Jay Carney Bemoans White House Briefing ‘Theatricality’ In Colbert Report Exit Interview

The day after his final briefing, outgoing White House Press Secretary Jay Carney gave The Colbert Report‘s Stephen Colbert an exit interview of sorts, and when Colbert pressed him on the many “tense” exchanges with the likes of ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, Carney chalked it up to the “theatricality” of televised briefings. It’s a common complaint, but that aspect of the briefings is actually a feature, not a bug.

Colbert’s interview was more heavily weighted toward substance than his usual yuckfests, and gave a glimpse through the window of Carney’s briefing room mindset. He told Colbert what was behind the caution he exhibited, especially in the early days of his tenure.

Colbert asked if there were meetings to hammer out the administration’s message, “or do you some days go out there and say, ‘I’m going to wing this and try not to start an international incident?'”

“There is a danger that as you’ve done it for a while, you begin to think you don’t need to actually…”

“I’m kind of the president, I’m kind of the president,” Colbert interrupted. “You know what I mean? You feel like, hey, the camera’s pointed at me. I must be the man.”

“I think I’ll make some policy today,” Carney said. “No, what you realize is that when you speak for the President and the White House and the United States, you have to be careful. and you– you could inadvertently cause a crisis or a misunderstanding between our nation and another nation. So we do spend a lot of time before briefings, going over what is the new development, or what new are we saying about a crisis overseas or at home.”

It was a canny observation by Colbert…READ MORE

By: Tommy Christopher

Tommy Christopher is The Daily Banter's White House Correspondent and Political Analyst. He's been a political reporter and liberal commentator since 2007, and has covered the White House since the beginning of the Obama administration, first for PoliticsDaily, and then for Mediaite. Christopher is a frequent guest on a variety of television, radio, and online programs, and was the villain in the documentaries The Audacity of Democracy and Hating Breitbart. He's also That Guy Who Live-Tweeted His Own Heart Attack, and the only person to have ever received public apologies from both Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.