Glad we won't be seeing that dour puss around anymore...
...oh - except on Fox News - as a consultant.
54
Quoth Sanders: "Release the flying monkeys!"
33
Kermit The Frog would be shocked at how much his female pursuer had slipped into the muck. Good riddance, "Miss P*gy Snow job"
21
"Do you think worse is possible?"
Is Ms. Collins really asking that?
12
Ms. Sanders' true Character should surface once she leaves the current job of White House Press Secretary. President Trump is seasoned Lier who had made Millions $ by making fools of other people.
6
Born into the Baptist family of televangelist Mike Huckabee. Raised in Arkansas. Had some schooling at Ouachita Baptist University. She has spent her whole short life shilling for Southern politicians, and then defending the wife cheating, money laundering, pathological liar, Donald Trump.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders can't help being what she is. She never had a chance.
54
It was beyond my comprehension why the press gave this person currently acting as our president so much coverage in 2015 and 2016. I didn't want to hear his reptilian voice or hear or read his witless, crass, ugly, untruthful words. I stopped listening and assumed any sane person would do the same.
Now I know why the press kept him front and center. Money. That is it.
So you have enough readers NYTimes but it cost a functioning, sane, government.
I'm disgusted with the press for not having enough guts or integrity to print what we need to know.
Climate Change should be front and center on every front page because if we don't act to stop the heating we will end up like Venus which became too hot to hold its atmosphere. No atmosphere equals no life. I believe you do not get that all our lives and all our futures are in danger of ending. Forever. That's it. Nada. Nothing. Everyone and Everything will be dead shortly and you are printing puff pieces about Trumps witless "press secretary."
52
Trust me. We were even less impressed with her!
40
Sanders has to live with what she did. She can try to spin it anyway that she might, but she repeated lies without shame.
41
Flawed thinking from today’s Gail / Bret column:
“ Gail: …many people of good will argued that Americans who thought abortion was murder shouldn’t be forced to pay their tax money to support it.
Bret: I’m pro-choice, but I also agree with the Hyde amendment. Go on.”
I think war is murder. I think the death penalty is murder. Why should I be forced to have my tax money used to support them? The answer is obvious. As citizens we don’t get to directly pick and choose how the government spends our taxes. The Hyde Amendment caters to a small vocal activist minority who pressure our representatives to follow their wishes. There are things our taxes pay for that are not approved of by some segment of the population. We are obligated to pay our taxes anyway!
61
Bret and Gail, as well as many of these comments, sniffing in disdain at higher educations excesses is one thing I can commend. But then, using their disdain to deflect from the true grifter institutions (aka the Ivy League and their overpriced and over bloated cohorts) to malign community colleges is too much. OK, maybe CC's aren't paying that great, but they're doing 10x better in educating our children than most other colleges and definitely so than most of the US's high schools.
Our secondary schools are where the real scandal is. The US's high school are creatures of state education departments. Almost all state education departments exist primarily to act as job protection rackets for the NEA and the UFT. This bias to in favor of teachers over students shows. Most HS’s barely achieve an 80% graduation rate, especially in urban settings. Then those HS students that do graduate, most are dismally ill prepared to get decent jobs.
State education departments, the NEA and the UFT are all conspiring to feed the college industrial complex since most US high school teachers are better suited to college prep courses, aka liberal arts, than the technical and vocational skills. Such basic skills, not college prep, are what 60% or more of our high school students are only capable of and, in all honesty, are only what they need in order to make it in today’s economy.
4
I have had the privilege of teaching in the corporate world with many professors from a variety of big, public institutions. I have asked many of them why the cost of higher education has exploded. They pretty much uniformly agree that there are way more highly paid administrators who add little value than there used to be. In addition, there has been an arms race in campus building. Many also believe that they are pressed to publish at the expense of teaching which drives up the cost.
21
Re England vs Us at the college level - the notion that the English can do college in three years “without intellectual shortcomings” and therefore the US could follow suit, as Mr Stephens suggests is nonsense. English education is relatively excellent up to late high school/ early college level (A levels and beyond) when it becomes restrictive and narrow (and is quite terrible at the PhD level), whereas US education is pretty bad overall up to the college level, then improves and becomes magnificent at the PhD level. Warts and all, the US does. a much better job at the college level of educating widely knowledgeable human beings while the UK system is better early on, but takes the attitude that after age 16 or so, people really only need to know about their subject.
12
I taught at a fine CC from 2003-2013. But the instructors (I was one) were exploited beyond belief--no benefits, no sick leave. If you were too sick to teach, and couldn't line up a sub, you weren't paid for that class.--like a factory. There was a retirement fund-- which amazes me--perhaps because it was a state school.
Even a hint of unionizing was met w/ threats of firing. Some colleagues had 3 or more CC jobs to try to cobble together enough dough to raise a young family.
Money should go to faculty/instructors' salaries--not fancy dorms, gourmet meals, or high-priced administrators. A general strike could possibly cripple the CC--but in my field (Eng/Hum) there are always more people desperate to teach.
28
I taught at a fine CC from 2003-2013. But the instructors (I was one) were exploited beyond belief--no benefits, no sick leave. If you were too sick to teach, and couldn't line up a sub, you weren't paid for that class.--like a factory. There was a retirement fund-- which amazes me--perhaps because it was a state school.
Even a hint of unionizing was met w/ threats of firing. Some colleagues had 3 or more CC jobs to try to cobble together enough dough to raise a young family.
Money should go to faculty/instructors' salaries--not fancy dorms, gourmet meals, or high-priced admiinistrators. A general strike could possibly cripple the CC--but in my field (Eng/Hum) there are always more people desperate to teach.
4
I taught at a fine CC from 2003-2013. But the instructors (I was one) were exploited beyond belief--no benefits, no sick leave. If you were too sick to teach, and couldn't line up a sub, you weren't paid for that class. Just like working for a factory. There was a retirement fund-- which amazes me.
Even a hint of unionizing was met w/ threats of firing. Some colleagues had 3 or more CC jobs to try to cobble together enough dough to raise a young family.
Money should go to faculty/instructors' salaries. A general strike could possibly cripple the CC--but in my field (Eng/Hum) there are always more people desperate to teach.
3
The Times is a big part of the problem. Of course you guys are for Biden. Or Harris or Buttigieg, they are the Goldman Sachs picks for the job after all.
Why not Warren? She is not even mentioned here.
14
@Paul
You realize that the news and editorial sections of NYTimes are separated by management decree, yes?
7
I think she's going to regret how she dismantled the truth. She must have some sort of conscience. I can never get inside the head of people like her, who lust after fame and power and abandon all principles to do so.
36
Why are you referring to Hillary Clinton?! I thought the piece was about Sarah Huckabee Sanders?!
4
The feeling is definitely mutual
13
Make no mistake, Huckabee-Sanders is the rule and emblematic of the entirety of the Republican Party - not the exception. I had the misfortune of meeting a new coworker recently while off-site. The conversation turned political and he simply revealed himself. He thinks all news should be thrown into the same bucket. Every point I made, he questioned the source. It simply didn't matter if I was quoting a paper of record (e.g., NY Times, Boston Globe, USA Today, Washington Post, the AP, etc.),apparently each was equally dubious in his assessment. I finally told him that if he was equally dismissive of all news the only news he'd ever believe is that which he creates himself. He shook his head no, but offered no words to counter my assertion. The Republican Party has taken such an antagonistic view of news as to trash it all, and think of Fox News and the like as entertainment, not news.
29
@David
Get used to it: Lenin's Bay Area candidate, Harris, will get stomped by Trump, even with Gavin Noosense's help.
2
Love the picture, captures her lying personality perfectly.
29
All this proves is that Sarah Huckabee Sanders is a serial liar because everyone associated with Trump and GOP is a liar; as it's the only true job qualification.
Sanders was a particular gem, as many Republicans despite hard work still haven't aced the Heritage Foundation seminars on how to lie constantly, and with such ease.
Sanders lied so many times the only known instance of her actually telling the truth involved a nine-year-old nicknamed "Pickle" writing a letter to Trump about how much he likes him. Sanders was by then an established serial liar, so no one believed her. America would have been well served if the press entirely ignored Sanders unless she was speaking of boys named for small cucumbers preserved in vinegar.
Sanders is typical of the GOP. As of April 26th Trump already lied over 10,000 times. Trump racked up so many lies since during just one 45-minute telephone interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News on April 25th he lied 45 times; 1 lie per minute. Further, 34 GOP individuals working for Trump were indicted or pleading guilty to, among many crimes, repeatedly lying under oath.
Finally, we've learned thanks to documents released by Thomas Hofeller's daughter that the Trump/GOP census was always a pack of lies to gerrymander the entire country. The Trump DOJ at the behest of Trump and Wilbur Ross had Mark Neuman, Ross's key adviser, and John Gore overseeing voting rights enforcement, repeatedly commit perjury in furtherance of that conspiracy.
17
With the likes of Sanders, Spicer, and Scaramucci, who needs Larry, Curly, and Moe?
Similarly, with the likes of Trump University, Corinthian Colleges, "Liberty" University or the Sarah Huckberry Sanders School of Journalism, who needs the Ministry of Truth, Doublespeak, or an official 2 Minutes of Hate, a la 1984?
Art and dystopian nightmare fantasies have become political "reality" in Trump-World!
27
Hoorah for Bret’s entire point about higher education in this country! No one is talking about this issue in the correct way. No one is questioning the cost or even how essential these degrees are to the modern workforce. Though I support Pete Buttigieg, I disagree with his contention that “people can’t afford college, and they can’t afford to not go”. This job market, even in white collar professions, is contracting. Very soon algorithms will replace accountants, lawyers, and all manner of consultants. We are moving full tilt towards a service economy and there is no reason to believe there is not money to be earned there. Every solution the Democratic party is proposing should have been proposed 40 years ago. Now, none of it will do anything more than make things worse. We must demand that employers stop the education arms race for positions that require little more than a HS education. The only purpose here is to select out qualified individuals and force job seekers to compete ceaselessly for a return that will never come.
We must talk about education and Bret can lead the charge till other’s pick this up.
2
Perfect lead in photo: Portrait of “Up-To-No-Good” Press Secretary.
6
Such an exemplary Christian lady
Like father like daughter
19
She represents everything at its worst in this administrative cluster.
25
For me, it isn't just that Ms. Sanders seemed ill-suited emotionally and intellectually to handle her job, it was the persona which she apparently created for herself, the nastiness and disgust bubbling under the surface from the moment she stepped up to the podium. She had the warmth, patience, and desire to communicate of an insult comedian. Picture Jack E. Leonard, Don Rickles, or Sam Kinison in a dress, and you've got Sarah Sanders, minus the wit and sense of humor, of course!
32
@Randy no, no, no....... the comedians you mention were
Artists. they bared their souls so we could laugh..... she buried her soul in the service of a sad, petty, angry little man.
29
What a terrible person is Ms. Sanders. She should be driven out of this country along with the great buffoon.
21
I am aware that making up my facial expression is important when delivering some message, but I didn't know I even need practices before a mirror.
"you can’t have a large chunk of the best-educated population saddled with big student loan payments just when they need to be building their careers and starting their families."
thanks gail! but the concept of a government of the people and by the people is sooooooo...... 18th century?? the idea that we are shooting our civilization in the foot by making productive citizens go deep into debt to become educated? is just the cost of doing "business".
7
What does even-handedness have to do with reporting? Report the truth, let the rest fall as it may. Fairness isn’t guaranteed in life, but I do appreciate truth. Even when it hurts.
Call out lies for what they are, stop making up euphemisms and negotiating alternative wording.
18
I wish you nothing but the worst, Sarah, nothing but the worst.
23
If Ms Sanders, or "The Huckster" as she is affectionately known in some circles, thinks she can segue into a political or business position, she's deluded. With a track record of lying to the American people and her unconditional supporting of a lying President. how could you believe anything that comes out of her mouth?
15
@James oh, how I wish you're right.
But nowadays, Arkansas? She might just win. I do wish she would simply have some sort of pride (the right kind), and disappear from public view for the rest of her life.
14
My God Man, I want my share of her salary back, Trump can pay her to lie for him, no tax money!
17
I just have to say this is the best headline I've ever read. Hands down.
8
SHS is typical of mr t's insane behavior. the adjoining picture bears proof of my outlook. No one will miss her.
10
She leaves with a prestigious title, "The Liars Liar." Just like her soon be ex boss, she wouldn't know the truth if it hit her in the face. Arkansas, you are more than welcome to her. Lots of luck.
20
I appreciate you calling on us to recognize the humanity of those we disagree with; to exercise our compassion and empathy in how we regard those like Sanders. But does she or Trump do that? Not even on their best day. They are hateful and vicious. They have no empathy, compassion, or respect for those that differ with them. Don't try to tell us about seeing her humanity when she shills for the man trying to rob so many Others that they make foreign, alien, and ominous of theirs.
You should direct these words at Sanders herself. She is cruel and sadistic and will desperately tell any lie no matter how outlandish to defend her second hypocrite daddy. It's a disgusting display to see her make a mockery of the truth in her so called Press Briefings which are anything but.
What you don't say is how truly awful she is. How she degrades and demeans journalists every day she goes to work. Don't try to excuse this sell out. Face the fact that even when viewed with compassion Sanders has earned our condemning judgment through her reprehensible actions. She makes a travesty of the position of press secretary. She does damage to our institutions and our psyches. A ruthless and terrible and destructive force. Face up to it.
24
Disgusting, disturbing but somehow likeable. She's a fascinating character.
3
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is leaving, or as Sarah Huckabee Sanders would say, "Sarah Huckabee Sanders is not leaving." Stephen Colbert
25
As much as I agree with Gail (journalists doing their job in less than ideal times) I also agree with Bret, possibly even more so, that the media is failing miserably by succumbing to offer/demand.
The job of journalists is to inform, find and report facts.
Those of us interested in facts are not buying the Enquirer for news of the day.
15
I suggest her next move be to Boeing. They clearly need a new PR hack to dupe the public over the crashes of their latest aircraft.
13
The Huckabee career path : From the Trump White House pulpit to Fox News analyst to Alabama governess. For most of us that is like going from Bad to Worse to Horrendous. For Sanders that is like going from Fair to Good to Great.
11
I would be ecstatic at Ms. Sanders' exit from the White House--good riddance to bad rubbish, as it were--if not for the fact that we ALL know she will be replaced by someone infinitely worse.
As proof, I give you Sean Spicer. When he left, we didn't think anyone could possibly be worse, yet--there she was, for two + years.
20
Raskolnikov felt remorse. He was also searching for moral clarity. Let's not debase him with this comparison.
9
Perhaps trump could appoint "John Barron" or some other stalwart supporter to fill the shoes of the un-lamented Ms. Huckabee Sanders.
10
Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ tenure as press secretary: It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Mostly the worst.
8
She is as disposable as Donald is, and not worthy of any mention again. Good riddance.
26
Sarah Sanders is leaving, like so many others, and we wonder who will be next. Especially after the Mueller investigation, you have to figure prospective employees in the Trump administration have to add the cost of legal fees onto a high pressure job in an expensive city that doesn't pay all that well. Donald Trump isn't going to stop lying, or stop asking people to lie for him, or even stop asking them to do things that are illegal, so having a lawyer on retainer should be in the orientation packet for new employees in this administration.
8
As a professor at s public university, I can assure you that the increased cost of college isn't going to pay better faculty salaries. In a good year we get a 2% "merit" raise that doesn't even match the increase in cost of living.
12
Sarah, you made your deal with the man, and now your leaving. You can believe anything you want about your time in the White House. History will take care of the rest. Go Razor Backs!
4
I might be misremembering but I thought that I heard Sarah was a Baptist and educated in religious schools. I didn't think religious people were supposed to be liars. Again, if not misremembering, then I might be misunderstanding.
16
Likewise, Sarah. We’re not impressed with you, either.
27
She's "transparent" all right! You can see right through her. Her lies are obvious and constant, and her motives obscene, like T's. Learned from her preacher father how to pass on baloney as truth.
20
This article is a prime example of what you describe people hating about journalists these days. You start out by talking about Sarah, then you go off on some self-absorbed rants about how you feel presidential hopefuls will fare in the election and blah blah blah. Then try to save the sinking ship by mentioning Sarah again at the last moment. So. Boring. I miss Walter Cronkite. And no, I'm not old.
2
One up for the pick of that photo - you have indeed captured her soul. Please don't release it. :)
13
@NotSoCrazy
She has no soul to capture
15
For the life of me I can't figure out what sarah is proud of in her service to this country.
SERIOUSLY!
11
Pure evil, spreading lies to undermine truth, pure Cruella DeVille. She was nobody before and will soon be nobody once again.
16
Well, we weren't impressed, either.
10
Who can replace her, smokey-eyed icon that she is. Bring back John Barron!
5
The departure of the inimitable Ms. Sanders causes me to wonder...where is Mike McCurry when we need him?
“struggling to be evenhanded while covering an administration that tells lies around the clock” not even one article or positive thought about the president! But God forbid anyone say thing negative about LBQGBTSes ! Now that’s a crime!
1
@RafaSinga; you're on the wrong site pal. Go to Fox. Plenty "positive" invention regarding Trump.
13
Imagine Sarah Huckabee Sanders being questioned by a reporter from BBC World news, and without having the bully's advantage of the off-button that she wielded against American reporters.
Imagine presidential debates being run this way.
Speak out of turn, or interrupt anyone who has the floor, and your microphone will be shut off.
Should be rule #1.
7
I don't think she actually thinks she is lying!! I believe there is something fundamentally wrong with how she uses her brain! Think about it, she, like many deeply religious people have trained their brain to believe in contradictory things all the time! They can't deny the dinosaurs for example but also believe in Adam and Eve and the rest of the tales! They allegedly believe in "family values", etc. but also defend xxx grabbing, trice divorced, adulterer, con man Trump; all at the same time!
9
Let's be very clear. She went out there, every time, to defend a criminal.
Her defense of her criminal principal included lying herself.
We know all of this from the Mueller report.
So, I'd characterize Ms. Sanders as morally repugnant.
29
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, as well as her predecessors in the Trump administration and surrogates like Kelly Anne Conway, should be relegated to the trash heap of "alternative flacks".
18
she is just but a tiny spectre if what this admin is. that being said, she deserves nothing but heartache in the coming future for the dishonesty and unpatriotic language she displayed for the past two years. I wish you nothing but melancholy
8
She was VERY unimpressive. Her only ‘quality’ was slavish devotion to a con man. Nice job for a ‘Christian’.
16
Bye Sarah. Can you take the 45th President with you?
14
Am I the only one who was reminded of Wilma Flinstone by the pearls worn religiously by Sarah Huckabee Sanders?
8
@FunctionalIlliterate; afraid so ... Wilma was a likable lady, Sarah, not so much.
6
Since she is an admitted/acknowledged liar, her statement is true because she says it is.
2
Disappointed to see her appearance critiqued. I expect better from the NYT.
3
Do not know how Sarah Huckabee Sanders sleeps at night?! She grew up with the Ten Commandments as a way to live, and she worked for a liar, crook, cheat, serial adulterer and misogynist!
How does she live with this?!
15
Brett: the reason the English undergrad degree is 3 years is because the high school A level curriculum is more advanced than in the US. And that 3 year degree is, often equivalent to the US masters level. if you want to compress the US degree to 3 years, you'll need improve school standards.
7
Mephistopheles Huckabee Sanders, I sure hope you think it was worth it. To come back from this you will need to be Houdini.
4
Until now Sanders has played a willing role in Trump's daily Big Lie Propaganda blitz. She herself is a reflection of Trump's base of the uninformed, and the hypocritical Christian fundamentalists that ignore every aspect of human decency to support Trump. That Trump's base makes up 40% of the electorate is shocking and and frightening. Sanders is to the world of journalism what William Barr is to the legal profession..they both abandoned professional principles to become Trump's willing servant.
