When you see the White House said, who is the White House?

Closed Thread
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 01-29-2015, 09:51 AM
billethkid's Avatar
billethkid billethkid is offline
Sage
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 18,459
Thanks: 0
Thanked 4,743 Times in 1,383 Posts
Default When you see the White House said, who is the White House?

Is there a list of people that if any one of them speaks they represent the WH?

Or is one person the representive of the WH?

When the WH speaks does it represent POTUS? When POTUS speaks can it be presented as the WH said?

When one reads a statement as in "...the WH is upset..." who is it that is upset?

Seems to me to be a purposefull ambiguity to put out statements allowing for deniability if and when needed.

I find ambiguity and oblique dialogues to be very unclear......and in politics BY DESIGN!!
  #2  
Old 01-29-2015, 10:04 AM
redwitch's Avatar
redwitch redwitch is offline
Sage
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 9,099
Thanks: 3
Thanked 78 Times in 35 Posts
Send a message via Yahoo to redwitch
Default

Think the last time a politician was perfectly clear was when HST had a plaque on his desk saying, "The buck stops here," and I'm not all that convinced he was truly straightforward. Obliqueness, ambiguity, lack of accountability, outright lying has been the order of the day in politics for a long, long time.
__________________
Army/embassy brat - traveled too much to mention
Moved here from SF Bay Area (East Bay)

"There are only two ways to live your life: One is as though nothing is a miracle; the other is as though everything is a miracle." Albert Einstein
  #3  
Old 01-29-2015, 10:50 AM
Cedwards38's Avatar
Cedwards38 Cedwards38 is offline
Platinum member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Village of Sanibel
Posts: 1,784
Thanks: 0
Thanked 5 Times in 4 Posts
Default

The Press Secretary, who has the authority to speak for the Administration, headed by the President.
__________________
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
  #4  
Old 01-29-2015, 11:53 AM
Xavier's Avatar
Xavier Xavier is offline
Gold member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,038
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default

How would the answer to the OP's question improve one's life?

I'm not sure why anyone would spend more than a tenth of a second worrying about such matters. Be careful or one could develop an ulcer the size of a deflated football in their stomach. Enjoy this wonderful day and thank God that you are on the proper side of the grass.

Xavier
__________________
My approach to today's politics: "Re-examine all you have been told. Dismiss what insults your soul" ~ Walt Whitman
  #5  
Old 01-29-2015, 02:46 PM
NavyNJ NavyNJ is offline
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Lake Deaton
Posts: 239
Thanks: 111
Thanked 12 Times in 6 Posts
Default

Or maybe.......like in the last "Paranormal Activity" movie.....it actually IS the White House that is speaking!!!
  #6  
Old 01-29-2015, 03:19 PM
billethkid's Avatar
billethkid billethkid is offline
Sage
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 18,459
Thanks: 0
Thanked 4,743 Times in 1,383 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xavier View Post
How would the answer to the OP's question improve one's life? It doesn't nor was it anticipated in the reason for asking!!

I'm not sure why anyone would spend more than a tenth of a second worrying about such matters. There is/was no worry involved in the question what so ever....not sure why one would conclude that other than facilitate the response, although inaccurate. Be careful or one could develop an ulcer the size of a deflated football in their stomach. Enjoy this wonderful day and thank God that you are on the proper side of the grass.

Xavier
I assume the responses were tongue in cheek with a smile.....mine are....
  #7  
Old 01-29-2015, 03:41 PM
rubicon rubicon is offline
Email Reported As Spam
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 13,694
Thanks: 0
Thanked 13 Times in 11 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by billethkid View Post
Is there a list of people that if any one of them speaks they represent the WH?

Or is one person the representive of the WH?

When the WH speaks does it represent POTUS? When POTUS speaks can it be presented as the WH said?

When one reads a statement as in "...the WH is upset..." who is it that is upset?

Seems to me to be a purposefull ambiguity to put out statements allowing for deniability if and when needed.

I find ambiguity and oblique dialogues to be very unclear......and in politics BY DESIGN!!
billie: In my view you raise an interesting issue. How does it change one's life. Well for all listeners because of an awareness to such ambiguity one is fore warned and hence fore armed . Thanks for the heads up
  #8  
Old 01-29-2015, 05:35 PM
Sandtrap328's Avatar
Sandtrap328 Sandtrap328 is offline
Eternal Member
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 5,349
Thanks: 0
Thanked 4 Times in 3 Posts
Default

I believe that the phrase "The White House said .. or feels..." definitely means it is the feeling or stating of the President. The VP, the Chief of Staff, the First Lady are all components of the Presidential office. Their viewpoints are also considered feelings of the President when issued in an official release.

