The White House got its nose bent out of shape when House Speaker John Boehner announced at his weekly news briefing Wednesday that he asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress without first consulting President Obama.
Aren’t Congress and the White House co-equal branches of government?
Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters that Netanyahu will be speaking next month “on the grave threats of radical Islam and the threat that Iran poses, to not only the Middle East, but frankly, to the world.”
These are issues that Boehner said the president had “papered over” in his State of the Union address.
Watch his comments, via CNS News. Story continues after clip.
The speaker confirmed that the White House had not been consulted beforehand.
“Congress can make this decision on its own,” he said.
He was asked by a CNN reporter whether this wasn’t a deliberate “poke in the eye” to the president.
“I don’t believe I’m poking anyone in the eye,” he replied. “There is a serious threat that exists in the world and the president last night kind of papered over it.”
Aboard Air Force One, chief White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters that the first he’d heard of the prime minister’s visit was shortly before the speaker’s news briefing, according to the Associated Press. He denounced it as a breach of protocol.
Earnest says typical protocol is that a country’s leader would contact the White House before planning to visit the United States. But Earnest says they didn’t hear about Boehner’s invitation until Wednesday morning, shortly before the speaker announced it publicly.
In the mainstream media, the day’s news bite wasn’t that Netanyahu would soon be addressing Congress; it was that Boehner didn’t ask the president, “Mother may I?” and social media picked right up on it — with the general theme of “Obama just got pwned.”
ABC’s political director, Rick Klein, got hammered when he brought it up on Twitter:
And the media has found their talking point. Their bizarre, irrelevant, whiny talking point https://t.co/2MHFlNgo1E @rickklein
— L (@OrwellForks) January 21, 2015
CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller couldn’t find traction either when he raised the same non-issue:
@markknoller Like he didn’t consult about: #IRS #gruber #FnF #Bergdahl #Taliban5 #Gitmo #Benghazi #AP #VA #DOJ #Amnesty #ISIS – Like that?
— fordgt40 (@nobamanoway) January 21, 2015
@TheRightWingM @PressSec @markknoller face it. Obama just got pwned. His majesty just learned that he isn’t king and there’s 3 brch of gov.
— susan haggard (@susanhaggard1) January 21, 2015
@RBPundit @markknoller How dare the speaker think Congress is a co-equal branch of government
— Underhill’s Account (@bimbim1) January 21, 2015
NBC’s Chuck Todd didn’t fare any better:
.@chucktodd Kind of like GITMO prisoner transfers?
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) January 21, 2015
@chucktodd aww. Fanboys have a sad today?
— TheGoodLt. (@Good_Lt) January 21, 2015
The looney left-wing organization Code Pink also felt compelled to throw its 2 cents in. But its complaint wasn’t with Boehner — it was with Netanyahu, who its members somehow regard as a war criminal for defending his homeland.
But Pinky got put in its place also:
@codepink you’re an idiot but I’m sure you already knew that
— Sal (@SundevilSal) January 21, 2015
It does the heart good to see the left put in its place occasionally.
H/T: Twitchy
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