10
Here's to her being able to give that smoky eye treatment a rest, at least for summer.
Lighten up, Sarah. At least your eyelids.
8
You are part of the problem by using the word NEWS for what is infotainment, Unfortunately this applies to network evening news also. I hope infotainment and some real news will cut-back to covering the person Trump just to one hour twice a week and try to literally ignore the person Trump the rest of the time.
2
I, too, am awaiting Ms. Sanders return to Arkansas. They deserve her.
8
Why keep giving her press? Can’t we just forget about her?
6
Wow, could you get any snarkier? Re: Sanders: Stephens is parading a whole lotta defensive male ego here, while the two of you combined comprise a master class in letting a sneer do the work of a demonstration.
In brief, Sanders lacked credibility within a self-anointed group of golden children. To the rest of us, she rocked.
2
Lets face it, any press secretary's only job is to evade, deceive and engage in propaganda on behalf of the government. What made Sanders much more odious than the rest was that she chose to be the mouthpiece of an unapologetically nationalist, xenophobic administration.
5
I think she should be the new Grumpy Cat.
10
As a former columnist for the WSJ, I would love to see Bret address how a foreign owned media empire influences elections and attitude toward immigrants in the english speaking world outside Australia, especially in relation to Trump and Brexit.
6
Gail, it may have been said somewhere earlier in the previous 1268 comments but I think you're wrong -- something I seldom believe -- about striving for even-handedness as a mark of great journalism.
I know many do just that, but they ought to harken back to J-101: Just get to the truth and tell it. Let the chips fall where they may.
8
Whatever else is true, Sanders has the best acting ability of anyone I've ever seen in public life. She doesn't have to say anything at all to get her point across.
7
Great picture. It's how I'll always remember her.
25
She has been such a liar that she seriously can't expect anyone to regret her leaving. If she had a shred of morality, she should take herself to her church, fall on her knees and beg God to help forgive her for the harm she's done to this country. Good riddance to bad rubbish!
14
Another NYTimes piece that is ridiculous. These type of snarky "I'm better than you" articles make people hate liberals. Try journalism. It can be done even in opinion pieces.
- a very liberal reader
7
Actually, this article points to the holier-than-thou hypocrisy of the conservatives! We should call them out!
8
Well heck, she's a Huckabee from Arkansaw. What do you epect
11
You two "reporters" are among the most snarky and dimwitted the New York Times has on staff. Ugh! It's like reading a middle school diary.
You don't like Sarah Sanders because she was a woman who did an effective job for Trump. Very immature.
4
She did a good job for Trump? I’ll say; she expanded on his lies and misstatements and then added her own lies on top. All from a “Christian” daughter of a minister, no less.
12
@Melissa M. Yeah! (Stamps foot.)
@Melissa M. OMG and i live in the same state as you? Horrors! Think of what you are defending. The most despicable president in the history of our country.
3
The Huckabees are the most morally corrupt and repugnant! Good riddance.
13
Wow. You "journalists" even blame Trump for bringing out the worst in you. You brought it on yourself.
3
She’s simply a disgusting liar and a disgrace to our country. Good riddance. Get lost.
18
"Sarah Huckabee Sanders Wants You to Know She Was Not Impressed: She surveyed the media landscape and decided that truth was what she said it was."
Nor, I would argue, were millions of others. We surveyed her media antics and decided that truth was not what she said it was.
She is a nothingburger.
12
Boy, have New York Times' commenters sunk low. Their nastiness leaves a trail of wreckage all over the comments' sections.
3
Nothing compares to the vile and savage comments on conservative blogs against the good, decent and upstanding a Obamas!
7
@Mari
You're likely overly sensitive to criticism of Obama. He was deeply disliked and not because of his race. Even democrats now admit his weaknesses.
2
This is really lame.. lets make fun of the departing press secretary . .. who has been demeaned and insulted for the last 2 years.. very mean girls.. very high school .. really beneath the New York Times.. shame..
4
@Koko What is REALLY lame is making fun of a NYTimes journalist with a disability and others who dare to criticize and counter his rampant lies. Those who have spoken out have been demeaned and insulted for the last four years, including a deceased war hero by the name of John McCain. Very mean spirited, very elementary, extremely beneath the office of the US presidency. Shame!!
15
Sarah Huckabee Sanders has a brother who, while he was a counselor at a summer camp, hung a sick dog who had timidly approached him for help.
He and a friend strung the poor dog from a tree and beat it to death with baseball bats like a pinata as it slowly asphyxiated. How terrified the poor creature must have been, upon realizing he was not going to get the help he sought, but a painful death instead.
This is the sick, twisted family that SHS comes from. God knows what went on in the governors' mansion when Mike Huckabee occupied it.
If the cruel brother was worried about the campers as he later claimed, there are a hundred ways he could have handled it, getting help for the dog notwithstanding. So much for "Christian" values.
They are all the type of people for whom the concept of Hell was invented.
25
@T Cat
His path better never cross mine.
6
The Liar-N-Chief's chief liar...
11
I couldn't agree more that our colleges have turned into country clubs which happen to teach something. We should divorce academics and sports once and for all. There is no reason why we should be giving scholarships to people who can dunk a basketball or hit a baseball or shoot a hockey puck. Any idiot can do that with enough practice. All the sports facilities in colleges are driving up the cost of education to a ridiculous degree.
3
Sarah in only in this for the End Days aspect.
For her it's biblical prophecy, so I read at www.lyinhuckabee.com
2
I read that Jeanine Pirro is taking over for SHS.
What a truly petty, juvenile reaction to Ms. Sanders' departure. At every turn during her tenure in the White House, you and countless other sniping critics took her to task for just about anything. And never anything of substance. It's not enough to cheer her departure; now you come with this garbage.
3
Let her try to explain her role as a lying enabler of the Liar in Chief to her family and how the 10 Commandments don't count when you are supporting Trump.
12
Well, frankly, most of us are not impressed by Sarah Huckabee Sanders. But, hey, consider she was raised by Mike Huckabee, a two bit, Bible-thumping con artist. Fruit does not fall far from the tree.
10
Jesus would be ashamed of Sanders' Christianity.
9
Can't stand Sanders, but, for the record, your photo of her is editorializing.
4
Oh no. No more. Take that picture down. No. No more.
5
Baghdad Bob comes to mind...lessness near Arkansas.
2
Ugh. GRIM DAYS!
1
Unlike those before her, Sarah Sanders had no problem whatsoever in being the puppet for the sociopathic, pathological liar sitting in the WH while she, under the tutelage of her family, hid behind the bible while doing it.
She is a despicable person who deserves not the least bit of sympathy whatsoever. In many respects, by re-enforcing the insane rhetoric come out of the mouth of her boss, she has probably done as much damage to the country as the man she worked for.
8
Remarkable hubris from the newspaper that openly admitted it was abandoning all objectivity in new reporting so as to defeat Trump.
SHS has been the finest press secretary in living memory, I really don't care how the NYTimes wants to spin it.
1
The Jim Carey portrait of her says it all.
4
I hope her lies come back to haunt her if she runs for governor. What an odious character. Just like her ex-boss.
8
If she were a Democrat she would be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
4
@TravelingProfessor,
The thing is, she would never be a Democrat because Democrats don’t condone lying.
3
Raskolnikov and Elmer Gantry in a single sentence? By Jesus I love the Times!
2
I think that Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be happier back in Arkansas with her pappy.
5
I"m waiting to see who is going to give this world class liar her next job.
4
Her smile is the administration's take on life.
"Sunny" isn't the word that springs to mind.
Otherwise... Go have a beer, Gail, Bret. Lighten up. It's OK to be glum, but you two sound like Thelma and Louise.
2
A huckster with attitude, hot lips will be missed.
1
Yes, the Aunt Sarah Sanders School of Journalism at Bible Belt University for Deplorables! A community college with home study.
5
Liars lie,...it's what they do.
As the daughter of a 'religious' huckster, she's had her father, a modern day Elmer Gantry, as a role model. What better to learn how to lie, cheat and manipulate people than from a 'man of God'. She is, was and forever will be a hypocrite , whose 'slips of the tongue' turned out to be spoken by someone with a 'forked one' at that. I wonder what she sees when she looks at herself in the mirror.
5
Two words: Mean Girl.
She's a bully, just like her boss.
6
She was great. Made dishonest reporters feel like kids being scolded by their big mama for hiding their tuna sandwich.
It will be hard to find a replacement... Maybe her position should be terminated.
2
Poor Sarah, for Trump and her father, she lies through her teeth; she brushes them with guile, gargles with turpitude, and spits out mendacity!!
4
Sarah Huckabee Sanders...just another Bible-reading, lying Evangelical.
They're so much fun!
7
Sarah Sanders is a liar who knowingly provided cover for a racist liar bent on advancing his own self-interest at the cost of our country's very soul -- not to mention the future of our planet and all living things. And I hope her face freezes in that exact expression.
5
Sarah Sanders represented at least three things that feminists, liberals and Democrats hate. I'm not ranking them because it seems superfluous. But you liberals seem to hate all of these three things and she embodied each of them. She is a Christian (you know... the group that created all the rights you all hold so dear, including separation of Church and State. *Thanks Baptist Christians!) Everyone knows how much the liberal intelligentsia of Manhattan hate Christianity and the "dumb" little Christian conservative women like Sarah Sanders. Sarah Sanders is a conservative. She seems to love being a wife and a mother. And she doesn't supporting killing unborn children. We know you hate people who defend the rights of human beings, at every state of development. That angers you all. Sarah Sanders is not a feminist. If she pretended to be a victimized woman (as many of you do), you would love her. But since she isn't misandristic and she doesn't claim to have been sexually abused or rendered voiceless by a hegemonic patriarch, you hate her. Sometimes you just cannot have it all, dear Sarah. You have to choose. Be a Christian, conservative woman who doesn't hate men or be loved by the left and its mouthpieces in the media.
2
@Joshua Folds
Easy Hosz,
Any "loving wife" would have told her boss to shove it when he spoke of him that way.
BTW, what part of "christiantiy" states THOU SHALL NOT LIE?
She does that quite often. Some christian she is.
2
@Joshua Folds
Or alternatively, she could have just refrained from lying to the public. Then she would have been just another press secretary.
The rest of your screed about how victimized you are sounds like a big chip on your shoulder. But 'liberals' do not think as you believe they do, and frankly never have. Perhaps you should stop listening to right-wing propaganda, and start listening to actual people.
3
More blabber from the people who fostered the myth of "deplorables."
3
She's pure evil.
4
Yuck, Gail. Stephens is such a right wing mean girl. Can’t you find someone nicer to have your conversations with?
1
A liar of Biblical proportions.
7
Why are you giving toads a bad name?
1
"Baghdad Bob" lives, he's available...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Saeed_al-Sahhaf
Oh sure... you journo types whined miserably about the regular press beatings from Sarah Sanders, Mistress of Abuse and Pain,... then you whine when they stop. Make up your minds!
1
The feeling is mutual, Ma'am: we, too, are not impressed.
6
I am so glad to have read this exchange between you all, and to be able to leave a comment before the box is closed.
Sarah Sanders really did seem to despise the press corps and seemed to relish her ability to respond as the current President directed her. Get a star for today's performance, Sarah, and so forth.
Early in the current President's term, the ability for the press to know who was visiting the White House was cut off. That was a massive change. How could this access to knowing who has access be restored?
I feel that not enough attention is given to the current Vice President. What does he do every day? Why not get his comment on every beyond the pale tweet of the current President?
This evening, it seems as if the current President will be tweeting from his official airplane US1, during the Dems' upcoming debates. Is this not a Hatch Act violation. Could not the Dem's candidates just announce at the beginning of each debate that they have a solidarity in opposing such tweets, and a commitment to asking the current Justice Department to see that the laws of the land are followed?
I have so many other thoughts, but will be glad to share them with you all later. Presumably, NYT writers can connect with comment leavers if they wish to?
3
Trump might as well nominate Qanon or Alex Jones for all his credibility.
3
"The most worrisome thing to me is the way so much cable news has turned into a contest over who can shout loudest about Donald Trump."
Totally.
1
Not only did SHS not receive any punishment for her deliberately pernicious lies but now she gets to run for governor of Arkansas
1
Never underestimate the low-quality of a trump appointee. Just when you think the person is horrible, he appoints someone worse. Just like the republicans will pick someone worse than trump after trump is gone. And Gail & Bret, please get off the Biden slams about the Hyde fiasco..So what? It was the '70's and people evolve. It seems like people cannot be happy with any completely qualified democratic candidate. The main thing is to just REPLACE TRUMP....And all 23 democratic candidates are MORE QUALIFED THAN trump will ever be!
4
That's okay, Sarah -- neither were we.
4
In general, journalists--almost like judges--should be neutral, objective, calm etc. Does her face convey that attitude?
Her position was not journalist. And, if you think there is an accepted demeanor for journalists these days you might want to look around.
@Hasmukh Parekh
In general, nothing, and I mean NOTHING is monolithic.
Journalism encompasses many things, from investigation, to editorializing, to OPINION pieces.
Love that last line!
A thought experiment. Imagine Sarah Huckabee Sanders being questioned by a reporter from BBC World news, and without having the bully's advantage of the off-button that she wielded against American reporters. After the interview they'd have to scrape what was left of her off the floor.
4
Nice picture. Here's the thing: If you media folks knew as much as Ms. Sanders about the "truth," then why did you bother to attend/watch her press conferences?
1
Sarah wants us to know that she was not impressed. Well, most Americans were not impressed (with her) either.
You're feeding the beast with this piece. The opportunity costs of what isn't being reported and acted on are planted near the top of my pile of grief over Trump and his show.
Raskolnikov confessed his guilt and in Siberia has a spiritual rejuvenation. Is Mr. Stephens really asking us to give credit to the possibility that Sanders will recant her radical untruths and find a spiritual awakening ?
We ought to remember that as a brilliant NYT comment writer said, for makeup she darkens her eyes "with the ashes of burnt truths"
Best press secretary in many years.
1
Congratulations to Doug Mills of the Times. He photographed the essence of Sarah H. Sanders in this shot. Hope she gets to see it.
2
It's ironic, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders told the truth only once, right at the end of her tenure at the White House: She wasn't lying when she said she was leaving her job. Goodbye Queen of Deceit, you won't be missed.
1
Oh, to bring back the days of triple checking a source.
The reason for the sneer is she was treated rudely by the self-righteous members of the press corps. She maintained her dignity despite a lot of rough treatment by crude and boorish people.
2
It amazes me that the news media doesn't understand that, to a great degree, they bear responsibility for Donald Trump's election. They spend so much time reporting on what Donald Trump says and not nearly enough on the substance of what he says in the name of reporting the "facts".
Donald Trump thrives on publicity. That's his thing. He's a self-centered, ego maniac who does whatever he needs to gain public notoriety. Without the press and cable news and internet publicizing his outrageous comments and opinions, he wouldn't be what he is today.
What I sincerely hope is that the news media and what passes for news media in the internet spend all their time reporting the opinions and public policy proposals ion the all the other candidates and ignore anything Donald Trump says during the campaign for the 2020 election for President.
Without all the publicity Donald Trump continues to get he is nobody.
Please do continue too publicize his tweets where he shows his complete ignorance and lack of intelligence ("Prince of Whales" - who could elect someone again that is that stupid.)
2
Why not let Kellyanne Conway be the press secretary?
It won't increase her workload.
2
"Sarah Huckabee Sanders Wants You to Know She Was Not Impressed"...
Nor were we; nor were we.
2
Gail needs to do her homework on why the costs of higher education has risen. It's not because of facility spending or
administrative bloat. Check out serious economic research on the issue at:
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/05/bloat-does-not-explain-the-rising-cost-of-education.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+marginalrevolution%2Ffeed+%28Marginal+Revolution%29
1
Working in the Beltway is selling your soul. Working in the Trump Administration is selling your country's soul.
There is nothing redeemable about spinning the truth (aka lying and/or omitting).
1
The background of her picture says it all.
It is really a challenge to pick out the most sickening (there are so many candidates) examples of the dishonest, corrupt nature of the Trump administration and their disdain for democracy, truth, and the common people but if I really had to choose one, it might be this lie-monger.
1
I was raised in a Christian Church in the South and, believe me when I tell you, my Church would not have had anything to do with a liar like her. It just was not done! I left the Church a long time ago because of the hypocrites I saw there, but I know they were more true believers than the Huckabees.
2
Universities in the U.S. are no better than large pharma in how they price their goods. The U.S. government should stop giving them financial aid (e.g., tax relief, grants) until they cut their administrative fat and scale back their capex plans so families don't have to bankrupt themselves to send their kids to school.
The British do college in 3 years because the graduates from their schools are a year or more better prepared and more advanced in their studies than American students. And not everyone graduates.
2
I can boast that virtually all of my friends are either honest liberals or honest conservatives. That said, as a whole they totally distrust most of the right-leaning media reporting. However, they find that even best of the liberal media totally ignores reporting "The Whole Truth". In effect, one is totally dishonest while the other is totally devious: a prescription for disaster.
When contentious issues arise and one of us challenges the liberal media . . . we almost universally agree that the liberal media has ignored The Whole Truth.
Interestingly, whenever I engage with a politically interested man-in-the-street . . . they invariably agree with my particular findings on the issues. In effect, the man-in-the-street is far more centered than the liberal or conservative media would like to believe. While I am comforted by the universal thinking that Phi Beta Kappas and the man-in-the-street share, I am despaired because IMHO the media controls our destiny.
3
One obvious answer to the massive weight of student debt and the cost of college is to actually educate all of our young people in their elementary and high school years.
I house and tutor visiting international undergraduate and graduate students from Europe and Asia. On the whole, they are better educated than the American students I meet. Why? Because they are on the whole better educated BEFORE college.
Improving public primary and secondary education will require parents and other earners to pay for it up front. But it will ultimately lead to more prosperity, as noted in this column.
In addition, it will allow us to:
1. Eliminate the necessity for college courses to serve as remedial classrooms for students who didn't pick up necessary skills in their previous school years.
2. Compete with the Chinese economy - I recently presented a lecture to high school and college students in 4 Chinese cities and was bowled over by their accomplishments and their seriousness about their education. Many of the STEM graduate programs offered here in the U.S. are 90-100% comprised of international students. Why? Because their schools have focused them on these subjects from an early age.
3. Have an electorate that is not only capable of seeing through lies and propaganda but has enough of a sense of both domestic and international realities to elect a president who will actually serve America.
7
Shouldn't Bret's comment that "I’m pro-choice, but I also agree with the Hyde amendment" be in quotation marks? Bret is hypothetically quoting the people Gail is referring to, right? Or is Bret indeed stating that he's pro-choice but also agrees with the Hyde Amendment?
1
The latter.
Sad sack Sanders - so glad she's gone.
She did NOT inform.
She did NOT impress.
She did NOTHING but back the Trump party line. Big deal.
If her last name was Huckleberry rather than Huckabee, she would never have been given the job, but less a foot inside the door.
12
@Marge Keller
Sad Sack Sanders.
Pure poetry. Nice one Marge.
1
@New World
Thanks for the kind compliment New World. That capture seems to fit the selected photo.
1
Gotta love this self proclaimed Evangelical Christian who says she starts her days with a prayer. Really?
UHMMM, she then gleefully goes to work being the mouthpiece for a man who is the antithesis of everything her religion professes to represent. She has personally lied for this man, she has promoted his lies willingly, she has promoted hatred and intolerance against other religions.
So Sarah, my question to you. You're either not a christian or your faith is morally bankrupt just like the man you support. Or perhaps, it's both.
18
@MN
Her brand of Christianity is not about humility and aggressive in "fighting for Jesus". She'll die believing she told the truth and fought for God. If you don't already know this you don't truly understand the problem with current US society.
@MN
Christian bashing still isn't acceptable just because it's related to Trump.
