Via the Washington Free Beacon, I’m not going to say a word. I’m simply going to give you two clips. Draw your own conclusion.

…All right, maybe just few words. I remember asking this once before long ago in a post about Gibbs and never got a satisfactory answer, and now Carney banging on here about credibility has brought it back to mind. Simple question: Has anything illuminating ever come out of a Q&A at the daily briefing? I’ve never understood the point of it. If the White House has substantive information to share with the press, they can circulate it in written form or bring out an informed expert from the relevant department to expand on it. They can and should also have a press office to field queries from the media, but there’s no obvious reason to me to have a press secretary go out there day after day and tapdance around questions with artful half-truths. It’s pure theater, cat and mouse for political junkies. Carney himself is candid about it, explaining that while he can’t lie, he can hold back plenty of information in order to keep confidential matters confidential. How much “credibility” is there in that? You’re a paid flack whose job is to protect the administration by omitting whatever key facts can be safely concealed. I understand a president’s need for some sort of liaison to the press but let’s not kid ourselves that anything useful is happening here. At least on the record.