Snippy Meets Snarky

Although a charter member of the (non-existent) Double Haters for Harris club, I cannot ignore a habit of the Democratic presidential nominee.

This should have been an easy one, even for a bad press secretary.  Noting the southern accent Harris briefly assumed at a rally with unions in Detroit, Peter Doocy asked Jean-Pierre "since when does the vice president have what sounds like a southern accent?" The press secretary responded "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Evidently, she either was lying or is simply unaware. Doocy noted that the vice president had briefly sported a southern accent in Pittsburgh, and she has done so in Atlanta.

 

 

Jean-Pierre maintained

Do you hear the question that you’re… Do you think Americans seriously think that this is an important question? You know what they care about? They care about the economy. They care about lowering costs. They care about healthcare. That’s what Americans care about. That’s what they want to hear....

They care about, your colleague just asked me about democracy, basically we talked about, went back and forth about democracy and freedom. That’s what they care about.

Having entertained- not answered, but entertained- the question, Jean-Pierre commented "I'm not even going to entertain some question about the.... Hearing it sounds so ridiculous" and a moment later characterized it as "just insane."

Alas, not so ridiculous or insane:

 

The ignorant or deceptive response from Karine Jean-Pierre could have been easily avoided. The official position held by Jean-Pierre is White House Press Secretary, whose "primary responsibility" (according to Wikipedia) is "to act as spokesperson for the executive branch of the United States federal government, especially with regard to the president, senior aides and executives, as well as government policies."  

Jean-Pierre is not the campaign chairman. She might have legitimately sidestepped the rather snippy but legitimate query by noting that she is not a spokesperson for the campaign and that the question would be more appropriately posed to the nominee herself. "My role in this position is not to speak for her, or anyone's campaign, and you may wish to direct the question to the candidate herself" should not have been difficult to figure out.

The good news is that American voters are not averse to voting for an inauthentic politician for President: actor Reagan over Carter and Mondale; WJ Clinton over Dole; Bush over Gore and Kerry; Obama over McCain; and the ultimate in inauthenticity- Donald J. Trump- over HR Clinton. And better news: a President Trump would replace Karine Jean-Pierre (presumably with a Republican) and a President Harris probably would want her own woman or man in the position. Let's hope for the latter outcome, notwithstanding the diversity of bad accents we might be subjected to.

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