1
@AACNY
Criticizing a professed Christian for not following a basic tenant of Christianity is not 'Christian bashing'.
2
I wonder when people will stop regarding Fox News, and MSNBC as legitimate news organizations. They are ratings driven commercial enterprises who package and sell news-as-entertainment and positive-self-affirmation. They aren’t about informing at all.
CNN, Time magazine and US News and World Report are in the same category, although not as bad.
3
you have to be kidding. or just in from the cold. to lop CNN or MSNBC in with Fox News(?) is ludicrous. Fox doesnt report facts. MSNBC may have an overall bias, but it still works with facts.
3
Where else and in what capacity could someone like this be paid $187,000 annually by the taxpayers ?
5
@R. Anderson
Wait till her book comes out.
She’ll earn millions.
"Sarah Huckabee Sanders Wants You to Know She Was Not Impressed"
I'd like Sarah Huckabee Sanders to know that most of US weren't impressed, either.
21
Nobody cares what Sarah Huckabee thinks. Can't she just fade into history along with her boss? Ru, Sarah, run. Run far away.
7
Peace out Sarah Suckabee Sanders. Feel free to link arms with Kellyanne right before you hit the exit door.
7
For starters: bitter, sullen, angry, dishonest, haughty, defensive, arrogant, perpetually miffed, paranoid.
11
And odiously sanctimonious!
1
On Day One, we thought it could not get worse than Spicey.
Then along comes Huckleberry.
So, can the next person be worse?
Oh, youbetcha by golly wow.
8
Unfortunately, I'm living in Texas and someone from here actually called her a rock star, so there you go! Frightening, isn't it?
13
Re: '...Sarah Huckabee Sanders Wants You to Know She Was Not Impressed...
She surveyed the media landscape and decided that truth was what she said it was..."
I was / am impressed by S.H. Sanders;
...That SHOULDN'T be interpreted as an endorsement OR a 'positive' review of her aberrant professional behaviors as...
Presidential_Spokes_Liar!!
2
Here in Arkansas we are anxiously awaiting Ms. Sanders return and likely ascendance to the governorship of the most prosperous and desirable state in the union. Huzzah.
157
@Bruce There is, perhaps, no greater quality than a sense of humor.
216
@Bruce "... the most prosperous and desirable state in the union."
If this is the prevailing view in Ark., despite rankings showing that the state is among America's poorest, Sanders and her constituents-to-be are well-matched. By all means, vote her in and let her spin Arkansas's prosperity. It's a whole lot easier than actually achieving it.
110
@Bruce You're kidding, I hope.
71
Who cares what shuckabee wants us to know? She was a lying, lying, lying, lying layabout, didn’t do her job welfare recipient of her salary which she clearly didn’t earn - she spent her time grifting, incompetent, hateful cruel being a hypocrite raised by a daddy that was just as bad. She has been as responsible for the downfall of the US as a country that thinks, reads, believes in science and fact, compassion, kindness and all things good as her gelatinous orange boss.
We want you to know yay bye bye so long see ya it’s not been nice to know you. We COULD CARE LESS what you supposedly “think” about anything if you even can think. One more stain removed. Now in 2020 we need to remove as many republican stains as possible at the ballot box so we can try to right this sinking ship. Let’s send the scurrying rats off!!! Bye bye
9
When you have a soulless, sociopathic faker as president, laws must win.
5
RE the Hyde Ammendment: I'm against war yet my taxes have gone to pay for it since I was classified 1A and sent to kill strangers back in the 60's. So don't whine about .00005% of your taxes going to help struggling women taking control of their reproductive rights.
And about student loan forgiveness: what about the kid who took 7 or 8 years to get his/her B. S. because they worked their way through school and consequently entered the work force years later than those who took out loans. They don't have college debt but they lost years of earnings and opportunities for professional advancement. How about just dropping the interest on the loans to a low amount (say the inflation rate) rather than gifting them their education?
5
Unfortunately, Collins is wrong, when she says, "Our employer still abides by the theory that readers want a division between news reporting and opinion writing." More and more genuine journalism has been replaced by opinion at the Times, while the actual quality of both has been in serious decline.
Perhaps it is the fact that the paper has laid off many of its editors. Perhaps it is that it is trying to appeal to some mythical, focus-group defined demographic. Perhaps it has decided that as long as it puts out several Pulitzer quality pieces each year, it can forego quality journalistic standards with everything else.
It also clearly has adopted -- for whatever reason -- an agenda. This shows up not so much in articles themselves, but in the editorial decision regarding which subjects to publish about and how often, as well as the choice of opinion pieces. In addition, headlines have become an agenda tool. Current Home Page example: why does the headline to the story about Kyle Kashuv's online comments and his relationship with Harvard lead with the fact/claim that Kyle Kashuv is "Pro-gun?" His views on guns are in no way relevant to the story.
In any case, the use of the term "pro-gun" is so vague and broad that it is functionally little but an incendiary epithet, especially in this context. "Pro-gun" without specifics as to what an individual actually supports and advocates makes about as much sense as calling "anti-abortion" people "right to life."
7
@Steve Fünkchen
Wow, you really had to get into the weeds to find some kind of example to your claim that the NYT has 'adopted an agenda'.
Kyle Kashuv made a name for himself as a Parkland student who, unlike his classmates, came out afterward as 'pro-gun'. He used this epithet himself, and used it to gain notoriety on the national stage. It is the only thing he used to gain that notoriety.
It is true that, for instance, if Shania Twain were to speak out about AIDS, the fact that she is a country singer would have no relevance to her opinion about AIDS. But a headline that "Country Singer speaks out about AIDS" would be neither wrong nor misleading, nor would it bespeak an agenda. It simply reminds us of why she has notoriety in the first place.
Since Kashuv wants to be known as 'pro-gun', it is hardly an 'agenda' to conform to his desires. Not only that, but if there were an 'agenda' there, it would be a right-wing agenda: if you don't read the story you might think Harvard was discriminating against him because of his views on guns. I'm sure that's what Fox is saying right now.
Gonna have to do a little better than that.
Judging from the comments here, it appears that many folk are having a difficult time distinguishing 'spin' from a 'lie'. There is a difference.
Spin is saying that the glass is half-full when somebody says it is half-empty. It is putting the best face possible on the fact that there is a glass with water in it. A lie is saying that the glass is empty, or overflowing, or that there is no glass there in the first place. Some people have taken to calling those lies 'alternative facts', but they are lies nonetheless.
The Trump administration routinely traffics in lies, not just spin. They are the first administration in my lifetime to do so. Others have tried to lie by hiding the facts, hoping the press doesn't uncover the facts. These guys simply deny the open facts and then attack the press as biased - as if facts, not just spin, are rooted in partisanship. It is a tribute to the efficacy of propaganda that this has worked so well.
So what is the hapless press secretary to do, when her boss lies on a daily basis? When the only way to defend him is to repeat his obvious and blatant lies, thereby making his lies yours?
Cancel the press briefings.
10
That picture of SHS certainly does speak volumes. If you hold your hand over the right side of the picture, the left side seems to be saying, "I wish more than anything I was someplace else." Cover the other side, and that face is saying, "I know exactly where I'm going to bury you."
6
Sad to say but I think people who have voted every Election Day since they were eligible will now forgo voting . Hard to say the level of voter drop out but there is a hopelessness and futility that is palpable and increasing .
1
"It was that sneer of hers, the consciously curled lip, which seemed practiced before a mirror, that communicated bottomless contempt for individual journalists, for the profession of journalism itself and for the very idea of truth-as-such."
That sneer was probably practiced before a mirror and auditioned to perfection before the only audience that ever mattered to Sarah. She projected Trump to perfection, which is why she was given her job. Journalists who are dismayed by Sarah's bottomless contempt for journalism need to take it up with the puppeteer.
8
I will be deeply disappointed if Sanders suddenly starts showing up on some cable news network, or writes a book. She had nothing to say to the American people when she was a government employee. No lucrative forums for her venom.
6
Sarah Huckabee Sanders notwithstanding, if we were to judge the contribution from Bret Stephens to our nation's moral health and political well-being, we'd wanna know where "Give Peace a Chance" ever went. I mean who'd wanna go down as a NTXs' op/ed columnist who's a bigger hawk than Dick Cheney?
Bret's too focused on being anti-Trump to be even remotely aware that he's not even close. If his "it is what it is" misanthropy is so immutable to being's better becoming, why even bother posturing as someone who doesn't already know the answer to his politely asking: "Am I being too cynical?"
2
In the beginning, Ms. Sanders was nothing more than a character in this Trump driven 'three-penny dreadful', but her survival in that toxic environment required suspension of ethics, morals, truth and plain honesty. The job either changed her or it opened the gateway to self-discovery revealing her true nature...an unlikeable character in the service of an equally unlikeable administration dedicated to self-preservation regardless of cost. And with her departure we should welcome relief from those tortured twists of lip and tongue in the service of the current President of The United States of America - for now anyway.
410
The tone of the comments on this thread is that the press should be the prosecuting attorney and the Press Secretary should be the plaintiff in a criminal trial. To a majority of Americans, the reporters who attend those sessions are uninformed, smug, disrespectful, attention seekers who try to win points by embarrassing the President's representative in public. In that environment, there is no reason to have such meetings.
The President owes the public a lot (and he speaks to the people directly). He owes a biased Press Corps nothing.
8
To bad most of the direct speaking to the public is lies.
@DavidE7 - So you're happy being lied to more than a dozen times EVERY SINGLE DAY?
1
@DavidE7
They are all just so bitter.
1
And I want Saran Huckabee to know I surveyed the regime for whom she lied and found her a first among equals.
5
I wonder if she had any idea of what was true or false? Story telling seemed to be her forte.
1
"I sometimes felt that some of the White House correspondents made it easier for her with their own showboating." Really?!
And the product of the above: "We wind up just seeding the beast."
Guys, it's painful to watch. You are Trump's biggest enablers.
1
Sanders displays the same odd, calculated scowl that Mussolini displayed. Frowning mouth, furrowed brow, squinty eyes: an ugly grimace meant to signify righteous anger at the evil behavior of others. It's the scowl of a bully trying to intimidate. Trump also wears this face much of the time, unless he's imitating happiness by pushing up the corners of his mouth and squinting, while his eyes remain dead.
The message of these faces is that Sanders and Trump are emotionally stunted. They're terrified of behaving spontaneously lest they display a feeling they can't control. Warmth or genuine feeling would be signs of weakness. There's no joy, no candor, no give and take. They must win at all costs, all the time.
As an extension of Trump, Sanders saw the press corps as her adversaries, just as her boss sees two thirds of Americans as his adversaries.
Lying all the time is hard work. Take a vacation, Sarah. You need it. Donald, you're next.
8
......she was not impressed, and never confessed.
If a lie is told in the forest, and no one is there to report on it, is it still a lie? Perception is reality, stop playing their game in real time, stop putting the camera on the liars, they will decompensate.
1
Except for Memi von Gaza's comment, we did not need this article. We should move on.
Politics aside, this is really about egg heads v bullies and bullies always have a sad way of winning.
She sleeps well because she was paid to do a job and probably believes what she was saying. What a perfect employee.
1
Sarah Sanders' incessant lying and disdainful attitude toward her employers (i.e. us) confirmed everything I suspected about the 'flexible' morals of the Religious Right. An honorable person would have quit the first time Trump insisted that she lie, something that likely happened within moments of assuming the job. Touting her as the governor of a state is ludicrous. Putting aside her lack of executive qualifications, have we decided that having 'serial liar' on your resume isn't disqualifying for an elected official? Is that really where we are now?
6
I am not convinced that the media striving to be "even handed" when covering an administration that "lies around the clock" is that praiseworthy. But hey, what about her emails, right, NY Times?
1
As anyone who is familiar with the politics of Middle Earth knows, the sidekicks and henchpersons of overlords such Sauron the Necromancer are seldom normal individuals. Similarly, when Americans selected a Lord of Darkness to run the country, they should not have expected any humdrum, convention-loving spoikespersons to appear behind the White House podium. The rule is that each enthralled minion must represent certain aspects of their Master. Sarah was the Disparager, the Mother of Lies, the Gaslighter and the one who laid waste to Chamber of Briefings.
3
She is the lowest of low of any person, that I know or heard of, with very distorted perception of reality, truth, and education. Probably her pastor father gave her only very fanatic and distorted religious "education" (sic!) and that could not give her either meaningful education or morality. Republican party actually carefully groomed such people by infusing Christian fundamentalism, white supremacy, and crony capitalism- mainly since Reagan (early 1980s). Trump just exploited and continuing to exploit that asset better than any GOP politician, even much better than Sarah Huckabee's father.
We now know that religious allegiance affect the same part of the brain (front lobe) that's affected by drugs and other hallucinating agents (https://is.gd/Y3Uci1). It impair our sense of truth, ability to think logically, see/listen/experience things which is not there at all. These religious people, irrespective of formal educational degrees and job designation, prefer to live in a make-believe world.
It’s also known that religion need patronization of the Government/King/ruling party to flourish, even to survive. Without such state sponsorship influence of religion in the society and religious faith itself would suffer serious consequences to become extinct. That’s why there is no major new religion in modern time- https://is.gd/cmsCpy
2
Apparently Sarah missed the day her Bible study class discussed " Thou shall not lie".
7
Ms Sanders has been a visible and influential icon in the current Presidency.
As a father and grandfather, I can't think of a single mass media female that I would suggest be a role model for my daughter, son, grand daughters, or grandsons. On the other hand, Ms Sanders is a great role model, and one that is just starting to make her own history.
Gail, you'll never get ahead in life yourself, or move ahead the cause of women, by knocking women as successful, competent, and dedicated as Ms. Sanders.
1
@Mtee Zee - Are you trying to be funny?
1
Right on Bret. Three of the largest government subsidies are for home ownership (deductible mortgage interest and government insured mortgages), higher education (government-insured student loans) and health care (deductible premium costs for employers). Guess which sectors of the economy experience above-average price increases?
1
Gail said: “There are some great reporters out there, struggling to be evenhanded while covering an administration that tells lies around the clock.” It was precisely this “evenhandedness” before the 2016 election where each of Trump’s unthinkable transgression was matched by a real or imaginary flaw in Hillary by “great reporters” in electronics and print media. The country is reaping the downside of such flawed, unwarranted political correctness. Trump supporting print and TV media have no such compunctions. The net impact is Trump’s opponents have more negatives, real or imagined, broadcast to the world than on Trump. This must stop. For Republicans (I am talking to you Mitch McConnell!) and a folksy TV will get down to no-holds barred (or judicially Barred) mud-slinging. I hope this time the “great reporters” do not practice gratuitous false equivalency in their news reporting and articles.
4
There's a lot of truth in the saying, "It's a face only a mother could love."
7
I hope that the NYTimes editorialists will spare us this time around from the kind of sneering cynical criticism of the candidates that they lavished on Hilary Clinton last time. Instead, it would be helpful to talk about the genuine qualities that each candidate offers. Joe Biden is, for example, an accomplished dedicated political actor with a lot to offer to the country. Irony is fun, but support is more needed.
By the way, regarding abortion: could someone somewhere bring back "Safe, Legal and Rare." It just seems so helpful.
4
Gail and Bret are the best due, couple, since Felix and Oscar, Larry and Jerry... truly hilarious and informative. Can I say, is it allowed for me to say, that I agree with both.. almost always...
1
" Survivor, Joe Biden Island Edition. I love it." Perfectly encapsulates the problem. Journalism as showbiz.
Sanders was a rre bird whose inner repulsiveness was congruent with her physical appearance. The French have a saying that after the age of 40, a man (a person) is responsible for his/her own face. When you have spent your entire adult life (and perhaps more, considering her family of origin) admiring your own moral superiority and are convinced that you have a straight pipeline to God, the arrogance gets chiseled into your features, your body language, and the timbre of your voice. And (alhough this is certainly a bias of mine) that Southern intonation is, to my ears, redolent of magnolias, corss burnings, and lynching parties.
Anyway, if Sarah winds up on Fox than I won't have to look at her or listen to her any more; these days, I'll take anything positive with gratitude.
5
Just to let you know, Sanders wasn't appointed by Joe Biden.
1
Sanders --- and the entire WH "truth" machine is a disaster. That said, the most important take from this discussion is unless and until we disabuse ourselves from the notion that everyone is college material, then we are doomed to waste precious dollars when they could be better applied to guiding -and aiding- students to fields for which they are more suited both by talent and inclination.
The problem is no one is paying attention to this since such thoughts are -- politically incorrect.
1
Always believed Sarah wanted the job and had it in for Spicier from the beginning. This Game of Thrones administration most certainly gained having a propaganda minister, the next one (other than Trump himself) will no doubt be worse. No qualified person would want this job, even if pressers are off for the rest of this administration.
2
Oh yeah? I then want her to know that she didn't impressed me either, and I am not just being vindictive, I really mean it as well.
2
Excellent dialogue, which I would like to make excellenter by expanding on the college tuition issue. Since I graduated more than 40 years ago, college tuition increases have substantially outstripped the rate of inflation. Government-subsidized loans are part of the problem, and country-club facilities are a shameless waste of money for a college or university. A pricey Ivy college one of my kids attended offered free massages and other silly forms of stress relief during the exam period.
The hard question is, why have prices (the real name for tuition) exploded beyond the rest of our economy. Until we have that answer, we should not be making more loans, more grants, or more of other subsidies until the overpriced colleges are held accountable for their pricing mechanisms.
3
Better yet, let bankruptcy courts discharge student loans. Lenders should not be able to extend loans that borrowers can never get rid of even if their post-school jobs don't pay well.
1
Brett, remember that Raskolnikov was spiritually redeemed in the end. I doubt that Sanders will have that kind of moral elevation.
7
If government support is what drives up college costs, how do you explain that in the past 40 years government support for colleges and universities have dropped substantially even as costs have outpaced inflation
What is actually happening is that as state money has dried up colleges have added amenities to attract the kids whose families can pay full freight, not the kids who need assistance.
When colleges can again concentrate on teaching and research instead of trying to compete against luxury resorts, when college is an education rather than simply another consumer good, you will see costs stabalize.
4
@Josh The argument driving the reduction of state aid, in addition to cost savings, was that it would force universities to compete for students. Remember when conservatives swore competition was the solution to nearly every societal problem? Like, school choice forces elementary schools to compete for students and that will make schools so much better. See how well that worked out!
Don't blame universities for building those fancy gyms and dorms. Students choose schools based on these amenities.
2
It would be good to see her go. If history is any indication, her saying she is leaving means she staying.
1
Just appreciate Sarah's photo, above. I don't mean to value it. I mean understand the personality behind it.
6
I'm taking a close look at Ms. Sander's eyes in the photo accompanying this column. Then also the dour expression. A complete Trump clone? What is going on?
7
I think Bret sells short, with a hint of the slippery slope, just how emancipating--for human beings, for millions' ability not only to subsist, but grow solvent and energize the consumer economy--a federal student loan debt amnesty would be. I cannot possibly overstate the difference that would make in my own life. The ballooning interest rates make it impossible for me, one of those university instructors whose salary doesn't go up no matter how much money the institution rakes in, to touch the principal. For me, it will be usury and limited economic freedom quite literally until I die, and all so I could earn a doctorate in a subject that has, in the intervening years (i.e., since 2007) become moribund. Take away the debt, though? I'd almost feel like a member of society instead of a human spittoon.
As for the departing Gorgon: good riddance. There's only one Sanders I'm interested in hearing about, and it ain't Sarah (or the colonel). May the republic survive and flourish so much as henceforth never to hear the name Huckabee bruited about. Bad politicians, bad movie, phonetically execrable, let's just consign it to the dustbin, and hope the name Trump joins it in short order.
2
I'm looking at that picture of Sarah Huckabee Sanders not briefing reporters at the White House last year and realizing that face and that attitude is what far too many of us slap on our own face and mind when confronted by the sheer magnitude of our opponents' stupidity.
