In a surprising breach of normal etiquette, President Barack Obama’s Rose Garden remarks on Friday were interrupted by heckling from reporter Neil Munro of the website Daily Caller, where conservative commentator Tucker Carlson is the editor-in-chief.
Obama, announcing a change of policy that would allow the children of illegal immigrants to avoid deportation if they meet certain criteria, was interrupted mid-speech by Munro.
“Why’d you favor foreigners over Americans?” Munro shouted.
“Excuse me, sir, but it’s not time for questions,” Obama responded.
“Are you going to take questions?” Munro asked.
“Not while I’m speaking.” Obama said.
While it’s not unusual for Obama to be interrupted by occasional hecklers at big public events, the fact that a reporter brought Obama’s speech to complete halt startled members of the White House press corp.
Obama, who generally ignores shouted questions from reporters at the end of press events, later addressed Munro’s question after finishing his remarks uninterrupted.
“In answer to your question, sir — and the next time I’d prefer you’d let me finish my statement before you ask that question — is this is the right thing to do for the American people,” Obama told Munro.
Mobbed by reporters after the event, Munro was asked if he would give his name.
“Yeah, but you’ll misspell it,“ he said.
Munro, according to his Twitter bio, has worked as a reporter for Defense News, Washington Technology and the National Journal.
“As a general matter, reporters are there to ask [questions],” Carlson told The New York Times’s Brian Stelter. Carlson did not immediately respond to a question from POLITICO. The Daily Caller’s account later tweeted that the organization was ‘proud’ of Munro.
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(Source: Politico)
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4 Responses
0bama announces that he is ordering his employees to deliberately ignore the law, and everyone is expected to applaud. I hope the next Republican president takes advantage of this precedent and orders the EPA to shut down enforcement of all their unnecessary regulation, and when people start shouting about it just ask them why they didn’t shout about this.
the reporter may not like the president but should have the decency to respect the office of the president. this reporter should be fired by his employers even if he apologizes for his lack of character. He urgently needs a course in ego management and civilized behavior.
The reporter unlike the others who were there that deliver the Obama kool aid was NOT heckeling! He was asking questions just like ANY other reporter has the right to do. OblameO was upset because this reporter had the audacity to question his eminence for doing something yet again AGAINST the constitution.
Poor OblameO didn’t have the answers on his teleprompter.
143 days till we vote this disaster out of office.
dmmd, “lack of character”?! Even if you think he was a bit pushy not to wait until he was sure 0bama had finished speaking, how does this show a lack of character? And “respect for the office of president”?! What is that, and why exactly should he have it? What are reporters there for anyway, if not to ask questions?
The fact is that 0bama never takes questions, he just reads his statement and walks away. So when exactly should Munro have asked his question? What opportunity did he have? He waited until he thought 0bama was finished and immediately shouted out his question. Was he supposed to be a mind reader and know that 0bama was going to say another sentence?