Mediajay carney white houseap scandalWhite House press corps

Jay Carney: 'For Me Personally, It Has Been A Good Week'

Jay Carney: 'It Has Been A Good Week'
By 

Senior Media Editor, The Huffington Post

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White House spokesman Jay Carney insisted on Friday that, despite all appearances, he's had fun these past few days.

"For me personally, it has been a good week," Carney told the New York Times.

It may have been hard to spot Carney "enjoying the hot seat," as the Times put it, during a week in which he faced a seemingly unending stream of hostile questions about the three separate scandals the Obama administration is trying to tamp down. Far from appearing to have a spring in his step, Carney often had such a hangdog demeanor that the Washington Post put up a compilation of his saddest faces.

On Thursday, Carney also made the rounds of cable news, speaking to Chris Matthews, Piers Morgan and Lawrence O'Donnell. Just before he appeared on O'Donnell's show, the MSNBC host ran footage of the White House press corps grilling him over and over again, along with a clip of Jon Stewart saying that Carney "stood and let the wind and rain pummel him for our entertainment."

Carney faced such a battering that, during one briefing, CBS Radio reporter Mark Knoller actually asked him how he was holding up. He insisted that he was doing fine.

"It is a privilege every day to stand here, and I wear the so-called burden lightly because I believe in what we're doing and I believe in what we're doing in this room," he said.

Carney is also under particular fire because he is a former reporter representing a president whom the lawyer who defended the New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case recently described as worse than Richard Nixon when it came to his attitude and policy towards the press. Speaking to Piers Morgan on Thursday, Carney cited his journalistic background in his defense of Obama's extremely aggressive policy towards leaks.

"As a reporter for 21 years, I am extremely sympathetic to concerns about the ability of reporters to pursue journalism freely, and so is the president, and that's why we have to find this balance," Carney said. "It is necessary for an administration, for a president, to ensure that the secrets that protect Americans abroad, and that protect our national security, are not leaked, because the consequences of that can be severe."

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Before You Go

Jay Carney And Eric Holder vs. The Media
US-POLITICS-CARNEY(01 of18)
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White House Press Secretary Jay Carney speaks during the daily press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington on May 14, 2013. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Jay Carney(02 of18)
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Reporters raise their hands as White House press secretary Jay Carney takes questions during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May, 14, 2013. Carney touched on various topics including the Justice Department's secretly obtaining two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press and IRS. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) (credit:AP)
Jay Carney(03 of18)
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White House press secretary Jay Carney, rear, is seen on a television monitor during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May, 14, 2013. Carney touched on various topics including the Justice Department's secretly obtaining two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press and IRS. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) (credit:AP)
Jay Carney(04 of18)
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White House press secretary Jay Carney pauses as he answers questions during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May, 14, 2013. Carney touched on various topics including the Justice Department's secretly obtaining two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press and IRS. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) (credit:AP)
Jay Carney(05 of18)
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White House press secretary Jay Carney listens during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May, 14, 2013. Carney touched on various topics including the Justice Department's secretly obtaining two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press and IRS. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) (credit:AP)
US-POLITICS-CARNEY(06 of18)
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White House Press Secretary Jay Carney speaks during the daily press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, May 14, 2013. Carney said the White House had nothing to do with the operation to comb the AP's phone records -- as part of an apparent case targeting national security leakers. 'We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department,' said Carney. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
US-POLITICS-CARNEY(07 of18)
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White House Press Secretary Jay Carney speaks during the daily press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, May 14, 2013. Jay Carney said the White House had nothing to do with the operation to comb the AP's phone records -- as part of an apparent case targeting national security leakers. 'We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department,' said Carney. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
US-POLITICS-CARNEY(08 of18)
Open Image Modal
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney speaks during the daily press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, May 14, 2013. Jay Carney said the White House had nothing to do with the operation to comb the AP's phone records -- as part of an apparent case targeting national security leakers. 'We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department,' said Carney. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
US-POLITICS-CARNEY(09 of18)
Open Image Modal
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney speaks during the daily press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, May 14, 2013. Carney said the White House had nothing to do with the operation to comb the AP's phone records -- as part of an apparent case targeting national security leakers. 'We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department,' said Carney. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Eric Holder(10 of18)
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Attorney General Eric Holder is questioned about the Justice Department secretly obtaining two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press, during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Tuesday, May 14, 2013. In what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion," the Justice Department monitored outgoing calls for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, for general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and for the main number for the AP in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (credit:AP)
Eric Holder(11 of18)
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Attorney General Eric Holder leaves after taking questions about the Justice Department secretly obtaining two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press, during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Tuesday, May 14, 2013. In what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion," the Justice Department monitored outgoing calls for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, for general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and for the main number for the AP in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (credit:AP)
Eric Holder(12 of18)
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Attorney General Eric Holder pauses during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Tuesday, May 14, 2013. The meeting with reporters was planned to announce Medicare Fraud Strike Force law enforcement actions, but was overshadowed by the Justice Department secretly obtaining two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (credit:AP)
Eric Holder(13 of18)
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Attorney General Eric Holder is questioned about the Justice Department secretly obtaining two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press, during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Tuesday, May 14, 2013. In what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion," the Justice Department monitored outgoing calls for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, for general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and for the main number for the AP in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (credit:AP)
Eric Holder(14 of18)
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Attorney General Eric Holder pauses during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Tuesday, May 14, 2013. The meeting with reporters was planned to announce Medicare Fraud Strike Force law enforcement actions, but was overshadowed by the Justice Department secretly obtaining two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (credit:AP)
Attorney General Holder Holds Press Conference At Justice Dep't(15 of18)
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WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 14: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder holds a Medicare fraud news conference at which he said he recused himself last year from a national security leak probe in which prosecutors obtained the phone records of Associated Press journalists at the Justice Department May 14, 2013 in Washington, DC. Holder faced a large number of questions about his department's investigation targeting phone records and data from the Associated Press. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Attorney General Holder Holds Press Conference At Justice Dep't(16 of18)
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WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 14: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder holds a news conference about efforts by the Justice Department and the Health and Human Services Department to combat Medicare fraud at the Justice Department May 14, 2013 in Washington, DC. Holder faced a large number of questions about his department's investigation targeting phone records and data from the Associated Press. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Attorney General Holder Holds Press Conference At Justice Dep't(17 of18)
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WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 14: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder holds a news conference about efforts by the Justice Department and the Health and Human Services Department to combat Medicare fraud at the Justice Department May 14, 2013 in Washington, DC. Holder faced a large number of questions about his department's investigation targeting phone records and data from the Associated Press. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Attorney General Holder Holds Press Conference At Justice Dep't(18 of18)
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WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 14: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder holds a news conference about efforts by the Justice Department and the Health and Human Services Department to combat Medicare fraud at the Justice Department May 14, 2013 in Washington, DC. Holder faced a large number of questions about his department's investigation targeting phone records and data from the Associated Press. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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