Locked into our own personal world view in moral righteousness we see no redeeming qualities in the other side. Their positions are not worthy of a response. So we lift our eyebrow in disdain, our eyes glaring into the middle distance, seeing nothing, mouth stubbornly set in park.
I have the same response to Trump and those who fervently support him, to anti vaxxers, to flat earthers, and a host of others who are beneath my contempt. What's the point of talking to someone who thinks like that?
Except sometimes those people are in your family. Sometimes they're people at your work or friends of friends you meet at a party. You could start a shouting match, grace them with a withering stink eye, or you could talk about something other than politics or religion, and just be nice to them.
We are all more than what we believe and think about. If we can't get over ourselves and find the common ground that connects us, we are headed for another Dark Age, same as all the other ones.
Yeah but ... write in your own objection as to why you can't possibly entertain the idea there's anything redeeming about that other ... whatever it is and see if you don't find yourself looking just like Ms. Sarah.
572
@Memi von Gaza I believe the problem, at least for myself, anyways, is that the opposing argument is not based in fact. I have absolutely no problem debating ideas with someone who simply has a different interpretation of the facts put forward or have made logical arguments I just happen to disagree with. But I've found it very frustrating to have to consider what someone is saying as valid when I know for a fact that what they are saying is incorrect.
The reason Trump has remained so influential in people's minds, at least in my estimation, is that on the surface, what he says makes sense to people who don't take an interest in looking deeper. For example, closing the border sounds like the best way to keep out migrants if you haven't bothered to research that stricter border policies make it more likely people will over stay their visas for fear of not making it back in.
253
@Memi von Gaza
The ripping apart of our country began under Pres. Obama and has been shifted into fifth gear by the media enraged that their will was not done in 2016.
14
@Memi von Gaza
I agree with you wholeheartedly as far as friends & family members go. They & their views are usually infinitely more complex than the caricature in my mind & in the media. But Sanders & Trump & Hannity & McConnell---these are people who make their living by creating the divide, by being the caricature. The problem is not that we can't listen to them, but that we are forced to.
203
Public universities used to be supported by the state legislators at a much, much greater percentage. Without that funding, it falls to the students to cover the cost of education. Take a look at how states across the country have reduced their support for their public institutions of higher ed.
2
Please look into the financial structure of public universities as it has evolved over the last 40 years. I paid $85 per sememster at SE MO State College in 1967. About $650 in today's $. The state (Missouri!) picked up about 90% of the cost. That was common nationwide. Now the common number is 13% -- and falling. None of this has to do with academic extravagance and everything to do with the right-wing taxes-are-evil mantra. The schools made up up the difference in tuition increases, which have now topped out. And those shiny new buildings? Technology and/or donor driven. Your thoughtless adoption of a right-wing talking points about public colleges is not responsible and grossly out of line with the facts.
6
"I often fear that the Trump administration has a way of bringing out the worst in us journalists — our self-importance, our belief that we are in sole possession of the truth, our habits of editorializing when we (pundits excluded) should be trying to tell the news straight."
Nailed it. Then went on to embody it. All in the same article. Jeez.
1
Good column –excellent sampler dish.
But it all boils down to Trump, there is no escape. Unless he is removed and goes into oblivion USA’s politics, media, sports, social network, religion, manners, climate, government, parenthood, education and morality will stay as bad as they are. No, I am wrong – they will get much, much worse.
USA has had good luck choosing presidents most of the time. 2016 was a bad one – 2020 could be devastating
7
@Efraín Ramírez -Torres You make very good points. Trump has damaged (possibly, mortally wounded) so much more than the White House press conferences, but you need to recognize that Trump is very likely to win the 2020 election. When he does, we all better hope that the Democrats control the House of Representatives and that there are 68 Democratic votes in the Senate. The way to prevent further devastation is to dominate the Congressional elections.
1
I don't often agree with Mr. Stephens, but his "Sanders set a benchmark for awfulness that was a thing to behold" is a beauty!
419
@UH: She'll make a tremndous, beautiful, yugely successful governor of Arkansas.
7
This article is fun and covers several topics. However, facts matter.
When Mr. Stevens says that higher tuition "aggravates the problem it intended to address" he overstates the problem and directs us away from the real "problem" to be "addressed." The real problem is not limiting higher tuition or the amount of debt to be paid after college: the problem is getting a college education and without federal loans, with escalating or not escalating tuitions, students would not be able to gain the degree that changes dramatically their earning power. Limits on tuition or administrator increases or non-education spending could help with a problem of escalating tuition and government loans but that is not students' most important one.
And recommending three instead of four years in college as the UK does ignores that University education in the UK generally requires an upper sixth form year, a 13rh year of secondary education.
Indeed facts matter or at least they should.
4
Sarah Sanders is a shrill and will go down as the worst Press secretary of a administration ever. She has no credibility no one should ever again give her any credence. She has lied with abandoned albeit from one of the worst President's in recent history but her fate has been tied for eternity to this administration.
5
It is also despicable that the Trumpists are operating on the taxpayer dime.
7
Sarah cares not one whit what the educated members of the media or electorate think of her. She was fortunate enough to be hired by her awful homophobic right wing dad, married the prettiest boy in his office (a charming and successful conservative shill), can expect the residents of Arkansas to sweep her into the gov's mansion if a seven figure corporate offering fails to appear. She put a raised eyebrow, curled lip, flexible relationship with truth to good use in the Trump administration and she will be rewarded.
6
Really Bret, isn’t this a little to much ?
1
Sanders was simply there to channel Trump’s ignorance, lies and denials. And she was certainly both vacuous and condescending enough to be a perfect fit.
9
When a liar like Sarah Sanders steps down we have to be even more cautious because usually another even more dishonest press secretary may pop up to spread misinformation, stupidities and twisted facts.
In any case I don’t miss her at all.
2
When her boss defines the media as crooked traitors and evil doers, its no wonder she has looked at reporters with disdain. The problem is that she is either guilty of a lot of lying or she is extremely dumb - there is no other explanation for her answers. That she delivers this gibberish in sister-wife garb and with an arrogant attitude of superiority just made her all the more laughable and annoying. Having said that, she is the perfect example of the Trump True Believer in action - just make it up as you go along!
7
Sister wife is spot on
Sarah, we weren't impressed, either.
12
SHS's looks like the perfect definition of the "ugly American." The fact that she's supposedly a Christian must be the biggest farce ever. Her face shows there's no soul there and with all the lies and arrogance there never has been. Many times I had wished the press would not show up or leave during her "performances" of lies, hate and imperiousness because that's what she was doing, "performing" for trump.
9
She acted less like a liaison to the White House than a surly prison guard. I'm surprised she didn't come to those briefings wearing a Taser...
9
Where to start. To me, appearance wise, and without regard to her sex because I would say it equally about any man as well, she just always looked like something the cat dragged in, dour, hangdog, morose. As someone put it, why are these right wingers always so angry, they won!
10
SHS might have been fit to be Trump's Press Secretary given her intentional disregard for the truth but that same quality renders her unfit as a parent.
Liars shouldn't be raising children. That includes you SHS.
2
Now the burning question is what time slot will she get on Fox. She can't be trusted for straight news so it will have to be in the evening. Will one of current female personalities be forced into a thirty minute time slot or will one leave to take on a new position in the White House?
DOD is now open. Maybe Laura Ingraham can take that? Or perhaps Jeanine Pirro can become DHS Secretary? And then there is always the possibility that Hannity will take on the role of National Security Advisor...he doesn't have a moustache! Of course Bolton will have to go but then that is only a matter of time.
Take a brief break, Sara. I know you'll be back before we've had time to recover..........
3
OMG - you made a comment on SHS's appearance. May the pox be upon you. When Michelle Wolf dared comment about her eye shadow, the commentary on the right side erupted as if she had body shamed SHS. I'm sure you'll get the predictable hate response from the most vitriolic group that I have ever heard (see descriptions of Hillary Clinton, starting at trump and working down - and I do mean down - from there).
4
Just read some more opinions. What a cold group you are. I can only guess you're all perfect inside and out...I can only surmise I am blessed to read some of these comments from the beautiful people. Your opinion/comments on this article discussing SHS's resigning her position is the purpose for comments on this article, or so I thought. Taking shots at her personal appearance, glad you don't have to "wake up" to that? Wow...what a crew you are!
4
Were you this aggravated when the man you voted for did and continues to do it to everyday citizens? When he calls women cows? When he says they are too ugly to sleep with? Do you feel this sense of anger? I doubt it. Just more hand wringing and the vapors from the trump army of perpetual victimization. Give us a break maybe.
Sarah did not fall far from the Hucklebee tree.
6
Wow, that accompanying photo of Trump’s Minister of Propaganda is chilling. If looks could kill, there would be utter carnage in the W.H. Briefing Room. Of course, this one would first devoutly say a prayer for their soon to be departed souls. She’ll be missed...like a migraine headache.
4
Can we just talk about what a confused woman she is? Her dad being religious and her soul having been sold to the devil? How can she live with herself when she eventually has to come to terms with the fact that she was being used, both by her father and Trump? She will go down in history as another chump.
3
Happy for Sarah to go, now if we could find a way to encourage a few others who lack all credibility to follow her lead life would be even better.
I agree that government loans aggravate the problem of rapidly rising tuition, but please don't minimize the societal decision to shift the financial burden of higher education from the public sector to students and their families. While it is true that tuition has risen rapidly, it also is true that state funding for higher education has fallen equally rapidly. Universities for whom state budget funding once exceeded 50% of their operating costs now receive closer to 10% of their operating budgets from state coffers, and with nowhere else for universities to turn for revenues, students end up offsetting the funding gap.
This might be a fair reflection of what society, writ large, deems appropriate, but let's recognize it for what it is -- a privatization of higher ed costs.
1
"And the money doesn’t seem to be going to pay better faculty salaries."
No, it's going to self-impressed administrators, fancy buildings, and indentured adjunct professors being exploited in academic sweatshops.
If adjunct professors ever get it together to go on strike, half of American universities and ALL community colleges would become empty real estate in the first week.
I suspect the overpaid administrators would not even notice.
253
@Ambient Kestrel. One of the best comments today.
23
@Ambient Kestrel
This is why some educators need to step up and take part in the administration of the university. University admin has way too much power over the academics and often times, as is the case with public universities, the board members are entirely appointed by the state governor. It's an entirely political machinery who cares not two whits about the academics. Still waiting for the likes of Bill Gates, Elon Musk to start model universities where tuition is zero, faculty are paid their worth and the overhead is capped at 10%. Our universities are eating themselves from within and will fail in due course.
8
@Ambient Kestrel: As a professor, I tend to agree with you. I get paid well for the 60-80 hours a week I work, so I'm not complaining. But the proliferation of deanlets and their compensation is risible.
Also worth looking at facilities. When I went to school in the early 80s, my dorm had cinder block walls, the cafeteria food would keep you healthy but was common fare, and the recreation center was bare bones. The same school now has posh dorms, health chefs, and a stellar recreation center. So the Club Med experience on many campuses also contributes to the problem. Many of the little angels seem to expect it. Me, I was glad to get an affordable education, and would have resented anything that jacked up the comprehensive fee.
So yeah, complex issue.
39
Regarding the notion that the Democratic field is as weak as it is wide: Pick each candidate apart and find the weakest, least presidential, least qualified, least informed one of the bunch.
That person is a thousandfold stronger, more presidential, more qualified and more informed than trump.
So not such a weak field after all, it would seem.
But as others have stated, the most important outcome is not so much which candidate wins the nomination: it is that all the candidates and all supporters of all the candidates get fully behind whoever wins the nomination. No more "my candidate didn't win so I am going to sulk and not vote" please. Anyone who does not vote for the Democratic presidential nominee has essentially cast a vote for trumpian geopolitical chaos.
613
@RickyDick And, all of the present candidates need to do exactly that when the party's nominee is chosen! They should all be on the road, campaigning for their shared constituents!
30
@RickyDick
So true, Rick,so true.
13
@RickyDick
Not really.
First of all, the 2016 Democratic primary made a mockery of democratic principles. Democrats intended Clinton to run unopposed. The Party then fought tooth and nail to suppress her opponent for having the audacity to challenge the decision. You can't blame voters for being disillusioned when it came time to vote in the general election.
Second, it doesn't matter whether you vote for the Democratic nominee or not if you live in an uncompetitive state. I could have voted for a humpback whale and it wouldn't have made any difference. You think I don't take my political significance into consideration when casting a ballot? I'm not going to vote for a candidate I don't support when the vote is symbolic anyway.
The real reason Democrats lost was the Party assumed loyalty where it didn't exist and violated trust where it did. Their defeat was entirely of their own creation.
7
From an education standpoint, I don't see any value in chopping the college term down to three years. I think I would have been better educated if I had been required to take a year or so of liberal arts courses as a part of the engineering degree.
2
"[Sarah] combined the sincerity of Elmer Gantry with the moral outlook of Raskolnikov."
Yes, but remember what happened to Dostoevsky's protagonist. After he commits his terrible act, "he finds himself racked with confusion, paranoia, and disgust for what he has done. His moral justifications disintegrate completely as he struggles with guilt and horror and confronts the real-world consequences of his deed." [From the Wikipedia article]
Years from now, will we be able to say the same about Sarah? I'm not so sure.
1
NEITHER... WERE... WE.
4
"Sarah Huckabee Sanders Wants You to Know She Was Not Impressed"
Ms Sanders, the feeling is mutual.
6
After Sarah's truly exceptional performance as Trump's Press Secretary, do you think people in Arkansas actually want Sarah back?
How sad that most of these comments attack Ms. Sander’s appearance. How sexist.
Did you comment on Josh Ernest’s occasional scowl or smirk as he echoed Mr. Obama’s pledge that we could keep our doctor and health care plan under ObamaCare?
Press Secretaries spin - that’s what they are paid to do - regardless of what they look like.
2
@Collie Sue
Yes, we did comment on the scowls and smirks of every last person who did so. Cheney was probably the master, but Sanders proved an apt pupil of the art of letting people know how much you hate them with facial expressions.
'Spin' is putting the best face or interpretations you can on the facts. That is vastly different than outright lying about the facts. Press Secretaries spin, yes, but how many of them lie, outright, blatantly, often? In both republican and democratic administrations in my lifetime, the answer is.... none.
This is not politics as usual, no matter how much we all wish it was.
1
She is the lowest of low on any person, that I know or heard of, with very distorted perception of reality, truth, and education. Probably her pastor father gave her only some very fanatic and distorted religious "education" (sic!) and that could not give her any meaningful education or even morality that enabled her to lie, most probably with full knowledge and understanding of what she was/is telling only to satisfy her equally corrupt and lying boss along with her own political and monetary ambition, with all the greed for those free privileges & glamour that came her high profile position in the most powerful office in the world.
2
Articles like this one from The New York Times are unprofessional, in my opinion. Two journalists conversing about a third person’s mannerisms? That's gossip. It’s sad, because this paper is really burning its reputation with so many of its long time readers.
3
She is a real clown just like a Trumps clowns.
2
She is evil AND looks it. Not a good combination if want to be a senior level demon, but she surely earned her horns.
1
Sanders made her mistakes -- significant factual errors on a number of occasions -- but she also showed a lot of courage before a hostile and at times nasty press corps. And, she's a female. How many Democratic party administrations employed a woman in that job? One -- Dee Dee Myers, for less than two years under Clinton.
If Sanders were a Democrat, pompous left-liberal bores like Collins and Stephens would be praising her womanly courage. So she would consider something she said as "what she said it was" -- so what? She was the president's press secretary, and her job was to deliver his spin on the news as best she could -- as with men in her position. Does the media tell us the truth in the first place?
34
Yes, such courage to hide from the press and not do her job.
99
@Scott I can assure you, many Democrats would NOT be praising someone who lied with abandon and sneered at the press corps. I can't think of many press secretaries who were as truly awful as Sanders--perhaps it's just that the Democrats and honestly, the vast majority of Republicans (at least until now) would never of hired someone like that.
113
@Scott
Don't forget Dana Perino, who served under Bush from September 2007 through the end of his term. I don't recall any backlash against her.
52
Fifty years ago I got my BA in Journalism (at the University of South Carolina, with a $500 scholarship that covered the first two years and a couple of part-time jobs that helped through the last two), but there are a lot of things that I didn't learn in school. For one thing, as a nice southern girl, I soon realized I'd never be a tough reporter, and for another, I had no interest in politics. So I moved to New York and got a job in the publishing industry. But my training still serves to make me aware of the difficulties of the trade--and being fair to all sides, hearing all voices, trying to keep one's judgment on hold when listening to outright falsehoods--whether intentional or genuinely believed. (A woman being interviewed today on MSNBC said she was for Trump because "he isn't a liar"--how thick is that bubble she's in, I wondered.) I couldn't help but feel sorry for Sanders even when she irritated me--how does one manage to answer questions from the press when the truth could upset your lying boss? And how can you give an honest answer when your boss keeps changing his own responses? Her only honorable course was to quit, and I'm glad she finally has.
61
@Carol Robinson - I'm afraid it's much too late for Sanders to leave this job with any honour intact.
40
@Carol Robinson You're a nicer woman than me Carol. I never felt sorry for Sarah. It WOULD be really crummy have to deal with the press when telling the truth would upset your lying boss. Sean Spicer apparently has a more powerful set of values. He tried the whole lying thing and decided he could not stomach the job for very long. That Sarah lasted this long tells us a great deal about her. She's rotten to the very core; just like her boss.
44
@Carol Robinson Sarah Sanders signed up-nobody twisted her arm.
32
I expect Trump will just "outsource" the press secretary position to Fox. Every day, there will be a segment on Fox outlining what they told him to tell us and they will report on that. Saves on someone's phone bill and at least there won't be the sad attempt to get us to think that Trump comes up with any ideas of his own.
1
I hate to say this...
But that mug-shot lookalike photo you folks posted (not fair), above this conversation says it all. That bull-dog tenacity of a frowning mouth and that quizzically raised eyebrow— hah!
If you didn’t know her and knew about her, the first impression would be, Lordy, what kind of adversaries is she facing? That sarcastic face is the most defensive posturing I’ve seen on a press secretary.
She beats Spicer any given day. He was belligerent, but Sarah somehow always brings to my mind schoolyard bully fights... someone who digs her heels in, arms akimbo, and her body language says... come on, throw your best shot, I can tackle you to the ground with a lie that would leave you gape-mouthed, speechless.
Give her credit for the most mendacious tenacity in the history of US press secretaries.
3
She was a perfect spokesperson for him.Equally at ease with constant lying as he is.
And yet I am sure she and he and them feel totally self righteous about their administration and conduct. Shameless is not far enough.
This dynamic is worthy of serious thought though as this new era of the GOPERS has some serious legs.
The culture wars began to some extent when GOPER type folk felt they should be able to keep their slaves and the federal government should just butt out !
So the people who believe in the basic principles of the U.S.A need to understand that this war must be won-again.
3
“I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.” -- Harry S. Truman.
Good Ol' Harry's approach seems like the job of a free press, too.
4
If there is any justice in the world, Sanders' next gig will involve a long, long stretch of involuntary confinement.
6
I almost jumped out of my chair when I saw your dialogue about the impunity with which the educational institutions keep encrusting their ivied walls with an array of creature comforts for the "college experience." It is way past time for these institutions to be taken to task and their mission statements be re-examined and brought into alignment with their physical plant. This is a huge part of the student loan problem. Please, please, someone at the Times dig into this problem, if only to shame the educators.
3
Quite frankly none of this matters because the "media" is making a killing off of Trump in the Whitehouse - it provides the perfect click-bait.
All publicly owned media corporations desire keeping Trump in office. Got to ever increase profits to keep Wall St. happy right? How are they ever going to make up for the loss in easy click-bait revenue on the Internet if Trump loses and is then quickly locked up by the Southern State of New York?
