×

Please verify

Blaze Media
Blaze Media
Watch LIVE

Obama Reportedly Makes Eyebrow-Raising Terrorism Remark in Private Talk With Columnists — A Short Time Later, Comment Disappears From NY Times Story

US

"If Baker keeps at it, perhaps Obama will do the right thing, and just say these self-interested things on the record, where they belong."

Jason Howerton
December 18, 2015
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (L) and US Secretary of State John Kerry (R) look on as US President Barack Obama delivers remarks after a national security team meeting at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Virginia, December 17, 2015. Obama said Thursday that there was no 'specific' terror threat to the United States but urged Americans to remain alert over the holiday period. AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON / AFP / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

UPDATE: New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker responded on Friday to questions surrounding the editing of the story on Obama's terrorism remarks.

The Times also released a statement to the Washington Examiner's Becket Adams:

“Thanks for the question. There’s nothing unusual here. That paragraph, near the bottom of the story, was trimmed for space in the print paper by a copy editor in New York late last night. Bit it was in our story on the web all day and read by many thousands of readers. Web stories without length constraints are routinely edited for print.”

However, The Federalist's Sean Davis said the explanation "makes no sense."

Original story below.

---

President Barack Obama indicated during a private meeting with columnists that he “did not see enough cable television to fully appreciate the anxiety after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino,” the New York Times reported on Thursday. He also reportedly said he plans to “step up his public arguments.”

The comments, first reported by New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker and reporter Gardiner Harris, were later seemingly scrubbed by the newspaper without an explanation in the story.

The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple included the comments in his reporting before they disappeared from the New York Times report:

In today’s piece, Baker captured an Obama confession that doubles as a back-handed endorsement of this world’s CNNs and Fox Newses: “In his meeting with the columnists, Mr. Obama indicated that he did not see enough cable television to fully appreciate the anxiety after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, and made clear that he plans to step up his public arguments,” write Baker and Harris. “Republicans were telling Americans that he is not doing anything when he is doing a lot, he said.”

If Baker keeps at it, perhaps Obama will do the right thing, and just say these self-interested things on the record, where they belong. And lest anyone tweet nonsense about ethical considerations here, be it known that Baker and Harris are trodding Poynter-approved turf: Though the columnists attending these get-togethers are bound not to quote the president, Baker and Harris live under no such constraint.

Baker did not reply to an online request for clarification from Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto on Thursday.

---

Most recent

Speaker ATTACKED by 'feminist' activists

All Articles
Recommended

Guns are loud. We fix that.

Female shooter kills 3 children, 3 staff members at Nashville Christian school (UPDATE)

Footage shows loose tire send Kia Soul flying above LA freeway

Missing Indiana boy found safe after 8 days, police still investigating 'disturbing' photo of T-shirt he was forced to wear by parents

Liberal media issues corrections with transsexual child-killer's preferred pronouns after school shooting, prompting outrage

6 girls dead in Tennessee car crash, all of the children were ejected from the vehicle

All Articles