Apostrophe Gate: Turns Out the White House Is Almost as Good at Furtive Favorable Edits as CBS

AP Photo/Taylor Nitta

Ah, at the White House, the gaffe-tastic gang that couldn't poop straight is at it again. Shuffling the deck chairs while translating and sanitizing the mumblings of the geriatric dementia patient who still technically owns the chair behind the Resolute Desk.

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It has been a constant trial by self-induced fire for staffers because while they are all so unbearably arrogant, they are also so horribly bad at what they do.

Obvious and oblivious never work in concert for stealth actions, and yet, the WH staff tries both routinely. 

The president's public faces stalk to the briefing room podium, anticipating the chiding one gets for being caught with hands in the proverbial cookie jar. Nothing but stammering denials, flat-out lies, or binders slammed shut before skittering, expeditious flights from shouted press interrogatories flying at them like so many chickens and bovines launched from French parapets.

We will be here again today. 

Only this misadventure has quite a different feel to it because it's not just messy, blatant, and shady - it might even be illegal.

The CBS Harris-interview editing scandal - where the previews did not match the polished final, word-salad-free product...

 - was immediately exposed by sharp-eyed watchers on the outside, demanding answers about where the word salad had gone and why.

Granted, CBS has doubled down on not releasing a transcript of the entire interview (which may cost them dearly, considering Donald Trump's lawsuit for election interference and a filed FCC complaint)...

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...but it is a private corporation. They are entirely within their rights to fall on their sword, committing public seppuku in whatever manner they choose.

That's not the case with White House staff attempting to clean up the steaming refuse that POTATUS has once again left strewn across the landscape with his propensity for blurting out tough guy trash talk.

There's been tons of hay made over these comments and lots of panicked legwork from MSM dashing in with firehoses full of excuses doing Harris damage control. 

The problem is we all heard it - not 'read' it - but heard it straight from the president's cranky mush mouth.

The White House's next problem is that the WH stenographer's team, who had to transcribe that ridiculous Zoom call when POTATUS made those comments, heard them - and transcribed them for the official record - exactly the way the rest of us did.

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As POTATUS calling Trump supporterS 'garbage.'

...Biden, according to a transcript prepared by the official White House stenographers, told the Latino group on a Tuesday evening video call, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

There was no ambiguity about it.

This didn't sit well with WH press officials, who kind of did the arrogant and unthinkable, at least to those of us who follow #rulez: they added an apostrophe.

See? 

ALL BETTER NOW

Here's the difference between the CBS edits and this most egregious Biden WH protocol breach - someone inside the WH threw the BS flag on the changes. 

To the two-person stenographer team's great personal and professional credit, they immediately objected to the press office change. Then, they notified their supervisor, who sent off a scathing email alerting everyone to the staff skullduggery.

...The change was made after the press office “conferred with the president,” according to an internal email from the head of the stenographers’ office that was obtained by The AP. The authenticity of the email was confirmed by two government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

The supervisor, in the email, called the press office’s handling of the matter “a breach of protocol and spoliation of transcript integrity between the Stenography and Press Offices.”

If there is a difference in interpretation, the Press Office may choose to withhold the transcript but cannot edit it independently,” the supervisor wrote, adding, “Our Stenography Office transcript — released to our distro, which includes the National Archives — is now different than the version edited and released to the public by Press Office staff.”

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BOOMITY

Basically, the WH press office tampered with an official document. There are also Presidential Records Act implications... 

...besides the obvious election interference problems they've created for themselves.

Oh, well, classic. And nothing'll happen, right? 

Probably.

But, dang - it's heartening to know there are government employees of backbone and devotion to truth still in positions in the White House. I thought that was awesome news.

It's also kind of interesting how this is getting some airtime on the Associated Press and in other venues where, once upon a time, it would have vanished in the ether without ever seeing a peep of sunlight. Is that a tentative shift because news organizations are worried about the outcome on Tuesday?

I don't know, but it is different. 

The big tell will be if CBS carries the report on tonight's Evening News broadcast, no?

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Hell will have had to have frozen over.

But there's still time for a couple more dumpster fires, so hang in there.

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Beege Welborn 8:00 PM | December 02, 2024
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