White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was left playing damage control Friday after a “senior administration official” told The Wall Street Journal that the administration doesn’t care how long the government shutdown continues.
“We are winning,” the unnamed official told the Journal. “It doesn’t really matter to us” how long the shutdown lasts “because what matters is the end result,” the official said.
“This is absurd,” Carney tweeted Friday, after political observers noted the callousness of the administration’s supposed position. “POTUS wants the shutdown to end NOW. Speaker can do that NOW by putting a clean CR to a vote.”
“We utterly disavow idea WH doesn’t care when it ends. House should act now, no strings attached,” he added.
Reporters and bloggers were quick to note the irony of the White House press secretary rejecting a statement by a “senior administration official.”
.@PressSec So the White House disavows the White House? @morningmoneyben
— jon gabriel (@ExJon) October 4, 2013
@PressSec @morningmoneyben So the White House is disavowing a quote from the WH?
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) October 4, 2013