The official spokesperson for The White House is the Press Secretary.

It has been that way, is that way, and will be that way.

Side note: it takes approximately 300 gallons of paint to paint the exterior of the White House.
  #9  
Old 01-30-2015, 08:50 AM
Xavier's Avatar
Xavier Xavier is offline
Gold member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,038
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by billethkid View Post
I assume the responses were tongue in cheek with a smile.....mine are....
Okay, it can be tongue in cheek with a smile! Perhaps your original post should have been place in the "Just for Fun" category then? You have to be so careful now-a-days, a misplaced thread can bring out us pragmatists as well as the lefties and "wingnuts."

Xavier
__________________
My approach to today's politics: "Re-examine all you have been told. Dismiss what insults your soul" ~ Walt Whitman
  #10  
Old 01-30-2015, 09:48 AM
billethkid's Avatar
billethkid billethkid is offline
Sage
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 18,459
Thanks: 0
Thanked 4,743 Times in 1,383 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xavier View Post
Okay, it can be tongue in cheek with a smile! Perhaps your original post should have been place in the "Just for Fun" category then? You have to be so careful now-a-days, a misplaced thread can bring out us pragmatists as well as the lefties and "wingnuts."

Xavier
I was referring to your response and my response to it...NOT my original post.

Have a view, stance, opinion or intent, but allow others theirs as well. Still smilin'.
  #11  
Old 01-30-2015, 11:18 AM
Xavier's Avatar
Xavier Xavier is offline
Gold member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,038
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by billethkid View Post
I was referring to your response and my response to it...NOT my original post.

Have a view, stance, opinion or intent, but allow others theirs as well. Still smilin'.
Darn it I really thought that you were saying that your OP was "tongue-in-cheek! That would make sense and I was surely due the chastising because I missed it. That not being the case, then I would double-down and say that my view, stance, opinion and intent are as I stated in my original post, #4 above.

Thank you for allowing me to have my view, stance, opinion and intent.

Xavier
__________________
My approach to today's politics: "Re-examine all you have been told. Dismiss what insults your soul" ~ Walt Whitman
  #12  
Old 01-30-2015, 11:35 AM
sunnyatlast sunnyatlast is offline
Gold member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: The Villages, FL
Posts: 1,208
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default

When "the White House says" something, it is a press secretary or his understudy who memorizes lines sent out in 140-character Tweets, but then forgets his lines…….

Video example:

White House spokesman declines to label Taliban a "terrorist group" - Videos - CBS News


..
  #13  
Old 01-30-2015, 12:13 PM
billethkid's Avatar
billethkid billethkid is offline
Sage
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 18,459
Thanks: 0
Thanked 4,743 Times in 1,383 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by sunnyatlast View Post
When "the White House says" something, it is a press secretary or his understudy who memorizes lines sent out in 140-character Tweets, but then forgets his lines…….

Video example:

White House spokesman declines to label Taliban a "terrorist group" - Videos - CBS News


..
without their talking points, as proven by that video they are not capable of carrying on a cogent discussion. Good readers are just that and not much more! They put in the new tape in the morning and then one just needs to pull the string in the neck for a response!
  #14  
Old 01-30-2015, 12:23 PM
Chi-Town's Avatar
Chi-Town Chi-Town is offline
Sage
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 7,493
Thanks: 185
Thanked 1,478 Times in 711 Posts
Default

I clicked on the CBS link and the top of the page is titled Politics. So let the bloviation begin.
  #15  
Old 01-30-2015, 01:14 PM
Sandtrap328's Avatar
Sandtrap328 Sandtrap328 is offline
Eternal Member
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 5,349
Thanks: 0
Thanked 4 Times in 3 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by billethkid View Post
without their talking points, as proven by that video they are not capable of carrying on a cogent discussion. Good readers are just that and not much more! They put in the new tape in the morning and then one just needs to pull the string in the neck for a response!
This is nothing new. Every White House spokesman has been doing the exact thing - probably since George Washington. We know for a fact it has been happening from Carter forward through all the Presidents to President Obama.

I always liked the television show called West Wing. Allison Janney was the Press Secretary. Best episode, in my opinion, was when the Deputy Chief of Staff - Rob Lowe - spent a night with a prostitute and accidentally switched cell phones with her. The prostitute kept getting all the secure, confidential calls and Rob Lowe kept getting her calls from "johns" wanting services.
Closed Thread

Thread Tools

You are viewing a new design of the TOTV site. Click here to revert to the old version.

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:29 AM.