 2016
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