President Obama dodges answering news conference question regarding private Bradley Manning.

[Better Believe It]

Transcript from President Obama's news conference held today.

JAKE TAPPER: State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the treatment of Bradley Manning by the Pentagon is "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid" and I'm wondering if you agree with that.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: With respect to Private Manning I have actually asked the Pentagon whether or not .... ahh .... ahh .... the procedures that have been taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards. They assured me that they are. I can't go into details about some of their concerns but some of this has to do with private Manning's safety as well.

JAKE TAPPER: Do you disagree with Crowley?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I think I gave you an answer to the substantive issue.

[Robb]

1. He didn't dodge anything. That's a pretty good answer.

What did you want him to say?

[truebrit71]

5. How about actually answer the questions he was given ie Do you agree that his treament is stupid..

..and do you disagree with the spokesperson's statement?

Neither of which he answered. He gave a Nixonian non-denial denial, and then move on..His body language however told a different story..

[Robb]

12. "Do you agree with X" is a fucking stupid gotcha question.

It puts the President in the position of endorsing or denying anything PJ said that day. Screw that.

He answered the actual substance of the issue, not the "Do you agree with X" bullshit.

[truebrit71]

18. He was asked a question as to whether he backed up the statement of a fellow govt employee...

...as relates to a very important issue which he then didn't answer, and then passed of some platitudes about things being 'appropriate' and that was the end of that.

If you are fine with the President violating the constitution, great, I am not, and this was an attempt by the press to get a straight forward answer to a straight forward question.

[Robb]

21. I'll call yours an interesting assessment, and stop at that.

[Shagbark Hickory]

14. He would have give the same quality of response if asked about aliens at area 51.

It was a non answer.

[villager]

16. The truth. For once. Would be nice.

n/t

[FLAprogressive]

20. "The Pentagon told me he was being treated properly so that's good enough for me" is NOT dodging the

question? Maybe it isn't, but it's a piss poor excuse for an answer.

[Better Believe It]

22. He dodged the question about P.J. Crowley's statement two times!

[Robb]

24. Where did he say "good enough for me"?

You don't get to play fill-in-the-blanks here.

Glossed over is the fact that Obama just said he's inquired into Manning's situation. That's something we didn't know yesterday. That makes two people who have asked after Manning: Kucinich, and Obama.

That's news. Not the OP's "Dean scream" silliness.

[FLAprogressive]

27. it's a paraphrase

"I have actually asked the Pentagon whether or not the procedures that have been taken … are appropriate … They assured me that they are." End of discussion.

If the assurance was not good enough, then why imply that it was

[truebrit71]

25. That has 'plausible deniability' written all over it...

...and I expected much, MUCH more from a student of the Constitution...

[Robb]

26. OK, do YOU agree with PJ Crowley?

Yes or no?

[truebrit71]

31. Yes. The treatment is counterproductive and stupid.

Very simple answer.

[Robb]

33. Crowley said "Manning is in the right place."

In the http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2011/03/11/pj-crowley-at-center-for-civic-media-almost-25-as-popular-as-castro/">very next sentence.

The OP and the idiots at FDL skipped that bit.

“I spent 26 years in the air force. What is happening to Manning is ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid, and I don’t know why the DoD is doing it. Nevertheless, Manning is in the right place.”

You want a yes or no answer to "do you agree with PJ" when PJ took a very nuanced position. Again, absurd.

[truebrit71]

41. Not so much. Yes he is in the right place for someone charged with his crimes, and yes his treatment

..is ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid.

See, very simple, and easily answered with a simple 'yes'.

[truebrit71]

2. Thanks for the transcript. Obama now owns this. He is allowing human rights violations to occur...

..and his eventual bullshit response of "I was assured by those that had more direct knowledge of the situation that everything has within established guidelines" will be just as criminal, and just as abhorrent as the response being given by his predecessors about conditions at Abu Ghraib (sp) and Gitmo.

The fact that a former constitutional scholar can so glibly parse this off staggers me...

[Robb]

4. Even Kucinich can't make time to visit Manning, and you want Obama to?

:D

[tridim]

3. How come you added the "..ahh...ahh..." part to the quote?

I searched and you're the only person on the entire Internet that did that.

