re: #418 iceweasel

Politico and others have updated that, though, either retracting the claim that it was “co-ordinated’ or acknowledging the WH statement.

This is the update:

UPDATE: Deputy press secretary Bill Burton responds: “We did reach out to him prior to press conference to tell him that we had been paying attention to what he had been doing on Iran and there was a chance that he’d be called on. And, he ended up asking the toughest question that the President took on Iran. In the absence of an Iranian press corps in Washington, it was an innovative way to get a question directly from an Iranian.”

UPDATE 2: Knoller, again via Twitter: “Huffington Post’s Nico Pitney says the WH called him this morning and invited him to ask his Iran questions at the news conference.”

UPDATE 3: Pitney says the White House reached out about his Iran coverage, but only said it was possible he’d get a question.

It sounds to me like the White house not only prearranged the question, but they also post-arranged the response. You have to be pretty naive to think this wasn’t set-up or that politicians haven’t been doing this since forever.