White House Deputy Chief of Staff told Durbin, Others About Erroneous Rude GOP Comment

[Segami]

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Nabors looks at his Blackberry.

The disputed story - first shared publicly on his campaign Facebook page by the Senate’s number two Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois - that an unidentified senior House Republican Leader during negotiations over the debt ceiling and partial government shutdown told President Obama “I cannot even stand to look at you” made its way from the White House to the Senate via White House deputy chief of staff Rob Nabors, sources tell CNN. Nabors told the story to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Durbin, and the two other Senate Democratic leaders, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Patty Murray of Washington, on Tuesday October 15, sources tell CNN. Reid then told the story to the entire Senate Democratic caucus, sources in the room at the time tell CNN, identifying the House Republican leader as Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas., who denies the story. Durbin posted it on his campaign Facebook page without mentioning Sessions' name.



Sessions isn’t the only one who denies it; on Wednesday when White House press secretary Jay Carney was asked about it at his daily briefing and said “I looked into it and spoke with somebody who was in the meeting and it did not happen.” The statement upset Senate Democrats, since they had heard the story from the White House’s Nabors and the White House was now accusing Durbin of sharing an untruthful story. Durbin did not back down. “Senator Durbin stands by his comments,” said Max Gleischman, a spokesman for Durbin, on Wednesday. On Thursday a White House official accepted some blame for the story, saying, “While the quote attributed to a Republican lawmaker in the House GOP meeting with the President is not accurate, there was a miscommunication when the White House read out that meeting to Senate Democrats, and we regret the misunderstanding.”



Senior administration officials tell CNN that according to senior White House officials in the room, Sessions in the meeting was expressing frustration with the situation, not with President Obama. White House officials would not comment on whether Rob Nabors misunderstood what Sessions said or whether he just communicated the story to Senate Democrats in a less than optimal way. Nabors could not be reached for comment.




http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/24/white-house-deputy-chief-of-staff-told-durbin-others-about-erroneous-rude-gop-comment/

[hrmjustin]

1. Well now we know.

[Ranchemp.]

2. More clarification.

It seems that this whole story is really a non story and Nabors needs to come forward and either apologize to all involved or refute the WH version.

[Kingofalldems]

4. Why do you keep demanding apologies from Democrats?

[Ranchemp.]

5. When someone is wrong,

I would expect an apology from them, no matter who or what party they belong to.
And the apology I would expect from Nabors would be to the Democrats whom he passed this on to.

[joeybee12]

7. Nope, seems obvious to me Sessions did say it and the WH

doesn't want to get into a p*ssing match over this...the quote is right, Durbin is right, they're just trying to smooth it over, which I don't think they should do.

[Ranchemp.]

10. So Jay Carney was lying yesterday

when he flatly denied it happened?

[joeybee12]

12. Please show me a flat denial...I see a "miscommunication"

[Ranchemp.]

13. Here.

Durbin's Facebook post began making waves Tuesday evening. On Wednesday afternoon, White House press secretary Jay Carney flatly denied that the exchange happened. House Republicans, too, were baffled.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/dick-durbin-quote-obama-gop-leader-cannot-stand-look-at-you-2013-10#ixzz2if5gUYNj

[Kingofalldems]

8. So where on DU did you demand an apology from

republicans for the shutdown of our government?

[Ranchemp.]

9. We're not discussing that here.

And I don't answer to you.
Bye Bye.

[Kingofalldems]

11. Not surprised.

[AlinPA]

14. It is quite believable it was said, given all the hate talk by the teabaggers/GOP

since Obama has been President. All the dirty racist jokes, signs, and other ugliness just keeps being thrown at the President. It is a story and no apology is needed by the WH or Durbin. Sessions denials are odd since his base loves that kind of talk, it makes them proud of him. The WH denials are being done to cool the "partisan passions" and to move on to other issues.

[Ranchemp.]

15. Or it's just as possible that the story is wrong and the

White House is doing the honorable thing by debunking it, Jay Carney was pretty clear that the incident didn't happen at the presser yesterday.

Durbin's Facebook post began making waves Tuesday evening. On Wednesday afternoon, White House press secretary Jay Carney flatly denied that the exchange happened. House Republicans, too, were baffled.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/dick-durbin-quote-obama-gop-leader-cannot-stand-look-at-you-2013-10#ixzz2if5gUYNj

There's no doubt that Sessions is a teabagging racist piece of dung, but if the WH says it didn't happen, then I tend to believe them.

[AlinPA]

16. The WH's "miscommunication" thing is hard to follow, indeed. But it's hard to believe Boehner,

Cantor or any of their staff after hearing all those insults and racist remarks the GOP/teabaggers have used previously. It's their trademark.

[Ranchemp.]

18. It's pretty clear that the Repugs have resorted to insults and racist remarks,

but this one time I have to believe that this story isn't quite what it's been made out to be, especially in light of the WH denials.

[hrmjustin]

19. I think Sessions probably said it.

[Ranchemp.]

20. I can't say positively whether he did or didn't,

and neither can Reid or Durbin or anyone else here as none of us were there when the alleged incident took place, I have to go by second hand reports and the WH debunking this is a pretty good indication that the story isn't what it was first reported.

[hrmjustin]

21. Or the president did not want to make a big deal about it. Remember that Sessions is not a good

person and is capable of doing this.

[Ranchemp.]

22. And here is the crux of this whole story,

your impression is just as valid as mine.
Unless this Nabors or Pres. Obama come forward and bluntly clears this up, we'll probably never know the whole truth.

[hrmjustin]

23. Yes they should come foward. But I never trust these GOPers in congress.

[Ranchemp.]

25. Nobody in their right mind should trust the GOP'ers in congress.

That we most definitely agree on.

[hrmjustin]

26. Agreed.

[uponit7771]

6. What's bad is the story wasn't doubted, GOPers WOULD say something like that because they hate

... Obama so much

[City Lights]

17. How does a "miscommunication" turn into "I cannot even stand to look at you?"

What was supposed to be communicated during the read out of the meeting?

My gut still thinks it was "read out" accurately the first time.

[Arkana]

24. Sounds like he just had a Josh Lyman moment.