Why did you feel that was necessary?

[Robb]

7. Interesting question.

I would assume it's a "Dean scream" sort of thing. An anti-Johnny Mercer, if you're old enough to get it. ;)

[truebrit71]

8. 'cos it was in the transcript???

:shrug:

[tridim]

10. What transcript?

OP provided no link.

[luvspeas]

19. this is also NOT his complete response....

[Bobbie Jo]

38. Enough

to elicit the desired response here.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Scuba]

9. What he should have said is...

"Bradley Manning is an American hero for exposing war crimes."

What he might have said is: "Report indicate Bradley Manning has been subjected to conditions that are unlawful according to the Army's Field Manual regarding treatment of prisoners. I'm investigating."

[Robb]

15. He's also guilty of violating the food pyramid.

The Army Field Manual has about as much to do with Manning's detention.

[Rex]

11. Shame, shame everyone knows your name.

[CBGLuthier]

13. Is a fascist enabler a fascist?

Seems the lines get blurrier every god damned day in this country.

[Poboy]

17. "The United States does not torture"- Oh, that was the last guy, wasn't it.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

23. Did he offer any platitudes about Human Rights...for others of course.

[jaxx]

28. People tend to ignore that Manning stole classified information

and gave it to a foreign entity.

He's in custody for that, as would anyone who did the same be.

[truebrit71]

30. Then charge him, give him access to the evidence against him, and treat him according to the law...

...what is currently going on is a violation of his basic human rights, and a violation of the constitution...Is it okay to ignore that?

[jaxx]

35. Charges were filed after his arrest.

22 more charges were filed in the last couple weeks. He is awaiting his military trial, is his lawyer is not demanding a fast one?

Info about charges here>> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41876046/ns/us_news-security/

[hedgehog]

29. I don't know, what I heard was the sound of someone getting ready

to make sure some heads start rolling as soon as all the facts are in.

[truebrit71]

32. Well, there's a first time for everything I suppose..

...I think it was as I suggested, covering his own ass..

[Better Believe It]

34. The first head to roll will probably be that of P. J. Crowley for daring to criticize the Pentagon

[Robb]

36. Crowley said "Manning is in the right place."

I suspect the Pentagon agrees. :shrug:

[somone]

37. The status quo shall not be disturbed

[Better Believe It]

39. The Official White House News Conference Transcript

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release March 11, 2011
News Conference by the President
South Court Auditorium


Jake Tapper. Where’s Jake?

Q Thanks, Mr. President. Experts say they can’t recall a time when the U.S. ever had to rush assistance to a nuclear power plant in another country before. What can you tell us about how serious this is with the U.S. rushing coolant to Japan because of the nuclear plant there?

And then, a second question -- the State Department spokesman, PJ Crowley, said the treatment of Bradley Manning by the Pentagon is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid. And I’m wondering if you agree with that. Thank you, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: On point number one, when I spoke to Prime Minister Kan, I specifically asked him about the nuclear plants and their potential vulnerability as a consequence of the earthquake. He indicated that they are monitoring the situation very closely. So far, they have not seen evidence of radiation leaks. But, obviously, you’ve got to take all potential precautions. And I’ve asked Steve Chu, our Energy Secretary, to be in close contact with their personnel to provide any assistance that’s necessary, but also to make sure that if, in fact, there have been breaches in the safety system on these nuclear plants, that they’re dealt with right away.

With respect to Private Manning, I have actually asked the Pentagon whether or not the procedures that have been taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards. They assure me that they are. I can’t go into details about some of their concerns, but some of this has to do with Private Manning’s safety as well.

Q Do you disagree with PJ Crowley?

THE PRESIDENT: I think I gave you an answer to the substantive issue.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/03/11/news-conference-president

[Robb]

40. Where are the "ah"s you stuck in your OP?

Dean Scream?

[Better Believe It]

42. See Obama's comments regarding Manning on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ2cUk8tuTU&feature=player_embedded

[Better Believe It]

44. Kick

[defendandprotect]

43. What we heard was nauseating enough --

:puke:

[Imagevision]

45. When Team Obama canceled the BP investigations I was blown away!