MEDIA/JOHN KELLY/TRUMP PEOPLE: “White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said something during her daily press briefing Friday [10-20-17] that actually took my breath away.
CBS News’ Chip Reid asked Sanders about a factual inaccuracy in White House chief of staff and retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly’s attack on Florida Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson on Thursday. Here’s how Sanders responded:
‘If you want to go after General Kelly, that is up to you. If you want to get into a debate with a four-star Marine general, I think that is something highly inappropriate.’
Just in case you don’t get what Sanders is suggesting, it’s something like this: General Kelly is a highly decorated soldier. As such, questioning things that he says is ‘highly inappropriate.’
That’s not how democracy works. Not at all. In fact, it’s the opposite of how democracy works.
Start here: General Kelly’s military service and the sacrifices he and his family have made for our country are beyond question. It is impossible to suggest otherwise.
But that military service does not mean that questioning Kelly’s statements is wrong or inappropriate. Quite the opposite! Kelly is the chief of staff to the President of the United States. He is, in that role, arguably the second or third most powerful person in the country. A person with that sort of power must be held to account for what he says and how he acts.”
-Chris Cillizza, “Sarah Sanders just made an absolutely outrageous argument about the media,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Oct. 20, 2017 04:25pm