Politics

Jay Carney hasn’t answered nearly 9,500 questions

Ariel Cohen Contributor
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Since Jay Carney has become the White House press secretary he has held over 500 press briefings. During that time, according to a Yahoo News analysis, he has also brushed off more than 9,486 questions from white house correspondents. (‘RIDICULOUS’: Carney dismisses question about safety of Zimmerman family [VIDEO])

The White House press secretary serves as the mouthpiece for the White House. Every little thing he says during a press conference is recorded, with hundreds of hungry political reporters waiting to lift a piece of a quote to use in a story.

Carney must tread lightly.

In order to avoid controversy, he has taken a liking to avoiding questions and belittling journalists.

Since assuming office in February 2011, Carney has flippantly told the press “you already know the answer” 1,125 times. And he’s said “I’m not going to tell you” 939 times.

And then, sometimes, Carney will give the “I just don’t want to” answer. Here are the official standings:

David Freddoso's breakdown of the data.

David Freddoso’s breakdown of the data.

1,905: “I don’t have the answer”

1,383: “I would refer you to someone else”

1,125: “You already know the answer”

939: “I’m not going to tell you”

927: “Not that I know of”

588: “I don’t want to”

549: “I’m not sure”

525: “I won’t speculate”

429: “No comment”

387: “I’ll get back to you”

381: “It’s a good question”

231: “As I said yesterday…”

117:”The president won’t tell me”

On rare occasion, Carney will commend the press.

“We have a team here that works really hard trying to anticipate the questions you’re going to ask,” Carney said during a briefing on May 22. “The problem is, there’s a lot of you and you’re good at your jobs and you’re smart. And we almost invariably do not anticipate every question that you ask. So sometimes we don’t have the answers, and sometimes we need to go back and get them.”

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