2
Neither were we, Sarah. Neither were we.
5
...thx! ;) I know we shouldn’t laugh since the country is crumbling in every way...the ultimate irony of Comrade 45’s inaugural address, but it’s all we’ve got. You’re both hilarious.
Sary, Sary, quite contrary,
How does your White House garden grow?
With silly bills and Fox channel shills,
And petty aides all in a row.
The original Mary of the rhyme was evidently Bloody Mary who revived the heresy act which led to tortures and executions due to forced faith.
Who will restore honor and truth to the White House? Absolutely any of the Democratic candidates would be far superior. They are all good people who care about this country and its people.
No Trump staff member will escape the Trump taint.
5
"Worse is always possible" is this administration's tagline.
5
SHS was an unmitigated disaster as a press secretary. She harmed the office and the nation. But like most Trump appointees, she has zero shame about that fact. Or maybe that's why she always looked so angry - externalize, Sarah, externalize!
4
"There are some great reporters out there, struggling to be evenhanded while covering an administration that tells lies around the clock."
I find that the "evenhanded" reporters out there are actually the ones who, more often than not, are creating false equivalency scenarios that are not at all accurate, even though those reporters genuinely believe that they themselves are conscientiously "fair". But this kind of reporting is dangerous - I mean for democracy. Such reporters tend to try to normalize situations that are wildly UN-democratic - abnormal - and therefore destabilizing to the republic. To take a more extreme example: what about the journalists who normalized - were "fair" - to Hitler in the 1930's? Journalists who continue to appease the Trump administration will be judged harshly by history.
2
Hopefully with the departure of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the news media won't be subjected to seeing this sour, pouting, raised-eyebrow look of disdain ever again. So this was the face of what "MAGA" looked like. Explains a lot.
Talk about a sour-patch pariah. Eeek!
7
Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.
What bloody man is that? He can report,
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
The newest state.
This is the sergeant
Who like a good and hardy soldier fought
'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend!
Say to the king the knowledge of the broil
As thou didst leave it.
So well thy words become thee as thy wounds;
They smack of honour both. Go get him surgeons.
God save the king!
Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had lived a blessed time; for, from this instant,
There 's nothing serious in mortality:
All is but toys: renown and grace is dead;
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.
Look to the lady.
I would expect nothing less than the cynicism laid out by Collins and Stephens about SHS leaving the White House
SHS knew the hypocrisy of the Leftist press - you all hated her because by minimizing WH press briefings, SHS took away your ability to vye for the (leftist) news outlet who could come up with the best denigration of our President (which usually had no relation to any question they posed - everyone just wanted their chance to bellow and show fake incredulity)
As far as Fox news is concerned - as long as the Left knows there is a major news outlet where they cannot control the narrative, they will rail against it and show their hatred for it. This, and their disgusting attacks on SHS (so much for highlighting a woman in a power position - unless you're a Democrat) shows how hate filled and angry the Leftist press really are.
2
@DB
"Controlling the narrative"? Is that what we are calling propaganda now?
2
@DB Hmm, Fox news is owned by Rupert Murdoch, you should look him up. Right wing oligarch, kicked out of Australia and the UK for nefarious practices.
@E. Cripe
Typical .
"Oh, Fox news does not adhere to the Leftist narrative - so it HAS to be propaganda, RIGHT??"
And please, the Left spews out propaganda - you just chose to believe its "gospel"
Couple of thoughts. Julian Castro (it is Julian, isn't it) looks like the dark horse. Otherwise, the slate will clear out and we'll see who is left.
Goodbye to Sarah. I had had enough of her a long time ago. For awhile she did a pretty job on her make up but I guess that artist found a better job. Won't start on her wardrobe. Where does she get them? As to her content, you all said it best.
Money for college. As a person who had to drop out due to lack of $$ way back in the 50s, I really feel for the kids who are going on and accruing massive debt. Perhaps endowing Universities with lots of money for profs to actually teach and lowering tuition to a reasonable amount is the solution. What we have now is just feeding the loan institutions.
Oh, yes. I think the English have a system like Canada. A grade 13 as year 1 at college. Gives a little room to breath.
Last - can't help but love Joe Biden. I think his time is past and we need one of those dynamic younger people. Will see which one catches the brass ring. Unfortunately, Bennett, who has excellent qualities, isn't a very good public speaker and I fear Trump will eat him for dessert.
Then there's Cory Booker who knows how to campaign. He sure has the energy and, I think, can easily handle Trump.
In Britain, the last two years of high school are a kind of introduction to college where students specialize in just a few subjects and the courses are at the level of introductory college classes in the US. So students enter college at a much higher level, maybe equivalent to a second-year (or even higher) college student in the US. That is how the English can get a degree in three years.
2
Regarding 3 years in British universities, the British high school equivalent covers a lot of the higher level information that is a part of most American degrees' common core components as an offset. I'm all for making those a part of education for everyone.
1
Tired of hearing from people who went to schools like the University of Chicago and London School of Economics deciding that other people don't need to go to college. Really the worst kind of elitism.
115
@K Trap They don't need to go to college, but the DO need to have an idea as to what they want to do; discipline and conviction to see it through; and a strong support network to help them get through it - whatever they do. College would be great, under certain circumstances. But a skilled trade is a better option for some.
10
@K Trap Yep. And you can be darn sure they benefitted from free financial aid, paid for by someone else's taxes. Further, their kids WILL go to college.
10
A kind good night to all!
Such welcome and unwelcome things at once.
There are few people who have done as much to harm the spirit of our republic as Ms. Sanders has. Truth and transparency are central to our democratic ideals, and she’s provided neither. Sanders may go on to “win” in other spheres, but in this role she has completely failed in her duty to our citizens.
8
Another thing the English have that bears being copied is sports that are totally disconnected from universities. They have sports clubs that are attended after classes are finished.
7
I read the first response by Gail and got put off completely by the mischaracterization. This Sanders affair has nothing to do with gender and women. It has everything to do with integrity and honesty. She totally blew it, Sanders, and here, Gail. My interest in this article dropped even further when Gail speculated that whoever comes after Sanders will be worse. Of course! Bye felicia, this article is not worth my time. Just like anything related with Sanders is not worth anyone's time. Freak shows like this administration should get as little attention as possible.
I think that for her next act, SHS will do the comedy club circuit. She's a natural. Targeting audience members with that trademark scowl of hers will have sides splitting all night.
1
Sarah Huckabee Sanders's relationship to Donald Trump is comparable to that between Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Bergen only malignant, more on the lines (to those scratching their heads over the McCarthy/Bergen reference) of that between Jeff Dunham and his kneewarmer, Walter.
3
We'd like HER to know that we weren't impressed either.
10
"Thou shalt not lie" (9th Commandment)
"Therefore I say to you, all sins and blasphemies will be forgiven" (Mark 12:31)
We're good.
4
@Wilson1ny
Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Hypocrite
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is Trump’s Press Secretary, today’s equivalent to Orwell’s Ministry or Truth.
“The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies.
These contradictions are not accidental, they are deliberate exercises in doublethink.”
George Orwell’s book “1984.”
11
"It’s not that he’s being rejected for wrong decisions back in the day. " Joe Biden isn't being rejected by rank and file Dems -- he's crushing it so far. The press has to stop repeating the myth that Democrats are defined by the Sanders Left. The Republicans are working overtime to make us all appear to be Communists -- they don't need the help of journalists.
1
Sarah Huckabee Sanders should be absolutely ashamed of her own lies, misinformation and general nastiness foisted on the American public. Hopefully her God (if there is one) will hold her accountable.
3
I'm kind of proud of the press in light of Sanders and Spicer (Scaramucci notwithstanding) and just wish they were able to say more to that sour-faced woman. They comported themselves with dignity and courtesy, and as far as I could see, without sneers.
Alas, that just wasn't possible to get through to Sarah Sanders as she did and said what Donald wanted her to under the auspices of the office and probably what she truly believed as truth. The only time she didn't have the sneer on her face was when she stood tall with her revered leader. Then she was all aglow!
I don't have hope for her replacement, if she has one at all. It doesn't matter much anyway as it all will be deemed, fake news or better yet, alternative facts. Maybe the inventor of these terms will be appointed?
1
"Gail: I’m kinda proud of us, in general. There are some great reporters out there, struggling to be evenhanded while covering an administration that tells lies around the clock."
When you are evenhanded between liars and (at least relative) truth-tellers, guess who wins, as you "journalists" congratulate yourselves on your "evenhandedness?"
This "evenhandedness" is exactly what the Trump people count on and sneer at. I don't know what the solution is, but journalism had better start at least entertaining the question of how they might try something different, before their profession is outlawed (or at best rendered completely irrelevant). Because there is a war on truth, which means war on you, and you guys are tryiing to be Switzerland.
4
Spicer was "worse," but only because he was a teeny bit quicker and smarter. Sanders' worst feature was not her "sneer" but her incoherence -- her inability (or unwillingness) to answer simple, direct questions without raising more.
4
Well, it's really cruel to show that photo of her. But it's also all you need to see to know the quality of Trump's people. It will take Arkansas that much longer to gain a minimal reputation for civilized intelligence.
2
In a just world, Sarah will be treated the way she treated the Press. I hope that contemptible horse face fall from grace is total and complete.
4
“Sarah Huckabee Sanders Wants You to Know She Was Not Impressed”
She’s not the only one.
3
trump will probably appoint someone who mirrors himself; someone that bullies, lies and can easily use FAKE NEWS or alt news for the white house's benefit.
2 more years to go - we need to bring back people that are committed to TRUTH, HONESTY, DIGNITY BACK to our government and country!
trump has only made himself great while destroying the world view of our country's as a respective, honest and valued partner.
1
And I'd like Sarah Huckabee Sanders to know that I not only was not impressed with her, but also can not believe she goes to church on Sundays (unless she sees Jesus simply as a get-out-of-jail-free card) after her lies, obfuscation, arrogance and sheer meanness.
3
Sarah is such a sad character in her role as Press Secretary. How does she sleep at night? She's been on the wrong road for so long it is hard to imagine her ever getting comfortable with herself in the foreseeable future.
I can't imagine that Fox would hire her. She is too damaged even for them. Being biased is one thing, but serial lying is beyond the pale even for that crowd.
1
@Silence Dogood I disagree. Serial lying is not 'beyond the pale for that crowd'. They support 45. He is the master of serial lying. You give Fox and Fiends (not a miss spelling) too much credit.
1
I am a daily reader of the NYT, and so demonstrate an appreciation of its virtues. Still, Sarah Sanders was on to something in our society when she "communicated bottomless contempt for individual journalists, for the profession of journalism itself."
Clearly I don't think that way of Gail. However, she wasn't in the White House press room either. Many of the people who were there have little claim to anything other than contempt of a substantial selection of voters.
Different journalists pander to different voters, and so get the contempt of the opposite voters, but pandering to a selection of supporters seems to be the standard today.
JFK's press secretary never behaved this way, but neither did the reporters at the White House.
So which must change first?
I'd suggest that moral superiority and political victory would go to the one to change first, the one to regain moral authority.
This isn't to justify one or the other, just to say that either one could step up, and win a lot by doing so.
4
Very well expressed. It’s worth mentioning that part of the problem is the press’ lack of any humility or any sense of responsibility.... The onus is on them ....
2
@Mark Thomason
You seem somewhat unclear about the job our free press has to do. They are our investigators, the only public auditors of the politicians that we the public elect. Their very first charge is to tell us when our elected leaders are lying to us.
So how should our auditors respond when the politicians they are auditing on our behalf blatantly lie to them? With respect, deference and humility? Should they say to themselves "Well, the facts indicate the exact opposite of what they are telling us to tell the public, but I'm just a lowly press person, I obviously can't understand these big and important people, so I guess the facts must just be wrong"?
Your post, as is the post of all of her defenders on these lists so far, is amoral. It pretends that this administration is just like all the rest, by intentionally leaving out the fact that Trump, and Sanders as his mouthpiece, has lied, is lying, and by all indications will continue to lie. Not spin. Lie. Big difference. If this administration was just trafficking in spin, then we might could call the press actions to account. But asking the free press in America to bite their collective tongues and allow those many, open and blatant lies to go unchallenged - whether or not partisans attack them for it - is asking for them to defer to propaganda.
Attacking them for doing the most basic aspect of their job tells us more about you than about them.
2
We could start improving the college cost system, and save a lot of innocent victims, by banning from the student loan system all the profit-making "universities" like the University of Phoenix. No exceptions. Note that the Trump Administration is moving as fast as it can in the other direction. Also note that there are some legitimate profit-making specialized training schools, all of them small and local.
4
"There are some great reporters out there, struggling to be evenhanded while covering an administration that tells lies around the clock."
This is not a time to be evenhanded!
This is a time when reporters need to tell the truth!
Finding the middle ground between fact and fiction is NOT how a democracy should operate!
5
I think the picture captures the reality and the soul of S.H.S.
9
Talkin' SHS is a waste of breath but talk of community college, apprenticeships and ways to mediate student debt is not. We are not all of university stuff, in fact, a whopping majority are basic brands and it makes for a rich diversity.
It is a concept foreign to this errant administration and will not be amended (pun fully intended) before successful impeachment or Election Day. Hallelujah!
3
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is without a doubt the most unhappy looking person I have ever seen even though I know her life is not hard. She has plenty to eat. Healthy children and a husband somewhere in the mix. Could it be that working for Trump brought on this face? Good luck, Sarah. Things have got to get better. I stopped watching you years ago. It was too painful.
10
We must thank Sourpuss Sarah for leading many observers to resuscitate that wonderful word "meretricious." One might say she sold her soul, but there is no reason to assume she ever had one.
9
Isn’t Kamala Harris embroiled in that death row case your colleague has taken on as a personal mission? A person who would not allow DNA to be TESTED....there is something wrong with her and it would be a mistake to lump her together with other front runners given the fact that DNA evidence is the leading edge in the toolbox God have us TO GET THE RIGHT GUY. And none of the front runners on the left side, and possibly as many on the right, would put obstacles in the way of making available to the accused every means possible to exonerate himself in the face of death. Is Kamala Harris out of her mind?
3
Actually I thought she was pretty much like all press secretaries. Ike’s was probably the best.
3
@Rich Murphy
Pretty Much...………
Lady didn't do Briefings...………….
We should all be relieved to remember that Ms. Sanders was a devout born-again Christian. Imagine what other type of despicable lies and arrogance she might have spewed to the American public if she didn't have a lord and savior to believe in?
13
Sarah Slanders was the perfect representative of Trump. Facts are fungible, reality is some liberal deep state plot and the truth is what she believes not what the facts are. She represents that 30% of the country that have been around since Plymouth Rock. The racists, the flat earthers, the conspiracy believers who can't deal with truth so they only believe in the truthiness of things. Let's hope the next election allows us to send these people packing.
8
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is an Evangelical Christian who chose to tell lies for a living. However she justifies it, it was her choice - she could have done some other job but chose to work for Donald Trump and tell lies.
12
quote from my 5 yr old " daddy, that lady has a radio face"
my response " i think you mean, a face for radio, and that's not very nice"
4
Last time I remember hearing from Sarah Huckabee Sanders was when she boldfaced lied regarding the President’s behavior at a meeting with Democrats.
“Very calm. I've seen both. And this was definitely not angry or ranting,” Sanders responded. “Very calm and
straightforward, and clear, that we have to actually work and do good things for the American people. And it is going to be impossible to do that if we're spending all of our time fighting.”
“Couldn’t have been more calm,” Trump said. (May 23, 2019, 7:49 Pm Et ABC News)
Everything about her expression reminds me of Dr.Suess’ the Grinch. She’s got the character portrayal as well.
"But you know that old Grinch was so smart and so slick, that he thought up a lie and he thought it up quick."
May anonymity and shame be her just reward.
4
My granddaughter’s husband is in an apprenticeship with the electrician’s union in CT.
Sanders could be replaced by a chilled salmon loaf at the White House and the press corps would probably feel that press relations had warmed significantly.
I hope that Sanders fulfills her destiny of becoming a stay-at-home mom in rural Arkansas. Her brief yet highly irritating presence on the national stage was a grievous insult to the nation.
11
Not impressed? Believe me, the feeling is VERY, VERY mutual, Sarah.
10
Superb : wise; balanced; and sensible.
Ha!
Good riddance. Like Trump, she was a hideous pestilence on America, a cancer that needed to be excised. I hope she pays a very, very step karmic price for her smug, smarmy arrogance. She's earned our contempt, over and over and over.
12
Gotta love the class demonstrated by NYT’s liberal commentators. Anyone who disagrees with a liberal must be a horrible, ignorant, loathsome human being. We understand.
4
@John Hamilton
I do not know liberals, but for any measure SHS job performance doesn't get half star...
4
@John Hamilton
Oh, so lying to the public is now called a 'disagreement with a liberal' over there in right-wing world, huh? Nice. Well, I guess you have to rationalize it somehow. We understand.
5
Only those that prove themselves to be, just because you have blinders on doesn’t change the facts.
1
I was just at my alma mater (a top 30 or so liberal arts school) for an alumni event and differ somewhat from these comments. Many schools are admitting large numbers of foreign students who can afford the ridiculous tuitions. But the drivers of college costs seem to be more than government loans. Faculty members are indeed paid far more proportionally than when I was a student. Colleges are also building extravagant facilities with the intent that those will make the college attractive to prospective students. Many colleges have also either expanded academic programs or become buyers and developers of local real estate. But in truth, at many schools, the inflated tuition is not enough and the endowment and donations still pay a good part of the annual costs. However, the issue of educational costs deserves some study and evaluation rather than just money thrown at students.
1
Well, the press was horrible to her, because she represented Trump. She took it personally, and it defined her attitude towards them. Why she took the job, and why she stayed so long, are a mystery to me.
2
In assessing former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders's performance, a few commenters here excuse its encumbered biases -- its partisan pandering to the ardently reactionary policies of her boss, the president, and their party the GOP -- as the inherent entitlement of a disparate viewpoint.
One writer even notes: "[Against those with whom you disagree], you could start a shouting match, grace them with a withering stink eye, or you could talk about something other than politics or religion, and just be nice to them."
Without argument, this kind of egalitarian sentiment works well in most of life's daily social proceedings.
But it doesn't work well in the political arena -- and shouldn't.
In every respect, in every analysis, Trump's (and Sanders's, et al.) notions of what is good for America -- climate destruction, big-business pandering, health-care apathy, ally alienation, lies, condescension, etc. -- is Not good for America. It's only good for them.
To excuse the likes of Sarah Sanders is not to excuse basic differences in viewpoint. Rather, it's to excuse self-righteousness, prejudice, indecency, corruption,...
11
A sneering disdain for facts, people, protocol and the rule of law seems the default setting for all those who are part of this administration. She has no respect for the people of this country or for its values. I only hope the people of her home state, Arkansas, remember that when someone tells you who they are, believe it.
7
The American public would like Sarah Huckabee Sanders to know that we are not impressed, and in fact exceedingly disturbed by her apparent lack of interest in truth, democracy, the rule of law, the separation of powers, or civility.
5
We all thought that the Nixon administration had the worst record for playing fast and loose with the truth and had reached the lowest point in relations with the media. Then Sarah Huckabee Sanders proved she could take it lower and make it worse. Congrats or something, Sarah.
7
"RD: How do you rate the performance of the press in the Trump era?
"Gail: I’m kinda proud of us, in general. There are some great reporters out there, struggling to be evenhanded while covering an administration that tells lies around the clock."
Why in the name of heaven would the press be striving to be even-handed? All that does is creat false equivalency and serves those - Mr. Trump and his cronies mostly - who are way beyond the pale. I only wish the Democrats were as outspoken and straight-talking - if without the mendacity and vitriol and inhumanity and cruelty - of Mr. Trump.
