You’ve probably heard the old expression “We’re not laughing at you, we’re laughing with you” more than once in your life, but in the case of Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy, the laugh was indeed on him when he asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki about the ruling by a federal judge striking down the administration’s mask mandate on public transportation.
Here’s Doocy’s inquiry into the ruling:
“Why is it that we can sit here in the White House briefing room with no masks but people can’t sit in an airplane cabin with no masks.”
Psaki replied:
“Well, Peter, I’m not a doctor, you’re not a doctor. That I’m aware of. If you are, I wasn’t aware of that until today.”
The Fox reporter agreed with Psaki:
“Can confirm.”
Psaki:
“Not a doctor. Just making sure. I don’t know.”
Other reporters began giggling, which led Ed O’Keefe of CBS News to interject:
“Nor do you play one on TV.”
But what Psaki said next brought the house down, with almost every reporter bursting into laughter:
“Nor does he play one on TV. There you go. Most days.”
From that, Psaki then laid out a very clear explanation for what the White House’s position has been all along:
“But these determinations — remember, the masking guidance is green, yellow and red. We are currently in a green zone in Washington DC. So they’re not recommending it. Some people can still wear masks if they want to. Many people do. Or wear them in meetings or wear them at certain times where you’re going to be around or sitting close to people. Or maybe you have an immunocompromised parent or friend and so people make that decision. And this is based on health considerations and data that the CDC looks at about transmissibility as we’ve seen an increase in cases on airplanes.”
It should be noted that the judge who issued the Monday ruling against the mask mandate, Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, was appointed by failed, one-term former President Donald Trump and didn’t exactly come highly recommended by her peers, CNN reports:
Her confirmation in the days after the 2020 election was controversial and uniformly opposed by Democrats. A former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Mizelle was 33 at the time of her confirmation. She had been rated “not qualified” by the American Bar Association for “the short time she has actually practiced law and her lack of meaningful trial experience.”
Sounds like Judge Mizelle was even less qualified than the clueless sack of dung who nominated her and nearly destroyed the republic during his four years of dithering.