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The new White House press Secretary Jay Carney took to the podium for his first grilling by the White House press corps Wednesday. Among the key topics that were covered during his 53-minute press conference: The deficit, the budget, Egypt and Iran. Here are the early reviews of the former journalist and DC insider's first briefing performance:
He's just like Gibbs NBC reporter Chuck Todd says Gibbs and Carney are one and the same, tweeting "Jay Carney already following in Gibbs' footsteps, briefing will not start on time." Todd was right in more ways than he may have realized: according to The Hill's Michael O'Brien, the official @PressSec Twitter feed still lists Robert Gibbs as the White House's spokesman. And as of Wednesday afternoon, the "Briefing Room" section of the White House's site still promotes a section called "Press Secretary Robert Gibbs Answers Your Questions." The New York Time's Jackie Calmes also did not see much of a change: "by the end of the hour, like Mr. Gibbs generally, Mr. Carney had provided a lot of quotes but no news."
A good first day ABC News' Jake Tapper tweeted that Carney had solid, if unremarkable start, writing "1st Carney briefing almost over, close to no news made, no gaffes. POTUS will be pleased." Ari Fleischer, press secretary for President George W Bush was ambivalent about Carney's leaving the press conference unscathed, writing "Congrats to Jay Carney for finishing his first briefing. I wish him well . .. . sort of."
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