Truth is beauty and beauty Truth it is said and neither were in great evidence during her moments at the podium. Well to remember she was there as a representative of the father whose religious-political base in the South satisfies a rightwing that elected with little knowledge and forethought this totally unfit candidate for the Presidency. It will be Americans of both the middle, right and left enlightened by a free Press that will allow a candidate of both moral integrity and stable character to be the next President of the United States.
1
Slow news day kids ?
Sarah was old news when she arrived. Why wast any more ink on her.
The Press showed absolutely no moral compass by continuing to show up and failing to walk out on her.
The same applies to Trump - the Press should stop covering him and let him stew in his own juice.
4
We can't help but think of a melting candle.
1
@Paul Wertz
Great post.
Ms Sanders along with Kellyanne Conway, work in the ministry of truth, in the fiction department. The exception being Sanders bailed out.
1
Allow me to disagree:
I think Sarah Huckabee Sanders is a survivor of daily
attacks on the President and for which there is very little to smile about. she is a hero for the defence -very difficult to deal with by anyone . A very thankless job.
4
@JBT
Do you think her job would have been easier if her boss had not lied so blatantly or often? What do you think our free press should do when a politician openly lies to them? Do you think possibly they should point out the facts and ask how they respond to them? Isn't that their job? And then, when they attack the press as 'the enemy of the people' for doing their jobs on behalf of the people (most of whom still do want to know whether and when politicians are lying to them), how do you think they should respond?
Defending someone who lies constantly to anybody who will listen is, indeed, a thankless job. And it should be. Nobody should expect gratitude for lying to us.
1
I love that sneer! SHS perfected that look, from the curled lip to the raised eyebrows. She could scare a pit viper. Sanders really went out of her way to show her contempt for all journalists, pleasing her boss but abandoning all transparency in a White House that needed it more than any other in history.
2
To the press:
Keep showing up and keep asking questions. Expose the ignorance that is her, or the next chump in line. We learn from these press/white house interactions. Mainly, how little Trump respects an alternative position. If it wasn’t for the press, what would be left?
2
I like Brett's ideas at the end of this discussion, emphasizing community colleges, three year degrees and the return of apprenticeships.
3
Huckabee Sanders operates from the position of a "I've got a huge chip on my shoulder" as a person with a particular personal and family background confirming her feelings of being a rube from the sticks mocked by "elites." She will never rise above that attitude which makes her more of a failure than she would have been if she had had a normal outlook but was just stuck in a job defending a vicious, cruel and autocratic liar. She will always be handicapped by her self-inflicted feelings of inferiority and resulting defensiveness, relegated to being a second stringer; she hasn't got what it takes to be a leader of any kind much less the governor of a state.
2
She has a symmetrical face that I will miss!
...nor were we impressed with her - a person who apparently adopted an alternate version of the facts.
4
She was awful but it's also clear she did what she was told. Maintain a default posture of disdain and belligerence and pump oxygen into the lies and puffery to flatter the audience of 1.
Remember that Acosta situation where they tried to frame him for being physical with one of their interns? Kushner and all of them were half smiling as it unfolded, watching a game they had designed unfold in real time.
They don't care about any of this. Sanders was the face of that.
3
The sneer said, "I'm lying, I know I'm lying, I know you know I'm lying, and I don't care." That's why I have no respect for her, not because she holds different opinions. She had no respect for the truth or facts while holding a job that was supposed to provide truth and facts to the American people.
3
"Biden wants to present himself as the Democratic version of John “Straight Talk Express” McCain. Instead he comes across as George “Message: I care” H.W. Bush"
Kind of an ironic comparison since Bush won and McCain lost.
@DL Actually, they both lost. Bush did not win a second term.
1
Americans, you can’t know what the truth is. You need to have the President of the United States, and the press secretary, tell you what the truth is. And it’s anything they say it is, even if they present two contradictory truths at the same time. Doesn’t that make you feel good?
"She combined the sincerity of Elmer Gantry with the moral outlook of Raskolnikov."
Succinct & perfectly put.
3
As for a replacement for Sarah Sanders just refresh your memory of those who preceded her- Spicer ( the biggest crowd etc) and Scaramucci( expletives deleted)!-there are few left who can invent news with such imagination.I predict that Trump will appoint an “acting press person” and handle his own news invention .The best of your comments ,Bret, concern higher education.On this subject I agree with you totally-college should not be comfortable enclaves for the rich,there should absolutely more emphasis on Community colleges and apprenticeships!It is unconscionable that colleges force so many students to take on so much debt and then send them out to search for jobs in an uncertain labor market which is changing so rapidly.You see, you can write about a subject other than Trump and get intense replies-higher education is certainly one!
337
@JANET MICHAEL Scaramucci was never the Press Secretary. He had Mulvaney's job.
7
@JANET MICHAEL Since when do colleges force students to take on debt? Students and their families make those decisions, good or bad in the long run. It's the individual's choice to assume just how much debt they should amass. It's time that people stopped blaming bad decisions on institutions, rather than the people making those bad decisions.
14
@JANET MICHAEL
Regarding the idea of three years of college which I say is great if one is prepared by the high school system beforehand
18
"There are some great reporters out there, struggling to be evenhanded while covering an administration that tells lies around the clock."
I love you Gail, but this is exactly what is wrong with the press.
"Evanhanded" is just "false equivalency." When the press bends itself into a pretzel to be "evenhanded" with an administration that is this corrupt, then it has abdicated its duty. FOX is, of course, entirely propaganda, but the rest of the press needs to call a lie a lie-- not "Trump seemed to backtrack on an earlier statement... etc."
1794
@Adrienne Nicely put. The job of the media is not to be "even-handed".
Their job is to report what happened.
273
@Adrienne
I have to say, it makes me angry when I see these attempts to be “evenhanded” with Trump. I don’t want competing propaganda outlets, but focusing on Trump’s lies and dissembling is absolutely necessary to maintain the righteous indignation so many of us feel at the actions of this man and his awful administration. We ARE going to vote, and there are more of us who are disgusted with him than those licking his shoes.
I’m also sick of hearing the words, “Mr. President,” when applied to Trump. “Hey, DJ” seems to be more appropriate .... and maybe a lot of coughing while he’s yammering on about whatever.
138
@Jason, the press has been calling a lie a lie for some time, although maybe it took decent men and women too long to get comfortable with it.
The idea any reputable journalist aspires to "reporting what happened" is a persistent fiction among readers who find the way some journalists report the news preferable to others. No one would read an event log - the reason why no one writes them.
13
I think the most relevant question is: why did reporters even show up for Sanders's press briefings? She never really answered questions and only served as another mouthpiece for the President. When reporters tried to push back at her lies, she usually stopped the conversation and moved to another reporter.
The same goes for Trump's impromptu press conferences as he walks across the lawn to board his waiting helicopter. Why do reporters waste their time asking him questions? It only gives Trump another platform to spew his lies. If they didn't show up, there would be no questions, no cameras, no publicity for Trump.
2164
@RF
I really would love to see more reporters call him out to his face when he lies.
Sure, in the short term, he'd refuse to talk to those few, but if more of them did it, he'd have to choose between his vanity for press attention and having no one to talk to at all.
184
@RF
RF_ I get the idea that not covering trump might possibly starve him of the oxygen (read: publicity) his 5 year old brain craves, but the prospect of the administration working in a near vacuum of coverage might be worse.
While I know he chafes under scrutiny and he lashes out at all around, I'm just not sure ignoring the twerp will reduce his inflicted damage.
84
@RF
Deny Trump the attention he seeks and craves and we will all be the better for it.
107
Trump talks about how "transparent" he and his administration are. The dissolution of the press briefing is probably the best indicator of his non transperancy. Even when Sanders did get up in front of the press, it became a game of either dodging questions or flat out refusing to answer, usually through some predefined script she had in front of her. Like her evangelical brothers and sisters who support the king, she has sold her soul.
3
That sweet smile and sunny disposition. We will never forget it.
4
There's no point in dumping on Sanders. She is the kind of person she is or she's never have got the job.
No press secretary who works for Trump is going to fill the office with truth and integrity.
In fact, no one who works for him in any capacity is going to be the kind of real human being we respect, much less admire.
9
WHO CARES?? She's a vile, vulgar, dishonest, pathetic excuse for a human being who clearly is devoid of any introspection, morality or character. May we never hear from her again.
15
Indeed, it's an awful picture! How does Trump keep coming up with these people. There are all different, but with one common trait. They are all misanthropes at heart. No country is perfect, but how did we come by such nastiness?
1
Although Sanders lasted the longest, there was never going to be a "White House Spokesperson" in the Trump Administration. How can anyone do it when Trump himself watches the news continually and publicly reacts to it via Twitter...multiple times a day. As far as Trump is concerned, the White House communications vehicle is the cell phone in his hand and his Twitter account.
I'm still waiting for this president to address the WH Correspondents, in the Press Room, and actually answer questions from the Press, just as ALL of his predecessors have done!
This president does not have the knowledge, mental clarity, nor the aptitude to provide coherent answers to any questions! His solution: Explain the USA's positions through cryptic and frequent tweets!
3
Re three-year baccalaureate programs: We cannot do it in the US without beefing up secondary education, a lot. When a European student begins at a university, she will have a much stronger academic background than a US student will have.
We had a German exchange professor for a semester who came with his family. His daughter had been through one year at the school where her father worked, and succeeded in senior and graduate math courses while here. My exchange visit there confirmed that this is typical in their system.
I tried to convince the dean of our Graduate School to accept baccalaureate degrees (three years) from those countries, but broke my lance on that quest. The response was about a slippery slope to include the same from other nations with lower standards.
5
None of trumps folks will be much better. It comes with working for a guy who feels reiteration makes truth.
1
"The English do it in three and don’t seem to suffer from any intellectual shortfalls. Quite the opposite." False equivalence, but nonetheless pertinent: The British educational system is at least a year advanced over the American system at high school graduation. The British sixth-form is equivalent not to 12th grade, but to freshman year in college. Thus, if America were to move to a three-year college program, you’d have to add on another year of high school — which may not be a bad idea; it would certainly save students some money.
6
When my job went up in smoke 9-11, I, at 50, suddenly need a real job in the beginning of the Great Recession. No takers. The answer was to reinvent myself as a Registered Nurse. My local community college was available and cheap at $24K. I got a full BSN in 15 months after 3 semesters of pre-requisites (12K). Great education. I had a job offer as an RN before I graduated. We need more emphasis on the education and less on the weight rooms and football teams. Go Community Colleges!!
14
Very disappointing exchange.
What Biden droop? Polls are high, in S Carolina, among other states.
Kind of early to get out your knives against Democratic candidates.
Are you both in favor of Trump?
6
The Democrats will have their problems but even discussing them in the same article that covers the flaming catastrophe of Moscow Don establishes a false equivalence. I think that great care, even in a feature like this casual conversation between two informed NYT staffers, to clearly indicate that there is a large difference in the magnitude of the issues.
3
Sarah is a legend in her own mind. In reality, she is an unmitigated shill with an overbearing countenance. A perfect fit for her reckless ringmaster. A disaster at the helm for the rest of us, especially the children.
6
Journalists need to stop focusing on just what Trump says and look for the stories he ignores. The Midwest is still inder water but is rarely discussed. Trump won because he said he was speaking for those that are usually forgotten. Remember when the Depp Horizon leak was in the corner of the news screen everyday? It was because there was a camera on it and it was cheap and easy to show it. Nevertheless it made the leak so urgent and the response too slow even if people were going as fast as they could. CNN rushes out to show some poor reporter standing in the wind and rain but move on mquickly. Leave a camera on one of those farms where people are still using boats to check on their house.
5
Now she can finally return to her former role as "Nurse Ratched" in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"-- all she needs is to revert to the earlier hair style.
14
There are many accurate ways -- predominantly negative -- to sum up pouty-faced, pouty-mouthed, glass-half-empty Sarah Huckabee Sanders. For me, the most perfectly encapsulating arises from a comparison with her hyper-self-righteous, hyper-judgmental, hyper-fascist father, Mike Huckabee.
Taken together, these two-dimensional egotists are chips off each other's shoulder. Jagged chips, that is.
9
@Ken
I do believe that you have to examine Sarah as a product of not just her father, but that entire community they come from. It's more than just an annoyance that we can't agree on a basic set of facts. It's a huge problem.
5
@Mike Holloway -- well said.
1
Looking at the photo of Ms. Sanders’s tilted head makes one cringe. Hopefully she will read most of the NYT comments decimating her (lack of) competence and honesty, but she probably will not cringe herself.
4
That face! Thank you Doug Mills for capturing it.
Here's to hoping her blatant smug contempt will eventually bury her. She is a disgrace who deserves public shaming.
13
Morning backstage crew missed it for some reason. Once again:
She was up against a one-narrative Sovietized mass-media broadcasting out of New York City--to include SNL-Late Night and the self-serving celebrity-ranting from Hollywood--that rejected Trump's election, pining for Open-Borders Queen Hillary.
As NYT Opinion Kingdom Dowd told a book-signing audience in Miami two weeks after the election, to paraphrase: We at the NYT have plans for him. Indeed, they have.
So it went, Sovietized mass-media "truth"--Collusion! Conspiracy!--hate-Trump piñata parties ad nauseam.
Much prefer Sanders to the constant mass-media Cultural Marxist unnamed-source half-truths spewing hate for Trump twenty-four/seven. This did not go unnoticed by those who elected him to office. End of story.
5
@Alice's Restaurant
I don't suppose you'd ever consider that Unindicted Co-conspirator has earned that hate, would you?
There are quite a few odious jerks to choose from in this Administration, but SHS really is a terrific spokesperson for all of them. She is cynical and cunning and uses her talent for thinking fast on her feet to the detriment of the American public. She lies with impunity and purports to be a Christian. Her children would be better off raised by wolves.
11
@Summer Smith
You don't give her enough credit. When she is lying she also fervently believes that she's telling the truth. Few enough of us can do that.
Wow. Two liberal columnists jawing with each other.
What an insightful conversation.
5
@Ami
I don't think Stephens would feel flattered at being called a liberal.
Despite his supposed aversion to Trump and Sanders, it's his political party that installed them.
He's responsible for them.
4
@Ami
Bret Stephens is a conservative. So it amounts to a liberal and a conservative columnist "jawing."
4
@Ami
And thank you for confirming for us that the far right wants us all to know that conservatives like Brett "aren't really conservative".
3
Sanders tried, and failed to give cover to a pathetic, little man who has the soul of a coward, and the heart of a sycophant.
Just hush and go away, Sarah....
9
Given that willful ignorance, mendacity, or a combination of both seem involved with pretty much any statement from trump or Ms. Huckabee Sanders, reference to two maxims seems apropos here:
1. “Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.” -- Mark Twain.
2. “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” -- Joseph Goebbels.
18 June 2019 13:44
14
"...bottomless contempt for individual journalists...for the very idea of truth-as-such."
That needs more explanation, reporting, and investigation, "truth-as-such". We can clearly see the results when we, as a country, can't even agree on a basic set of facts. This is an existential problem. It's not so much passed over as steadfastly unexamined. Are we afraid to examine it? We all do it. We all take short cuts to probable truth. We all have to choose trusted sources.
The community Huckabee was raised in focuses their children very carefully on not just who to believe, but more importantly, why to believe something and how to react to contradictions. They are extremely utilitarian, "the ends justify the means", and this is strengthened by their religious ideology. Contrary beliefs, arguments, seemingly objective facts, are just a manifestation of "the other's" bias. She really does that she's superior.
But we all do it. That's why it's important for the public to think about it this psychology and develop enough humility that we all can doubt ourselves, just enough to consider that we're wrong.
Unless I missed a post here, no one has made reference to the long term impact the 'gas lighting' and out right lying (by Ms Sanders) will have upon our country.
To quote the talking heads - THIS IS NOT NORMAL and we cannot rationalize and accept this behavior as it it was the norm.
I constantly think ahead to the days when a WH Press Secretary does not expound alternate realities and Trump- speak. It cannot come soon enough for me.
13
The idea of the Sarah Sanders School of Journalism is a winner where the Sarah Sneer can be taught along with lying on a daily basis dismissing the reporter with disdain for asking a question where she had to lie. As a preachers daughter she knows how to feign pompous self righteous virtue while confessing to the special counsel that she lies a lot. THe next press sec will no doubt come from the FOX NEWS STATE TV stable of sycophants perhaps from Fox & Friends crew of Trumpies Trump calls into every day to reassure him how wonderful he is on every issue.
6
Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be remembered as one of those people you don't want to remember.
9
Another right wing christian who is very selective about which parts of her religion to practice. Incidentally, I rewatched Network for the first time since 1976 last night. I understand that when the youngs are shown it they do not necessarily recognize it as a satire. I am not a particularly nostalgic guy, but where have you gone, Walter Cronkite, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you. whoo hoo hoo.
9
Honestly, wasn't Sarah Huckabee Sanders the perfect press secretary for a president like Donald Trump? I am looking forward to the Frontline documentary on the Trump Presidency and for the section about the press secretaries he chose to be his face to the media.
Losers all. But more than that. As a bunch, I can't think of a more disrespectful, arrogant, truth-bending, deceitful and despicable individuals, and Ms. Sanders leads the pack.
Good riddance to her and all that she represented. And I cannot wait to write that same sentence in 2020 when Donald Trump is packing his bags for Mar-A-Lago.
7
@Len
Or a federal penitentiary.
1
She was specifically chosen because of the ugliness she has on the inside.
It was the message and the contempt that Trump wants to convey to the American people every day.
8
I'm.with you all the way, Gail. Let's say it for the Great Dividor, he sure brings our half (or 53%) together in a big way !
Sorry, totally despicable human being -- if arkansas wants her as the next governor, it is indeed a very sad day for truth, for morals and overall, for some sense of probity. Be gone Sanders - you have done no service at all to the better good of the county, not that you care one bit.
3
Sanders had a miserable job to do for a failing and deceitful Presidency. Sanders will be judged on how she presents herself post WH. It is not looking good as far as how history will treat her.
Her arrogance has no bounds, she wants to be Governor of her State?
2
Show some empathy for Sarah. She will have to live with herself for the rest of her life. There is no punishment greater than earned guilt.
4
Funny thing about that idea of guilt. To feel guilty for something, you have to first realize that whatever you feel guilty about was somehow wrong. Sara, lacks the ability to realize that she will go down in history as the face of an administration that outright lied to the public, she was part of an administration that in the end won’t improve her life. In fact I’d go as far as to say that society will shun her, unless you watch Fox News (where she will probably show up with her own segment).
People who lie, on the scale that she lies, doesn’t do it just in the course of her working day. In the first place, people like her know they are lying, all liars know that basic truth, about lying. What makes Sara and others like her, they will lie about every thing, large or small, because they’ve discovered it’s easier than telling the truth. But telling the truth takes moral courage, mainly, because the truth isn’t always pretty, (especially when we’re talking about the current administration) it isn’t something people always want to hear.
Sara will not be missed, not by me or most Americans, she clearly has no issues looking at herself in the mirror, she needs to be able to use the ashes of the truth as eye shadow. And she truly feels that she wasn’t lying, in her mind she was telling the truth. Except how do you explain to your kids why history records you as someone that didn’t tell the truth, historical evidence won’t square with the lies.
Why is she always looking miserable, so grouchy, and very unbecoming. She is a walking tragedy, and will not be missed. No man would want to wake up to that.
2
Because it takes great effort to support the lies that you know you will have to tell, it’s all part of the job description, if you want to work in Trump-o the clowns White House circus, you have to first sell, your mother’s soul, since Sara doesn’t have one.
Redemption is for everyone. but contrition and atonement come first.
4
I'm kind of proud of us .... generally. That says it all.
Forget Huckabee Sanders, the press has been famous for telling lies and half truths for a long time....Before Trump.
Even Gail Collins can't get around it..
1
@JAC
Examples, please.
