The Washington Post bent over backwards on Friday to accuse White House press secretary Sarah Sanders of lying about the media’s vicious attacks on her.
During Thursday’s press briefing, CNN’s Jim Acosta asked Sanders if she agrees with the president when he calls members of the press the “enemy of the people.” Sanders responded with a long list of the media attacks on her and declined to denounce the phrase.
WaPo’s Aaron Blake published a piece on Friday morning that alleged Sanders was using “bogus, Trumped-up charges” to indict the media. Blake’s piece, however, seems more interested in letting the media off the hook than taking a serious look at Sanders’ claims.
WaPo’s @AaronBlake breaks down the list of incidents @PressSec cited Thursday to allege she had been wronged by the media https://t.co/4QUMhpbJzz pic.twitter.com/Qxf1Zk4rPt
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) August 3, 2018
Blake claims in his article that no one in the media ever said that Sanders “should be choked.” Sanders was referring to MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace, who suggested on her show in May that she wanted to “wring” Sanders’ neck.
“Kristen Welker, how do you resist the temptation to run up and wring her neck?” Wallace said at the time, making a choking motion with her hands.
WATCH:
According to Blake, saying Wallace was advocating for Sanders to be choked is actually an “uncharitable version of events” and “hardly a call to action.” But he is arguing a distinction without a difference when he says Wallace being tempted to “wring her neck” is not effectively the same thing as saying she “should be choked.”
Wallace apologized for her comments, as Blake notes, but it’s hard to take her apology seriously when she has also asked if the Trump women are “dead inside.”
Other commentators have expressed a desire to inflict violence on Sanders. CNN’s April Ryan got caught joking on Twitter about getting into a street brawl with the press secretary because she did not like how Sanders answered one of her questions at a press briefing. (RELATED:April Ryan: Sanders’ Response Implied A ‘Physical Fight’)
Blake also questions Sanders claim that Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin said Sanders should be “harassed” as a “life sentence.” Rubin is actually quoted as saying Sanders should be made “uncomfortable” as a “life sentence,” which, again, sounds like the exact same thing unless Blake is just trying to spin the scenario in favor of Rubin.
That’s not to mention that CNN’s Symone Sanders said on Wednesday that Trump officials being harassed in public may be the “name of the game.” (RELATED: CNN Pundit Accuses GOP Guest Of ‘Operating From A Position Of Privilege)
“I want to go to Shake Shack and eat my burger without being heckled but, dammit, kids are in cages,” Sanders ranted. “If Mitch McConnell can’t eat in peace, maybe that’s the name of the game.”
Finally, Blake took issue with Sanders saying that the White House Correspondents’ Association brought a comedian on stage during their annual dinner to attack her. He argued that the WHCA did not specifically task Michelle Wolf with saying mean things about Sanders.
That’s probably true, and some journalists did defend Sanders after the incident. Wolf, however, had an extensive history of attacking the Trump administration in vulgar ways, and the WHCA was being willfully ignorant if they did not think Wolf would say some disgusting things about Sanders, who was attending in Trump’s place.
In fact, when Wolf found out Sanders would be attending, she joked, “I’m just excited Sarah finally gets to go to prom!” The comedian has also called Trump “the worst thing to happen to women since yeast” and the “dumbest president ever.”
This is unreal.
The WaPo did a “fact check” of @PressSec claims of harassment & threats.@AaronBlake found:
– Media did not want to “choke” Sanders, just “wring her neck”
– Media did not want to “lifelong harassment” of Sanders, just make her “uncomfortable” as a “life sentence” pic.twitter.com/qGphHMEVYw— Benny (@bennyjohnson) August 3, 2018
