Saw You Coming From A Mile Away

The wingnuts aided and abetted if not led by FoxNews had become apoplectic about the number of "czars" in the Obama administration. Setting aside the facts that Republican President President Richard Nixon was the first one to come up with the word czar to describe one of his advisor, that George W. Bush had 47 so called "czars", that the people who are called "czars" really have official titles that don't include that word, that the media largely are the ones who describes people as czars instead of their official titles, and that more than a few of the people the right wingers describe as czars have been confirmed by the Senate, other than that they might actually have a point. Of course because the wingnuts are shrieking about this bullshit, the mainstream media feels they have to cover it. Well White House Spokesman, Robert Gibbs, was fully prepared for this line of questioning.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs fired back at GOP critics of White House czars on Wednesday.

Gibbs said GOP “silence was deafening” on the issue of czars during former President George W. Bush's administration.

Republicans didn’t raise the issue, he said, when Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) pushed a Y2K czar or when Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) called for a manufacturing czar.

“You've read Sen. Bennett was pushing for a Y2K czar that he didn't think was powerful enough,” Gibbs said. “You've seen Lamar Alexander call for a manufacturing czar."

He also brought up the name of Randall Tobias, a Bush administration deputy secretary of State and “abstinence czar” who resigned after it was discovered his name was on a prostitution-services call list.

“You know, somebody referred to in the Bush administration as the abstinence czar was on the D.C. Madam's list,” Gibbs said. “Now, did that violate the Constitution, or simply offend our sensibilities?”

Gibby FTW!

(h/t Benen)