Exclusive: Robert Gibbs Responds to Politico’s ‘Laughtergate’ Exposé

by Tommy Christopher | 12:36 pm, February 11th, 2010

» 13 comments

As we reported earlier, Politico has published part 2 of their yearlong expose´ of White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs‘ comedic chops. Using state-of-the-art word count technology, they have determined that Gibbs is about half as funny as he used to be.

I asked Gibbs for his reaction to Politico’s report, and to criticisms of Tuesday’s Sarah Palin “handgate” gag. Here’s what he had to say.

On the subject of the Politico story:

I read the story and both laughed and cried.

Responding to criticisms, such as this one, of the Sarah Palin joke he did on Tuesday:

All I would say is this – everyone should have a sense of humor, its needed more than ever in Washington.

I tend to agree with Gibbs on both counts. Far from a “disgrace,” his Palin jibe was about as good-natured as it gets (it’s not like he accused her of attempted murder), and the Politico story is, itself, a sad joke.

As Apoliticus points out, Politico leaves out pertinent details in its new story. By their own count, Gibbs’ new LBI (Laughs Batted In) average is still higher than his three immediate predecessors combined.

Their methodology, such as it is, is pretty flawed, too. It’s obvious that Gibbs is prone to cracking wise, but scanning transcripts for the word “laughter” can hardly be called “analysis.” There’s no way to tell who is causing the laughter. Did Politico check to see if there had been a corresponding decrease in instances of the word “Lester?”

Granted, the Politico piece makes some fair, if not new, observations, but it doesn’t seem like a simple laugh count really supports any of the conclusions. It’s almost as if they just needed something to propel a rote critique of the Obama administration into delicious Drudge-bait.

Andrew Sullivan, barack obama, drudge, Drudge bait, Jason Linkins, Julie Mason, Patrick Gavin, Politico, Robert Gibbs, Sarah Palin, The State of Journalism, Tommy Christopher, White House Press Corps

The Real Royal King

I miss all the chortles and yucks when we had Ari, Scotty and Dana. That was a fun-loving group.
scristanti

political story a ” sad joke”, are you kidding? the sad joke is gibbs, this was so beneath him with that sacred White House seal behind him, but then I know how liberal christoper is, it looked stupid of him to make this joke when a few words on his hand is a far cry from teleprompters with words WRITTEN for obama everywhere he goes, you would think gibbs would not even want to bring that up, and when obama had teleprompters in that classroom last week on two big boxes speaking to reporters , it was a priceless picture, he looked like an idiot, I thought that was a joke,. and look how he speaks without them, ” CORPSEMEN” ???? 57 STATES???? Come on, if BUSH had done this and I just bet there were more times that BUSH did not need or use teleprompters near as many times as obama HAS to use them, obama is not running the country , its his chicago buddies doing it all, they just used him to get in there, he has to be told what to say for the day, he is good at deleivering the words written for him, but then he practices it daily , so please do not compare it to Palin reading some words off her hand without teleprompters, her own words, no speechwriter, and she was good, and what she said was so so true and wheather you want to believe it or not , she knows what she is talking about. you just hate her guts you libs here and your obsession with her makes you all crazy. she will get the last laugh, and is laughing all the way to the bank. she is not going to run for president, I dont think she wants to, but if she lets you all think she is, she keeps getting all the coverage, pretty smart! now go nuts you libs here
buzzyboop

I don’t think so. I believe Tony Snow (GRHS) had them all beat. The difference is Tony Snow got his yuks at the expense of the pool reporters, so we were the ones yukking it up.

Gibbs is a clown, and that ain’t a compliment.
The Real Royal King

Well, S Cristanti, you certainly have a familiar writing style, and we know of your contempt for our President, but I suspect we’d all like a topic review of the question at hand in this link instead of a a flow of Obama bashing.
The Real Royal King

The Tony Snow question is an interesting one. Of the W lot, Snow was the true believer, the rigid rightist ideologue. Yet, he was uncomfortable, obviously, with the constant lying demanded of the W White House. Ari and Dana pulled off the lying brilliantly. Scotty and Tony not at all well. That is a compliment to Tony on all accounts, and a compliment of sort to Scotty.
buzzyboop

RRK:

you state “…constant lying demanded of the W White House.”

This is as compared to the Øbamanistas? Puhleeze, Øbama wouldn’t recognize lie even if his teleprompter told him so.

And as far as Gibbs parody of Gov. Palin, no problems from me with it. Conversely, Gibbs et al need to be thicker skinned about the TOTUS jokes, which he just legitimized with his palm notes ‘joke.’.
ImNotBlue

The Real Royal King says:
February 11, 2010 at 1:11 pm

Yes, I always love it when the White House thinks it’s Comedy Central.
Ted

Rush, uh…buzzypoop – Obamanistas? I am sorry, you must be thinking of the Clintonistas. Obama needs to be something different.

I think however you are mistaken about the teleprompter. If it told him to lie, he would. If it told him to take notes on his hand from now on, I’m sure he would take that advice as well. Okay Rush, uh…fuzzypoop?
writer

It’s said there’s a fine line between comedy and tragedy. Gibbs’ humor leans more toward tragedy.
dhg

Gibbs himself is a tragedy.A robotic mouthpiece dumber than a bag of hammers.Do they really have to have as the face of the government a total dork?
MichelleF

Ted, I’d pay to see Rush debate you or any other lefty without notes. He would wipe the floor with anyone you put up. Now you may begin your hate-filled rebuttal.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ruth-Will/1237687345 Ruth Will

GIBBS, is a EMPTY SUIT DOUCHE BAG, He is so SOPHMORIC , you’d think he and the childish PMS-NBC
were still in HIGH SCHOOL! GOD help us when this is the TRASH in public office , its no wonder to me why they CAN”T lead this great country. THEY HAVE NO CLUE HOW THAT”S DONE. THey couldn’t run a candy store or a two car parade for that matter, if all our lives and country depended on it , which it does!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Philip-Gussin/100000537759484 Philip Gussin

The real problem has less to do with the methodology than the interpretation of the results. When Gibbs is getting an abudance of laughs. it is interpreted as evidence of a liberal bias. When Gibbs is getting fewer laughs than before, it is offered as evidence that the White House is in disarray. In other words, no matter what the results, the interpretation is negative.