4
When John McCain was running for President the Times reported that had an affair with a staffer. It was later determined to be a lie but damage had been done. There are to many examples to list. The half lies are more ample and the Times is very good at those. As I said Ms Collins admits as much.
@JAC
The Times reported that there were rumors that McCain was having an affair with a lobbyist, not a staffer. They got it wrong as did you. Were you telling a lie or a half-truth?
The Trump Administration has proven itself to be nothing more than little lies, Big Lies and just plain old fashioned MENDACITY. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will have to live with that reputation for the rest of life So. Sad.
4
Well this was a terrific article. I’m a bit confused though as to what it’s real purpose is? Is it to belittle Sarah Sanders? Mock the President and his administration? Oh, wait a minute. I think I get it. It’s to display for all who read it how simple minded we are! The defense of the press is so biased it’s hard to believe anybody with any ability to think for themselves sees any credibility here. The press is and has been for the most part a joke. They long ago lost the ability to provide the American public with reporting that is unbiased. Most so called reporters have an agenda (yes Fox included) and do very little to even attempt hiding their personal beliefs. Shame. It won’t change unfortunately. It’s interesting that so many who yell the loudest are the biggest providers of fake news. Use your common sense and your brains, we don’t need reporters to spoon feed us their opinions wrapped as “reporting”. Yikes!
2
@One guys opinion
This discussion between Bret and Gail is in the "Opinion" section. No "reporters" are spoon feeding their opinions. If Peter Baker wrote this you would have a point. He is a "reporter." Does that make common sense? Yikes?
So where do you get your news from, oh wait, everything you’ll need to know in a 30 second Facebook liked ad.
The "A level" university entry exams of Britain are far more rigorous than their American counterparts.
1
Two observations:
1. SHS is perhaps *the* most pathological, stone cold liar I've ever encountered. It's breathtaking how bald faced lies don't even make her twitch. As far as I can tell, she has zero tells when she's lying. She has zero connection with, or admiration for reality. I wonder what kind of nightmare childhood it takes to groom someone who lies that smoothly. That level of lying is a survival trait. She obviously is not a psychopath so I don't think her disconnect from reality is intrinsic.
2. This passage:
"Bret: How do you rate the performance of the press in the Trump era?
Gail: I’m kinda proud of us, in general. "
fills me with despair. Trump still controls the pace and tone and subjects of the news cycle with tweets and with obscene statements of illegality and the press just kind of rolls with it. Apparently this is intentional and should be celebrated?
That these two don't even see how they're getting punked for 3 years straight now as an industry is downright disturbing and suggest more than anything else we're looking at a Trump 2020 win.
8
"I also think we should bring back apprenticeships."
Right, Bret. Hillary suggested something along those lines. What did you think then?
11
Goodbye Sarah,
I understand you are heading back to Arkansas. The good news is that you have the perfect wardrobe to take with you, including the pearls. We will all miss your haute couture ensembles.
5
With Trump, worse isn't only possible, it's inevitable. People of integrity are hesitant to sign on to this ship of fools, so what's left are the con artists, weasels, and rabid partisans.
Trump has managed to so lower the bar on WH expectations that people might be okay if it simply ran like a reality TV show after its cancellation has been announced (were we so fortunate ....).
2
One of the biggest mistakes any political party can make, is tolerating bad behaviour within their party out of present day convenience.
A new bar gets set, and the opposing political party will lean into the same tactics, fracturing the public's faith in these insanely important institutions as the system's checks and balances fall apart.
Recent examples include the abuse of filibusters, stonewalling sitting presidents forcing the overuse of executive orders, (currently) the abuse of executive power/privilege, and now lying in press briefings (which has dovetailed into Barr openly lying about the Mueller report).
Unfortunately, globally, the American political system is an absolute joke right now. And there's no guarantees the system fully restores itself.
4
I graduated in 1958 from a tuition-free land grant college. I assumed that providing affordable education was one of the intentions of the land grant. What happened to state legislatures that used to support public education as one of their central obligations?
I have moral objections to the death penalty, war on false reasons and arms sales to theocracies. Why must my tax dollars fund these but not health care for poor women?
6
I liked SHS. She was bold. She challenged the liberal media. I'm going to miss those engaged moments with journalists.
4
They say a child is a product of its' upbringing ; Sarah Huckabee Sanders is proof of that . There is not much more to say about her , we know it all as her public appearances prove . I have to agree that look had to have been used a lot , so it was practiced in a manner of speaking ; just as Trump's wannabe Churchill's set mouth . It would be comical if it wasn't so sad . Trump probably let the cat out of the bag , she is probably set to run for governor of Arkansas .
2
Wow, the press really seems to be out to get Biden. The press attacks him more than the opposing party does!
2
There is no need for a White House press corps or a White House press secretary.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders did a wonderful job, but her position does not need to be filled.
Time for some cost-cutting.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave every fiber in her body to support the cult of Donald Trump and obscure the truth. She was no doubt, the greatest propagandist that any president has ever had. When ever someone is caught in a lie, her phrase "just a slip of the tongue" can be used. It will be interesting to see if the "fine people" of Arkansas embrace her essence and her values.
8
Here's hoping the makers of this season's Halloween masks use this column's photo - it's scary, but perfect!
5
Here is a partial verse from the bible, a daughter of a minister should know by heart;
And the truth shall set you free
Sister Sarah is just like millions of other Evangelicals that forgot that core principle of new testament teaching.
For her service to Trump the good people of her state will reward her with the Governorship.
4
Some (but by no means all) of the things that have never made an impression on Sarah Huckabee Sanders (in no particular order):
1. The truth;
2. Honesty;
3. The actual teachings of Jesus Christ;
4. The Ten Commandments;
5. The Golden Rule;
6. Humility;
7. Humanity;
8. The Constitution;
9. The Rule of Law;
10. The Separation of Powers;
11. The Separation of Church and State;
12. Democracy;
13. Capitalism;
14. Empirical knowledge;
15. Intelligence;
16. Manners.
33
In the 2016 election the world’s media gave Trump a supertanker’s worth of free ink for being outrageous. All of this without the benefit of Ms Huckabee Sanders or Mr Spicer. The 2020 election is in the offing and I can’t help but get the impression that the same thing is going to happen again. You are the professionals, you should be able to understand how Trump manipulates audiences and media alike and resist the temptation to go over the top with coverage of his campaign and just stick to the facts. Please, for all our sakes, play this one straight don’t give the man ink for nothing.
4
Or maybe more resonant than reporters boycotting press gatherings or Trump's swaggering walks to his helicopter would be if they all DID show up - but sat or stood quietly, hands folded, not asking a single question.
3
Yeah, that's it, SHS is smarter and more informed that all the journalists, writers, researchers, investigators, editors, and producers for all the news media combined. What hubris.
3
Sarah Huckabee Sanders carries the true Republican ethos: lie, and keep lying, be indignant when caught lying, then, of course, continue lying.
12
A picture is worth a thousand words - SHS here expresses the entire movie version of "1984" in a single photo.
7
Until Trump came along, I paid no attention to who the Press Secretary of the U.S. was. (I guess we have a similar position in in Canada, although i have no idea who they are either.)
But I have watched the Spicey, Mooch, and Sarah the Hucksterbee clown show with great amusement. Can't wait to see who Trump puts in next.
3
So who really cares whether she's impressed or not! After all, is she lying about that as well? Who can believe anything this person says?
4
Are all Evangelical Christians like this? When ever I hear someone is an Evangelical Christian my stomach gets upset.
Bret and Gail, I read the WaPo and the NY Times every morning. Today, I started with WaPo and was so upset and depressed about the idiot's threat of massive deportations. I immediately went to the Times and was so relieved to see your conversation. I read each one as they sooth my tired soul and make me laugh. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only reader that feels that way.
So, for our collective mental health, could you publish this every week?
3
Some writers have been using the Emperor's New Clothes analogy since Trump took office. But we forget that the in Hans Christian's tale the emperor and his ministers have all been duped by "swindlers". In America's case the swindler is the leader of our country and he is not alone. So the tale re-imagined;
"So off went Emperor Trump in procession under his splendid canopy. Everyone in the streets and the windows said, "Oh, how fine are the Emperor's new clothes! Don't they fit him to perfection? And see his long train!" Nobody would confess that he couldn't see anything, for that would prove him either unfit for his position, or a fool. No costume the Emperor had worn before was ever such a complete success.
"But he hasn't got anything on," a little child said.
"Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?" said its father. And one person whispered to another what the child had said, "He hasn't anything on. A child says he hasn't anything on."
"But he hasn't got anything on!" the whole town cried out at last.
"Silence that brat!" cried Sarah Sanders, fig leaf in hand.
"Separate that child, and put her in a cage with the rest of them," Mitch ordered...
"For her own safety," Lindsey explained. "She'll get a better education there..."
"Bible on every desk," added Betsy.
3
Stepping back and looking at the larger picture, isn't it troubling to realize that Huckabee Sanders is a child of a man who professes to be religious? This is one really rotten apple who fell close to her rotten tree. And how dare they profess to be religious in ANY spiritual tradition? There is nothing more evil than weaponizing God.
4
Biased media is why we have Trump as president. Huge swaths of Americans just became completely fed up with a biased and unfair media. See for example Candy Crowley backing up Obama's lie during the debate with Romney. See for example the media's lies about the police in Ferguson, Missouri and their attempt to destroy the lives of students from Covington High School with dishonestly edited videos and their witch hunt against Bret Kavanaugh over an uncorroborated and contradicted accusation from when he was in high school. Because the media is so dishonest and has allowed Democrats to get away with lies, millions of Americans decided they wanted their own politician who could get away with lying. The Trumpists don't mind that Trump lies. In fact, they like that he lies and get away with it. And it is the medias grotesque abandonment of any sense of unbiased reporting that has created Trump. You are to blame.
4
Sarah Sanders, her father, and others of that ilk (I’m lookin’ at you Betsy DeVos, Franklin Graham, etc.) are a large part of reason I have such monumental disrespect for so-called Christians.
5
Tell Mrs. Sanders to take 10-foot walk off an 8-foot pier.
With concrete sandals.
6
And just who might play Sonia to Sarah, convince her she committed a sin (thou shalt not lie) and get her to atone? Who'd rather be in a cell with Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov over Sarah Huckabee-Sanders?
1
This photograph looks like an exact representation of this woman's personality and world perspective. Kudos to the photographer who "captured" her.
8
Sanders was the premier example of the Republican hatred of a free, investigative press.
Every Republican president, certainly since Reagan, has abused, obstructed, used for show, all journalistic work.
I’m surprised that Trump hasn’t created a Bureau of Lies headed by Sanders. The “bureau” would expose all facts in opposition to the Administration.
Our government has reduced Orwellian ideas on political language and writing to a curiosity like Beatrix Potter.
5
I always hated when she said ... "The American people..." and then add on anything she wanted to justify her boss's position.
We'll I'm an American person. I've been one longer than you and have seen a dealt with your kind before and YOU don't speak for me! You mean supporters of your "whatever the heck your agenda is" administration.
I wish you bad luck with your book deal and your Fox network deal. I hope you do not enrich yourself at the expense of the truth.
Goodbye and good riddance.
18
I often disagree with Bret - but I agree with his analysis of education, especially the driver behind cost bloat. Provide people with a cost-effective alternative to at least the middle class, and Cannabis U might realize their client base has shrunk considerably.
5
A successful press secretary requires innate intellectual depth, curiosity and drive. A deep understanding of whatever issue or situation is being discussed. The ability to explain each matter with substance. Cogently discussing the administration’s position, the anticipated impact on all stakeholders, the rationale and the pros and cons. To go into whatever depth is necessary. Examples of capable press secretaries: Jay Carney, Robert Gibbs and Josh Earnest. The job of press secretary is one of the most difficult jobs period. Very few people have the depth, curiosity and drive to do this job well, despite the rumblings from bloated egos and the self-important. I couldn’t to this job. With all due respect, Sarah Sanders demonstrated that she couldn’t do it either.
6
Reporters SHOULD show their outrage when lied to by government employees their taxes pay for. Lying to journalists is lying to the world.
Lying takes effort! As one doubles down and escalates the lies, it takes exponentially more effort to keep it going as the discrepancies with the truth also grow exponentially. It takes a conscious effort to lie. Its much easier to recite the truth almost without thought or effort - indeed it's almost unconsciously done.
Does Arkansas really want a professional perjurer as governor?
First time I generally agree with Bret. I totally agree with Gail. Unfortunately I don't forgive Bret for his role in maliciously misrepresenting - à la Sarah Sanders - the political cartoon making insightful humor of Bibi and trump that Bret sneeringly accused as antisemitic while TOTALLY ignoring the outrageous political point the cartoon made. His self-importance destroyed the political catoons in the Intl Times. Hopefully Chappette finds a home at WAPO.
Quoting Salman Rushdie "What kind of a god is it that's upset by a cartoon in Danish?" Same question applies to Judaism or other religions that's the subject of a cartoon. Even NC hog farmers are all bent out of shape over a cartoon criticizing NC legislators, not hog farmers. They, like Bret, miss the point of the cartoon and the Intl Times is a lesser publication with their absence.
Biden's mistake is believing he can work with Republicans. Mitch, evangelicals and freedom caucus killed bipartisanship
3
When questioned regarding the prevalence of ignorance and apathy in our nation, Sarah proudly stated she didn't know and didn't care. Here's an individual that can sport all the pearls in the word, but will never be more than a sow's ear! Thank God, the pearl casting has come to an end!
4
Kirsten Gillibrand's rush to judgement concerning Al Franken removed her from any serious consideration by me, as did Bernie Sanders's Russia-assisted role in putting Donald Trump in office. We pretend to place an inordinate amount of importance in the plans and specific policy proposals of presidential candidates, even though that isn't really what presidents wind up doing. The one candidate who excels in having actual, detailed plans is Elizabeth Warren. It's nice to think that, after descending so far into Stupid, we could go with Smart, but with enough luck we might get a compromise between the two, which would be Joe Biden.
3
Sanders as a mashup of Elmer Gantry and Raskolnikov-brilliant!
1
She's a regressive, and like all regressives, they have reverted to Soviet-style pronouncements, outrageous, twisted lies presented as "truth" and "fact," brazen contempt for protocol, insisting up is down, in is out, and provoked indignation by claiming the press is the "enemy."
4
Bret clearly doesn't get out into Democratic circles much. It concerns me that people keep talking about trump as the candidate for the Republicans in 2020. The man has been accused of Obstruction of Justice. The man worked with a hostile foreign government and will do so again. The evidence is right there for good old Bret to read and yet we're just blah, blah, blah about putting a known criminal on the ticket. Not only that Bret doesn't see (outside of old Biden) a Democrat strong enough to challenge the criminal.
What has our country come to when a New York Times columnist tells us that a man accused of multiple crimes can't be beat by losers like Warren, Buttigieg or Harris? I just can't stop shaking my head.
1
Just looking at her face in this article tells it all. She's a narrow-minded person who was thrust into the limelight no doubt simply because of name "Huckabee". For someone who calls herself a conservative christian; she ought to contemplate the true meaning of that word "christian" once she's back in Arkansas. The Sarah that showed herself to the world for the past 2 1/2 years certainly didn't show ANY of those christian qualities. Shame on her!
7
@CF
Sorry, but the word "Christian" has come to stink to high heaven of inner rot and hypocrisy. In recent years christian qualities in display include self-serving interests, striving for personal wealth by raping the natural world, double-talk, racism, sexism and belittling others. Whatever the "true meaning" was has been lost. Pantheism seems a better choice.
1
A press secretary without press briefings! Weird!
What about the sense of duty to one's country? Does her example indicate a need for a better upbringing and guidance to young children?
4
Gee, Gail,
Not only that sneer with the curled lip, but I'll also miss that upturned left eyebrow with the "Aha!" moment expressed as if seeing Trump up to no good in the ladies' bathroom.
5
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is an embarrassment, just like the rest of the Trump administration and its sycophants. She is an insult to thinking people. She sounds more like a snake oil salesperson, like her boss, then a White House spokesperson. How can a true journalist sit in the briefing room with a straight face and listen to her? Speaking of low energy, can she show some energy and enthusiasm for anything? I totally agree that the press corp should have walked out of her briefings when she spun lies or insulted reporters. In fact the legitimate media outlets (not Fox) should have stopped going to her press briefings en masse. A statement would have been made by that action. As they say, good bye and good riddance. The next spokesperson probably will not be any better, because they will be representing a vapid administration.
8
"I often fear that the Trump administration has a way of bringing out the worst in us journalists..."
Trump has a way of bringing out the worst in anyone. He's like a walking, talking, negative epiphanic experience. Once under his orbit, you discover that you're either morally bankrupt or morally sound, and act accordingly, but even the morally sound are almost uncontrollably tempted to act that out as repugnantly as possible.
What's that book by Rick Wilson? Ah, yes: "Everything trump Touches Dies".
2
Nice smokey eye though. I mean great eye shadow, you pick.
1
Ms. Sanders is a member of the Religious Christian Right, which is much like the Holy Roman Empire, in that it's neither religious, nor Christian nor right.
10
"This is a weird time, though. The media is in transition and nobody, wherever they work, is immune to the realization that the best way to get a lot of digital attention is to write something titled “Trump Is a Toad.” (Or, I guess in the other world, “The President Is Perfect.”) Our employer still abides by the theory that readers want a division between news reporting and opinion writing. But that’s not the rule for most websites.
Or, a lot of cable TV."
Is it any wonder Sanders developed antipathy toward the WH Press Corps? And who wouldn't sneer at Jim "It's all about me" Acosta's grandstanding?
3
This part sums it up for me:
Sarah communicated "bottomless contempt for individual journalists, for the profession of journalism itself and for the very idea of truth-as-such."
Sarah cast her lot with a corrupt lying narcissist and thereby betrayed truth and democracy. She chose to spread propaganda and lies instead of any semblance factual information. That is her footnote in Trump history.
4
Looking forward to seeing her spin lies and tall tales on "Faux and Friends" in the near future!
The issue of student loans and resulting debt should be blamed on both Dems and Republicans, who have allowed the financial industry to put the future at risk while taking no risks themselves. The Democratic candidates need to hire professionals to structure the correct ways to address the issue. Also, who at the universities are getting rich: probably administrators. The papers need to name names: shame the guilty: politicians who passed the loan rules, college that are the biggest offenders and the solicitors pushing loans on people. It also has to be in BIG LETTERS on the front page like the college entry scandal. And oh yeah, what about the big salaried liberals like O'Donnell and Maddow: call then out and shame them to cover the issue with experts in between the drug commercials paying their 4M+ salaries.
Please, Mr. Stephens, think about your words. She was a spokeswoman, not a spokesman.
Look at that face. A mirror of the soul (or its absence) if there ever was one.
4
I always thought the White House Press Secretary's job was to report on whatever was "deemed" important. But this dame acted more like a weathervane to the President than any kind of credible news source. I swear, her facial gestures, posturing and overall demeanor was a reflection of him. Whenever I saw her, I immediately saw Trump - sour, irritated, short tempered, hostile (and those are qualities that I saw on their "good" days).
Her only function was to defend Trump. Just how hard could that have been when everything he did, according to him and her, was right or correct or necessary or appropriate? With her as the Press Secretary, all she did was making everyone else's life miserable and difficult. The only thing I was grateful for was that she never threw a shoe at anyone.
Who would think I would miss, much less want, Sean Spicer over this woman? I always saw her as the White House version of "Stranger Things".
1
Sanders was despicable in her role as mouthpiece for the Trump Administration. She has been a co-conspirator in lie telling and has treated the press with contempt, just like her boss. From the start, I could barely watch and listen to her, twisting the truth or ignoring it entirely. It is good that she will be gone, but I'm not hopeful that someone better will replace her.
2
All very sensible commentary. I'm torn about the Hyde amendment. Poor women should be supported with respect to health care including reproductive health care. However, asking people to pay indirectly for abortions they do not believe are moral is a big, big loser and the support for that stance among even democrats and moderates is weak. Getting poor women better access to long-term reliable contraception is something that would be effective and less likely to boomerang.
