As I covered on Friday morning, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a Thursday night recording for "Pod Save America" that by working for Fox News, Peter Doocy "might... sound like a stupid son of a bitch." She finally responded, hours later, on Friday evening.
Full video shows I also told a story about Peter’s grace last night and made very clear I was not being critical of him or any reporter at Fox, and instead was critical of the slant of some Fox topics. He is doing his job. I am doing mine. We debate. We disagree. I respect that.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) April 16, 2022
Such was the only tweet Psaki has issued from her official account, and it's not exactly an apology. It's more of a clean-up job, as our friends at Twitchy pointed out.
Many took to replying to take issue with Psaki's explanation. As of Saturday night, the tweet has nearly 7,000 replies.
nothing about what you said was respectful. you’re tacky and rude. go ahead and join your liberal network—it’s where you belong
— Jessica O’Donnell (@heckyessica) April 16, 2022
You accused him of using questions given to him by the network. According to the reporters at Fox, the network doesn’t tell them what to ask. They don’t work from a list of approved reporters & talking points like you give your boss on notecards.
— LorieByrd (@LorieByrd) April 16, 2022
yeah I said he was a bastard but did you also see the part where I said something nice?!
— LB (@beyondreasdoubt) April 16, 2022
The full video posted to YouTube is aptly titled "Jen Psaki Talks Honestly About Fox News and Republicans," with a candid part of the interview featuring "what she can't say at the podium." Psaki herself also laughed along with the question, along with the audience who roared with laughter and applause.
The hosts, former Obama adviser clowns Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer, tried to stop Psaki from telling "a nice Peter Doocy story," which they looked to be in torture over having to sit through.
For all the build-up, that "nice story" was about how Doocy acted with "grace" to President Joe Biden calling him a "stupid son of a bitch," while she also laughed at "Hannity," the show Doocy was appearing on that night to address Biden's insult. In other words, he didn't act like a total jerk, even though Biden would have deserved it, which is what the definition of "grace" is.
It's worth reminding that President Joe Biden didn't exactly apologize to Doocy either, when in January he himself insulted Doocy in such a way, for daring to ask about inflation.
Psaki is leaving the White House for MSNBC sometime ahead of the midterms, which is third in the ratings, compared to Fox News, which is first.