Despite top Democrat concerns, WH spox Jay Carney sounds clueless about Castro visit brouhaha

Wow. Just wow.

Miami Herald alum and McClatchy White House correspondent Lesley Clark asked White House spokesman Jay Carney about the concerns over the administration's decision to give Mariela Castro a visa last week. And Carney, who likes to scold the press for covering trivial things like the birther issue, sounded so unprepared that he wanted to talk about something else. Donald Trump, anyone?

Here's a refresher: Democratic National Committeewoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (also a Congresswoman) and Sen. Bill Nelson (the only statewide elected Democrat in Florida who has helped vote in unpopular Obama programs like the stimulus and ObamaCare) couldn't make sense of giving the face of the Cuban dictatorship a U.S. visa.

For a White House that criticizes the press for focusing on the trivial, it might help if its top mouth piece had more of a clue about an issue of real substance that matters to a sizable group of citizens in the nation's largest swing state. So it might not be that Obama's administration forgot to read the Castro memo -- it might not care.

Anyway, here's the transcript:

Clark: “Last week the State Department issued a visa and Mariela Castro, Raul Castro’s daughter, visited and created quite a stir. There was one in 2002. Were you taken aback by that, and do you know if the President had any talks with any of the Democratic critics of that decision?”

Carney: “I don’t know. I don’t know that he did, but you know I think, I don’t have any additional comment beyond what others have said on that matter. I think the State Department took those questions because it’s a Visa issue.”

Clark: “And her endorsement of the President?”

Carney: “Uh, again, I wasn’t even aware of that.”

Comments

[Garl]

He is the perfect mouthpiece for this administration...question him and he gets snotty, disagree with him and he gets petty, push him too far and he tries to make you look like the stupid one. God bless America.

[Daniel]

Caputo, what a pathetic GOP shill you are. This is a non-issue, no one will remember this by next week, for crying out loud. I hope those checks from Romney don't bounce.

[Esaudc]

and they have all the unmitigated, mean-spirited gall. i mean it, just look at the previous post for a sampling of it.. good thing they're keeping all of it. from us.