3
@Lucy I think both war and the death penalty are immoral and my taxes pay for both.
1
Excellent column, Gail and Bret.
Except for that line comparing Trump to a toad. That characterization is an insult to toads everywhere.
And I can't wait to see if the good citizens of Arkansas would chose to elect SHS as governor of their state. Assuming she runs for the position. No doubt they would love her.
2
While it's true that "amenities" are driving up the cost of a college education, the tuition debt crisis is also the direct result of tax cuts, and more tax cuts, at all levels. Government used to subsidize a lot more of the costs of college education at state schools; now, the burden is more and more on the students and their families - user fees, writ large.
Cutting taxes repeatedly sounds great, but there are real consequences when only the affluent can afford a good education. Is it cynical of me to suspect that that was the point? An ignorant population, easily swayed by demagogery?
3
@Frank O I'm not a big believer in conspiracies, but I think the tactic of cutting taxes and services across the board, over and over, did achieve its goal - which was, as you pointed out, so that only the affluent could afford a good education. (An ignorant population is just an added bonus). There is a dominant strain of thinking among conservatives that access to some of life's necessities, like healthcare and education, should be limited to those who can afford it. They hate anything that is intended for "the public good." They don't think that's a thing, or at least a thing worth pursuing. Margaret Thatcher said it most nakedly - "There's no such thing as society." It's every man (and I am not being gender neutral here purposely) for himself, and if you can't afford it, you don't deserve it because you are of low character, or intellect, or pedigree. When it comes to intellectual dishonesty, it doesn't get much worse than this, but it's been the guiding principle of the conservatives for generations.
3
What's up with this photograph? Yes, her performance has helped undermine the presidency and the nature of truth, however, why do we save the worst pictures of people almost solely for women. Are you trying to convey something else? If not make sure it's conveyed on the expressions of men as well, or it comes off as purely sexist.
1
@EastRoast- try to find a picture of SHS not sneering or showing contempt for the press that is her job to communicate to. It is impossible. And this is not sexist at all: it is who she is, and the rest of the article supports this.
4
@East Roast
Your 'outrage' is misplaced, and I'll call you on it.
2
She worked for a man who has told a documented 10,000 + lies, distortions and "falsehoods" since being elected. Sarah Sanders came to resemble her boss and she did it well.
4
if the people of the press corps had even the slightest backbone, they all would have beat sanders to the punch and refused to lied to on a daily basis by ignoring the charade. why would the country miss something that's mostly made up?
1
Sanders sold her sole. Now it is time to reap the rewards of her service.
1
@Heidi
You mean her coming gig on Faux Noise?
@Heidi
She sold her shoe?
Perhaps you mean "Soul"??
1
@Paul P. Thanks for taking the time to correct my typo, glad you knew what I meant to type.
1
Maybe she can be replaced by Ivanka or Jared? I am sure they can lie and refuse to answer questions just as well.
2
The only truthful statement I can find that she's ever made during her tenure is when she said that she's stepping down from her job......But it has not happened....yet.
Stay tuned.
1
regarding the loans there are also the non-trads eyeing retirement who must continue to work to pay off loans, in some cases now larger than at graduation due to interest!
Unlike the situation with aspiring immigrant families and asylum seekers, forceful separation of children from a parent is the only decent, humane thing to do.
For that matter, some people need to be "given" asylum whether they want it or not.
Sarah Sanders is an American heroine and I will vote for her if she ever runs for President.
1
Interesting perspective on the Hyde amendment. But where does it end? How about the position that war is just mass murder for political reasons and one should not be forced to pay tax dollars to support it?
5
Concerning the student loan puzzle, if the United States (the Fed) is willing to lend money to banks and business at 1% or 2% so that they can maintain enormous profits, why not tie student loans to that same rate plus a point or so? Our nation has just as much a vested interest in college education (including community colleges!) as it does in lining bankers’ pockets. After all, mortgages are tied to that same rate, and many, many student loans are the equivalent of mortgages.
11
This opinion piece gets it right on several fronts, particularly on the media's feeding into national divisiveness by giving what their readers/viewers already believe. More balance in media coverage - report what's important and not just what's inflammatory, report on the good and the bad of a politician (even Trump when you find it) will do the country good. The discussion regarding Biden's penchant for trying to build consensus is also worthwhile. Without consensus building our political system will remain polarized and toxic. While the fringe, both left and right, energize their proponents, most Americans are center-right, center-left and want a functional gov't. This only happens with consensus building and Congressional rules/norms that require bipartisanship. While Biden may not be exciting, ultimately more will be accomplished and more Americans will be drawn to participation than with the Progressive Dem's call to govern with a 1 vote majority in each house of Congress. Remember, rules that allow a 1 vote majority to govern will enable a dramatic change in policy with a change in party control. Do we really want that? While Bret and Gail approach this issue in the commentary, maybe they should show their hands by having a direct discussion of the issue.
1
The two problems with the Hyde amendment are, first, that it privileges one group and their beliefs over everyone else's. I am a taxpayer and I affirmatively desire that my tax dollars go to fund abortions for poor women. Why is my preference discounted compared to Bret Stephens'?
Similarly, I was opposed to the Iraq War from the very beginning, but my tax dollars were spent with gusto killing about half a million Iraqis in the process.
7
The photo says it all.
Sanders gives the deadly stink eye to the press.
9
It was a difficult climb to become the worst WH spokesman ever, but Sarah Huckabee Sanders was certainly up to at least that challenge.
5
So glad to be rid of this disgusting representative who failed to relay the truth and inform to the people of their right to know of daily events in this administration. What a horrible example she set for young women - certainly she was a reminder that just because a woman has attained a position of power doesn't mean she is deserving of respect or is competent. The GOP is leading the way in showing young women that there are no female role models to emulate. They detest law and order and everything the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is suppose to stand for or in the words of Kellyanne Blah, blah blah.
8
Sarah Sanders set a new low for press secretary, lying, dodging and projecting sheer contempt, all in the name of protecting a criminal president. How does she look her kids in the eye? Maybe only after splitting a bottle of chardonnay with that other inveterate liar, Kellyanne Conway.
(The photo of Sanders throwing her trademark stink-eye at the camera was the perfect editorial choice.)
12
You know that at least some of the public are culpable for shoddy news coverage when a major source (whose initials are fox something) ran a leading story on their web page that images from damaged oil tanker showed a UFO had attacked and was just another coverup attempt by governments to keep us from a major development. Yet, the blame may better be placed on all the celebs whose outrageous posts have taken the tabloids from grocery store isles to everyone's phones, from politicians who know saying outrageous things separates the electorate into those who blindly follow and those who get red in their digital faces, where science can be portrayed as nefarious plots (let's leave out corporate misdeeds here please), and the elites are to be sought out with pitchforks and torches.
It has become an offense to think, to wonder about questions for which we do not as yet have answers, to ponder solutions to problems that beset us. When everything gets reduced to black and white and lacks margins, we are simply getting what we have asked for, or at least signaled what we will accept.
That's my opinion, but I hope editors would find it newsworthy.
4
That last comment, Gail. Too funny!
Like so many in this administration, she wasn’t qualified for this job. Got smart and quit! Not
I'm just happy she is gone. I do not want to hear her name anymore
7
Who says Sara Sanders did not provide news? I distinctly recall her telling us once or twice that the First Lady would be accompanying the president an overseas trip. Well....I mean...that counts for something!
It's really hard to imagine a worse press secretary than Sarah Sanders, but I've been wrong before. This comment by Mr. Stephens really sums it all up: "She combined the sincerity of Elmer Gantry with the moral outlook of Raskolnikov."
14
The most important goal for the media during this unusual time is to remain focused on the facts and impartial regarding the politics of the current administration. The media plays a critical role in our democracy and should not become opinionated as to comments or policies of any administration (unless specifically defined as an Opinion). Our democracy will learn from this experience and improve its ability to find the truth in matters that impact our country. I am dismayed by the movement away from factual information and the constant subjectivity and emotion that many media outlets provide.
1
Who cares now that Murdoch has cut DJT lose? Fox publishing that article yesterday that five democratic challengers have better polling numbers than DJT is about as in your face as it gets. Murdoch wants to select the next king.
3
I can’t wait to read the book she will inevitably write. She will have the opportunity to tell us the truth, the real truth, the only truth, the Huckabee truth. What is the Huckabee truth? Well, its like when you say, “That person told a great big whopper”, but now it will be for all time, “That person told a great big Huckabee”.
3
“. . . readers want a division between news reporting and opinion writing.
Bret: Agree again. Too much of the news media seems to be about giving audiences what they want — or think they want — rather than what editors and reporters think our audiences ought to know if they want to be well-informed. It’s demand driven. And most of the demand is to cover the same subjects again and again: Trump-Mueller-Trump-Putin-Trump-Pelosi-Trump-Stormy and so on.”
Frankly, if I want to read an opinion, that’s where I head to – the Op Ed section. There have been times when the line between reporting and opinion writing has been mildly blurred but with this Administration, I understand how that can occur. But I think the priority of any worthy news source, especially the NYT, is to report on a wide range of issues and topics so the audience IS well-informed. If I wanted one-side news, I would subscribe to a different news source.
I’m probably in the minority here, but I get pretty burnt out and saturated with “the same subjects again and again”. I felt that way with the Joe Biden coverage and then the Trump and D-Day coverage. One day full coverage is one thing – but an entire week or that which feels like an entire week is just too much.
Best line of this article was the “Sarah Huckabee Sanders School of Journalism”. That sentence looked like it came hot off of “The Onion” press. She is as inspiring as a marble is sharp.
3
"Sarah Huckabee Sanders Wants You to Know She Was Not Impressed."
Believe it or not, I have much sympathy for Ms. Huckabee Sanders. In fact, I don't blame her for a second. She appears to me like a Greek tragedy figure than anything else.
She knew very little about her job. In fact, she was completely lost. But, every day that she was in the White house, she witnessed the fact that the US public has essentially elected an illiterate salesman as their president. At some point the blight must have infected her.
She must have told to herself: if that is what the US public wants and admires, then that is what I am going to give them! So, she set out to behave as an illiterate saleswoman, whose only job was to sell the other salesman's ideas. What a tragedy!
7
Bret's criticism of cable news re: giving audiences what they think they want, is spot on. Cable news is largely responsible for Trump's election win by keeping the camera's on him instead of the other republican candidates. This practice has continued and is not exclusive to cable news networks. For example, ABC/Good Morning America's continued promotion of The Bachelor/The Bachelorette is disgusting. As is ABC's decision to keep Chris Christie on board. This is lazy journalism and lazy viewing. The result is large part of the population with 'braces on their brains' such that they cannot think critically.
Fareed Zakaria and Christiane Amanpour are notable exceptions.
2
In 1935 H.L.Mencken published a detailed study -- largely employing census data --of the Worst American States in Mencken’s magazine, The American Mercury.
Mississippi captured the title.
A recent study in U.S.News & World Report revealed that Mississippi has now slipped back into third place behind Louisiana and Alabama, with Arkansas coming in No. 6.
Trump has advised her to run for Governor of Arkansas.
If Huckabee is now elected Governor of Arkansas that state will have an excellent chance of gaining the title.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-the-best-state-these-are-the-best-and-worst-states-us-news-world-report-list-2019-05-14/
6
In my nearly 50 years of following politics I have never seen a WH Press Secretary do a better job of representing the Administration they are in charge of representing to the American People than Sanders. Her ability to take the podium day after day, and lie, show contempt for the Press, make up entire stories (FBI emails to her about Comey's firing that never were), etc. were all perfect representations of the amoral corruptness of her boss and his Administration, which is what a Press Secretary's job to do, which is to represent the Administration that they serve to the People. In that light Sanders was absolutely perfect for the job.
19
It's very early of course, but Vice President Biden seems to be running more for the role of being the Edmund Muskie of the 2020 presidential campaign then for President, with his stumbles and bumbles. The ability to unite in scorn the opposing sides on the abortion debate in one fell swoop with his flop on the Hyde Amendment is demonstrating a political gift of the wrong kind. Fire everybody, Joe, and start again!
“She surveyed the media landscape and decided that truth was what she said it was.”
If that’s what she thinks, she needs a psychiatric evaluation specifically reality testing.
4
Bret Stevens suggests that we "often fear that the Trump administration has a way of bringing out the worst in ... journalists." This just in! Trump has a way of bringing out the worst of everybody he gets near. Trump dredges up the worst in the American people.
It is astonishing. Formerly reputable and accomplished men and women have invariably had their own professional reputations shredded to pulp by association with Trump. Nikki Haley seems to be the sole exception proving the rule.
Grown men have been reduced to pathetic, sycophantic toadies by Trump. Lindsey Graham, William Barr, Mick Mulvaney and Mitch McConnell come immediately to mind. Just recently and without a whimper of pushback, Mulvaney was publicly humiliated by daring to cough at a Trump interview resulting in his being kicked unceremoniously out of the Oval Office.
I sometimes wonder if our toxic president possesses the satanic power to bring out the shrivelled spirit in all of us or if, deep down, we are really this terrible and Trump has merely turned on the bilious spigot.
We shall know soon enough.
2
Wait...what? The White House Spokesperson's job is to say whatever the White House wants. They put her out there and tell her, "say this." You can disagree with her willingness to go along with the dissembling, but you can't argue that such willingness is basically the definition of the job. I just hope she and her family don't get kicked out anymore restaurants. That was just rude.
If you believe what a Press Secretary says, you probably get your news from farcebook. Learn how to discern, people.
1
True she wasn’t a journalist, true she wasn’t forthcoming, true she wasn’t patient, true she wasn’t considerate , true she was a Trump sycophant, true she wasn’t a fan of the truth, true she wasn’t anyone who did this country a service in working for this administration. Of all his people in this position she wasn’t what this country deserved.
1
"Too much of the news media seems to be about giving audiences what they want — or think they want — rather than what editors and reporters think our audiences ought to know if they want to be well-informed. It’s demand driven."
The "It's demand driven" claim is a cop-out, Bret. Someone called our current economy 'the attention economy.' Purveyors of content, and social media providers, are deliberately trying to addict us to their content, in the same manner that opioid producers tried to addict users to their product and are getting sued for it. (Did you know that Facebook employs cognitive behavioral psychologists--not to help you, but to get you addicted to their products.) You might not die by being addicted to your phone, but it is destroying our society, and the NYT does not have clean hands.
https://www.vox.com/2018/8/8/17664580/persuasive-technology-psychology
1
Although stating the obvious can be incredibly boring I would mention that anyone can be a critic. It's obviously the mission of the NYTs (as well as their favorite kind of fun) to "put down" everyone that does not support their world and political views. I would also say I am not striking a blow for Fox news- a good news media is one that informs rather than attempt to gain status thru sacrificing others or the reputation of others. Whether you agree with the things Sarah Huckabee said or not she is one heluva representative to have been able to stand up to the continuous attacks and onslaught of inappropriate and rude reporters and journalists. Good Luck Sarah
4
I find it quaint that you think there will be a replacement.
4
Sarah Sanders may not feel ashamed (there is truly no shaming the shameless), but she WILL be remembered—for taking a paycheck as “press secretary” and then providing precious few press briefings filled with misinformation and disinformation.
Goodbye, Sarah. You have made it impossible to feel sorry for you...but I do regret the future mortification your children and grandchildren may feel...
2
The column that’s a ceasefire station among the wounded and corpses in no man’s land between armies in the trenches of the “I Refuse To Deal With Change” Right and the “No Conservatives Allowed To Buy in This Neighborhood” Left.
We need to recognize the broader significance of Sarah Huckabee Sanders. We need to grasp that she is crucial contributor to the true "deep state," who joins with other fanatical and alleged Christians, like William Barr (Opus Dei), Betsy DeVos, Mike Pompeo, Mike Pence, and a host of others who are focused like a laser on restoring their vision of "the traditional moral order" in our Republic, no matter that it violates our Constitution. Trump is no problem to them. He is useful tool in their crusade.
2
Nothing in that face says the President of the United states is a public servant, accountable to We, the People.
Rather, the face says: I work for Louis XVI, and you peasants can all eat cake.
6
She represents everything that is wrong with Trump, the Republicans, and the gutting of the American soul by news-as-warfare *not you NYT, think Fox*
Good residence to her. A disgrace to respect for the American people and to service to the office of the presidency. But not to Trump, as he is as the mob says, and he'd know, the fish rots at the head.
Although mob bosses are much smarter than Trump.
2
One thing she did was put the lie to this stuff about women being kinder, gentler, etc. All that noise about women being naturally more inclusive than men died when she took the podium.
2
This election year coming up Fox News is putting all their cards in Trump, therefore they are going to need the perfect Trump spinner...you're hired Ms. Sanders!
Not sure where the two of you were trying to go in this column, but I don't think you went anywhere. Was it about Huckabee-Sanders or the candidates or journalism? It wasn't funny and it wasn't clear. You can both do better.
Don't cover so many topics, people. Gail can be very droll but this column left me with a Sarah HS raised eyebrow.
My favourite overheard comment about Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s promise to leave the White House go something like this: I won’t believe that she’s leaving until she denies that she’s leaving.
5
I think that the three year college program and, especially, the apprenticeship at companies with a highly structured program are both amazing ideas!! Seems to me that many young people who decide not to go to college see it as a dead end and the apprenticeship program would offer a real-life transition to a career -- very good for kids who are reaching beyond what their friends and family do. Three years is more do-able and it doesn't prevent people from pursuing a higher degree if needed. Gail is usually my favorite ;), but I think these ideas could make a difference.
2
@Karen
We do something similar in Quebec, with our CEGEP system. It was a lifesaver for me. I could never have afforded college and university without it. And it also made me think hard about going into a trade instead of automatically thinking I must go to university.
3
Regarding the Hyde Amendment - many Americans think abortion is murder and that their tax dollars ought not to support abortion, i.e., murder. Now, what if I thought that about the Iraq war? Using drones to kill people remotely? Not using tax dollars to promote sex education and contraception? We already have restrictions on not using tax dollars to investigate the carnage caused by guns. How do we function as a country if each one of us lays down restrictions on what his or her tax money may be used for?
2
One professional liar, working for another professional liar, in order to expand and propagate as many more lies as possible.
So inured to lying are Trump and Sanders that neither one of them could recognize the truth it if it was standing right in front of them. Good riddance to her. And, one day, to Trump himself.
To that day.
15
Let me be perfectly clear: I did not vote for Trump or W or HW or Reagan, but they are/were the leaders of our nation so what they say and do should be reported truthfully and clearly to the entire nation. That is the purpose and job of the free press that is defined in our constitution. I hope the free press does that job. Otherwise our democracy as a whole is doomed! Every spoke-person does what is "good" for their respective administration, so what comes out of their mouth may or may not be the truth.
2
I congratulate all journalists who have made a sincere effort to report the facts and the truth in the face of the mendacious Trump Administration.
These journalists have stood up to the lying attacks on their profession and continued to keep the public informed in the face of people like Sarah Sanders who continuously strove to distort the truth and mock journalists. She is the one who showed herself to be less than honest and a thoroughly reprehensible person. Her boss (the president) continuously lied and she would swear to those lies. The majority of the voting public came to distrust her.
5
"The most worrisome thing to me is the way so much cable news has turned into a contest over who can shout loudest about Donald Trump."
You can blame the news/entertainment media for giving Trump too much attention when he was simply mismanaging his business empire. They gave Trump the platform for his shameless mythmaking. Unfortunately, it's too late to ignore Trump now that he is mismanaging the country.
6
Proud? The press has taken the bait from Trump each and every time, repeating the lies, following the polemic tricks, riding the trump bump, feeding on the outrage. Until his antics are relegated to page 36 he always gets his narrative to dominate the chatter.
4